Former Stryker Soldier Missing
Please follow the link below for photos and contact information.
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WCPO News
Eight months after returning from Iraq, a Hamilton, Ohio, Army sergeant has gone missing.
Garry Jones, 24, was last seen leaving his apartment last Saturday morning, driving a late 1980's maroon Chevrolet Cavalier.
Janice Jones, the sergeant's mother, said when she went inside his apartment, she instantly knew there was a problem.
"All his clothes are there. His duffel bag, his luggage, nothing was missing," Janice Jones told 9News.
Janice Jones said she doesn't know anyone who would want to hurt her son and she can't rule out that he might try and hurt himself. She said her son had been demonstrating classic signs of post traumatic stress disorder since returning from his tour of duty. [...]
Hamilton Police are handling Jones' disappearance as a missing persons case. If you have any information about his whereabouts, please call the police at (513) 868-1241.
The Big Hammer
Michael Yon has published a very moving tribute to 1SG Michael J. Bordelon on his Frontline Forum. Bordelon was a member of the 1-24 INF, 1/25 SBCT who died in May 2005 from wounds received in Iraq. The tribute was written by Michael Cutrone, a lifelong friend of Bordelon.
IKAI’KA (strength) House
Written by Spc. Yolanda Moreno Leon
MOSUL, Iraq (July 3, 2006) --The 274th Forward Surgical Team held the grand opening of Ikai’ka house on Forward Operating Base Diamondback, Mosul, Iraq June 26.
The house is named in honor of 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, platoon leader, 2nd Plt, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, (Tropic Lighting), Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Hoe paid the ultimate sacrifice when he lost his life in June 2005.
1st Lt. Sara Horak, executive officer, 274th FST, went out her way to insure the memory of her friend is carried on forever.
“This house is dedicated to Hoe, who was a close friend of mine,” said Horak. “I feel a sense of closure, for me to be able to dedicate it to my friend, it is kind of a healing process.”
Ikai’ka which means strength, is a house where patients who have been treated at the 47th Combat Support Hospital can stay anywhere from a few hours to a few days. It gives them a place where they can relax and begin the healing process from their injuries.
“I feel good now that Soldiers have a place to stay and be comfortable, they get tremendous world class patient care from the hospital and now they can come here to Ikai’ka house and that care will continue,” said Horak.
The house took just over a week to finish and several Soldiers helped to make it a reality including Soldiers like Sgt. 1st Class Rejan Robinson, and Staff Sgt. Paul Keel, 872nd Maintenance Company, who helped with the carpentry.
“I can’t thank everyone enough for helping out and what this means to me,” Horack said. “It just shows you that everyones heart is in the right place.”
According to Horack she has three months left in theatre and hopes that the new team replacing her unit will keep up with the care of the facility.
Sgt. 1st Class Jomo Anderson, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd SBCT was the first Soldier to stay at Ikai’ka, and finds the accommodations very respectable.
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“It is very comfortable with all the accommodations,” said Anderson. “It is a whole lot better than sleeping in one of those cots, or staying in one of those combat housing units.”
Hoe was one of those individuals that left an impact on people,” said Horack. “This is our way of saying thank you to him for paying the ultimate sacrifice and helping to free the Iraqi people.”
Hoe also had an assault course renamed in his honor back in Fort Lewis, Wash. That dedication was conducted on the same day as Ikai’ka House.
“Even though we are separated by thousands of miles and three continents we were still brought together by the type of person Hoe was,” said Horack. “We want to leave his memory and our memories all over the world”.
Two historic units reflag during ceremony
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By Don Kramer, Northwest Guardian
Two respected military units conducted a joint reflagging ceremony at 2 p.m. on Thursday at Gray Army Airfield.
The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division deactivated to be reflagged as 2nd Cavalry Regiment; 2nd Cav., in turn, joined the 2nd Infantry Division, activating as the Indianhead Division’s 4th Brigade.
In its history that began in 1917, 2nd Inf. Div. has never included a 4th Bde. The former 2nd Cav. Regt. will begin a fresh set of traditions as a brand new Stryker brigade combat team in the Indianhead Division.
The newly constituted 2nd Cav. Regt. will complete a move to Germany this summer. Already rich in history, the 2nd Cav. Regt. is the oldest regiment of any kind serving on continuous active duty in the U.S. Army.
It was organized in 1836 as the 2nd Regiment of Dragoons to fight in the Seminole Campaigns in Florida. It landed on Utah Beach in 1944 and led Patton’s Third Army advance across Europe. The then 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment later patrolled more than 730 kilometers along the Iron Curtain for much of the Cold War. More recently, 2nd Cavalry began the U.S. ground offensive in Desert Storm in 1991, leading the VII Corps advance into southern Iraq, and deployed to Bosnia in 1997. It earned two Presidential Citations for actions in Iraq in 2003-2004, after which it was designated a Stryker brigade and relocated to Fort Lewis from Fort Polk, La.
The article also provides a complete list of units in each brigade (4/2 SBCT & 2nd CR).
A Piece Of Cake
Michael Yon, who covered the 1/25 SBCT extensively from Mosul last year, provides a new update on the status of Walt Gaya. It's a must read.
SGT Gaya was previously the subject of a profile by Associated Press reporter Antonio Castaneda.
One Year Later - A Parent's Perspective
Thank you to Michael Yon for this article. Your online magazine provides great information and insight into the lives of our soldiers.
Soldier Honored By Tacoma Police
SGT Timothy Phillipson was recently awarded a Medal of Courage by the Tacoma Police Department for assisting those wounded during a shooting at the Tacoma Mall last November. The award ceremony took place on April 27, 2006. Congratualtions to SGT Phillipson and the others who were recognized for their efforts.
Plumondore Railcar Dedication
One of Adam Plumondore's relatives alerted us that five railcars will be dedicated in his honor this Saturday, May 20, in Portland, OR. If you live in the area and are interested in attending the dedication, it will take place at 10:00am at Northwest Container Services located on Burgard Road in Portland (Google map). The railcars will operate between Seattle, WA and Portland, OR, so perhaps you'll see them in operation.
SGT Plumondore, a member of 1-24 INF, 1/25 SBCT, was killed in Mosul on February 16, 2005.
First of 3,200 Stryker soldiers arrive at Vilseck
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By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
VILSECK, Germany — The first big influx of soldiers who will become the 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment arrived Wednesday, charged with paving the way for hundreds more who will arrive over the next month.
A total of 180 soldiers, accompanied by family members and pets, got off the bus at Vilseck after a 10-hour charter flight from Fort Lewis, Wash. Ultimately, the regiment will include 3,200 soldiers.
The soldiers still wore the patch of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which is due to inactivate and reform as 2nd Cavalry next month.
Army public affairs officials blocked Stars and Stripes’ efforts to interview the new arrivals and their families about the trip and their new home.
Maj. Jon Pendell, a spokesman for the Stryker brigade, said the regiment was concentrating on getting soldiers and families settled in after the long flight and that none would be available for interviews.
“Today they will get their keys and move into their quarters,” Pendell said, adding that the troops would spend two weeks adjusting to life in Germany before starting a reception operation to receive the rest of the unit.
“We are going to receive the brigade from Fort Lewis as they get here and at some stage we are going to get ready for training,” he said.
South Sound recognizes Real Heroes
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By Lisa Pemberton, The Olympian
Military Hero: Sgt. Walt Gaya
Sgt. Walt Gaya’s love and pride for his country is undeniable, but it has come at a high price and much self-sacrifice.
Last July, while he was deployed in Iraq, a roadside bomb tore apart the hull of Gaya’s combat vehicle wounding all nine men inside. As he rushed to help the other soldiers escape from the burning vehicle, Gaya felt a deep throbbing in his leg. The explosion had lodged pieces of shrapnel in his leg and shredded ligaments in his knee.
Despite his incredible pain, Gaya helped secure the perimeter around the damaged vehicle.
He was so thankful to have survived the bombing. Then his vision began to blur and he felt a sharp pain in his left eye as he tried to focus. Bits of bomb fragment from the explosion had pierced his eye.
While Gaya was transported to a hospital in Germany, the possibility that he might lose his vision became a reality.
After several surgeries and doctor’s visits, Gaya’s vision is still impaired in his left eye but he is determined not to let it deter him from living out his dream as a photographer.
Gaya is proud to have served in Iraq for eight months with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment of the Stryker Brigade. [...]
This is the 10th year the Mount Rainier Chapter of the American Red Cross — which serves Thurston, Mason and Pierce counties — has held a Real Heroes breakfast.
The event usually draws about 600 people and raises tens of thousands of dollars in donations. Organizers set a goal of $60,000 for this year, which will go toward South Sound disaster relief and emergency preparedness programs, according to spokeswoman Karen Kim.
The honorees were nominated by community members for their bravery, selflessness and quick thinking during emergencies that took place in 2005.
‘Deuce Four’ unit salutes its ‘let’s-go-get-’em’ leader
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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
A lot of Fort Lewis units have made their way to Iraq and back, but none has endured as much pain – or attracted as much acclaim – as the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
The fortitude of its soldiers against a raging insurgency brought fame to the battalion known as “Deuce Four.”
On Friday the man who led the unit’s 800 soldiers through its trials in Mosul relinquished command.
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, 39, wounded twice during his year in Iraq, will soon move on to command the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Lewis – one of the Army’s most elite combat units.
“The accomplishments of this battalion are well-known not only in the Army but across the country and across Iraq,” Kurilla’s boss, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division commander Col. John RisCassi, said at the change-of-command ceremony Friday.
Deuce Four took over the densely populated, mostly Sunni Arab western half of Mosul in October 2004 just as the insurgency was reaching full bloom. U.S. and Iraqi troops were attacked an average of 20 times a day by guerrillas who moved freely.
The battalion under Kurilla employed aggressive tactics, setting up outposts around the city and drawing insurgents out to fight. The January 2005 elections went on as scheduled, U.S. forces rebuilt the Iraqi police and by the spring attacks fell to an average of five a day. ...
War Without End
This week the San Francisco Chronicle is publishing a four-part series of articles chronicling the recoveries of two 1/25 SBCT soldiers - SGT Mike Buyas and SGT Brent Bretz. The newspaper has created a homepage for the series, called War Without End, featuring supplemental information (photos, videos etc.). Parts one and two have already been published, with parts three and four following later this week. Check the link above for additional information.
UPDATE 3/28/06: Part three is now available.
Priory-made dolls a big hit in Iraq
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By Suzanne Roig
Army 1st. Lt. Nainoa Hoe of Honolulu hoped rag dolls made by students of a local school could bring joy to some children in war-torn Iraq.
Although he was killed by a sniper before the dolls arrived, his fellow soldiers ensured the dolls got to the right little hands.
Yesterday, a soldier and Hoe's father came to St. Andrew's Priory, where the dolls are made, to tell the students about the power of a little cloth and thread.
"We were getting ready to send him the dolls when he was killed," said his father, Allen Hoe, who served in Vietnam as an Army combat medic in 1967 and 1968. "His men picked up the ball during the rest of their tour."
His son was a 27-year-old platoon leader when he was killed in Mosul, Iraq, on Jan. 22, 2005.
With Allen Hoe yesterday was Command Sgt. Maj. Hector Davila, who told the students that the Iraqi children — even the boys — loved the dolls.
Davila, who is in Honolulu on R&R, serves in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska. In Iraq, his unit replaced Nainoa Hoe's 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, which is out of Fort Lewis, Wash....
From Fort Lewis to Germany, here they come
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By MIKE BARBER, P-I REPORTER
FORT LEWIS -- For two days this week, Stryker armored infantry carriers were abandoned for strollers, diaper bags replaced combat rucksacks, and military intelligence homed in on housing and schools.
An entire population of 6,000 to 7,000 people, roughly the size of Duvall or Gig Harbor, is packing up and moving permanently -- jobs, equipment, spouses, kids, cars, even pets -- to Germany this summer.
Fort Lewis' 4,000-member 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat, nicknamed the Lancers, will become the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in June and will be transferred to Vilseck, Germany. The unit was in Mosul in northern Iraq from 2004 to 2005.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, an advance guard of 300 soldiers in camouflage and their families took the first steps to leave the United States. They will depart for Germany soon. The rest of the Stryker brigade will go through the same process that took place this week -- which soldiers call the "Lancer family rodeo" -- next month and will leave in June.
This week, soldiers reconnoitered their way with spouses and children through the post's big Battle Command Training Center, bivouacking occasionally to fill out paperwork.
"You must be very patient -- very patient," said Mitchelle Garrett, 29, an Army wife, artfully bracing her 18-month old son, Ayden, on her hip while stressing the words.
Fallen hero's memory lives on
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By Tracy Dang
t's been a year since Spec. Clint Gertson of Eagle Lake was killed while serving in Iraq, and Gayle and Susan Gertson are beginning to heal from the loss of their youngest son.
“When they first told me, I wanted to fall on the ground and die,” Gayle said. “It takes everything out of you.”
“Sometimes you wonder how you're ever going to get through this,” Susan said. “But you take one day at a time. What really hits you is when you hear people that don't agree with the war, and you hope that the war is not in vain. My biggest nightmare is that we forget what they die for.”
Clint, 26 at the time, was a member of the U.S. Army 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division, also known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team or Deuce Four.
He was done for the day Feb. 19 of last year but had volunteered to fill in for one of his comrades and go on patrol duty again.
“We were loading up to go back when a guy pulled up in a car about 200 meters away and shot a single shot,” Captain Jeff Van Antwerp said. “Clint was standing about a foot from me, and the bullet hit him right above the left shower, went all the way through his chest and came out the other side. We rushed him back to hospital and tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late.”
The Coming Normalcy?
The following is a lengthy article decribing the efforts of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (1/25 SBCT) during its year in Mosul. Written by Robert Kaplan for the upcoming issue of The Atlantic magazine, this is likely the most detailed profile of the brigade's operations since Michael Yon published his dispatches. The link provided below will give you full access to the article for 3 days, after which time it will only be available to subscribers. So, follow the link and print it out. There is an accompanying interview with Robert Kaplan that is available to everyone.
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by Robert D. Kaplan
The Iraqi city of Mosul is an age-old caravan crossroads whose history defies the concept of the twentieth- century nation-state the kind of nation-state the U.S. military occupation of Iraq is trying to hold together (if not create), and to keep from imploding into full- scale civil war.
Historic trade routes have linked Mosul to cities in Syria, Turkey, and Iran, bringing cultural as well as commercial exchanges. The Arabic language in Mosul bears Kurdish and Syriac influences. There is a large community of Chaldaeans—descendants of Christians who were converted (eons ago) from Nestorianism to Catholicism. For a long time, this city was a seat of Catholic missionary activity. Seljuk Turks held Mosul in the Middle Ages and Ottomans held it in the modern era, with a Persian occupation in between. Mosul's degenerating old quarter, with its beetling Ottoman walls and elegantly stuccoed twelfth-century Seljuk minaret, is testimony to this cosmopolitan lineage.
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the oil-rich Turkish vilyet of Mosul was incorporated into a newly created Iraq, ensuring that the mostly Arab polity of Sunnis and Shiites would include a large (one-quarter) share of non-Arab Kurds, Turcomans, and Assyrians. Mosul emblemizes the ethnic and sectarian divisions that have made modern Iraq so untenable, helping it to fall victim to the most suffocating of dictatorships.
I came to Mosul, a city of more than 2 million, after one set of national elections; I would leave just before another. The former had ratified the new Iraqi constitution; the latter would select political parties for parliament. In the Mosul region, the first election had seen a voter turnout of more than 80 percent. Mosul is a success story, although the success is relative, partial, and tenuous. The credit for what success there has been belongs to one of the U.S. Army's Stryker brigade combat teams that recently departed Iraq: the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, based out of Fort Lewis, Washington.
When the 1-25 "Lancers” arrived in Mosul, in September of 2004, the city and its environs were a violent no-go zone, having seen several thousand insurgent attacks, not to mention more than a thousand explosions from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The local police had largely deserted, dropping from an on-paper force of 10,000 to an irrelevance of 300. But by the time 1-25 left Mosul, a year later, mortar attacks alone had fallen from 300 a month to fewer than ten. Other forms of insurgent activity dropped to the point where international journalists no longer considered Mosul an important part of the ongoing Iraq story—a fact evidenced by their thin presence in the city. Meanwhile, the local police force was now back up to 9,000, and the number of police stations had expanded from five to twenty-four. More important, the number of intelligence tips called in by the local population had risen from essentially zero to some 400 per month.
The kind of chaos that 1-25 had alleviated in Mosul has been an abiding interest of mine. Twelve years ago in this magazine, I published an article, "The Coming Anarchy,” about the institutional collapse of Third World countries owing to ethnic and sectarian rivalries, demographic and environmental stresses, and the growing interrelationship between war and crime. Was it possible that Iraq, of all places, might offer some new ideas about how situations of widespread anarchy can be combated? It certainly was the case that, despite a continuing plague of suicide bombings, significant sections of the country were slowly recovering from large-scale violence, as well as from the effects of decades of brutal dictatorship. The very U.S. military that had helped to bring about the anarchy in Iraq was now worth studying as a way to end it, both here and elsewhere in the Third World.
The 1-25 Lancers' shaky achievement does credit to the brigade-level transformation of the U. S. Army, the institution known derisively to the Green Berets of the Special Forces as "Big Army” or "Mother Army.” And they are right: Big Army is still too much of a vertical, dinosaurian, Industrial Age organization. Yet that is changing, partly because of the new emphasis on brigades.
A brigade is only a third or half the size of a division. Its headquarters element is less bureaucratic and top-heavy with colonels than that of a division (to say nothing of a corps). The very size of a brigade can be custom-fitted to the situation. Putting brigades first represents an organizational means for dealing with a more chaotic, unconventional world. It is the kind of bureaucratic reform that the military is embracing faster than the financially starved State Department or the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The credit for this radically changed emphasis belongs to successive Army chiefs of staff, particularly Eric Shinseki and Peter Schoomaker.
New hardware, such as the Stryker combat vehicle, also plays a big role, facilitating a change in the relationships between captains in the field and majors and lieutenant colonels back at battalion headquarters. The Stryker—with its added safety features that drastically reduce casualties from IEDs and suicide bombs, its ability to travel great distances without refueling, and a computer system that gives captains and noncommissioned officers situational awareness and the latest intelligence for many miles around—has helped liberate field units from dependence on headquarters.
Autonomy is further encouraged by the flat "intelligence architecture” of the Stryker brigades. Information now comes to captains less and less from battalion headquarters, and more and more from other junior officers in other battalions, via informal e-mail networks, as well as directly from Iraqi units. The lieutenant colonel who commands an infantry battalion, and the major who is the captain's executive officer, do not always have to be consulted. Given the results, the commanding officers like it that way.
That is page 1 of 7.
Veteran one step closer to normalcy
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Edward Stoner, Vail Daily
VAIL - Dennis Walburn kept interrupting his own story. He did it on Chair 4 and at Mid-Vail. He was shifting attention to the 23 other Iraq war veteran amputees who are skiing at Vail this week - and the many more who are not.
"All these other guys' stories are the same," said Walburn, who skis with one ski and two outriggers. "This is just an example of what many guys have gone through."
So here is an example.
Walburn didn't have to go to Iraq. He had a desk job with the National Guard at the Pentagon, and another officer from his group was chosen to go to Iraq. But Walburn talked to his wife, Brenda, and decided he should be the one to go.
"It got to my heart a little bit that I was sitting at a desk and (other soldiers) were going over," he said.
Walburn, a 47-year-old lieutenant colonel from Woodbridge, Va., went to Iraq on a six-month deployment in March 2005 as part of a group that was introducing new battlefield equipment to troops.
On May 28 in Mosul, he went out on patrol with an infantry unit, testing a new Stryker armored vehicle. The troops found a vehicle on an offramp matching the description of an insurgent's car, but it wasn't the right car. Still, the commander decided to search all of the cars that were stopped on the offramp.
"That's when the bomb went off," Walburn said.
He felt the blast wave and then intense pain. Eight Iraqis and one U.S. soldier were killed in the explosion. When Walburn woke up in Germany, he found out he had lost his leg.
"It didn't surprise me," he said.
Walburn said he doesn't second-guess his decision to go to Iraq in someone else's place.
"It was the right thing to do," he said. "I wish I still had my leg, but I don't regret my decision."
Blinded in Iraq, skiing in Vail
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By Edward Stoner, Vail Daily
VAIL - Scott Smiley has learned many things over again since April 10, when a suicide blast in Iraq sent shrapnel into his brain and left him blind.
He has learned to walk again. He has learned to read again. He's learned to use a computer again, and how to wash dishes.
This week, he's skiing again.
Smiley, a 25-year-old first lieutenant, is skiing with Vail-based Foresight Ski Guides, which provides guides who help him down the mountain. Smiley and his wife, Tiffany, will ski five days before they go home to Fort Lewis, Wash. on Saturday.
"At first it was very scary, but then it's exhilarating and fun," he said.
On Thursday morning, Smiley took three runs down Northwoods, an intermediate run, at times moving surprisingly fast. He didn't fall once. [...]
Iraq blogger let E.M. man do the driving
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By Whitney Carnahan, Quad Cities On-Line
It's unlikely that a local community college student from East Moline and a former Green Beret blogger would have much in common. But just a year ago, the two met up in the most unlikely place: Iraq.
Michael Yon, 41, had decided in 2005 to go to Iraq as a freelance journalist to report on the war. Self-funded and self-taught, Mr. Yon ended up in Mosul, Iraq, with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla.
It was there he met the student, then Spc. Dale Prickett, who was in charge of driving a Stryker Army vehicle each day.
Mosul, a city of 2 million located in northern Iraq, is split by the Tigris River. The east side is where the wealthy dwell, Mr. Prickett, 23, said. The battalion was based on the west side, where many of the have-nots live.[...]
Lost friends
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By Christopher Loh, Watertown Tab & Press
Sgt. Robert Connors remembers two friends lost in battle:
Staff Sgt. Donald D. Griffith of Iowa, killed in action March 11, 2005
Specialist Clinton "Big Country" Gertson, killed in action Feb. 19, 2005.
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Brigade details
Sgt. Robert Connors belonged to the First Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Second Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
The brigade faced:
- 3,056 enemy attacks
- 1,335 improvised explosive devices
- 84 suicide vehicle-borne explosive devices
- 1,513 direct-fire attacks
The brigade helped to:
- Detain 3,050 enemies, including 179 high-level terrorist leaders and al-Qaida commander Abu Talha and five successors, the most of any brigade
- Medically screen more than 2,000 Iraqi children
- Produce 415 projects dedicated to building a nation totaling $72.5 million, including schools, hospitals, health clinics, bridges, roads, and water and sewer systems.
Hometown kid serves country in Iraq
Flying to Iraq in a C-130 from Kuwait, Sergeant Bobby Connors said the ride was the quietest plane ride he had ever been on. That changed, however, when he landed at the Forward Observation Base.
"When you get there, you hear explosions," Connors said, explaining that to leave the FOB it was mandatory that there be a three-car convoy.
But after a year in war-torn Iraq, Bobby Connors of Bradford Street is home, having served nearly eight months in Tall'Afar, two months in Mosul and another two in Rawah.
Connors, a sergeant in a Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is a Watertown native and Catholic Memorial graduate. [...]
Former soldier draws praise for frontline blog
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By Mitch Stacy, Associated Press
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — He didn’t have to go, it wasn’t his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was going on.
The 41-year-old former Army Green Beret, self-published author and world traveler didn’t know exactly what he was going to do when he got to the war zone last year, nor did he have any particular plans to report what he saw to the world at-large.
But that’s what he did.
After getting himself embedded as a freelance journalist with troops last year, he used his Internet blog to report on the car bombs, firefights and dead soldiers. But he also wrote descriptively about acts of compassion and heroism, small triumphs in the country’s crawl toward democracy and the gritty inner workings of the military machine. [...]
Soldiers honor deceased in videos
First reported here on 1/27, this article has now been reprinted in the Baltimore Sun. The story mentions SSG Juan Solorio, MSG Brian Mack, SGT Christopher Pusateri, and SSG Zachary Wobler
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By Dionne Searcey, The Wall Street Journal
Electronic records create a powerful, raw new wave of war memorials
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips.
They gave him shots of Solorio sporting a newly shaved head and leaning against a burned-out truck on an Iraqi roadside. They found footage of Solorio reaching for his pistol, dropping it in the mud and laughing. Bass strung all the images together into a video and added a soundtrack, "The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC" by punk band the Ataris. Then he played it at a memorial service in Iraq. [...]
A dusty tent in Mosul served as Army Capt. Kevin Latham's studio, where he made videos to honor the four soldiers in his unit who had died just before Christmas 2004 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the camp's mess hall. Mortars boomed in the distance as he worked long past midnight to carefully select music to go with the videos. [...]
In another memorial video, Army Master Sgt. Brian Mack, who died in Mosul a year ago this month, is shown in photos riding in a Blackhawk helicopter and in a short video clip rushing a stationary target during gun practice, shooting repeatedly while friends laugh. It's set to the melancholy song "Clocks" by Coldplay.
"Every time someone was killed, we put together a little thing like that," said Sgt. Emmet Cullen, a sniper who fought alongside Mack. "It helps the grieving process putting them together. Talking about them, seeing them with a big goofy smile on -- it helps." [...]
Lt. Col. Christopher Gibson, who has completed two tours in Iraq as commander of an 82nd Airborne battalion, said he watched the videos for two of his troopers -- Sgt. Christopher Pusateri and Staff Sgt. Zachary Wobler -- several times in advance of their memorial services "so I could keep myself together when I delivered my remarks," he said.
When Pusateri was shot to death last winter, Gibson turned to members of his communications team to make his memorial video because they were familiar with computer equipment. One of them was Capt. Jerrold Castro, who met with fellow troopers and laid out a storyboard of sorts, to select the order of the photos and video clips. On his laptop, he used Microsoft's Movie Maker to fiddle with the photos, changing some to a sepia tint and adding special effects. [...]
SB High grad earns Silver Star for bravery in Iraq
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Michel Nolan, Staff Writer
Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay recalls the fireball as the suicide car bomber rammed the rear of his Stryker armored infantry vehicle.
The massive explosion and subsequent firefight are seared in the Rancho Cucamonga native's memory.
"It was a huge physical force - the biggest I ever felt," said Shannon, 29. "Some of the guys inside were kind of unconscious, so we dropped a ramp and dragged people out. It was just a natural reaction - any soldier would have done the same."
Shannon's actions that day, his courage under fire as he saved the lives of seven members of his squad on a bloody road in Western Mosul, Iraq, earned him the Silver Star.
According to the military report, "The fireball was enormous and the Kevlar blankets, tires and other components of the Stryker were on fire. The entire area was littered with burning debris."
Shannon, who was bleeding from shrapnel wounds to his head, shoulder and hand, refused medical attention and helped put out the vehicle fire while under ambush attack from small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, and mortar fire.
"I wanted to live up to what I thought a soldier is," said Shannon by phone from Fort Benning, Ga., where he is now an instructor in the Army Squad Designated Marksmanship Program.
"I've seen multiple firefights before, but they do kind of surprise you. Once you're over there, you say 'this is the drill now' and just do your job."
Gritty Iraq Blog Gained Freelancer Fame
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - He didn't have to go, it wasn't his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was going on.
The 41-year-old former Army Green Beret, self-published author and world traveler didn't know exactly what he was going to do when he got to the war zone last year, nor did he have any particular plans to report what he saw to the world at-large.
But that's what he did.
After getting himself embedded as a freelance journalist with troops last year, he used his Internet blog to report on the car bombs, firefights and dead soldiers. But he also wrote descriptively about acts of compassion and heroism, small triumphs in the country's crawl toward democracy and the gritty inner workings of the military machine.
Yon's dispatches have been extolled by loyal readers as gutsy and honest reporting by a guy who's not afraid to get his hands dirty. He has been interviewed and his blog quoted by major newspapers and TV news networks, and he has drawn comparisons to Ernie Pyle, the renowned World War II correspondent who shared the trenches with fighting soldiers. [...]
"Deuce Four is an overwhelmingly aggressive and effective unit, and they believe the best defense is a dead enemy," Yon wrote in one dispatch. "They are constantly thinking up innovative, unique and effective ways to kill or capture the enemy; proactive not reactive."
In May, a poignant photo he shot of a soldier cradling a dying Iraqi girl after an explosion in Mosul was printed in major U.S. newspapers and brought even more attention to his unpaid mission. A subsequent appeal for donations on the Web site brought in thousands of dollars. [...]
The slant of Yon's blog is unflinchingly pro-military, but he has frequently criticized Army public affairs officers in print over how news out of Iraq is managed. He hasn't shied away from describing the horrors of war, and he once wrote about an Iraqi taxi driver killed by U.S. troops during a fire fight.
"They know I don't follow the party line," says the soft-spoken Yon, whose broad, solid physique makes him seem taller than his 5 feet and 6 inches. "Like when our guys get killed, I'll write about it and I'll write about it the way it really happened, which sometimes is pretty graphic."
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the Deuce Four commander who was wounded in the downtown Mosul battle, says Yon was effective because he stayed with the unit longer than most embedded reporters.
"Mike, by spending five months with us, understood the unit, the idiosyncrasies, the good and the bad, and how we made decisions," Kurilla says. "You don't get that from coming in for 48 or 72 hours."
The article continues, and mentions that Yon is working on a book based on his time with 1-24 INF.
On Iraq's Front Lines, Digital Memorials For Fallen Friends
SSG Solorio, who is mentioned in the following article, was a member of the 1/25 SBCT. You can follow the link to download the memorial video. Thanks to Paul North for providing a link to this article.
Link to Full Article
By DIONNE SEARCEY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips.
They gave him shots of Sgt. Solorio sporting a newly shaved head and leaning against a burned-out truck on an Iraqi roadside. They found footage of Sgt. Solorio reaching for his pistol, dropping it in the mud and laughing. Spc. Bass strung all the images together into a video and added a soundtrack, "The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC" by punk band the Ataris. Then he played it at a memorial service in Iraq.
"As a joke he grew this huge, disgusting mustache," Spc. Bass said of his friend. "I made sure to add a few of those photos in there."
Digital photography, video and Internet access have let soldiers in Iraq stay closer to distant friends and family than troops in any other war. Now, these electronic records are also creating a powerful and raw new wave of war memorials.
A dusty tent in Mosul served as Army Capt. Kevin Latham's studio, where he made videos to honor the four soldiers in his unit who had died just before Christmas 2004 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the camp's mess hall. Mortars boomed in the distance as he worked long past midnight to carefully select music to go with the videos. [...]
For Spc. Bass, the process of creating Sgt. Solorio's video was therapeutic, he said. "He was like a dad to me," said Spc. Bass, 20 years old, who was with 32-year-old Sgt. Solorio when he was killed.
After he put the finishing touches on the video, Spc. Bass offered an advance screening to a few members of his platoon, who gave their approval. The video finally had its premiere on the big screen in a darkened auditorium where soldiers gathered for Sgt. Solorio's memorial service in Mosul.
"The whole time I was working on it, it didn't really hit me what it was. I just wanted to get it done," said Spc. Bass. "When it started playing at the actual service, it got pretty sad."
Operation Iraqi Children
Link to Full Article
By Michael Yon
Soldiers love to visit Iraqi schools. The teachers are welcoming, and the kids are always excited. The children burst into smiles and waves, but seem to be almost nailed to their seats: they do not get up without the teachers’ permission.
The soldiers often arrive just to say hello, but at other times they unload trucks full of supplies: pencils, paper, and books. I visited a school far out in the boondocks near the Iranian border, where the villagers told me no Americans had ever been. In one of the classrooms, children were studying to identify mines and bombs, so they would not get blown up. [...]
Benning sergeant earns Silver Star
Link to Full Article
BY MICK WALSH, Staff Writer
The citation accompanying Thursday's award of the Silver Star to a Fort Benning soldier for his heroic actions in Iraq reads more like an action movie script.
But for Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay, now a member of the 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, what transpired on Dec. 11, 2004, was far from Hollywood fiction.
Then a squad leader of a Fort Lewis, Wash., Stryker outfit stationed near Mosul, Kay was manning the left-rear air guard hatch of his vehicle at a traffic stop when, without notice, a car broke the traffic pattern and accelerated toward the Stryker. Kay's gunner alerted him to the approaching car, prompting him to fire a warning off the front of the vehicle.
The vehicle did not stop, accelerating instead. Kay shot the driver, but the car was still able to impact the rear of his Stryker, exploding into a massive fireball. The fireball was enormous and the Kevlar blankets, tires and other components of the Stryker caught fire.
The entire area was littered with burning debris. Kay was wounded in four places and had six other casualties on the Stryker. Despite being wounded, he got his back ramp open and began evacuating his crew from the burning vehicle. Immediately, the position came under heavy fire from enemy small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and indirect mortar fire. Kay was bleeding from shrapnel wounds to the head, arm and hand, but he refused medical attention, instead focusing his efforts on ensuring all his men were evacuated and on extinguishing the fire on the Stryker.
The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native, who lives with his wife, Julie, and son, Killian, in Phenix City, then turned his attention to the enemy and moved through the perimeter, engaging and destroying an RPG team that attempted to maneuver on the disabled Stryker.
Good deed doesn't go unnoticed
This article was originally published two weeks ago, but we just came across it recently.
Link to Full Article
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
Today, we will watch Mike Tice stalk the sideline in his customary black garb.
Some of us will see a gridiron Johnny Cash dancing in a vocational ring of fire.
Some of us will see a lame-duck coach slogging through his contractual duties.
Somewhere in the Metrodome today, though, there will be four sets of eyes viewing Tice as a man with a heart as big as his Long Island accent.
"It's a long story," said Riikka Jacobsen.
She was happy to tell it.
Jacobsen's husband, Captain Bill Jacobsen, was killed by an insurgent's bomb in Iraq a little more than a year ago. He was 31.
A friend of Tice's saw a story produced by a reporter embedded with Jacobsen's unit, and noticed a reference to the Vikings.
The friend contacted Tice, who contacted Riikka, who lives in Charlotte, N.C.
Today, Riikka and her three sons will attend the Vikings-Bears game, courtesy of Tice.
Today, Santa Claus wears black.
"By doing this for my boys, he's honoring my husband," Jacobsen said. "And that means the world to me, that people remember him, and think of him, and understand what he was doing for his country.
"What better way to honor my husband than to pay attention to his children? This is very touching to me."
This is a story that reminds us that the whiny, wacky world of sport can unify far-flung people.
"My husband was killed in Iraq a year ago," Riikka said. "He was with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Lewis, Washington. He was killed in the mess-hall bombing on the 21st of December [2004].
"It's kind of complicated, but one of his soldier's family is good friends with Mike Tice. One soldier came home on R-and-R, and he was very concerned about my children and myself, and he just wanted to do something. They found out that my oldest son, Billy, is a great fan of the Vikings, and also my husband's battalion commander, Col. Erik Kurilla, is a Vikings fan.
"Even before they deployed my husband, he would take my three boys to Col. Kurilla's office and they would see all these Vikings decorations.
"My son, Billy, collects football cards, and after my husband was killed, he wrote a letter to Col. Kurilla and sent him some Vikings cards. A reporter that was embedded with the unit in Iraq saw the letter and wrote about it."
A friend of Tice's saw the story and contacted the coach, who began exchanging e-mails with Riikka.
"If this thing goes off, I'd rather go off with it"
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
For soldiers in Iraq, three letters translate into terror: IED, shorthand for improvised explosive device, the homemade bombs that have taken hundreds of American lives.
During an intense firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Staff Sgt. Wesley Holt faced this fear. Touched it. Straddled it, in fact.
The encounter took place on a section of blacktop leading to an apartment building occupied by U.S. forces called Camp Outpost Tampa.
On Dec. 29 last year, with their video cameras rolling, about 50 insurgents hit the outpost with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and the biggest suicide truck bomb ever seen by soldiers from the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, a Fort Lewis-based combat team.
The insurgents' goal, say Army unit commanders, was to overrun the position and videotape the celebration, airing the images across the Middle East as a symbol of U.S. defeat.
To keep reinforcements from the beleaguered fort, the enemy spread IEDs — artillery shells connected by detonation cord — across a major roadway.
Holt, 28, was told to clear the road by putting plastic explosives on each live round, by hand, under fire, and then blowing them up. [...]
Vote for Michael Yon Photo
You now have the opportunity to vote for Michael Yon's gripping photo from last May as Time Magazine's photo of the year. Visit his site for the details.
Reporting From Iraq
Fairbanks News-Miner reporter Margaret Friedenauer is embedded with 172nd Stryker Brigade in Iraq. Her blog can be found at this URL.
Birds Of Baghdad
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
His latest blog entry contains some references to soldiers of the 1-25 SBCT.
Bruce Willis comes out fighting for Iraq’s forgotten GI heroes
Link to Full Article
By Sarah Baxter, The Sunday Times, London
ANGERED by negative portrayals of the conflict in Iraq, Bruce Willis, the Hollywood star, is to make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy.
It will be based on the exploits of the heavily decorated members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, which has spent the past year battling insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
Willis attended Deuce Four’s homecoming ball this month in Seattle, Washington, where the soldiers are on leave, along with Stephen Eads, the producer of Armageddon and The Sixth Sense.
The 50-year-old actor said that he was in talks about a film of “these guys who do what they are asked to for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom”.
Unlike many Hollywood stars Willis supports the war and recently offered a $1m (about £583,000) bounty for the capture of any of Al-Qaeda’s most wanted leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, its commander in Iraq. Willis visited the war zone with his rock and blues band, the Accelerators, in 2003.
“I am baffled to understand why the things I saw happening in Iraq are not being reported,” he told MSNBC, the American news channel.
He is expected to base the film on the writings of the independent blogger Michael Yon, a former special forces green beret who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their heroics. [...]
Home for the Holiday
Link to Full Article
By REBECCA ADLER, The Daily Democrat
Brandon Huff making plans for his future
Wounded Army Sgt. Brandon Huff said he has nothing to be more thankful for this Thanksgiving than being home with his family.
"I'm grateful to be home," he said. "It's pretty simple, I know, but it's just nice to sleep in my own bed again."
Huff, 23, made his first trip home Saturday night after spending the past six months in physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., recovering from losing his left leg in April after a roadside bomb exploded in Mosul, Iraq.
Huff said last April 20 he and his unit responded to a report of a car bomb in Mosul but when he got out of his vehicle to place cones around the area he saw an explosion from the corner of his eye. Someone had placed a bomb in a transformer box at the base of a light pole. [...]
Operation Steel Curtain concludes
CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq –Iraqi Army Soldiers and Marines, Soldiers and Sailors with Regimental Combat Team –2 wrapped up Operation Al Hajip Elfulathi (Steel Curtain) today near the Syrian border.
The 17-day offensive, which took place in the cities of Husaybah, Karabilah and Ubaydi, was part of the larger Operation Sayaid (Hunter) designed to prevent al Qaeda in Iraq-led terrorists from operating in the Euphrates River Valley and throughout al Anbar province. The operation made way for the establishment of a permanent Iraqi Army security presence in the al Qaim region and set the conditions for local citizens to vote in the upcoming Dec.15 elections.
Operation Steel Curtain ushered in the first large-scale operational employment of the Iraqi Army, approximately 1,000 Soldiers, in western al Anbar province. The Iraqi Soldiers conducted detailed clearing missions alongside Coalition counterparts and began establishing permanent bases within these three cities. Forces at these outposts will prevent the al Qaeda in Iraq-led terrorists from regaining a presence in these cities and threatening local residents with their murder and intimidation campaign.
Integration of locally recruited Iraqi Army Soldiers in al Anbar was introduced by the arrival of the Desert Protectors. The Desert Protectors were recruited from the al Qaim region and worked alongside the Iraqi Army and U.S. units throughout the course of the operation. Their familiarity with the area and its people was crucial in identifying friend from foe and enabled their Iraqi and Coalition partners to better understand the geographical complexities of the region.
Ten Marines were killed in fighting during Operation Steel Curtain. Since the operation began 139 terrorists were killed and 256 processed for detention.
The porous Iraq-Syria border was identified as a main route for men, material and money to be transited into Iraq. The western Euphrates River Valley region was known to be a major artery for al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. Iraqi Soldiers and U.S. forces moved in on Husaybah the morning of Nov. 5, followed shortly thereafter by Karabilah, Ubaydi and winding up clearing the Ramana region.
Iraqi Army Soldiers and U.S. forces will continue to maintain presence and increase efforts in securing the Iraq-Syria border.
A Vision of Iraq
The Associated Press has put together a very nice multimedia presentation regarding SGT Walt Gaya (previous entry) of the 1/25 SBCT. It features photos and audio content from Gaya, who suffered an eye injury while serving in Iraq.
The Punishers' Ball
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
After a hard year of fighting and nation-building in northern Iraq, the Deuce Four has finally and completely returned home to the United States, where they threw a party to mark the occasion. Distinguished guests flew in to attend what was officially called the Redeployment Ball. [...]
Family proud even as they cry
Link to Full Article
By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The Fisher brothers – Robert and Donald – spent much of the past year in Iraq with separate Army units from Fort Lewis.
They hoped their paths would cross over there, but they never quite managed it, and Robert returned home in late September.
Now Robert is on his way to meet his kid brother, but under circumstances their Army family hoped would never come to pass.
He’s going to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the waypoint for returning U.S. casualties, and he will escort Donald’s remains home to Parkland.
“It’s a hard thing I’ve asked him to do,” their father, Donald, said Tuesday, as he and his wife, Sheryl, made plans for their son’s burial at Tahoma National Cemetery.
Cpl. Donald Fisher, 21, was killed Friday when his convoy vehicle was involved in a collision in Kirkuk in northeast Iraq, according to a Pentagon news release.
Also killed was Pfc. Antonio Mendez Sanchez, 22, of Rincon, Puerto Rico. Both men were truck drivers with the 40th Transportation Company, a fuel-hauling unit from Fort Lewis.
The Army lists Fisher’s home of record as Avon, Mass., but family members said they’ve been in the Tacoma area for more than 20 years. [...]
Americans Among Us
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
I had yelled goodbye to Walt just before the mission, and some hours later when a bomb tore through the bottom of his Stryker vehicle, every man in it--including Walt--was wounded.
Lying in the hospital, still in Iraq, Walt Gaya was in the United States Army, but he was not an American. Not on paper, anyway: Walt was born in Argentina. He survived the blast, but his new wounds would preclude his flight from Mosul to Baghdad in time to participate in a swearing-in ceremony that would have been his official welcome as a new American. [...]
Returning veterans face new challenges
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News-Tribune
Fresh from a year in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Daniel Garcia and his fellow soldiers went to Boze Elementary School in Tacoma on Thursday to meet students who were their pen pals.
Garcia’s unit was among dozens of Fort Lewis troops that have fanned out all week to meet the more than 40 requests for soldiers to appear at Veterans Day events.
“It’s great. There’s definitely a lot of warmth,” said Garcia, 33.
“People around town, at restaurants, they’ll say thank you for everything. It feels really good to hear that.”
There’s a deeper level, though, than cheering kids, balloons and yellow ribbons. Veterans of the urban guerrilla war in Iraq have to cope with difficult things they saw and did in combat.
It’s hard to rejoin a family that’s been getting along for a year without them.
Guardsmen and reservists rejoin co-workers and bosses who have no idea what they’ve been through. [...]
Stryker brigade to split
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
FORT LEWIS -- Soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, who returned last month from a yearlong deployment to Iraq are preparing for a move to Germany.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 brigade soldiers and their families would begin leaving next spring to form the nucleus of a new Stryker brigade forming in Vilseck, Germany, suggested Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling, operations officer for U.S. Army Europe.
The exact number isn't yet known, he said.
The brigade has about 4,000 soldiers.
About 200 soldiers and family members attended a meeting Wednesday night in which Hertling presented information and answered questions about the upcoming move. The first meeting was Tuesday night.
Germany is a great place to live, said Hertling, who told soldiers they'd find the same quality of housing, child care and medical care that they have here.
The session included a quirky two-minute promotional video produced by a Bavarian tourism agency, and one soldier won a certificate for a free weekend at a resort near Vilseck.
The purpose of the sessions was strictly to ease anxieties and let families know how military stationing in Germany has changed in recent years, Hertling said after the meeting.
More information is included regarding the remaining Stryker Brigades at Ft. Lewis.
War blog rings true for many
Link to Full Article
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
Back in February, one month into his stay in Iraq, writer Michael Yon almost ended his attempt to chronicle the war in an online blog. He lacked the backing of a newspaper, magazine or book publisher, and grew weary of the risks of life in a combat zone as he embedded with U.S. troops.
"I was ready to get out. I wasn't getting paid, and it was damn dangerous," Yon said. "Every day I was thinking 'Is this the day I might get killed or get my legs blown off?' "
Yon hung on, emerging as one of the best-read bloggers of the war (his site is michaelyon.blogspot.com), as he chronicled a tumultuous spring and summer in Mosul with the "Deuce Four," a battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment, part of the Fort Lewis-based 1st Brigade (Stryker), 25th Infantry Division.
Yon's words and photos offer a sometimes gut-wrenching view of the war and its toll on U.S. soldiers, insurgents and civilians.
The blog emerged as a powerful example of the platform that the Internet offers a lone writer, and Yon as a high-profile voice who believes the U.S. military in Mosul has made substantial progress in quelling in the insurgency.
Yon is part of a broader network of war bloggers that include U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians such as Riverbend, a young Iraqi woman. She posts an often bleak view of an occupation gone sour in her blog, Baghdad Burning, riverbendblog.blogspot.com.
Collectively, these blogs offer alternate portals through which readers around the world can gain insights into Iraq. Yon says his best-read dispatches have attracted more than 80,000 viewers. And last summer, after he started posting a solicitation for money to help pay for the dispatches, thousands of people responded; the smallest donation was $2; the largest, $2,000.
Last week, Yon was taking a brief break from Iraq, returning to the United States for the first time this year for a welcome-home ball in Tacoma for the Deuce Four. The formal event on Saturday drew hundreds of battalion members as well as actor Bruce Willis, who touts Yon's blog as the "real deal" in a post on his own Web site.
There's more...
Fort Lewis soldiers to be sworn in as U.S. citizens
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- As far as Nicaraguan immigrant Jean Zamora is concerned, the United States has always been his home. So after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he wanted to serve and fight for a country that, legally, was not his own.
Until now.
Zamora and at least 20 other Stryker Brigade soldiers are to be granted citizenship during a ceremony Thursday at the Army's Fort Lewis, 40 miles south of here.
Specialist Zamora is a gunner with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division - one of three Stryker Brigade Combat teams based at the post. The 4,000-member brigade began returning from Iraq in September after a year-long tour.
"This is a great way for soldiers, many of whom have already served with the U.S. Army in Iraq and elsewhere, to show they want to continue serving the United States in an even larger capacity by being a citizen," said Joseph Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.
Piek said Fort Lewis does not track how many non-citizens soldiers are based at the post, or how many are currently seeking citizenship.
Heroics on two other days earned Silver Stars for ‘Deuce Four’
Link to Full Article
Silver Star goes to Stryker soldiers tested in Iraq
MICHAEL GILBERT
Massive truck bomb had turned much of the Fort Lewis soldiers’ outpost to rubble. One of their own lay dying and many others wounded.
Some 50 al-Qaida fighters were attacking from several directions with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
It was obvious that the insurgents had come to drive the platoon of Stryker brigade troops out of Combat Outpost Tampa, a four-story concrete building overlooking a major highway through western Mosul, Iraq.
“It crossed my mind that that might be what they were going to try to do,” recalled Staff Sgt. Robert Bernsten, one of 40 soldiers at the outpost that day.
“But I wasn’t going to let that happen, and looking around I could tell nobody else in 2nd platoon was going to let that happen, either.”
He and 10 other soldiers from the same unit – the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment – would later be decorated for their valor on this day of reckoning, Dec. 29, 2004.
Three were awarded the Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest award for heroism in combat.
When you combine those medals with two other Silver Star recipients involved in different engagements, the battalion known as “Deuce Four” stands in elite company. [...]
The Stryker brigade infantry battalion known as “Deuce Four” had five Silver Star and 26 Bronze Star for valor recipients during its year in Iraq.
Silver Star
Maj. Mark Bieger
Staff Sgt. Wesley Holt
Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay
Sgt. Joseph Martin
Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Prosser
Bronze Star for valor
Staff Sgt. Richard Bernsten
Lt. John Bourque
Pfc. Joseph Bourne
Sgt. 1st Class Robert Bowman
Spc. Dennis Burke
Sgt. David Carlton
Sgt. Sebastian Chrzanowski
Spc. Henry Flanagan
Sgt. Roy Freeman
Spc. Mark Fuerbringer
Sgt. Nicholas Furfari
Sgt. 1st Class Mark Gallegos
Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Hicks
Sgt. Brandon Huff
Sgt. Christopher Manikowski
Sgt. 1st Class David McDaniel
Sgt. Ryan Mitchell
Sgt. Benjamin Morton*
Lt. Raub Nash
Spc. Jason Okon
Sgt. Adam Plumondore*
Staff Sgt. Joseph Robeson
Lt. Jeremy Rockwell
Pfc. Oscar Sanchez*
Spc. Steven Sosa
Staff Sgt. Ofa Tali
* Awarded posthumously
‘Die Hard’ actor makes a cameo at ball honoring Fort Lewis troops
Actor Bruce Willis attended a formal homecoming ball Saturday night for members of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.
Willis praised the soldiers of “Deuce Four” and sat at the head table with Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the battalion’s commander, and Col. Robert Brown, the departing commander of Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade.
“Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, at the very least there are young men and women who are asked every day to make the ultimate sacrifice and are not getting the respect back home they deserve,” Willis said in a brief interview. “Until that changes, I intend to keep talking about it.”
Later, he pumped up the troops in an unscripted address. As the “Die Hard” star spoke, several soldiers and their wives creeped forward to take pictures with their cell phone cameras.
Veterans share military experiences with Argo students
Link to Full Article
By Jim Hook, Daily Southtown
The military came Friday to Argo Community High School in Summit.
They weren't recruiters hoping to persuade seniors uncertain of their futures to sign on the dotted line.
These were proud military veterans who spent time serving their country in wars from Korea to Iraq.
And they shared their experiences with Argo students as part of the school's 16th annual Veterans Day observance. [...]
Robert Metcalf, who recently returned from a 14-month deployment in Iraq as a member of the Army's 25th Infantry Division, said his unit experienced its first firefight two days into its tour.
Metcalf, of Frankfort, is both Airborne and Ranger qualified and currently training to be a Green Beret, and he said he enlisted in the military two days after Sept. 11, 2001.
"I felt it was my turn to serve and protect this country," he said. "These proud gentlemen took a turn, and I felt it was my turn."
Metcalf said the war in Iraq has taken its toll.
"We've lost a lot of good soldiers," he said. "We lost some 6,000 Americans in 35 minutes on Sept. 11.
"We're fighting the war on terror on their turf," Metcalf said. "In the last four years since 9-11 there have been no terrorist attacks here."
Argo students were moved by the veterans' experiences. [...]
Stryker brigade gains new leader in ceremony
Link to Full Article
The Olympian
A Stryker brigade that recently returned from Iraq has a new commander.
Col. John S. RisCassi assumed control of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, on Friday during a change of command ceremony at the post. He replaces Col. Robert Brown, who is being reassigned to U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii.
RisCassi joined the Army in 1984. His previous assignments include tours in Germany, Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm where he served as a company commander, and in the Pentagon as a Joint Chiefs of Staff intern.
At Fort Lewis, he commanded the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, during the transformation of the first Stryker brigade.
Hero hailed by men he saved
Link to Full Article
By ROGER W. HOSKINS, Modesto Bee
"We had an angel watching over us, and his name was Oscar."
That was the sentiment of the buddies Oscar Sanchez saved and of their families, who gathered about 500 strong at the Fort Lewis amphitheater in Washington state to honor their fallen comrade one more time last week.
Sanchez's cousins, Vincente and Martha Padilla of Modesto, and their three children were the guests of honor for welcome-home and medals ceremonies for members of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, just back from Iraq.
Sanchez's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, cited the fallen soldier's bravery. He related how on Dec. 29, Sanchez had stood up from behind the protection of a barrier in order to fire his weapon at a suicide bomber bent on crashing an explosives-laden truck into the Army compound in Mosul, Iraq.
Sanchez kept firing and the bomber blew up virtually in front and below him. But the bomb was outside the barrier instead of inside the base. Fourteen soldiers were wounded. Sanchez died.
Padilla said one part of Kurilla's tribute always will be etched in her mind and heart.
"He said how 'Oscar chose to give his life to save his buddies knowing he had another choice' where he could have saved himself." [...]
Paying Respect to Those Who've Earned It
Link to Full Article
By Michael Yon
Bruce Willis is one of the finest and most successful actors in the world. Further introduction would be redundant. Mr. Willis has been to Iraq with his band and the USO, and has been following the events in Mosul through my dispatches. He has expressed his desire to support our troops to me on numerous occasions. One need only read his website to see how strongly he feels about this: www.brucewillis.com.
And so, Mr. Willis wanted to personally thank American soldiers for their successes and sacrifices in Iraq, and made plans to fly to the Fort Lewis area and thank soldiers who fought so well. Mr. Willis will attend the “Deuce Four” Ball near Fort Lewis, on November 5th, 2005. [...]
Vet who photographed Iraq loses some sight
Link to Full Article
ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Army Sgt. Walt Gaya spent his time in Iraq peering - through the scope of his sniper rifle and through the lens of his camera, snapping black-and-white pictures of his unit and of life in the turbulent city of Mosul.
Becoming a professional photographer was his dream. Losing his sight was his nightmare, which he sometimes mentioned in long-distance phone calls to his wife, Jessica, in Washington.
Then on a routine patrol last July in Mosul, with his trusty Leica wedged among the gear in his backpack, a roadside bomb ripped open the hull of Gaya's Stryker combat vehicle, wounding all nine men inside.
Gaya felt his leg throbbing as he helped the others escape the 19-ton vehicle. Shrapnel had torn through the leg and shredded a knee ligament.
Then he felt a sharp pain in his left eye. His vision began to blur.
While attention has focused on the more than 2,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003, another 16,000 have been wounded, nearly half so severely they didn't return to duty. Their injuries have altered their lives, in some cases leaving hopes and plans in tatters - or futures uncertain like Gaya's.
Evacuated back to a U.S. base in Germany and then to the United States, Gaya had to leave behind his camera, still tucked in a backpack inside the crippled vehicle on a Mosul street.
In the first moments after the explosion, Gaya was just grateful to be alive. He had survived an earlier roadside bombing with burns on his lower back and some hearing loss.
But then, with each painful blink as he helped set up a security perimeter around his disabled vehicle, his mind raced with fears that the blurred vision would never clear.
Gaya, 30, had pursued his passion for photography in Iraq not only to relax but also to help document life in a country in turmoil. [...]
Gaya says he won't let his injury define his life. On his lunch breaks at Fort Lewis, he uses a camera he bought from a pawn shop, venturing into the morning mist to snap shots of soldiers training.
His old Leica was retrieved from the blast site in Iraq, but he chuckles when he thinks of its battered condition. He still takes black and white shots, but now he sometimes uses color film to take pictures of his children.
Gaya's enlistment is up next spring, and he's busy compiling a portfolio of his photographic work. He hopes news agencies or magazines will look past the dark patch he wears over his left eye and hire him as a photographer.
"I feel like I'm going to have to work extra hard to demonstrate that it's not going to be a problem," he said. "I never even considered stopping. It's not me to just quit."
1/25 SBCT Homecoming Ceremony
We'll list all articles we find regarding yesterday's Homecoming Ceremony for the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT) at Ft. Lewis.
UPDATE: We fixed the link to the Seattle Times story.
Related Articles:
Stryker Brigade Combat Team Welcomed Home - KOMO News
Strykers take time to rest, reflect - The News Tribune
Flags fly as soldiers return home - The Seattle Times
Photo 1, Photo 2 - Frontline Photos
Present in spirit, if not in body
Link to Full Article
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
TACOMA — At the ball to welcome them back from Iraq, a circle of soldiers gathered around a short, slender woman in a long black dress bedecked with silver sparkles.
They reached out to touch her hand. They clasped her in bear hugs. They shared tears. And they all asked Sema Olson a question:
How is Bobby?
Cpl. Bobby Rosendahl, Olson's 24-year-old son, was grievously wounded last March in a bomb explosion in Talafar, Iraq. He has been at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for eight months. Olson has been there, too, helping him survive the amputation of his leg and more than 30 operations.
Olson had hoped her son would join her for the brief trip to Washington to celebrate the fall return of the rest of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, of the Strykers' 1st Brigade. There would be cocktails, a white-tablecloth dinner, then dancing in a huge hall at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.
But Rosendahl, still largely confined to a wheelchair, had balked. So Olson flew here alone. She arrived for cocktails carrying a big framed picture of her son in uniform — before the bomb. She sat down for dinner and placed it by her side. [...]
Dispatches From Iraq
Even though his friend Matt has returned safely from Iraq, Dave has posted a Dispatch he's held in reserve. If you're interested he has links to previous Dispatches as well.
Little Rhma tickled pink after successful heart surgery
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Little Rhma has a new color about her.
Pink.
Because of a congenital heart defect, the tiny 5-year-old Iraqi girl hasn't had that healthy glow that comes with well-oxygenated blood circulating through the body.
But on Monday, Rhma underwent heart surgery in Albuquerque that saved her life and put her in the pink.
"She no longer is the color of a blueberry!" exclaimed Debbie O�Rourke, president of the New Mexico chapter of Healing the Children, a nonprofit organization that played a role in a huge mission that started with a few motivated infantry soldiers and progressed to involving Healing the Children, U.S. Embassy staffs, Capitol Hill, and a hospital and surgeons who donated to the life-saving effort.
Rhma was born with two holes between the upper and lower chambers of her heart, and a ventricle that fails to properly circulate her blood.
Her lips had a bluish tint, and the tips of her hands and feet were swollen and turned purplish-blue, a symptom called "clubbing" caused by poor blood circulation, explained Dr. (Maj.) Dave Brown, surgeon for 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, who first examined Rhma in May.
If the problem is left untreated, her limbs might have been amputated, and the pressure imbalance eventually would have worn out her heart.
Brown and Capt. Paul Carron, Company C commander, were instrumental in making the right connections that got Rhma from Mosul to Baghdad, then to the U.S. Embassy in Jordan and on to the U.S. for treatment. Her last name is not being published because her family fears retaliation for accepting help from Americans. [...]
Thanks to Terry for the tip on this article.
Greenwich soldier earns Bronze Star
Link to Full Article
By Hoa Nguyen
On an April Sunday in Mosul, Iraq, a vehicle carrying a suicide bomber came racing toward Lt. Nate Raymond's platoon, exploding and injuring several soldiers inside an armored vehicle.
Raymond didn't hesitate.
"I organized a perimeter around the vehicle," said the 24-year-old Greenwich native.
The other Strykers surrounded the hit one, providing cover so the injured soldiers could be evacuated. His actions during that attack as well as other combat situations earned him a Bronze Star Medal, which will be awarded at a battalion ceremony later this month at his base in Fort Lewis, Wash.
A Bronze Star Medal, which is given for meritorious service in the face of an enemy of the United States, is not only a first for Raymond but a first for a Greenwich family with a long military tradition, including a grandfather who was a colonel and a great-grandfather who served as an Army dentist in World War I.
"It's the first one in the family," said Raymond's 52-year-old father, Richard, who served in the military reserves. "We're certainly very proud of him and pleased that he's been recognized and very glad that he's home safe."
Nate Raymond, who served as rifle platoon leader of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, returned to Fort Lewis on Sept. 26, after spending eight months in Mosul....
All party, no pity
Sgt. Brent Bretz, who was seriously injured in Mosul last year, makes the trip to Ft. Lewis to welcome his company home.
Link to Full Article
The Arizona Republic
PUYALLUP, Wash. - The boys of Charlie Company are finally home, and they want steak.
In a tiny apartment near Fort Lewis, Wash., they knock back bottles of Rolling Rock and Budweiser, fire up the patio grill and try to outdo each other with pickled one-liners.
These are the simple things you can't afford to do when you're fighting a war half a world away, where it's hotter than hell and you spend most days guessing if the people in the next village are going to greet you or shoot at you.
So on this Wednesday night, just days after getting back from Iraq, these 23- and 24-year-old Army sergeants eat and drink their long overdue fill.
The young sergeant in the wheelchair is Brent Bretz, who flew to Washington from his home in Mesa to see his guys. [...]
Twenty-three-year-old Bretz is cracking the bulk of the jokes tonight, sipping on Rolling Rocks and answering his cellphone, which seems to ring every five minutes.
This is Bretz's homecoming, too.
The last time his boys saw him was December.
Bretz was barely alive, clinging to life after a makeshift bomb blew up his truck and shattered most of his body on a road outside Mosul, Iraq.
The first one in his company of 160 to be seriously injured, Bretz lost most of both legs, shattered his left arm, ruptured his spleen, fractured his face and suffered severe burns.
"You hear about it, but it doesn't really set in until it happens to you or your family," confides Kryder, 23, who helped rush Bretz to the hospital after the explosion. "It makes you take a step back."
These guys are tight. When they were stationed at Fort Lewis, they would drive down to Portland most Wednesday nights to see some rock-and-roll band and almost miss work the next morning.
And when their infantry unit shipped out to Iraq last October, they watched each other's backs.
"It's beyond a friendship," Bretz says. "We're like brothers."
'The Brigade Made A Huge Difference In Northern Iraq'
Link to Full Article
By Keith Eldridge, KOMO News
FORT LEWIS - President Bush warns that al-Qaida is still plotting against America as he seeks to revive support for the war in Iraq. But what do the soldiers say? We had a chance to talk with the commander of the Stryker Brigade that just returned from Iraq.
For a year, the 4,000 soldiers from Fort Lewis have been battling the insurgents in Iraq. Today, the president says it's a fight that is nowhere near over: "We will never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory."
The Strykers are all back home here at Fort Lewis now and have had a chance to think about what they accomplished in Iraq. Their top commander says they left Iraq in much better shape than when they got there.
"This is a different type of war in a counter insurgency where sometimes it's not as clear what is accomplished," said Stryker brigade commander Col. Bob Brown. "But the brigade really did a fantastic job and in fact made a huge difference in Northern Iraq."
Col. Brown has been back only a few days. Iraq is fresh on his mind. "One of the things you can measure is 80 percent of al-Qaida in Northern Iraq were either captured or killed. That's not our term, this came from the al-Qaida leaders themselves."
The Stryker Brigade, known by its specialized vehicles, spent much of its time around Mosul.
"We captured the No. 2 al-Qaida leader in Iraq and the No. 1 in Northern Iraq and after he was captured, the next 7 guys to step up to take over were captured." [...]
The Battle For Mosul IV
Michael Yon has posted his latest dispatch, The Battle For Mosul IV, which, as always, is a must read. In his email he mentions that after a brief respite in the States he is on his way back to Iraq, presumably to cover the upcoming elections.
Fort Lewis revolving door keeps turning
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, News-Tribune
Nearly all the Stryker soldiers are home, but Fort Lewis still has some 3,000 soldiers either in Iraq or Afghanistan, or on their way soon.
The post has military police, medics and engineers spread across the Middle East and Central Asia. More engineers and support troops are bound for locations all over Iraq in the next few weeks.
Meantime, all but the last few flights of soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division have returned from their year in combat. About 200 more returned Tuesday morning, with another 130 or so due late Tuesday night.
“You remember this day for the rest of your life,” the brigade commander, Col. Robert Brown, observed as soldiers and family members reunited at Soldiers Fieldhouse.
Beaming parents stopped on their way out of the building to shake the colonel’s hand and thank him for bringing their loved one back home. Brown in turn thanked each of the parents. [...]
Outpost in the Sand
Link to Full Article
By CRAIG S. SMITH, The New York Times
RAWA, Iraq - A few miles outside this sleepy river town, marked in many places with black spray-painted scrawls hailing the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, called Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, American troops are building a desert outpost of plywood huts protected by dirt-filled blast barriers and surrounded by a high berm.
American military commanders see this effort as a crucial step in their strategy of cutting off the supply of foreign fighters that has fed the insurgency and threatens to tip the country into civil war.
Attention has focused recently on the northern city of Tal Afar, another entry point for foreign fighters, where 8,500 American and Iraqi troops have been fighting insurgents since early September.
But the greater battle lies ahead, in the towns in the Euphrates River valley, where for nearly two years Mr. Zarqawi's fighters have had free rein, blowing up police stations and building a network of safe houses to stockpile weapons, make car bombs and move fighters into the country from Syria.
Foreigners who infiltrated Iraq through the network are believed to have carried out most of the suicide attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere that have become among the most visible and destabilizing tools of the insurgency.
Now, American and Iraqi forces are trying to change that by occupying towns like Rawa and installing Iraqi Army battalions to keep insurgents at bay. They engaged in heavy fighting with insurgents recently in Ramadi, a major city on the river, and they continued to carry out airstrikes and ground raids against insurgent safe houses along the Syrian border. But American military officials say the strategy, which residents say is killing civilians, is not enough. [...]
Rawa did not exactly send out the Welcome Wagon after the Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the Second Infantry Division arrived in late July. In little more than a month, the unit was hit by two dozen roadside bombs and eight suicide car bombs. It has been backed by two airstrikes; one on an armor-hardened safe house with a large weapons cache and another on a building booby-trapped with artillery shells.
I believe the author meant the 25th Infantry Division, not the 2nd ID.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new Dispatch From Iraq on his site from his friend Matt with the 1/25 SBCT.
Town bonds with brigade
Link to Full Article
By EIJIRO KAWADA; The News Tribune
It was around midnight, and Puyallup Mayor Kathy Turner was trying not to fall asleep as she sat with her husband, Gary, in the bleachers of a Fort Lewis gymnasium. [...]
In March 2000, Lt. Gen. James Hill, then-commander of I Corps and Fort Lewis, began Community Connections, a program designed to build closer ties and mutual understanding between Fort Lewis and its neighbors.
The program partners 15 colonels – commanders of units stationed on the post – with area municipalities.
In 2002, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, then-commander of Fort Lewis, told Brown to go to a meeting in Puyallup held by the Chamber of Eastern Pierce County.
Brown was puzzled.
“I thought, ‘What the heck am I doing at a Chamber of Commerce meeting when I’m trying to get my brigade ready for combat?’” Brown recalled.
But he was struck by the enthusiasm of Mayor Turner, who had never been around things military, as she sought to learn what a brigade of soldiers does.
Brown began attending community meetings and events. He came to the opening of the Puyallup Public library in 2002. He was the keynote speaker at the city’s Memorial Day event last year, shortly before his troops left for northern Iraq.
In turn, Brown invited Puyallup officials to an open house and other events at Fort Lewis. His soldiers volunteered, cleaning city cemeteries and taking retirement home residents to the Puyallup Fair.
When the Strykers deployed overseas a year ago, Puyallup beefed up its efforts to support them. [...]
State, Army tailor popular program to military women
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner
Since Denise Goldstine's husband deployed with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Iraq last month, she's had to take on extra roles. She's mother and father, student, caregiver, breadwinner and more. This weekend she decided to add another title to her name. She is becoming an outdoors woman.
Goldstine and about 50 other military spouses, active-duty soldiers and Department of Defense employees took part in the first All Military Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshop held at Fort Wainwright.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and The Hunter Heritage Foundation of Alaska has been hosting the Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshops for 10 years in the Interior. According to Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms, about two years ago several people began talking of bringing the workshop to Fort Wainwright specifically for the military community. [...]
600 teams to run Army Ten-Miler
Link to Full Article
Army News Service
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 28, 2005) – More than 20,000 runners and 600 teams from around the world are registered for the 21st annual Army Ten-Miler beginning at 8 a.m., Oct. 2 at the Pentagon. [...]
‘Ponch’ Avila inspiring Lewis team - While assigned to 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division operating near Mosul in Iraq less than a year ago, Sgt. 1st Class Gerardo Avila was hurt in an Improvised Explosive Device blast.
The vehicle’s driver lost both legs while Avila was injured in the face, eye, and has lost much of his hearing in one ear. Several operations are still pending, yet he has maintained his fitness and his training, inspiring a very fast men’s team from Fort Lewis, Wash., as its fastest runner.
Stuffing Irag's Ballot Boxes
With the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution coming next month, a 1/25 SBCT soldier recounts irregularities in the previous election process.
Link to Full Article
By Gareth Porter, Asia Times
WASHINGTON - If the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution next month is conducted fairly, it now appears very likely that the document will be defeated by a two-thirds majority in the three Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Salahadeen and Nineveh, plunging Iraq into a new political crisis.
However, one way such a defeat could be averted is by massive vote fraud in the key province of Nineveh. According to an account provided by the US liaison with the local election commission, supported by physical evidence collected by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), Kurdish officials in Nineveh province tried to carry out just such a ballot-stuffing scheme in last January's election. [...]
In the January election, the Kurds dealt with the problem of being a relatively small minority in the province by stuffing the ballot boxes, as recounted by Major Anthony Cruz, an US Army reserve civil affairs officer assigned to work with the province's electoral commission.
Cruz, now back in Los Angeles, provided a detailed account of the election in Nineveh to IPS in interviews.
The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division ("Stryker Brigade") was responsible for getting ballot boxes and ballots to polling places on the Nineveh Plain in January's election. But it relied on battle-hardened Kurdish Pershmerga militiamen to maintain security in the towns and villages, and did not know its way around the area well enough to deliver ballot boxes there without Kurdish help, according to Cruz. [...]
This interesting tale continues.....
Operation Rhma: Final Mission
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
Much world travel has convinced me that the “average American” is a good person. But even a good person needs information in order to act effectively on their best impulses. Oftentimes, good things do not happen simply because information does not make it to the right people.
I believe this was the case for a sick little Iraqi girl named Rhma. American “Deuce Four” soldiers found Rhma one night in Mosul. She needed serious medical attention. Doctors, nurses and others back in America, along with the soldiers in Mosul, worked diligently on behalf of this child, and eventually they generated the support required to get Rhma the treatment she desperately needed. But it wasn’t just Americans: I also saw offers come in from the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, among others. [...]
Area soldier graces cover of TIME
Link to Full Article
By Patricia Wolff, of The Northwestern
POY SIPPI – U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joseph Anderson stepped off a plane from Iraq Friday and saw his face on the cover of TIME Magazine.
“He just got off a plane in an airport in Maine and his buddy said, “Isn’t that you?’” said Laura Heeren, Anderson’s mother.
The picture shows an intense, though tired, Anderson on guard duty. The caption identifies him as a U.S. soldier with Alpha Company 3-21 Stryker Brigade searching for insurgents in Mosul, Iraq. Anderson, 22, did not know he would be pictured. [...]
Local soldier slowly heals from Iraq blast wounds
Link to Full Article
By SHAWBONG FOK, Democrat staff Writer
Sgt. Brandon Huff of Woodland, whose left leg was taken by a hidden explosive in Mosul, Iraq last April, is still being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
He has been receiving physical and occupational therapy five times week. The physical therapy has strengthened him to walk again while using a prosthetic leg. And the occupational therapy addresses his weaknesses incurred from a stroke he suffered as a result of blood clots. Doctors haven't yet figured out precisely when the blood clot happened.
So far, he has seen the support of many friends and family. Friends have flown in to Washington, D.C., where the hospital is based, to see him.
"That was the best emotional support he could have had," said Marcia Hammill, Brandon's mother, a speech therapist for the Yolo County Office of Education.
Donations have helped pay for housing and flying friends back to see Huff.
Huff has even gotten a dose of national media attention. The "Today Show" of NBC interviewed him last week during a hospital-based kayaking program he's participated in. The class helps soldiers for re-entry into the real world. The segment is scheduled to air in the near future.
Driving has also become a possibility.
For that, he has signed up to take a driving test again to reinstate his license.
BBN turns its focus to new technologies for use in wartime
Link to Full Article
By Robert Weisman, Boston Globe
CAMBRIDGE -- BBN Technologies built the forerunner of today's Internet, employed the @ sign to send the first e-mail, and even designed the acoustics for the UN General Assembly Hall in Manhattan. But the company didn't get rich off of any of those milestones. [...]
But military research still represents more than 80 percent of BBN's revenue, and most of the cutting-edge technologies coming out of its labs today, from distributed software to artificial intelligence, are focused on aiding the US armed forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One research effort is dubbed Ambush, a multiplayer military training program for personal computers that simulates a convoy moving on a desert highway.
''Over the past five years, because of what's going on in the world, their technologies have become ever more relevant," said David Fialkow, the General Catalyst managing director who sits on the BBN board.
The software and artificial intelligence agents create a series of virtual scenarios (sniper fire, improvised explosive devices, car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades) requiring quick decision-making by troops in the convoy.
''It throws you into situations," said Bruce Roberts, scientist at BBN's distributed systems and logistics division. ''The goal is to make day one like day three, to make sure that when you go on a convoy you're up to speed with the environment and the skills you need."
The program, part of the computer-based training initiative funded by Darpa, was tested at the Pentagon's Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana as a supplement to physical training. It was fielded by the Army's 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which was deployed to Iraq from Fort Lewis, Wash. [...]
Homecoming Photos
One of the nice things we were able to do last year when the 3/2 SBCT redeployed was create an album in the gallery with various photos of the homecoming ceremonies. If you attend one of the 1/25 SBCT ceremonies and have pictures it would be great to share them with other family members that perhaps were not able to attend in person.
If you are already a gallery contributor you can simply create a new album on the main photo page and we will consolidate them in one album. If you have photos to share, but need an account, you can send an email to photos (at) strykernews (dot) com and we will forward instructions.
A joyful homecoming at Fort Lewis
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
Amid the handmade "Welcome Home!" signs, low-cut jeans and high expectations, there was Jamie Dillard in a white sweater and floral dress, waiting for her husband in a Fort Lewis gymnasium yesterday.
It had been a year since Spc. Charlie Dillard left for Iraq, along with about 3,800 others in the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Thirty four weren't coming home, the victims of enemy fire, roadside bombings and other violence.
The Fort Lewis-based Strykers — so named for their eight-wheeled combat vehicle — saw some of the hottest action in Iraq, chasing insurgents while rebuilding schools, hospitals and bridges.
Now they are slowly filtering back.
Yesterday, 291 men, including Dillard's husband, reached the last leg of a journey that began in Mosul, Iraq. The troops were late arriving and the morning ceremony had been delayed, leaving families waiting for hours.
Dillard, 25, held her 2-year-old son, Charles Jr., dressed in khaki pants, a white dress shirt and blue sweater.
Her daughter, Katelyn, 6, trotted around, talking to friends as hundreds of families lined bleachers and sat on fold-out chairs.
Dillard preferred to stand.
Soldiers and families rejoin, rejoice at Fort Lewis
Link to Full Article (Updated w/ photos)
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Nearly 300 Stryker soldiers got a loud, joyous welcome home Friday afternoon at Fort Lewis as the first waves of troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division returned from their year in Iraq.
By late Friday – when two more flights were due – more than 1,000 of the Lancer Brigade’s 4,200 soldiers were expected to have made it home. The rest will arrive daily through next weekend.
More than 700 family members and friends crowded into Soldiers Fieldhouse for Friday’s midday return. Maj. Andy Allen, a staff officer-turned-emcee, did his best to whip up the excitement – not that anybody needed much help.
“I can’t sit down, I’m so excited,” said Liz Zamora of Tacoma, waiting for her husband, Sgt. Jorge Zamora. “I’ve been doing laps around the house. … It’s taking forever.”
Allen revved ’em up anyway.
“We’ve got 291 soldiers that spent a year in Iraq!” Allen said.
“Wheee!” screamed the crowd.
“Now, we’ve had some loud reunions, but this one has to be the loudest,” Allen said.
“Wheee!” screamed the crowd.
Allen quickly ran through the instructions. The troops will march in, they’ll stand in formation for a minute or two while a top Fort Lewis officer says a few words. Then they’ll be dismissed.
“That word – dismissed – is your key,” Allen said. “Do not trample the little children! Do not trample your soldier – they have made it this far! And if you do, we’ve got the media here, so you’re going to see it on the 10 o’clock news!”...
Strykers come home safe after year in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News-Tribune
Nearly 300 Stryker soldiers got a loud, joyous welcome home Friday afternoon at Fort Lewis as the first waves of troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division return from their year in Iraq.
By late Friday – when two more flights were due, including one with the brigade's commander – more than 1,000 of the Lancer Brigade's 4,200 soldiers will have made it home. The rest will arrive daily through next weekend. [...]
Battle For Mosul III: Prelude
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
“Deuce Four,” is on its way home.
I attended their departure ceremony, presided over by the much respected Brigade Commander, Colonel Robert Brown. Purple Hearts were awarded to soldiers wounded in action. The commander of the Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was not there to pin the medals on his soldiers; Kurilla was the last Deuce Four solider wounded in Iraq, and was recovering from three gunshot wounds. All told, the 1-24th infantry regiment earned over 157 Purple Hearts during their mission in Mosul. [...]
Schofield welcomes last unit from Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — The last unit of Schofield-based soldiers to return from Iraq flew home yesterday after spending the past year fixing trucks and escorting supply convoys in the Middle East.
Hundreds of family members and friends greeted 151 soldiers of the 536th Maintenance Company with loud cheers during a welcome ceremony at a Schofield Barracks gymnasium.
"I've been waiting for this moment. Too long, way too long," said Spc. Christina Mariscal, as she looked at her 21-month-old son and her husband.
Sent to Iraq last September, the company repaired trucks, radios and other communications equipment around the northern city of Mosul.
They were among the 4,000 soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division (Light) sent to Iraq since the start of the war in 2003. An additional 5,000 soldiers from the division were sent to Afghanistan. [...]
Forces Bolstered In Western Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Bradley Graham, Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 -- U.S. and Iraqi commanders have begun bolstering forces in western Iraq's Euphrates River valley, hoping to choke the flow of foreign fighters along what intelligence officers say has become the primary infiltration route from Syria toward Baghdad.
The buildup, called Operation Sayaid, is aimed at securing the border area around the restive town of Qaim and suppressing other insurgent activity in the villages that hug the winding banks of the Euphrates west of Baghdad.
In recent public remarks, Iraqi Defense Minister Sadoun Dulaimi signaled plans to step up military operations in the valley. Gen. George W. Casey, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an interview that his forces were intent on "restoring Iraqi control of its border by the end of November, before the December elections." Iraqis are expected to vote for a new parliament by Dec. 15, following a referendum Oct. 15 on the country's draft constitution. [...]
Unknown when new Stryker armor will be available
Link to Full Article
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
ARLINGTON, Va. — New armor for the Army’s Stryker fighting vehicles is still being developed and it is not known when it will be made available, military officials said.
The equipment is “taking some time” in development, with the aim being to keep the weight down while maintaining effectiveness, said Col. Robert B. Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade in Iraq.
The Army decided in 2003 that the Stryker should have “reactive armor,” a high-tech surface that explodes on impact deflecting the blast and the projectile.
Currently, “cage” armor, designed to protect Strykers from rocket propelled grenades, is effective but makes the vehicle as wide as an M1 tank, limiting its agility, Brown told Stars and Stripes on Sunday.
Strykers first saw combat in late 2003, in northern Iraq. Prior to deploying, the light-armored fighting vehicles were equipped with a cagelike “slat” armor designed to catch RPG rounds so they explode away from the vehicles. [...]
Stryker troops face big task
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner
Col. Robert Brown gave some insight Wednesday into what the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team may face during the next 12 months of its deployment in Iraq.
Brown is the commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which will return to Fort Lewis, Wash., after 11 months in Iraq. The 172nd is taking over operations and duties in northern Iraq from the 1/25th.
Brown spoke from Mosul via teleconference during a special Defense Department operational update briefing at the Pentagon on operations in northwest Iraq.
Brown said that during the last year, the 1/25th has fought from Fallujah, Baghdad and the Euphrates River valley, up the Tigris River valley, in Mosul and out to the Syrian borders.
U.S. Army Alaska said Friday that the 172nd is already operating in northern Iraq, primarily in the Mosul area. Four soldiers from the 172nd sustained minor injuries last week in skirmishes around Mosul and Rawah.
Brown's soldiers faced tumultuous times and suffered 33 fatalities. The brigade experienced both pre-election and post-election Iraq and weathered the changing tide of public opinion.
"Prior to the elections last January, we faced a very well-trained foreign fighter and some very intense battles. And what we've seen is a population that was on the fence at that time, to post-election, a population that has absolutely understood that their government, their Iraqi security forces support them and the terrorists offer no hope for the future," Brown said.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new Dispatch From Iraq on his site written by his friend with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul. Previous Dispatches are linked to as well.
Grafenwöhr PX complex to be largest in Europe
Link to Full Article
By Ben Murray, Stars and Stripes
Workers at the Grafenwöhr, Germany, training area, home of Europe’s biggest Army base expansion, put spade to dirt Friday on a key element of the garrison’s building projects: a sprawling $38 million shopping center.
Set to include a large post exchange, expanded commissary, food court and auxiliary stores, the new mall will take about 1½ years to build before it is ready to service the area’s about-to-explode population.
“We’re really excited about having this thing under one roof,” said Matt Mennona, Army and Air Force Exchange Service general manager for the Grafenwöhr-Vilseck-Hohenfels area.
Currently, many of the major shopping and food centers are at Vilseck, former home of the recently departed 3rd Brigade Combat Team. The main PX there will close but some services (including an expanded furniture store) will remain as the area repopulates with a Stryker Brigade over the next several years. [...]
Stryker colonel says men made progress in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Down to his last days in Iraq before his troops return to Fort Lewis, Stryker brigade commander Col. Bob Brown gave a final interview Wednesday via teleconference from the Pentagon. Among his subjects:
Homecoming: Brown’s 4,200 troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division are due to begin arriving early next week, officials at Fort Lewis say. They’ve been in Iraq since October, operating mainly in and around the northern city of Mosul.
Who’s replacing them: The 172nd Infantry Brigade from Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
The insurgents: Early on, Brown’s men fought well-trained foreign fighters, but since February they’ve been capturing poorly trained teenagers from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria and elsewhere.
“We’re at the lowest number of attacks by far over the last three months. … Clearly, the foreign network is disrupted,” Brown said.
Many holdouts from Saddam Hussein’s old regime have been killed or captured or have decided to take part in the political process, he said. [...]
Related Article:
U.S. wages war of words in Iraq - AP
Operational Update Briefing on Operations in Northwest Iraq
Portions of the previous article were based on a recent press briefing from Iraq by Colonel Robert Brown, Commander of the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul.
UPDATE: There is video of his briefing available at The Pentagon Channel website as well.
MR. WHITMAN: I can hear you fine here in the Pentagon briefing room in the Pentagon. Thank you very much for joining this morning. We know that you're very busy, but we also know that you're about to come to the end of your tour in Iraq with your unit, and we appreciate the opportunity to get some perspectives from the commander that's been on the ground for some time now.
Colonel Brown joins us from Mosul. He is the commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. It is Stryker-equipped. It's a Stryker brigade. And as I said, they're in the process of wrapping up a yearlong deployment there in Iraq, where the unit's been assigned to the Multinational Forces-Northwest up in the Mosul area.
He's going to give you a brief overview of what they've been doing, and then we're going to take some questions. So with that, let me just turn it over to you, Colonel Brown.
COL. BROWN: Okay. Thank you very much for this opportunity.
The Stryker brigade has fought from Fallujah, Baghdad, Euphrates River Valley and then up in the Tigris River Valley and all the way up to Mosul in northern Iraq and out to the border out in Syria over the last year. We're very proud of the soldiers' performance. And two different situations that we faced in our time here -- pre-election and post-election. Prior to the elections last January, we faced a very well-trained foreign fighter and some very intense battles. And what we've seen is a population that was on the fence at that time, to post-election, a population that has absolutely understood that their government, their Iraqi security forces support them, and the terrorists offer no hope for the future.
One of the great pieces of information we got recently is 80 percent of the al Qaeda network in the north has been devastated. And those are not our figures, those came from the last six leaders in Mosul, al Qaeda leaders that we captured; they informed us of that. We also had a letter that was captured from Abu Zaid (sp) going to Zarqawi. We recently killed Zaid (sp) and we had that letter, and it also talked about the desperate situation for the al Qaeda and the insurgents in Mosul and in the north. And then also, sources we have inside the al Qaeda network up here have also informed us of that.
So we're very proud. We have a situation where the Iraq army is being rebuilt. The Iraqi police that ran away in November are standing and fighting. In fact, they recently found one of the largest caches certainly in the north, and maybe all of Iraq. And they're doing a very good job.
And then we have the population, I think is the most significant change I've seen over the last 11 months, from a population clearly on the fence, not sure -- they want freedom, but they weren't really sure what freedom was, and they were clearly intimidated, to a population that clearly understands they want freedom; they are absolutely sick and tired of the terrorists, the brutal acts against innocent civilians, and they want a brighter future for their children. And we've got a lot of statistics to back that up. Like when we first got here in October, there was -- no hotline existed. We opened a hotline; we got about 40 calls a month prior to January. The last six months, we're up to 400 calls a month. Every day the citizens are stopping us on the street telling us where a potential suspicious individual is who may be a terrorist, and telling us where they tried to plant IEDs and those type of devices. So the population is clearly very confident.
Also, I'm out -- I was out every day over the last 11 months on the ground, and great news about elections up here. You know, we went from last January we weren't sure if we could even have elections. Right now, 80 percent of the folks on the street in Mosul and Nineveh province in the north here say that they will vote. And very interesting -- these are -- many of the folks I talked to are Sunnis who are very upset that they were lied to last election, told not to vote, and they were very excited to vote this election. And I think the biggest challenge is going to be getting enough ballots to the polling sites because so many people want to vote up here.
Finally, the government has really improved their legitimacy. They've had significant economic recovery up here, excellent political participation in Nineveh province from a security council where no one would meet before the last elections to now we recently had a regional security conference with some-300 participants and 400 in the southern part of Nineveh province, so a lot of folks participating, very excited about the future.
So we're very proud of the year here, and our soldiers have worked hard. It has come at a very high cost. We've lost 33 soldiers in the brigade over the past year. Those fallen heroes paid a very big price for liberty, but I will tell you that we are very proud of all our soldiers and how hard they've worked and the great efforts of the whole team up here. And we see the Iraqi forces getting better and the situation improving on a daily basis in Mosul, and it's really the most normal I've seen Mosul since I've been here. The city of 2 million is really at the lowest level of attacks over the last year, and normalcy has come back to the city.
So thanks for this opportunity, and I'm willing to take any questions you have on anything and from my perspective that I can possibly answer for you.
Al Qaeda Declines in Northern Iraq, Military Officer Says
Link to Press Release
By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2005 – Eighty percent of al Qaeda's network in northern Iraq "has been devastated" since January due to the capture or killing of key leaders and the outrage of Iraqi citizens, a U.S. troop commander told Pentagon reporters today.
Army Col. Robert B. Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade Combat Team, reported from Mosul, Iraq, during a videoteleconference that things are looking up in northern Iraq, where "the Iraqi army is being rebuilt" and citizens clearly "want freedom."
The situation in Mosul is "improving on a daily basis," Brown said. "Normalcy has come back into the city."
That wasn't the case prior to the Iraqi elections held in January, Brown recalled, when his soldiers "faced a foreign fighter that was very well-trained." However, the situation has changed significantly since then, he said.
several events caused the decline of terrorist influence in Mosul over the past year by, Brown said. For one, Mosul's citizens, who'd had enough of the murder of innocent women and children by al Qaeda-sponsored terrorists, began supporting their new government after the elections.
Carnage wrought by foreign terrorists also has caused Iraqis who used to favor the return of the defunct Saddam Hussein regime to change sides and support the new Iraqi government, Brown said.
Today, Mosul's citizens routinely identify insurgents and provide other information to U.S., coalition and Iraqi security forces, Brown said.
Battle for Mosul: Progress Report
Michael Yon has updated his blog and has changed the format of his entries. It is worth the time to read the latest entry and look around the new site.
Al-Qaeda 'link to 7/7' found in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Antony Barnett and Mark Townsend, The Observer
British intelligence officials in Iraq are questioning an al-Qaeda operative after information relating to the 7 July London bombings was allegedly found on his computer drive.
The man, who has not been named, was captured by US forces last month. He is understood to have had a portable computer drive on him that showed 'knowledge' of the attacks that killed 56 people.
Colonel Robert Brown, commander of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, in Mosul told a reporter in Iraq working for the news agency UPI about the arrest, but refused to discuss the specific nature of the information.
However, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq confirmed that the information on the drive 'related to the London bombings and showed knowledge'. Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Boylan confirmed that both British and US intelligence are questioning the individual. Boylan said he was not yet in a position to confirm if the information on the computer amounted to plans of the intended attack drawn up prior to the bombing.
If it does emerge that the al-Qaeda operative in Iraq had detailed plans of the Tube bombings, it could provide an important breakthrough in the investigation and provide more evidence of a direct link between the attacks and al-Qaeda in Iraq. [...]
Thousands march to support military families
Link to Full Article
By Heather Woodward, The Olympian
LACEY — It’s nearing the end of a long year for Misty Robinson, whose husband has been deployed to Iraq since last September as part of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade.
He’ll be coming home in a few weeks, making today's Military Family Support March an emotional but festive occasion.
“I’ve got a lot of joy in my heart today,” said Robinson, who carried a sign above her head during the march that read, “I love my soldier.”
“I know my husband is coming home so we can be a family again. So this means a lot to us, to all the wives in general. The support for our husbands touches our hearts.”
This is the third year for the Hawks Prairie Rotary Military Family Support March, which was sponsored in part by The Olympian.
The event raised at least $50,000 this year, up from $37,000 in 2004.
“This is by far the most successful march ever,” said Andrew Oczkewicz, Hawks Prairie Rotary director of community service. “No question about it.”
Donations go to help military families for things such as support groups, military scholarships and the Fort Lewis Food Bank. [...]
Security forces wrap up more terrorists and weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 44 suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches Friday and today.
Iraqi Police along with Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a rocket launcher during a raid in Mosul Friday.
Iraqi Police Commandos along with Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 24 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. The unit also seized a mortar system with multiple rounds of ammunition. Iraqi Police detained 15 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a cache consisting of hundreds of rounds of ammunition in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar Friday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Army Preserves Security of Ninewah Province, MNF-NW DCG Meets with Local Leaders from the Tigris River Valley, Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village, Medical Clinic Treats 30 Iraqis, NCO Academy Completes Room Clearing Phase, Civil Affairs Team Continues CMOC Opportunities for Iraqis, Qayarrah Begins Construction of Medical Clinic
Full Articles:
Iraqi Army Preserves Security of Ninewah Province
NINEWAH PROVINCE, Iraq – On September 8, Lieutenant Colonel Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, and his personal security detachment traveled to Baghad for the MNSTC-I Commander, Lieutenant General Petraeus’, change of command ceremony. While in the nation’s capital, he captured a battalion high value individual, demonstrating an unusual degree of alertness and ingenuity.
Mid-afternoon, Ra’ad’s soldiers observed a man who resembled a high value individual Essa Abas Khalif, active in Task Force (TF) Automatic’s area of responsibility as well as in Mosul, in an Asi Hiah district copy store. Ra’ad approached the man and asked him to identify himself. The man replied with a false name, but Ra’ad seized the original document that the man had been photocopying.
The paper revealed the individual’s real name and he then confessed to being Essa Abas Khalif. Essa is wanted for financing terrorist activities and conducting a rocket attack against Q-West Base Complex in 2003. Upon arrival at Q-West Base Complex yesterday, Essa identified himself in a picture shown to him by the battalion intelligence officer.
TF Automatic recently received intelligence that Essa resurfaced in the Qayarra area. TF Automatic conducted an Automatic and Lancer operation in August with 1/3rd IA Battalion, but was unable to detain the suspected terrorist.
The 3rd (IA) Brigade has proven its ability to maintain a secure Tigris River Valley time and time again.
The three IA battalions – led by Brigadier General Ali Atala Malow, Ra’ad, and Lieutenant Colonel Hogar Salahaddin Abdul – have conducted operations leading to the capture or neutralization of numerous high value individuals, the discovery of a vehicle-borne IED factory and countless AIF weapons caches.
The IA’s 28 permanent traffic control points along main supply route Tampa, alternate supply route Atlanta and other routes heavily used by Coalition forces have reduced the incidence of IED attacks down to virtually zero.
Partnered with Coalition forces, the IA has provided a safe environment for the successful outcome of the January 2005 elections.
Ali, 1/3rd IA Battalion Commander, has assisted with hosting seven successful Ninewah Province Regional Security Council meetings, whose attendance has grown to over 500 local government, tribal, and religious leaders.
The IA battalions had conducted joint operations with coalition forces long before the establishment of the 3rd IA Brigade headquarters on Q-West Base Complex, setting the conditions for the brigade to make an immediate and lasting impact in the Ninewah Province.
MNF-NW DCG Meets with Local Leaders from the Tigris River Valley
QAYARRAH, Iraq – “The religious, tribal and local leaders of Qayarrah set the standard in demonstrating unity and friendship between Iraqi citizens and Coalition forces,” said Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, Multi-National Division – Iraq – Northwest (MND-I-NW) Deputy Commanding General, at yesterday’s confab in Qayarrah.
After receiving a transfer of authority brief from Task Force (TF) Automatic and TF Thunder on Q-West Base Complex, Bergner traveled to the residence of Brigadier General Ali Atala Malowh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, for lunch.
In concurrence with MNF-I and TF Freedom Commanders, General George Casey and Brigadier General David Rodriguez, Bergner noted that the sheiks, mukhtars and imams of Qayarrah have set the example for all other Iraqi leaders by working with Coalition forces and Iraqi Security forces to build a safer, more prosperous Iraq.
Bergner also spoke to local religious leaders about the upcoming Ramadan. The imams vowed to encourage their fellowship to observe and celebrate Ramadan in a peaceful manner.
One of the leading sheiks of the area, Sheik Abdul Razaq from Al Hawd, raised some issues concerning his village. Too many large logistics convoys on the roads, not enough water flowing into the village and a recent death of sheik in Mosul yesterday were a few of his concerns.
TF Automatic Commander Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Becker expressed the same frustrations traveling behind the convoys. He assured that the number of Coalition vehicles would minimize in coming months as the IA establishes a self-sustaining force. Water will be provided to the villages as frequently as possible. Becker emphasized there are 27 projects ready to start as soon as TF Thunder completes their requirements to draw money, which is September 8.
Becker expressed the need for Iraqis to assist in building their economy. He explained to the leaders about USAID, in which enterprising individuals can have up to $20,000 matched to start up a business.
The funeral for the sheik killed in Mosul will be held for the next three days. Becker and TF Automatic will pay a visit to the family of the deceased.
On behalf of the town of Qayarrah and surrounding villages, Ali presented parting gifts to Bergner and Becker. The gifts signify the unity and friendship developed over the past year. While Iraqi Army and Tigris River Valley leaders expressed sorrow at the impending departure of TF Automatic, they were eager to support TF Thunder and its mission of helping Iraqis build hope and democracy.
Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village
HATRA HOTEL, Iraq – The weekly Al Hadr City Council meeting took place on September 5 at the Hatra Hotel. Local Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Task Force (TF) Automatic leaders covered several issues during the meeting, including election sites, electricity and civil affairs projects.
The meeting lasted just over an hour. Over 20 local sheiks, mukhtars and civic leaders attended as well as Iraqi military and police personnel.
Lt. Col. Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, opened the meeting, welcoming everyone who had come. Ra’ad then directed the audience’s attention to Captain Matt Yost, C/2-8 Field Artillery Commander.
Yost outlined the many shared successes that 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) and TF Automatic have had, working with the local leaders over the past several weeks. After discussing some on going projects in the Al Hadr district, Yost then opened the floor to questions.
The first few questions pertained to improving the electricity supply in Al Hadr. The remaining issues were on on going civil affair projects.
Al Hadr citizens have been concentrating on finding 20 artesian wells and completing the village’s water tank. School repairs and a new computer center are also some of the local leaders’ main concerns
Yost and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Al Hadr, Tal Abtah and surrounding villages to improve the region’s security, economy and living conditions.
Medical Clinic Treats 30 Iraqis
ALIBAH, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic and TF Thunder medics conducted a medical screening visit in Alibah, a village located 20 kilometers southeast of Q-West Base Complex, with A/2-8 Field Artillery on September 6.
The visit lasted over two hours and over 30 men, women and children were treated.
“We brought eight medics to treat the local Iraqis,” said senior medic Staff Sergeant Chuck Lahnam. “Three were from TF Automatic and five were from TF Thunder,” continued Lahnam.
The medics treated most of the patients for upper respiratory problems. The staff provided medicine and inhalers to the young boys and their families. TF Automatic and TF Thunder soldiers also provided stuffed animals and candy to the kids.
“This was the first medical visit we conducted with the incoming task force. Hopefully, the medical staff replacing us will conduct such visits as frequently as we were able to this past year,” said Lahnam.
TF Automatic has conducted medical screening visits to local villages about four to five times a month. These visits not only provide necessary medical attention to local Iraqis, but they also strengthen the bond between Coalition forces and local Iraqis.
NCO Academy Completes Room Clearing Phase
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – On September 4, the Task Force (TF) Automatic Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Academy completed the room clearing phase of the academy, which is led by TF Automatic Command Sergeant Major Martinez and Master Sergeant House on Q-West Base Complex (QBC).
“Forty-four soldiers from 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade began the course on August 20,” said NCO Academy instructor Staff Sergeant Pratcher. “The room clearing phase of the course is two days long.”
Following morning prayer and physical training, the soldiers studied tape drills on room clearing in a classroom setting. TF Automatic instructor, Staff Sergeant Alvarez and IA instructor Sergeant First Class Hamed talked through the tactics, techniques and procedures demonstrated in the videotapes.
The soldiers broke for lunch before beginning Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training. TF instructor Sergeant Phillips and IA instructor Sergeant First Class Alaa led phase one, titled Shoot House.
TF instructor Sergeant Ortega and IA instructor Sergeant First Class Neshwan led phase two, titled Target House.
“The soldiers performed very well today,” said Pratcher. “We completed the training and finished the day with weapons cleaning and maintenance.”
Tomorrow, the soldiers will begin classroom sessions on Roles of the Military and Government in a Democratic Society, as well as WARNO/OPORD and Troop Leading Procedures.
Training begins at 0800 hours and ends no earlier than 1600 hours seven days a week for sergeants and staff sergeants at the NCO Academy. Recent training events include the obstacle course and first aid. MOUT training was the major event of the NCO Academy. The soldiers will graduate from the course on September 12.
Civil Affairs Team Continues CMOC Opportunities for Iraqis
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – “…97, 98, 99…” the day begins at 0830 hours with the paying agent of the team, Sergeant Daniel Otero, counting and recounting the ½ million dollars about to be paid to Iraqi project contractors later that morning.
By 0900 hours, Task Force (TF) Automatic’s four-man civil affairs (CA) team, including Otero, Sergeant First Class Ray Coggins and interpreters Tawfeek and Mohammad, drive their two HMMWVs through the gate of the Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC). Already, there are more than 30 Iraqi citizens waiting at the door for the team to open the CMOC for business.
The team has been operating the CMOC for TF Automatic, opening its doors every Monday and Thursday for the past year. Earlier this summer, the team, led by Major Robert Reiner, handed its civil affairs duties over to the new team team, led by Major Andy Ingalsbe.
While Coggins and Otero man the CMOC for the day, another team member Staff Sergeant Fabrice Dussud and Reiner are filling other demanding civil affairs duties. The team members are either in their office on Q-West Base Complex (QBC) or accompanying TF Automatic units on missions off QBC that require their civil affairs expertise.
Setting up the CMOC for a full day of dealing with customers requires the same routine almost every time. Tawfeek gets the generator going, so the team has electricity for the lights, refrigerator and fans. In the group of Iraqis is the “Chai Guy.” For a $5 tip on some days, and nothing but thanks on most days, the Chai Guy provides continuous servings of chai tea for the team throughout the morning. Americans may not be inclined to drink boiling hot tea in 120-degree weather, but for Iraqis, chai is a staple.
The CMOC provides local Iraqis with the opportunity to improve their economy. Locals come to the CMOC to submit project proposals for their villages, enter bids on approved projects, hire contractors to assist with the funded projects and draw funding from Coalition forces to pay for the ongoing projects’ labor and material costs. The typical project array includes: road improvement, water supply, electricity, and building or renovation of schools, medical clinics and police stations.
One thing the CMOC is not intended for is a place to hire help. “If anyone is here looking for a job, you must leave,” announced Coggins. In order to encourage locals to use the services provided by local municipalities, CA team members tell such interlopers to go see their local leaders.
Vastly outnumbered and 50 meters outside QBC’s front gate, one would assume security might be a constant concern. However, these Iraqis represent a growing population that wants to make Iraq a better place. These men have high hopes that their villages will receive project assistance and find work for their young men. Furthermore, Iraqi Army soldiers from 1/3rd Battalion man a traffic control point 2 miles from the front gate.
Although the men pose minimal threat, their words cannot always be trusted. Other than coming to the CMOC for projects, locals come to request their brothers, fathers and uncles be released from the QBC detention facility. No matter how many sworn statements such visitors are willing to write, claiming the innocence of their relatives, detainees will stay confined if Coalition forces have reasonable proof of guilt. “I like seeing people leave the CMOC happy, but that can’t happen all the time,” said Otero.
Another case of a local Iraqi attempting to take advantage of Coalition forces involved a woman shot in the leg. The woman’s husband came to the CMOC and claimed that Coalition forces were responsible for the gunshot wound. Monetary compensation would be paid to the family if Coalition forces were liable. However, after TF Automatic medics tended to the injured woman, it was apparent she was shot by an AK-47.
“People come to the CMOC for all kinds of requests,” said Dussud. “The main reason is because the CMOC is off QBC and accessible to the locals.”
One of the first individuals to come into the CMOC requested that electricity be supplied to his village. “For two years we have had no transformers and no circuit breakers, only wires and poles,” said the local.
The minister of electricity is pretty good about making himself available to the CA team at the CMOC. “There must be a minimum number of houses in a village for the Iraqi government to provide electricity,” he explained to the team as well as the local Iraqi. “Four houses, and the government will provide electricity, but the people of the village must pay. Twenty houses, and the government will pay for it. Priority will go to the least expensive project.”
The CMOC and TF Automatic’s CA team provide Iraqi locals the opportunity to become increasingly self-reliant. The CMOC is also a medium through which the TF gauges the needs of those that live in Ninewah Province.
The CMOC and CA team will continue to play an important role as Iraqis rebuild their country and their future. From offering potential projects for their villages, submitting bids on the projects, hiring contractors to build the projects and drawing funding from Coalition forces to pay for the project’s labor and materials, the CMOC is there for the Iraqis.
Qayarrah Begins Construction of Medical Clinic
QAYARRAH, Iraq – On September 1 Task Force (TF) Automatic and representatives of the civilian construction firm IAP joined local leaders of Qayarrah and 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brigadier General Ali Atala Mallowh yesterday for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Qayarrah Freindship Medical Clinic.
Each year IAP donates a school or medical clinic to a village from a worldwide pool. Last June, PetroLand, a Turkish sub contractor of IAP, accompanied TF Automatic to assess needs of the villages in Ninewah Province. PetroLand successfully lobbied for Qayarrah to receive this year’s donated project.
IAP representative Danny Terrell, upon revisiting the site of the new medical clinic, said, “The most beneficial aspect of this project is we hire local skilled and manual laborers, local engineers, architects and carpenters, as well as local suppliers.”
Once complete, the medical clinic will stand at 6,400 square feet, one of the largest in the region. More importantly, the clinic will provide valuable medical services to hundreds of local citizens who would otherwise seek help from a distant care provider.
Elimination of terrorists steady in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 8, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed seven terrorists and detained another seven Wednesday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed four terrorists who they observed with weapons on a building preparing an ambush in Tal Afar Wednesday. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR killed three more terrorists after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Mosul Wednesday.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
At last, a U.S. counterinsurgency strategy
Link to Full Article
By PAM HESS, UPI
QAYYARAH, Iraq, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- When Lt. Col. Bradley Becker stepped forward, it was to offer a valedictory message to a room full of Sunni and Kurdish shieks and imams gathered at Forward Operating Base Key West for a regional security meeting.
It was, in some strange way, very much like a graduation.
Becker's 2nd Battalion of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment has been in Quayyarah in northwestern Iraq for 11 months and they are preparing to hand over to a new unit from Alaska.
"I was new to this area and I thought I had come to rebuild the infrastructure and rebuild your villages," he said from the podium, an interpreter at his side. "I found myself in a fight with a very determined enemy."
In November, just a month after arriving in Iraq, Becker, along with battalion commanders across the northwest, found his troops defending against an insurgent attack that was stunning for its organization and breadth.
In two days, insurgents conducted nearly simultaneous attacks on 44 Iraqi police and army posts. Almost all of them folded, many of them with a single shot being fired.
The Iraqi police went from about 7,000 members down to 300 in two days.
The Iraqi army disintegration across the region was nearly as dramatic.
"I only had seven platoons. I thought, I can't cover this," Becker recalls.
He had a little unexpected help.
One former Ba'ath party official, a man known as Shiek Rahd, climbed to the top of his local police station and with some neighbors manned guns and drove off attackers.
Rahd is now a highly respected Iraqi army battalion commander, and an early target of insurgents. They blew his car up; he lived. A rocket-propelled grenade meant for him tore his driver's leg off; he lived.
"He's the second baddest man in Iraq," smiles Becker. "I have to remind him I'm still here."
Becker is teasing the mustachioed Sunni Shiek, but his jest holds a nugget of truth. While American battalion commanders will argue this is a war fought by platoons and sergeants, it is in fact one that hinges on battalion commanders. [...]
Becker's meeting with the shieks last week is the tenth he's had in his 11 months here. He called the first meeting for those in securing stability for Quayyarah in November 2004, a couple of weeks after the Iraqi security forces disintegrated.
Seven shieks showed up.
Today, the meeting on the base has attracted more than 200.
"We haven't had a rocket attack in more than eight months," he said.
As of this week, his battalion has not had a single soldier killed-in-action, although there have been several close calls. Some of that record he attributes to luck, but most to the patient application of a counter-insurgent strategy that emphasizes personal relationships and mutual benefits.
"There were hundreds of terrorists on my black list when I got here and I only have three left (not captured or killed)," Becker says proudly. "Of the 400 I caught, 93 percent went out to Abu Ghraib (the prison that holds the most serious offenders). That very high accuracy comes from working with shieks."
After a traditional Iraqi lunch -- legs of lamb and whole chickens with rice -- the shieks and mayors alternately made last-minute requests and complaints to Becker and took pictures with him.
"I will keep a beautiful picture of you in my head," says one shiek.
"All of us are really sad you are going home. We know you have a family waiting for you, but we are all sad because we are losing a great friend," says another, a deeply religious Sunni man with the unkempt beard that marks him so. "I invite you to my house for dinner."
"I will be honored to go," says Becker.
Relentless security forces continue to battle terror in Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 7, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eight more suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenades, an anti-tank hand grenade, ammunition, a machine gun, rocket propelled grenade sights, rifle grenades, a block of TNT, and improvised explosive device making material. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team reduced the cache without incident. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also seized a cache of ammunition. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF and CF continue to whittle away at terror
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 7, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained three suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches Tuesday and today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache of mortars in eastern Mosul Tuesday. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team reduced the cache without incident.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavlary Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenades and mortar rounds in Tal Afar Tuesday. EOD reduced the cache without incident.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
US fights in northern Iraq as charter readied
SBCT Operations in Rawah
Link to Full Article
By Maher al-Thanoon, Reuters
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - The northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar was on edge on Tuesday after at least seven civilians were killed during an operation by Iraqi and U.S. troops against insurgents there.
In Baghdad, a parliamentary panel drafting a new constitution said last-minute efforts to fine-tune the text to overcome objections from minority Sunni Arabs had failed.
Five million copies of the new document will go into print starting on Thursday, in time for a referendum due by October 15.
At least seven civilians have been killed and 13 wounded in violence in Tal Afar, a hospital source told Reuters, and the U.S. military said one U.S. soldier had died when his vehicle was struck by a bomb there on Monday.
Iraqi police and troops backed by U.S. forces launched the operation some days ago in Tal Afar, which they say is a conduit for foreign fighters slipping into the country. [...]
Marin man takes talk show to Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Dave Albee
After returning from his visit to Iraq last week, Ron Barr was safe and sound but not sedentary back home in Strawberry. He was limping noticeably around the kitchen. His right ankle was badly swollen and in a splint and he was in plenty of discomfort.
A war wound? Not exactly.
Barr, longtime Marin County resident and host and founder of the national Sports Byline USA radio program, broke his right ankle when he stepped off an 18-inch ledge on the deck of Saddam Hussein's private pool in a palace in Mosul after enjoying a leisurely swim on a 125-degree afternoon.
The freak accident happened 90 minutes before the 60-year-old Barr was to broadcast the first of three days of sports talk radio shows from Forward Operating Base Courage in the war-torn country.
"I heard it snap," Barr said.
He heard lots of other terrible things in Iraq as well as he listened to stories that made a broken ankle pale in comparison.
Barr listened to stories about how Saddam had the right hands of his enemies cut off, forcing them to use their left hand, which in Islam is associated with the "dwellers of hell." Barr was was told how insurgents shot a six-year-old Iraqi boy in the chest simply for accepting a chocolate bar from an American soldier.
Barr learned that when U.S. troops stormed Saddam's palace in Mosul they found bodies floating in the the swimming pool Barr had used. Officials believe one of Saddam's sons, in a fit of rage, unloaded his gun on his own people. [...]
Michael Yon Q&A
Embedded freelance journalist Michael Yon was kind enough to particpiate in a question and answer session via email from Mosul. Provided below is the full transcript of our conversation. These questions were submitted prior to the publication of his recent dispatch, Gates of Fire.
We would like to thank Michael for taking time out of his busy schedule to respond. If you would like to support his efforts you can sponsor his dispatches by making a donation via PayPal.
SBN: As a freelance journalist, what was your primary motivation for visiting Iraq?
MY: I wanted to know the truth and felt like I was not getting it from the news.
SBN: You have traveled extensively throughout the country, but seem to have found a home with Deuce Four in Mosul. Can you explain why?
MY: Yes: Mosul is critical to the success in Iraq, and our forces were fighting some of the most serious battles here. I wanted to see how our forces were doing, and I wanted to see what was happening on the big picture. Were we winning, or losing? I can answer all of these questions now. Our forces are well equipped and morale is high, and definitely are winning in Mosul. When the Iraqi government is sufficiently empowered, the Iraqi people will once again be able to take control of their lives, and we can go home.
SBN: What has been your best day?
MY: That day has not come yet. But it will be the day when I know that we can start pulling out troops because the Iraqis are taking control of their own lives. I have not had any great days in Iraq, except for perhaps Election day in January. Actually, that was an incredible day. I was astonished at the turn out. That was my only fabulous day here. The rest of the days, I wish I were somewhere else. But this is important and we need to see this through.
SBN: What has been your worst day?
MY: The days that I have seen Iraqi children killed have been the worst. Those days bother me more than when I see our own soldiers killed, and those are themselves horrible days. Seeing American soldiers killed or grievously wounded, I just try to put that out of my mind. Children screaming from burns caused by terrorists is most distressing.
SBN: In your experience, what is the disposition of the majority of Iraqis towards Americans?
MY: This depends on the part of the country. In some areas, the put up with us as a temporary inconvenience, but they are happy the Coalition uprooted the old government. In other places, they will kill us if given the chance. But in yet other places, Americans are treated as honored guests, almost as royalty. Such as in the Kurdish areas. It's hard to eat a meal in a restaurant there without a Kurdish man paying the tab. Taxi drivers often refuse to take money. They just say, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. No money please. Bye Bye!" So grateful!
SBN: Are you aware of how important your reporting has become to the families back home, and how has that affected you?
MY: I have become increasingly aware. I have to be careful that the families do not see me as a lifeline, for I am apt to up and move to a different sector. We have a lot troops in harm's way, and not all are in Stryker Brigades.
But knowing that the families read my work has definitely added responsibility to the task.
SBN: What has been your favorite experience observing the Stryker troops interacting with locals Mosul?
MY: That our soldiers are making progress! One of my favorite things to see with soldiers is that they can be in a full-on lethal fight with terrorists, then maybe five or ten minutes later, some Iraqi kid is waving at a soldier and the soldier waves back and smiles. The Iraqi kids are great, and they definitely boost morale. They definitely boost my morale.
SNB: How has your prior military service benefited you in your current assignment?
MY: I know the names of the weapons and all the ranks.
SBN: Have you developed any long-term friendships while you've been there? If so, do you find it difficult to distance yourself from your subject at times?
MY: Yes and yes. This is war and it's important. I am American writing about Americans at war. I do not pretend not to have bias. I am certain that I have made some friendships that will last through the years.
SBN: Will be returning to the States when Deuce Four re-deploys?
MY: For a short time. I need to re-outfit. Much of my gear needs to be revamped, and I want a good meal.
SBN: If so, what are your future plans? Can we look forward to a book based on your experiences with the Stryker Brigade?
MY: You look forward to a book. I will return to Iraq for the elections, and over to Afghanistan.
More terrorists taken off the streets in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 6, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed three terrorists and detained 11 more Monday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in northeastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during another raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in southeastern Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed three terrorists after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Barstow soldiers survive in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By TRAVIS DUNN,Daily Press
You could think of Army Spc. Angelo Jaramillo as a kind of an exotic truck driver.
But first consider that the cargo he carries is human, that the vehicle he drives is armed to the teeth, and that hidden in the villages he visits are insurgents who want nothing more than to kill him.
Jaramillo, or J. Lo, as his Army buddies call him, drives a Stryker armored vehicle in Mosul, Iraq, for the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. He deployed here in October of 2004, after about two years of training at Fort Lewis in Washington state. Last January, Jaramillo and his unit had a brush with death when their Stryker hit a roadside bomb. Although the Stryker was virtually destroyed by the blast, no one was killed.
Jaramillo, however, got the worst of it. He broke his left arm and suffered a concussion, and another soldier suffered a burn from battery acid. Everyone else got bumps and bruises.
The Press Dispatch recently spoke in separate phone calls with Jaramillo, a Barstow native, as well as Army Staff Sgt. Brent Koenig, who married a Barstow girl and now considers Barstow his home. Both men are stationed in Mosul.
Jaramillo, 23, recovered from his bomb-injuries in Germany, then back here in the United States. When his arm was healed, he was sent right back to Mosul.
Jaramillo's recovery and return to the battlefield may be remarkable in itself, but even more incredible is Jaramillo's attitude about his injuries. [...]
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend Matt, a SGT with the 1-25 SBCT in Mosul.
Suppression of terror continues as main effort in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed a terrorist and detained 12 others Sunday and today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed a terrorist after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also seized a cache consisting of multiple rounds of ammunition in Tal Afar Sunday.
Soldiers from 3-21 Infantry also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a check point in Rawah. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a cache consisting of black powder, detonators, M203 rounds, and various other items in Rawah Sunday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Mazra Sunday. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and knock in Aitha Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Al-Qaida link to London blasts in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By PAMELA HESS, UPI
MOSUL, Iraq, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A man captured in August north of al-Qaim, Iraq, had a computer "thumb drive" that contained planning information about the July 7 London suicide bombings, a U.S. military officer has revealed.
Col. Robert Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division in Mosul told United Press International the man was connected to the al-Qaida terrorist network.
He declined to discuss the specific nature of the information on the small computer drive, variants of which store between 8 and 256 megabytes of data, but said it indicated al-Qaida involvement in the attacks on London's bus and subway system.
The drive is the latest piece of information linking the al-Qaida leadership to the bombings, in which four British Moslems killed themselves and 52 others
The Arabic language satellite channel Al-Jazeera last week aired parts of a videotape in which al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, claimed responsibility for the near-simultaneous blasts, believed to have used a potent but easily manufactured home-made explosive called TATP.
The video -- which was sent to al-Jazeera by al-Qaida's al-Sahab media production arm -- also contains the now-traditional martyrdom message from one of the bombers. [...]
"I don't think anyone's done a good enough job explaining" the nexus between Iraq and al-Qaida, Brown said.
U.S. Central Command estimates about 100 to 150 "foreign fighters" cross Iraq's porous borders each month. These men by and large man the suicide bombs, "martyring" themselves in the most devastating weapon the insurgents and terrorists have in their arsenal.
Lt. Col. Mike Gibler, commander of the 3rd battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment, said the suicide bombers are comprised of two kinds of people. Some are jihadists who think they are coming to Iraq to fight Americans with guns or bombs and don't know they have been recruited for suicide missions. They are isolated, forced to watch videotapes of propaganda to brainwash them, and finally told if they refuse their mission their families will be killed.
He said a number of would-be bombers have been captured during raids and interrogated.
The second group, says Gibler, "is blind with rage, blind with anger for just what America stands for. It's the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,' and a lot of the 'have nots' believe it's our fault.
"They are usually college kids who have a degree and want to make a million dollars. They know it can be done but they are not gonna be offered the opportunity because 'America is preventing it.'"
Operations ramping up against terror in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 4, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed 13 terrorists, detained 18 suspected terrorists, and seized a weapons cache today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained 13 individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed seven terrorists after receiving small arms fire during three separate incidents in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed six terrorists after being engaged by rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire from a mosque in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 4/3 ACR reported a secondary explosion from the mosque after engaging the terrorists. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenade propellants, a sniper rifle, a mortar tube, improvised explosive device initiators, and a mortar base plate in northern Mosul today. The cache was confiscated for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Why We Must Stay in Iraq
This editorial contains references to a 1/25 SBCT soldier.
Link to Full Article (Opinion)
By Victor Davis Hanson
Vietnam is once again in the air. Last month's antiwar demonstrations in Crawford, Tex., have been heralded as the beginning of an antiwar movement that will take to the streets like the one of 30 years ago. Influential pundits -- in the manner of a gloomy Walter Cronkite after the Tet offensive -- are assuring us that we can't win in Iraq and that we have no option but a summary withdrawal. We may even have a new McGovern-style presidential "peace" candidate in Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.
America's most contentious war is being freely evoked to explain the "quagmire" we are supposedly now in. Vietnam is an obvious comparison given the frustration of asymmetrical warfare and savage enemies who escape our conventional power. But make no mistake, Iraq is not like Vietnam, and it must not end like Vietnam. Despite our tragic lapses, leaving now would be a monumental mistake -- and one that we would all too soon come to regret. [...]
The New York Times recently deplored the public's ignorance of American heroes in Iraq. In fact, there are thousands of them. But in their eagerness to view Iraq through the fogged lens of Vietnam, the media themselves are largely responsible for the public's shameful lack of interest.
A few days ago, while the networks were transfixed by Cindy Sheehan (or was it Aruba?), the United States military, in conjunction with Iraqi forces, was driving out jihadists from Mosul -- where the terrorists are being arrested and killed in droves. Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, who had worked for months to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding on the city's streets, was severely wounded as he led his men to clear out a terrorist hideaway. The jihadist who shot him -- who had recently been released from Abu Ghraib -- was not killed, but arrested and given medical care by U.S. surgeons.
Not long before he was wounded, Lt. Col. Kurilla had delivered a eulogy for three of his own fallen men. Posted on a military Web site, it showed that he, far better than most of us, knows why America is there:
"You see -- there are 26 million people in Iraq whose freedom we are fighting for, against terrorists and insurgents that want a return to power and oppression, or worse, a state of fundamentalist tyranny. Some of whom we fight are international terrorists who hate the fact that in our way of life we can choose who will govern us, the method in which we worship, and the myriad other freedoms we have. We are fighting so that these fanatical terrorists do not enter the sacred ground of our country and we have to fight them in our own backyard."
Amen.
Author's e-mail:
Victor Davis Hanson is a military historian at
Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the author of the forthcoming "A War Like No Other" (Random House).
SPC Jason E. Ames
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Jason E. Ames, 21, of Cerulean, Ky., died on Aug. 31, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries. SPC Ames was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and comrades he leaves behind. We will add any future articles to this entry.
Stryker soldier dies in tour’s last few weeks - The News Tribune
Trigg soldier, 21, dies of injuries in Iraq - The Courier Journal
Offensive operations continue to suppress terror in Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 3, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 21 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah. Iraqi Police detained 20 individuals suspected of terrorist activity after being engaged with small arms fire from a vehicle in Mosul.
Iraqi Police along with soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized one hundred blasting caps during a cordon and search in Mosul. Soldiers from 1-24 Infantry also seized mortars, multiple rounds of ammunition, a box of fuses, and a mine in Mosul today. The cache was confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a cache consisting of numerous rounds of ammunition and AK-47’s in Rawah today.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Operations continue to net major gains against terror
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 3, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one and detained ten more suspected terrorists Friday and today.
Iraqi Police killed a terrorist and detained six other terrorists after receiving small arms fire while securing a weapons cache in eastern Mosul Friday. The cache consisted of a vehicle borne improvised explosive device, rifles, shotguns, AK-47’s, shape charges, multiple rounds of ammunition, an anti-personnel mine, and a grenade launcher. The cache was destroyed.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of 60 dynamite sticks, 60 hand grenades, a shotgun barrel, rocket propelled grenade rounds, and a bag of blasting caps which was destroyed. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry conducted a search for terrorists after receiving information from an Iraqi citizen and detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while confiscating an AK-47 and an RPG sight in eastern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized hand grenades, improvised explosive device shape charges, and ski masks during two separate cordons and searches, then destroyed the cache in Tal Afar Friday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Rawah Friday.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police Work Hand in Hand, Joint Operation Unearths Caches and Detains Nine, NCO Academy Goes to the Range, TF Automatic and 917th CSG Deliver School Supplies, 3/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Four Suspected Terrorists
Full Articles:
Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police Work Hand in Hand
ASR CHARLESTON, Iraq – On August 28, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army (3/3rd IA) Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hogger Salahaddin Abdul, were conducting patrols along alternate supply route Charleston when an IED detonated.
Just after sunrise, the local Iraqi Police (IP) reported the IED to the IA. Task Force Automatic believes this IED may have been the completed IED mentioned in recent intelligence reports, which AIF was planning to place in the area.
The IP discovered the detonated IED at 0830 hours and reported it to 3/3rd IA directly. Coalition forces were not involved at all, and there were no casualties. Both IA and IP demonstrated ability to work and communicate with each other to meet the common goal of a safer, more secure Ninewah Province.
Joint Operation Unearths Caches and Detains Nine
MUHALLABIYA, Iraq – On August 27, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade conducted a cordon and search operation in Muhallabiya with the support of Task Force (TF) Automatic and 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2-3 ACR), discovering several weapons caches and detaining nine suspected terrorists.
Lieutenant Colonel Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd IA Battalion Commander, led two of his companies with a total of 300 soldiers in the operation. The IA established the outer cordon and also executed the door-to-door search of the village.
2/3rd IA, TF Automatic and 2-3 ACR approached the village, divided in three objectives, from three different directions. The three units were on the objectives before sunrise and within 30 minutes of each other.
At 0730 hours, Task Force (TF) Automatic discovered an IED and a buried anti-tank mine with tilt rod in the northern section of the village. TF Automatic’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team reduced the ordinance.
Thirty minutes later 2-3 ACR, a unit adjacent to 1/25th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, discovered a weapons cache in the southern section of Muhallabiya. EOD reduced the cache, which consisted of 8 x 122 mm rounds and 3 x 152 mm rounds.
At 0900 hours, TF Automatic discovered a large cache consisting of 1 x RKG-3 potato grenade, 5 x 107 mm rockets, 27 x 152 mm artillery shells, 2 x 2.75 mm rocket warheads, 1 x 2.75 mm rocket loaders with rockets inside, 83 x 120 mm mortar rounds, 1 x 81 mm, 24 x RPG warheads, 100 x triple tip rounds, 2 x RPG launchers with over 500 57 mm rounds, 10 x artillery fuses, 6 x Motorola IED detonator kits, 6 x boxes of BKC rounds (3 x boxes contained armor piercing rounds), 1 x roll of copper wiring, 1 x drum 7.62 mm, 1 x anti-aircraft gun with spare barrel, 1 x 60 mm mortar system complete, 5 x 60 mm tubes, 1 x 81 mm tube, 2 x 81 mm bi-pods, 1 x 120 mm bi-pod, 5 x shape charges, 15 x 60 mm rounds complete with fuse/shell and 1 x SA missile. 2/3rd IA and 2-3 ACR assisted in reducing the cache.
The joint operation resulted in nine detainees. Five individuals were relatives of a high value individual and tested very high for bomb-making materials. Four individuals were on 2/3rd IA or TF Automatic’s black list.
Detainees included Mostafa Mohammed Abed Al Rahman, Hazim Mohammed Abed Al Rahman, Mohammed Abed Rahman Mustafa, Abed Al Mawjood Mohammed Abed Al, Abed Al Hakeem Mohammed Abed Al Rahman, Hussein Ali Mustafa, Shakir Ibrahim Abdullah, Hussein Ali Mohammed Mohammed Ismael and Yahya Abdul Rahmin Amin.
TF Automatic returned with all the detainees to Q-West Base Complex for further questioning. All elements departed the objectives before 1530 hours.
2/3rd IA demonstrated exceptional planning and executing procedures throughout the operation. The IA worked closely with TF Automatic and 2-3 ACR to achieve yet another success in the Tigris River Valley.
NCO Academy Goes to the Range
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – On August 26, Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers completed the rifle range portion of the 3-week Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Academy course on Q-West Base Complex.
“Forty-four soldiers from 3rd IA Brigade began the course on August 20,” said NCO Academy Chief Instructor Sergeant First Class Thomas Trott.
On Day 1 of the rifle marksmanship training exercise, IA soldiers zeroed and practiced qualifying with AK-47 rifles. On Day 2, the soldiers qualified and conducted reflexive fire training learning the basics of clearing a room.
“Seven soldiers qualified as expert today,” said Trott. “Shooting at a 50 meter target, they were able to fire 30 rounds inside the center circle.”
Training begins at 0800 and ends at 1600 seven days a week for sergeants and staff sergeants. Upcoming training events include the obstacle course, first aid, and a cumulative mounted operations exercise. The soldiers will graduate from the NCO Academy on September 12.
TF Automatic and 917th CSG Deliver School Supplies
JEDELLA ANUK, Iraq – Over 15 schools in the surrounding villages of Q-West Base Complex were restocked with school supplies yesterday for the advent of the new school year, expected to commence on September 1. Task Force (TF) Automatic joined efforts with 917th Command Support Group (CSG) to deliver school supplies to several villages, including Argubah and Jeddella Anuk.
TF Automatic began the day at 10:00 AM, delivering the last supplies just after 9:00 PM. The team consisted of Sergeant Major McCormick, Staff Sergeant Dale Horn, Specialist Steven Nichols, and Private First Class Chris Hill, supported by two interpreters.
“We delivered over 70 boxes of school supplies to four schools today,” said Hill. “One box has enough notebooks, pens, pencils, and other supplies for 8 Iraqi children.”
TF Automatic and 917th CSG have stocked the shelves of over half the thirty schools in the area. The TF is planning a hefty school supply distribution operation just before the start of school, hopefully filling up the remaining schools.
3/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Four Suspected Terrorists
MAKUK, Iraq –Early on August 24, a platoon from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade, led by Lt. Mansur, detained four suspected terrorists while conducting combat operations east of Qayarrah.
The IA stopped two individuals in a vehicle at a traffic control point in Osweja. After conducting a thorough search of the vehicle, the IA found a great deal of Jihad propaganda promoting the AIF.
The IA soldiers questioned the men because one of their names closely resembled a known terrorist on the black list. Both men tested very high for bomb-making materials. The IA confiscated the Jihad propaganda and detained the suspected terrorists for further questioning.
Later on the same night, the unit detained two more individuals in a home on the southern edge of the town Makuk. The individuals also tested high for bomb-making materials. The IA also seized over three thousand dollars. The individuals are currently in the IA’s custody for further questioning.
This is just the latest example of Iraqi Security Forces making great strides in capturing terrorists, which either live in or are passing through their area of operations. With the help of the local citizens, Iraqi Security Forces are making much progress in establishing a more secure Iraq.
Citizen’s tip leads to weapons cache discovery
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 31, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom discovered a weapons cache in Tel Kheif Sunday.
An Iraqi citizen led Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment on a suspected cache in Tel Kheif Sunday. Soldiers from 3-21 Infantry confirmed the cache, discovering rocket propelled grenade launchers and rounds, a mortar system, 20 grenades, many rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of fuses, flak vests, and nuclear, biological and chemical protective masks. The items in the cache appeared to be brand new, as they were sealed in plastic shipping containers. The cache was confiscated for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
In Mosul, the Stryker shows its worth
Link to Full Article
By Pamela Hess, United Press International
Reader advisory: The text of this article contains very frank descriptions of military operations in Mosul.
MOSUL, Iraq (UPI) -- The men of Alpha Company wash burned oil and human flesh from rails of their Stryker vehicle. To their satisfaction, it was not any of theirs.
They were riding through the east side of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq and last November the scene of some of the most pitched battles with the insurgency, when a suicide car bomber cut through the median between the second and third Stryker vehicles in the convoy and exploded.
Sgt. J. Robinson, 27, of Altheimer, Ark., was in the gunner position, exposed to the ball of fire and shrapnel. He didn`t have time to duck back into the vehicle when the car bomber veered.
"It knocked me back but I`m a pretty big dude," he said.
Shrapnel took a chunk out of his helmet, and small pieces lodged in his finger and in his lip. This is his third car bomb -- or IED, for Improvised Explosive Device -- two of them in a Stryker and one in an up-armored Humvee.
"Around here everyone wants to ride in a Stryker," Robinson said.
The Stryker, a new, wheeled combat vehicle, is designed to move troops quickly into battle, but it is proven especially useful in Mosul. It can turn more quickly and in a smaller area than a tank, it is faster, and because it has no tracks it doesn`t tear up the streets and curbs -- avoiding inconvenience and expense to local residents.
The vehicle, built by Sterling Heights, Mich.-based General Dynamics Land Systems, was named for two Medal of Honor recipients: WWII Pfc. Stuart Stryker and Spc. Robert Stryker, who served in Vietnam.
It boasts a digitized sensor suite that gives it much better access to intelligence information than older combat vehicles. A newly added steel cage looks ungainly - the Stryker is much wider on top than its wheel base -- but grenades bounce off before they explode.
Most importantly, it is proving to be very protective of the people it carries inside. According to the brigade`s statistics, as of June, Strykers had been involved in nearly 700 direct engagements with the enemy -- among them IEDs, car bombs, and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. There have been around 250 injuries, but just over 200 of the injured returned to duty within three days, like Robinson. [...]
Town rallies to buy gifts for Stryker families
Link to Full Article
By Adam Lynn, The News Tribune
Dave Bliss of Packwood hopes the gifts and party supplies he delivered Tuesday to Fort Lewis do as much to boost the morale of Stryker brigade families as collecting the loot did for his neighbors and him.
Bliss drove in from the small Lewis County town to drop off a van-load of toys, games, sporting goods, soda pop, sports drinks, barbecue grills and other merchandise purchased with money from a benefit concert he organized earlier this summer. The stuff is being donated to the families of soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Regiment, which is deployed in Iraq.
“I wanted to do something to help the troops. They really don’t get the respect and recognition they deserve,” Bliss said. “But then I realized I didn’t know what the troops needed or if I’d even be able to get the stuff to Iraq. That’s when I decided it might be better to try to help their families.” [...]
Another terrorist down and more detained
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 30, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained nine other terrorists today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed a terrorist who was attempting to attack Coalition Forces in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in central Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
A/2-8 Conducts Interdiction Operations, D/52 IN Detains Two Suspected Terrorists, 1/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Five and a Cache, Botha Rogee Celebrates New Road Bridges
Full Articles:
A/2-8 Conducts Interdiction Operations
KILAT SHIN, Iraq – Before sunrise on August 21, A/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) conducted interdiction operations near the village Kilat Shin, discovering a caravan of shepards leading A/2-8 to a camp possessing several illegal firearms.
A/2-8, led by Cpt. Cherokee Parks, approached the camp when they caught sight of a man with a bundle in his arms scurrying away. A/2-8 stopped and questioned the individual.
Inside the bundle was a BKC rifle. A/2-8 then conducted a thorough search of the entire camp. Within the camp A/2-8 discovered several illegal weapons, to include 1 x BKC, 1 x AK-47, 1 x bolt action rifle, 14 x AK magazines (full), and 100 rounds of linked 7.62mm armor-piercing BKC ammunition.
Task Force Automatic confiscated and returned all items found to Q-West Base Complex. The owner of the BKC, Hussein Ubayd Ashwan, was detained for further questioning.
D/52 IN Detains Two Suspected Terrorists
ASH SHURA, Iraq – Early this morning, D/52 Infantry (IN) Company, led by Cpt. Thaddeus Wotjusik, detained two individuals suspected to be part of a shooting in Mosul yesterday.
Mahmood Thiyab Baz and Ahmed Thiyab Baz were detained during Task Force (TF) Automatic’s cordon and search operation in Ash Shura. Ahmed Thiyab Baz tested positived for TNT and both individuals are relatives of Abdul Kareem Al Baz. Abdul Kareem Al Baz was detained with Khalid Jasim Nohe by TF Automatic last December 21st and has recently been released from Coalition forces custody.
Nohe is the terrorist responsible for shooting and wounding the 1-24 IN Battalion Commander within TF Lancer yesterday. Nohe was shot and detained at the scene, but the unidentified passenger that was with Nohe escaped.
Due to Mahmood Thiyab Baz and Ahmed Thiyab Baz’s association with Abdul Kareem Baz, they may have information leading Coalition and Iraqi forces to the identity and location of the unidentified passenger from yesterday’s attack.
1/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Five and a Cache
AITHA, Iraq – On August 20th 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, conducted a cordon and search of a house in Aitha, with the help of C/2-8 Field Artillery (FA). They found a weapons cache and detained five suspected terrorists who were brought back to FOB Endurance for further questioning.
The night prior to the mission, Ali had received information from a concerned Iraqi citizen that a suspected arms dealer, Abdulla Asfoor, was at his house in Aitha. Furthermore, Ali was notified that there was also a weapons cache in Sharqat.
The local citizen was willing to go along on the mission and positively identify the house and the cache location.
The mission was planned and executed successfully. Five suspected terrorists were detained, to include Abu Abdul Rahman, Ramathan Shahban Asfoor, Hussen Shahban Asfoor, Ahmad Shahban Asfoor, and Hussen Hameed Mahmood Hadvy. All individuals tested positive for explosives with high readings.
The local citizen also positively identified the location of the cache in Sharqat, which consisted of approximately 400 lbs of TNT rods and a box of 1.5 anti-aircraft rounds. The cache was located on an island on the Tigris River. Ali requested a boat from a local citizen, and with his soldiers, he retrieved the cache. All were reduced on site by Task Force Automatic’s EOD team.
Botha Rogee Celebrates New Road Bridges
BOTHA ROGEE, Iraq – Headquarters Support Battery (HSB) of Task Force (TF) Automatic and local Iraqis joined together today August 17th, to celebrate the opening of Botha Rogee’s two new road bridges.
The original plan was to build one bridge over a wadi that carried 90% of the village’s rainwater during winter months. With the funding received from Coalition forces, however, contractors managed to build a second bridge over a separate wadi system. Both bridges are five meters wide and will enable the villagers to come and go as they please, regardless of how much water fills the wadis.
“Following a late lunch and chai with the local villagers, we began the ceremony,” explained Staff Sgt. Dale Horn. “The bridges turned out very well and the locals were pleased.”
Botha Rogee, just five minutes from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance, has been working diligently on improving the conditions of their village. With the help of TF Automatic, the local Iraqis have completed nine other civil affairs projects to include electricity and water projects, a chicken farm and school renovations.
No slacking in offensive operations to rout terror in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eleven suspected terrorists Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons from a vehicle during separate operations in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a cache of improvised explosive device making materials during a raid in northern Mosul. The cache was confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity Sunday.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF and MNF continue to net terrorist suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 28, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained six additional suspected terrorists and seized another weapons cache today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache in Mosul today consisting of a one 60 millimeter mortar, several rifles including AK-47’s, rocket propelled grenade launchers, rocket propelled grenades, rocket propelled grenade fuel rods, a box of grenades and ammunition in western Mosul today. Soldiers confiscated the cache for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in southern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security forces continue to rally against terrorism in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 28, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 18 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache Saturday and today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual during a raid in central Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity in separate operations in southern Mosul Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul today.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during operations in Mulhallabiyah Saturday. Soldiers from 2-8 FA also discovered a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenade launchers, 20 rocket propelled grenades, six improvised explosive device detonators, mortar systems, an anti-tank mine with a tilt rod, 20 hand grenades with 100 fuses, and ammunition. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapon south of Baranah today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Soldiers confiscated weapons for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Insurgent sniper hits Jefferson soldier
Link to Full Article
BY CARA HOST, Observer-Reporter
JEFFERSON – The sniper in Iraq had Sgt. Daniel Lama of Jefferson in his sights. He probably took aim at one of the most vulnerable parts of the soldier's body, his neck, and pulled the trigger.
Lama, who helps operate a heavily armored Stryker vehicle, came within a fraction of an inch from almost certain death or debilitating injury on Aug. 19
He was shot while on patrol in the Yarmouk Traffic Circle, Mosul, Iraq. Lama was examining his surroundings in the air guard position, from a hatch in the tanklike vehicle, when the sniper shot him.
The bullet went straight through Lama's neck, but instead of severing the young man's spine or an artery, it apparently cut only muscle – a flesh wound.
"We've been praying. This community has been praying for not just Daniel but for all of our soldiers," the soldier's mother, Connie Lama, said Friday. "We're so thankful he's OK. ... Jesus has been very kind to us."
Daniel Lama, 24, is being treated at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Wash. He is expected to make a full recovery and should be home by December. His parents, along with his sister, Anna, made the cross-country trip to Washington earlier this week.
"He's able to walk. He's in a lot of pain and he's getting some of the movement (in his neck) back," said Dan Lama, Daniel Lama's father. "He has a hole in the neck that you can put your finger through." [...]
"We have a good story but not everybody does and that's very heartbreaking," said Connie Lama, who added that she prays regularly for the families of slain service members.
Since being deployed to Iraq last fall, 34 members of the Stryker Brigade have died, including another area soldier, Pfc. Nils G. Thompson, 19, of Confluence, who was shot and killed by a sniper earlier this month. [...]
Security forces sweep away more weapons and a terrorist
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 27, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and seized a weapons cache Friday and today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment discovered a weapons cache consisting of rockets, grenades, a machine gun, five mortar tubes, six explosives, a rocket, and hundreds of various rounds while conducting operations in Mulhallabiyah today. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also killed one terrorist during operations in Tal Afar Friday. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment confiscated several weapons and ammunition while searching homes from Rabiyah to Avgani Friday. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
The good fight: Forging bonds in the community
Link to Full Article (subscription; available in the 8/29/05 paper edition)
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Soldiers are beginning to think fighting off suicide car-bombers here was easy compared to convincing the locals to trust coalition forces.
The troops with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, patrol the streets daily here in search of insurgent activity, but they also spend a lot of time trying to convince the residents of this town near the Syrian border that they no longer live under the control of terrorists.
The lull in the fighting since U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July has prompted many locals to return to their homes. People are beginning to cooperate with coalition forces in small ways, such as spilling the locations of enemy weapons caches.
Still, progress is slow and some residents are boldly defiant of U.S. troops.
During an Aug. 11 patrol, a 20-year-old Iraqi man tore up a coalition flier in the face of Capt. Mark Ivezaj, Bravo Company commander. U.S. forces have been handing out the single sheet of paper explaining why American and Iraqi forces are in Rawah and how residents can cooperate.
“Ask him why he thinks it’s OK to tear up our stuff in front of us!” Ivezaj shouts in a stern voice to his interpreter, while questioning the man. The young man’s demeanor changes quickly. Fear and a touch of regret spread across his face.
“I’m just a kid,” he replies through the interpreter.
Ivezaj orders his soldiers to detain him. The frustration is clear in his voice.
He tore it up “right in front of me and smiled about it,” he said, shaking his head. A few minutes later, Ivezaj turns the man over to nearby Iraqi forces for questioning.
Attacks still a fact of life
The steady enemy attacks on Stryker vehicle patrols have eased since 3-21 and other U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July. Nevertheless, they remain a moment-to-moment threat.
Troops with Bravo Company’s 2nd Platoon got a violent reminder of that Aug. 12 when the Stryker they were riding in rolled over a homemade bomb, fashioned from an anti-tank mine and a 155mm artillery shell. The blast rocked their vehicle and although no one was killed, one soldier suffered a cracked pelvic bone, another had cuts to his face and a third complained of chest pains. The three were flown out by medevac helicopter to the combat support hospital in Balad for more advanced medical treatment. Three other soldiers suffered minor injuries and later returned to duty. [...]
Blog brings the war home
Link to Full Article
by Aaron Blake and Rob Hotakainen, Star Tribune
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Army Lt. Col. Michael Erik Kurilla had just been shot three times and his thigh bone had snapped. He came firing -- and shouting orders at the soldiers behind him.
Kurilla, 39, formerly of Minneapolis, was wounded in a firefight in an alley in Mosul, Iraq, on Aug. 19. On Friday, the battalion commander had surgery and was recuperating at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash.
In a sign of how technology is changing the way in which the war is reported, anyone with access to the internet can see the graphic episode that put Kurilla in the hospital.
The entire incident was captured on film by independent photojournalist Michael Yon, an author and blogger. His photographs, published Thursday at michaelyon.blogspot.com, show Kurilla taking the three bullets from insurgents in Mosul.
His family is expecting him to recover fully.
"He's doing good," said Tommy Raye, 42, a brother-in-law from Bogart, Ga. "I mean, that guy's a warrior, dude."
Raye described Kurilla as "extremely bright, on the scary side of the spectrum." He said he was not surprised when he saw the photographs.
"There's no surprise when he's out front," Raye said. "That's just who he is. Some guys are born leaders. This guy's a born leader. ... He's smart, tough and compassionate, all rolled into one. He is the guy you're happy is on your side, straight up."
For months, Yon has been documenting the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment -- nicknamed "Deuce-Four" -- that Kurilla commands. Yon casts Kurilla as a tough and heroic figure with a sixth sense about the enemy. He is described as a commander who calls the families of wounded soldiers before the Army does so that loved ones can get a direct account. [...]
Michael Yon Interview Transcript
Michael Yon was interviewed today by talk show host Hugh Hewitt. You can read the full transcript at the Radio Blogger site. Excerpt:
HH: Michael Yon, yesterday I got a letter, or actually today, from Lamonte Long, whose son is Specialist Craig Killian with your unit. He has said, Lamonte told me, that your dispatches have been crucial lifelines for families of the soldiers you're serving with. Was that your intention starting out? Or what was the intention of the Deuce 4 reporting?MY: No, I never really intended to be, for instance, a lifeline to units, or to families. Although I'm very flattered by that remark. Basically, I just wanted to come over and tell what was going on. But now I realize, too, that there's truly nobody telling the day to day stories. Or if they do, it's very, very rare. Mostly, you know, obviously, we're just getting body counts and bombings and that kind of thing. But it doesn't tell what's going on here on a day to day basis.
(via Blackfive)
The grip on terrorism gets tighter
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 26, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed another terrorist and detained an additional 16 suspected terrorists Thursday and today.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist after receiving small arms fire in Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Thursday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity and discovered weapons, ammunition, and explosives during separate operations in eastern Mosul Thursday and today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Rawah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid east of Tal Afar Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Storied Iraq soldier recuperating
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla is out of Iraq, recovering from gunshot wounds in a Tacoma hospital.
Although not well-known, Kurilla — the highest ranking soldier from the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade to be seriously wounded in battle — has a dedicated following on the Internet.
For more than eight months, a blog written by independent journalist Michael Yon has chronicled the battles, strategies and sorrows of Kurilla's unit, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry ("Deuce Four").
Yon's periodic dispatches often describe details and tactics of the Iraq war not found in the mainstream media. Kurilla is portrayed as tough, dedicated and possessed with an uncanny ability to avoid enemy bullets.
That changed last Friday when Kurilla was shot during close combat.
In a harrowing series of photographs, Yon captures the moment Kurilla fell. The images along with Yon's narrative are posted on his Web site: http://michaelyon.blogspot.com.
Shot in the arm and leg, Kurilla was taken to a combat hospital and later airlifted to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma.
Yesterday, he declined to release the status of his condition.
Military-related sites on the Internet lighted up with news of Kurilla's injuries, indicating national interest in the fate of the 49-year-old Tacoma resident. [...]
SBN editorial comment: This is the link to Michael Yon's specific blog entry for this story.
Related:
Jefferson soldier injured - The Observer-Reporter
Stryker Soldiers Secure Iraqi Neighborhoods
Link to Full Article
By U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 25, 2005 – They’re loaded to the hilt with weapons, armor and ammunition. They roll out in their Stryker Light Armored Vehicle to beat the 120-degree-streets, smiling, waiving, and keeping rapport with the locals. They are also searching, detaining, confiscating. Anything to accomplish the mission.
"We’ve had vehicles hit with IEDs, have all 8 tires blown off, and still the vehicle drove back to camp on just the rims. You can hardly do damage to the Stryker."
Pfc. Casey G. Little
They are Weapons Squad, a battle-hardened group of soldiers who are working to secure Iraq, one neighborhood at a time.
Whether it’s on foot, or from the vantage point of a Stryker, the squad – from 3rd Platoon, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., – puts their boots to the ground with patrols designed to “check out certain hot spots,” said Staff Sgt. Kelekolio P. Paresa, platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon.
“(Observation posts) are a big thing we like to do,” Paresa said. “That’s when we watch over an area and catch people trying to set up (improvised explosive devices).”
Along with setting up observation posts, the soldiers conduct knock and search operations, allowing for communication with the residents about what is happening in the neighborhoods. This can prove helpful in apprehending suspects.
“When we’re out patrolling, we’ll go into the houses and talk to the people to find out how things are in the area,” said Staff Sgt. Benjamin G. Emery, squad leader. “We usually find somebody who wants to talk and tell us what’s going on and whether or not there are (anti-Iraqi forces) in the area.”
A touch of kindness can go a long way in these operations, Paresa said.
“We always try to put the residents at ease once we get down and go in a house,” Paresa said. “The residents seem scared sometimes, so we always try to shake hands, wave at them and say hello.”
This genuine strategy has seemed to work when it comes to finding contraband or the bad guys.
“You name it, we’ve found it,” said Emery, who hails from Laconia, N.H. “We’ve found some big weapons caches, and we’ve done countless missions at night where we’ve received intelligence from citizens that there is a bad guy at this place, and we’ll go hit the house, search it, get confirmation that that’s the guy we’re looking for and detain him. We’ve taken quite a few bad people off the street that way.”
And the troops from Weapons Squad are getting some help in their efforts. The Iraqi army has started patrolling with the squad, a partnership that will continue until the soldiers redeploy in October
.“(In early July) we did our first dismounted patrol with the Iraqi army,” said Paresa, a 12-year veteran from Mauai, Hawaii. “They had one street and we walked another paralleling them.
“We help them out, show them the correct way to do things, and they’ve picked that up and will eventually do it on their own,” he said.
This includes handling the cordon and search operations.
A recent raid at a suspected terrorist’s house found the Iraqi army handling the take down, while the soldiers from Weapons Squad set up a perimeter.
“The IA(Iraqi Army) is doing everything inside,” Paresa said during the predawn raid. “They’re taking down the building, but if they need help, then we’ll go in and help them. Right now we are just trying to get them confident and up so they can take over.”
While the squad works to involve the IA more, their missions still require them to be ready to go at any time, with or without their Iraqi counterparts. Getting the squad to the field quickly with firepower, at any time, is the job of their heavily-armored and agile vehicles, the Stryker.
The vehicle has 14.5-millimeter armor piercing round protection, including 152- millimeter artillery airburst protection.
With improvised explosive devices being set off at the squad regularly, this armor, along with the Stryker’s resiliency, has kept the soldiers in the fight, said Pfc. Casey G. Little, the newest infantryman to the squad.
“When we first got here, we tested ourselves and the Strykers,” Little said. “We’ve seen them get hit a lot and take minimal damage thanks to the armor. We’re pretty snug when we’re in the Strykers, and it’s not that scary when something goes off at us.
“We’ve had vehicles hit with IEDs, have all 8 tires blown off, and still the vehicle drove back to camp on just the rims,” Little said. “You can hardly do damage to the Stryker.”
Although attributing some of their success to the Stryker, it’s the bond the troops share with each other that has kept them motivated and alive, Paresa said.
Each member has been with the squad for the past year in Iraq, and some have known each other for several years.
There is constant chatter among the group; a jarring, humorous biting at each other like loving brothers. A bond where each man is ready to lay their life down for another without thought.
As the troops head out on the last mission of a hot Mosul day, they talk of what they’re going to buy when they get home and how much they miss their wives, girlfriends, and the wonderful Fort Lewis weather. When they reach their destination though, the focus shifts back to the mission at hand.
“Back it up to the wall so we’ve got cover!” Paresa yelled to the driver.
The ramp drops – “GO! GO! GO!”
Gates of Fire
Michael Yon had posted the story describing the wounding of Deuce Four soldiers last week. As usual it is a must read. See his blog for this and other reports from Mosul. Excerpt:
When Kurilla woke in recovery a few hours after surgery, he called CSM Prosser and asked for a Bible and the book: Gates of Fire. Kurilla gives a copy of Gates of Fire to every new officer and orders them to read it. He had given me a copy and told me to read it. In my book, there is a marked passage, which I thought rather flowery. But I have it beside me on the table by the map of Iraq.
"I would be the one. The one to go back and speak. A pain beyond all previous now seized me. Sweet life itself, even the desperately sought chance to tell the tale, suddenly seemed unendurable alongside the pain of having to take leave of these whom I had come so to love."
A short time after he gave me the book, following the death of one of his soldiers,when Kurilla said to me, "I want you to write about my men. You are the only one who might understand," the passage finally registered in my mind.
Efforts to halt terrorism are non-stop
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 25, 2005) – Multi-National Forces of Task Force Freedom killed three terrorists and detained four suspected terrorists Wednesday and today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment killed three terrorists and seized explosives and other material used to demolish an Iraqi Army vehicle in eastern Mosul Wednesday. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry evacuated the bodies to a local hospital. Explosives were confiscated for future destruction with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations south of Tall Ath Thawr and in Rawah Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Soldiers train Iraqi leadership at academy
Story by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MNC - I PAO
August 10, 2005
FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST, Iraq – In the U.S. Army, noncommissioned officers are known as the “backbone of the Army,” and a group of these Soldiers has set up an academy to help the Iraqi army produce its own rigid corps of NCOs.
The Iraqi NCO Academy here is a new training ground for Iraqi troops, and is the brainchild of U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Martinez, sergeant major, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Upon arriving in country last fall, Martinez noticed the Iraqi NCO corps didn’t have a training academy. The first thing on his to do list was to change that.
Using a handful of specially selected NCOs from his subordinate units, Martinez and his cadre found a training area, barracks and time to devote to a much needed group of up and coming Iraqi leaders, he said.
“We started the academy in November with the intent to strengthen the Iraqi NCO corps,” he said.
The academy is conducted on a revolving schedule with a basic training program the regiment runs. The three-week course is designed to improve leadership skills, marksmanship and army values within the Iraqi NCO corps. Each course has roughly 45 soldiers, and the “day starts early for these guys,” Martinez said.
Wake-up is 5:30 a.m., with 30 minutes for daily preparation and prayer. Physical fitness training ensues at 6 a.m., followed by a day filled with road marches, obstacle courses, drill and ceremony practice, marksmanship training and classroom instruction.
At 9 p.m., it’s time to call it a day for the Iraqi NCOs.
“By the time it’s lights out, these guys are ready to go to bed,” said Martinez, who places army values and leadership skills above all others in the training regimen.
“The bottom line is – if the leaders don’t know how to do the tasks, if the leaders aren’t trained and they’re not confident, then their soldiers aren’t going to be able to do the job asked of them,” he said.
With the focus on leadership training, the first group of soldiers attending the academy included the top echelon of the senior NCO ranks.
“I told all three Iraqi battalion commanders that my intent was to start off with the senior ranking soldiers first,” Martinez said. “In the first class, we had three sergeants major, eight first sergeants, and a lot of sergeants first-class. We wanted to get the senior guys first so they go through the same training that a lower-ranking sergeant goes through.”
Doing this caused a solid relationship between Martinez and the senior Iraqi enlisted personnel, he said.
“I see one of the sergeant majors on the FOB all the time, and he went through the very first class,” he said. “He knows what’s going on over here, so when I tell him to send me his sergeants and his platoon sergeants, he has no problem doing it.”
After the NCOs are chosen to attend the class, the cadre wastes no time getting the ball rolling. An in-processing brief kicks off the training where Martinez –
the academy’s commandant – welcomes the newest group of soldiers to the academy.
“I make sure to let them know this isn’t going to be easy, but if they stick with it they will be very proud,” Martinez said.
The soldiers that do stick with the program will graduate in a ceremony held in their honor at the camp’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation movie theater. The newly trained NCOs are presented with graduation certificates in front of their peers, along with a congratulatory speech by Martinez.
One graduation ceremony in particular had a lasting effect on the 22-year veteran from Los Angeles.
“The night before graduation, one of the Iraqi soldiers insisted that he talk to me,” Martinez said. “He came up to me, and he said, ‘Sergeant major, I speak on behalf of all the sergeants here in this class when I tell you we are very grateful to you for the training you have given us, and may Allah bless you and protect you and your family.’ I was touched that he felt that way, and you could see it in his face how happy he was.”
The newly trained NCOs go back to their respective units upon graduating from the academy, with one exception. Select Iraqi NCOs have the opportunity to become part of the cadre.
The academy currently has eight Army personnel conducting training alongside a group of Iraqi sergeants. The Iraqi soldiers chosen to be part of the cadre were honor graduates from previous classes at the academy, said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Diego Alvarez, an academy instructor from the 98th Division, Rochester, N.Y.
“We’ve mentored three of the Iraqi cadre who are graduates of the NCO academy,” Alvarez said. “We want them to take a proactive role so we can step back, and with more Iraqi cadre they can eventually run the academy themselves.”
As a former drill sergeant who is used to training and taking care of Soldiers, Alvarez knows the importance of the academy.
“It’s important for the Iraqi army to have a strong NCO corps,” Alvarez said. “The NCOs are the caretakers of soldiers and set the standards.”
Although the 8th FA will begin redeployment in September, the NCO academy will continue to operate under the regiment’s successors, Martinez said.
“We can spend all the time in the world trying to catch terrorists,” Martinez said. “But we need to train the Iraqi Army, trust them, and help equip them. We have to build these guys up and give them the confidence to take over the missions. That’s what we are doing with the NCO academy.”
Toll on terror continues to climb
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 24, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 27 suspected terrorists Tuesday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals at a checkpoint in Makuk today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained twelve individuals suspected of terrorist activity in southern and eastern Mosul Tuesday and today. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry also wounded three suspected terrorists and seized a weapon from their vehicle while responding to small arms fire in Mosul Tuesday. The wounded suspected terrorists were transported to the Combat Support Hospital, and one uninjured suspected terrorist was detained.
Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in central Mosul today. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah today.
The toll on terror continues to climb as ISF and MNF show resolve in tracking down terrorists responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF and MNF persist in the fight against terrorism
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 23, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained 26 suspected terrorists Monday and today.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist in central Mosul today. Iraqi Police and Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment responded to indirect fire, and detained six suspected terrorists in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals during a raid in western Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals at a checkpoint and found improvised explosive device making material in their vehicle in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1-5 also detained six more individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized many weapons at a checkpoint in separate operations in southern, northern, and eastern Mosul Monday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained an individual during a raid in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 2-3 ACR also detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment discovered weapons and ammunition in Rawah Monday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Commander returns home with injured legs, arm
Link to Full Article
The News Tribune
Army Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla arrived at Madigan Army Medical Center late Monday for treatment of wounds he suffered Friday in a firefight in Mosul, Iraq.
Officials said Kurilla, commander of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, was shot in the arm and leg and suffered a broken leg.
He was reported in stable condition.
He is the highest-ranking officer in Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade to be seriously wounded in Iraq.
News that Kurilla was wounded came first via the online journal of freelance writer Michael Yon, who is embedded with the battalion known as “Deuce Four” and has written extensively about its operations – and its colorful commander. (Yon’s blog is at michaelyon.blogspot.com/)
He wrote Kurilla “was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat.
“Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away.”
The brigade’s rear detachment commander, Maj. Nicholas Mullen, confirmed Monday that Kurilla had been shot near the elbow and in one leg.
It was the other leg that was broken, he said. [...]
Related:
Attacks injure two Fort Lewis battalion leaders - The Olympian
Security forces continue pressure on terrorism
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 22, 2005) –Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eleven suspected terrorists Sunday and today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion 5th Infantry Regiment also detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized several weapons from their vehicle while at a checkpoint in southern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals at a checkpoint in Tal Afar Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul. He's provided links to the four previous dispatches as well.
ISF and coalition forces press to halt terrorism
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 20, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained nineteen suspected terrorists Saturday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division detained an individual at a checkpoint and seized a shotgun and ammunition from their vehicle. Iraqi Intervention Forces from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained another individual suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah Saturday with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1-24 also detained six more individuals and seized weapons and magazines. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in southern Mosul Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons, magazines, and rounds from their vehicle near Saltan Abdallah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Proximity Delays
Michael Yon has posted a new entry to his blog.
Rodriguez offers details of Mosul dining hall attack
Link to Full Article
By Gordon Trowbridge, Times staff writer
A December suicide attack at an Army dining hall in northern Iraq was likely the work of an Ansar al-Sunna terrorist group member who somehow sneaked through the base perimeter, a senior U.S. officer said Friday.
The comments by Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of coalition troops in northwest Iraq, were the most detailed explanation yet as to how the bomber made his way into line at the dining hall and blew himself up, killing 21 others in one of the deadliest and most worrisome insurgent attacks of the war. Military officials had not released significant details of the investigation before now.
Rodriguez said the investigation, which is complete, was unable to determine whether the bomber was a member of the Iraqi army, though he was wearing an Iraqi uniform during the attack. It is also unclear whether the man was an Iraqi native or had come from outside the country, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, who briefed Pentagon reporters by video conference from Iraq, said investigators believe the attacker somehow penetrated the perimeter without passing through a base gate.
The Dec. 21 attack at Camp Marez, near Mosul, worried military commanders not only because of its lethality, but because it demonstrated insurgents could penetrate heavily protected U.S. bases. Previously, attacks on U.S. installations in Iraq had been limited to occasional and generally ineffective mortar and rocket launches from outside a base.
Security was tightened at bases throughout the country after the blast, and some analysts feared the attack would dissolve any trust between U.S. and Iraqi troops working side-by-side against the insurgency.
Ansar al-Sunna has operated in northern Iraq since well before coalition forces invaded the country in 2003. The Sunni Muslim extremist group has been responsible for dozens of high-profile attacks not only on coalition troops, but on officials of Kurdish ethnic political parties. The group is strongly linked to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and to the al-Qaida network.
Rodriguez discussed other aspects of the counter-insurgency fight in northwest Iraq: [...]
Related:
Military: Mess tent bomber who killed Stryker troops wore Iraqi uniform, sneaked onto base - The Olympian
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Graduates, Over 50 Shieks Gather to Meet with TF Automatic and the IA, Successful Cordon and Knock by Iraqi Army, Khalif is Elected as Mayor of Ash Shura
Full Articles:
Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Graduates
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 25th Task Force (TF) Automatic began the third Iraqi Army (IA) Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) class on FOB Endurance, enhancing leadership capabilities of the IA and preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight. Today, those 45 soldiers graduated.
The ceremony opened with the US and Iraqi National Anthems and the invocation, delivered in Arabic by one of the graduates. The guest speaker, Command Sgt. Maj. Lawrence V. Mione, from the 2/101 Aviation Battalion, then spoke to the graduates.
At the NCOA, soldiers are given the opportunity to learn general NCO duties such as map reading, guard duty, first aid and basic rifle marksmanship. They also learn leadership responsibilities such as Iraqi Army values, Law of War, equal opportunity, effective communi-cations and ethics and professional standards. Military decision making process (MDMP), mission analysis and mission essential task list (METL) concepts are also taught during the 3-week course.
“You will begin to see your new found leadership unfold once you return to your respective battalions. You have been given the tools necessary to help train and lead those soldiers under you,” said Mione.
“While performing your duties you will face many difficult decisions. You must always remember to do what is right. Never forget, you are an NCO, a sergeant, a leader.”
Mione was followed by the presentation of awards and certificates. Awards included the Distinguished Honor Graduate Sgt. Hamdan Dais Humdan (3/3rd), Honor Graduates Sgt. Sallah H. Mohammed (1/3rd), Corporal Amar Ibrahim Mustaffa (3/3rd), and Corporal Khalil M. Hussain (3/3rd), and Distinguished Leadership Award Sgt. Maj. Shairzad Asaad Mohie (3rd).
TF Automatic has graduated several IA basic training and NCOA classes at its IA training facility on FOB Endurance since the beginning of 2005. Forty-five soldiers from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd IA Battalions, as well as soldiers from Hammam Al Alil outside of 3rd Brigade, graduated today to join the fight against terrorism.
Over 50 Shieks Gather to Meet with TF Automatic and the IA
HAJJ ALI, Iraq – Today Task Force (TF) Automatic, led by Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, and Iraqi Army (IA) battalion commanders Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallow and Lt. Col. Hogger Salahaddin Abdul met with local shieks east of the Tigris River in order to discuss civil affairs projects in their area.
Shieks from Hajj Ali and Awsijah had requested to meet with TF Automatic and the IA. They met at the house of Sheik Nazhan Sakar Salman, along with over 50 other local leaders. Mayor Saleh of Qayarrah and the D/52 Infantry Company Commander, Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik, were also there.
“Several civil affairs projects were discussed at the meeting,” said Cpt. Daniel Florey, TF Automatic Economics Officer. “The local leaders wanted to discuss project bids to ensure local contractors would get the opportunity to work on them.”
The meeting was entirely successful for TF Automatic. The TF is striving to develop the eastern side of the Tigris River for Sheik support and assist 3rd Battalion (IA) in the recent expansion of their area of operations
Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik and his company continue to work with the IA, the local police station and key leaders of villages east of the Tigris River to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Successful Cordon and Knock by Iraqi Army
AL ZAWIYAH, Iraq – Earlier today, 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallow, and Task Force (TF) Automatic, led by Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, conducted a cordon and knock operation in Al Zawiyah in order to detain battalion target Abdul Rahman Hassan Shaheen.
Also playing an integral part in the mission was Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA). One of the three targets was executed unilaterally by the IA, accompanied by their military transition team (MiTT). The mission was well timed with all three assault elements at the objective simultaneously.
While enroute to the objective, Ali received a call from a concerned citizen that a terrorist arrived to their village from Mosul. IA soldiers quickly located the individual and detained him. He and two other detainees all tested positive for TET.
Shaheen was not at the objective, but three of his associates were detained. 1/A/2-8 Field Artillery brought the detainees to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance for further questioning.
Cpt. Cherokee Parks and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police and key leaders of Al Zawiyah to improve their safety and living conditions.
Khalif is Elected as Mayor of Ash Shura
ASH SHURA, Iraq – Yesterday in Ash Shura, local Iraqis met in order to hold their village mayor elections. The two top runners were former Mayor Sabah and current Mayor Khalif, with Khalif winning the election.
“Ever since former Mayor Sabah was relieved from his position last February, he had wanted to regain his status,” said Cpt. Tony Mitek, former officer in charge of Task Force Automatic’s combat outpost in Ash Shura.
Khalif originates from Hammam Alil, while Sabah is from Ash Shura. Last February, following the Iraqi Elections, terrorists kidnapped Sabah’s brother. Sabah could no longer hold the position of mayor for fear of his family’s and his own security. His brother has since returned to Ash Shura alive and well.
“We knew it would be a close election,” explained First Lt. Drew Godwin, 1/D-52 Platoon Leader. “Sabah performed well while in office. However, there are a select few families in Ash Shura who are very influential. The Obaid family is the largest and favored Khalif.”
Electing a mayor is an intricate process. Sheiks and muhktars nominated councilmen. The city council was then elected and approved by the provincial council election committee. The mayor was then selected by the city council.
Mayor Khalif has been filling the position for five months without pay. The effective execution of electing the mayor demonstrates competent democracy in action with efficient provincial oversight.
Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik and his company continue to work with the IA, the local police station and key leaders of Ash Shura to improve their safety, economy and living conditions. Mayor Khalif has proven supportive over the past several months and TF Automatic expects to continue their positive working relationship with him and his people.
Stryker soldiers return
Link to Full Article
Associated Press
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — More than 60 Stryker soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, have returned home after being deployed to Iraq in October. They’re the first of 4,000 Stryker soldiers scheduled to return home from Iraq over the next several weeks.
“The light is definitely on at the end of the tunnel,” said Maj. Nicholas Mullen, the brigade’s rear detachment commander. “The Lancer Brigade has done such a great job, and we’re leaving Mosul a safer place than it was when we got there.” [...]
But despite Tuesday’s return of some soldiers, it’s possible that other brigade members could be held over in Iraq to provide security for Iraq’s national election in October.
But “it’s one step closer to getting everybody else back,” Mullen said.
Since the brigade was deployed to Iraq, 34 members have died and hundreds more have been wounded.
Just hours after the homecoming Tuesday, the Pentagon released the identity Spc. Jose L. Ruiz, a brigade member who died Monday during a driveby shooting in Mosul.
ISF and MNF detained 85 suspected terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 17, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 85 suspected terrorists Tuesday and today.
Iraqi Police detained 48 individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Shimshiyat. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division and Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division also detained 17 individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Afghani Tuesday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity south of Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment also detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity southeast of Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Troopers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Segar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
SPC Jose L. Ruiz
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Jose L. Ruiz, 28, of Brentwood, N.Y., died on August 15, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, when he was conducting security operations and enemy forces using small arms fire drove by his position in a civilian vehicle. SPC Ruiz was assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones he leaves behind. This entry will remain at the top of the page today, please scroll down for other recent news.
Soldier from Brentwood killed in Iraq - Newsday
Sminklemeyer pays tribute to SPC Ruiz.
School's 4th lost hero - New York Daily News
Another LI soldier lost - Newsday
Plans for soldier's funeral - Newsday
Fort Lewis Soldiers Say Goodbye To One Of Their Own - KOMO-TV
Soldiers remember bond with comrade - News-Tribune
New Yorker Killed In Iraq Is Remembered Here At Home - NY1 News
Family, Friends Gather To Remember New Yorker Killed In Iraq - NY1 News
Community says goodbye to 'hero' - Newsday
Hero G.I. buried - New York Daily News
Tears for a local hero - Newsday
Lives Blown Apart
The following editorial profiles Sema Olson and her son, CPL Bobby Rosendahl. CPL Rosendahl was a member of the 1/25 SBCT who was seriously injured in Mosul in March 2005. He is still recovering at Walter Reed and Sema has moved back there to be with him. The struggle described by this family is one that I've heard many times before, unfortunately. We've put together a list of organizations that offer direct support if you're interested in helping families in similar situations.
Link to Full Editorial
By BOB HERBERT, The New York Times
Sema Olson was in the living room watching television when the phone rang. It was the Department of the Army calling. A voice asked if she'd heard from her son in the past 24 hours.
Ms. Olson tried to ward off the panic. "Is he still alive?" she asked.
After verifying her identity, the man on the phone assured her that her son, Bobby Rosendahl, who was stationed in Iraq, was still alive. But he'd been badly wounded.
With that Saturday night phone call, life as Ms. Olson had known it came to an end. Her family's long, long period of overwhelming sacrifice was under way.
Bobby Rosendahl, a 24-year-old Army corporal (and avid golfer) from Tacoma, Wash., was literally blown into the air last March 12 when an improvised explosive device detonated beneath his Stryker armored vehicle. He remembers landing on his back, with fuel spilling all around him and insurgents firing at him from the roof of a mosque. [...]
Ms. Olson, who is 45 and divorced, gave up everything - her work, her rented townhouse, her car - and moved from Tacoma to a hotel on the grounds of Walter Reed to be with her son and assist in his recovery. [...]
Ms. Olson is a paralegal who did work for several lawyers in Tacoma. She also worked as a claims analyst for the city's transit system. With that work gone, she is now living on the $48 per diem she receives from the Army for food and lodging, along with money that she has reluctantly been drawing from her son's Army pay, and assistance she is receiving from another son, Keith, who is 27.
She has also received help from charitable organizations that assist military families.
Be sure to read the full story. Thanks to M Baker for the link.
A small, sweet homecoming
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
They call it the torch party – a small group to go ahead and light the way for others to follow – and Tuesday it touched down at Fort Lewis.
Sixty-two Stryker soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division arrived home from Iraq to begin making way for the rest of their 4,000 comrades over the next several weeks.
Their first arrival is no insurance against the prospect that the brigade might be held over to provide security for Iraq’s national election in October.
But, “it’s one step closer to getting everybody else back,” Maj. Nicholas Mullen, the brigade’s rear detachment commander, said at Tuesday’s buoyant welcome-home ceremony.
“The light is definitely on at the end of the tunnel,” Mullen said. “The Lancer Brigade has done such a great job, and we’re leaving Mosul a safer place than it was when we got there.”
About 200 spouses, kids, soldiers and other well-wishers were on hand at Wilson Gym for the advance party’s return. A second group of about 60 soldiers is due in today.
The first wave initially was scheduled to arrive Sunday night, then early Wednesday, then Tuesday night, and finally, Tuesday afternoon.
First batch of Stryker soldiers return home
Link to Full Article
By Christian Hill, The Olympian
FORT LEWIS — As she watched more than 60 soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th In-fantry Division, reunite with their families Tuesday, Lynnette Beagle lamented that her own husband’s homecoming is weeks away.
“I’m excited for the girls who get their husbands home, but we’ve got a month or so before we get our husbands,” said Beagle, whose spouse, Kevin, a troop commander in the unit, is set to return in mid-September. “I just hope we get the rest of the guys home safe and quick.”
Hours later, the Pentagon released the identity of the 33rd member of the brigade to be killed since it deployed to Iraq in October. Spc. Jose L. Ruiz, 28, of Brentwood, N.Y., died Monday during a drive-by shooting in Mosul.
His death brought a sad conclusion to what Col. John Pepper described as a great day for Fort Lewis in brief remarks to the returning soldiers before he released them to their families.
The soldiers who returned Tuesday make up half of the advance team that will pre-pare for the arrival of the remaining soldiers. The advance team’s remaining soldiers are set to return today.
Their arrival signifies that the brigade’s deployment is coming to an end. The bulk of the brigade’s soldiers will return next month and into October.
The brigade, more commonly known as the nation’s second Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is based in Mosul and conducted security and stability operations throughout northern Iraq. [...]
Bank a re-up bonus when you pick a brigade combat team
The 1/25 SBCT and some of its soldiers are highlighted in this story.
Link to Full Article (Subscription; Available in the 8/22/05 paper edition)
By Jim Tice and Matthew Cox, Times staff writers
Specific assignment opportunities also available
Re-enlistment bonuses and specific assignment opportunities are available to soldiers who volunteer for brigade combat teams at three stateside locations.
At Fort Lewis, Wash., certain specialists, sergeants and staff sergeants of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, can net $10,000 or $15,000 bonuses if they re-enlist and stay with the unit at least four years.
Ultimately this Stryker unit will be stationed in Vilsek, Germany, but not before returning from Mosul, Iraq, later this summer to its home base at Fort Lewis. The brigade will reset at Lewis and be reflagged the 2nd Cavalry Regiment before moving to Germany in 2006. Under the brigade stationing plan announced by the Army in late July, the unit currently organizing at Lewis as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment will be reflagged as one of three Lewis-based Stryker brigades of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The good word on Selective Re-enlistment Bonuses has made it to the combat zone, where Sgt. William Samuelson, with Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, a 1-25 unit, is going through the re-enlistment process and will net about $13,000 tax-free. The 25-year-old from Spanaway, Wash., has been in the Army for six years and is waiting to sign his final re-up paperwork.
“Even though the op tempo is really high now … it’s basically a good, secure job,” he said during an interview near Rawah, Iraq, a small town near the Syrian border. “You have to make sacrifices, but it’s worth it in the end.”
Spc. Matthew Beaudette, who, like Samuelson, is an 11B infantryman with 3-21, raised his right hand in Mosul on July 12 to sign on for four more years with the 1-25.
He knows he’ll stay with the unit all the way to Germany.
“The main reason was I really wanted to see Europe,” he said. “I’ve been to Korea. I’d like to see Germany, and it also gives me some time before I have to come back to Iraq.”
Col. Robert Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry division, said the 1-25th was chosen to go to Germany because it will be ready before the current 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which has just begun its conversion to Stryker.
“The Army needs a Stryker brigade in Germany that will be ready to deploy,” he said.[...]
Video Of Stryker Homecoming
Local TV station KING 5 has a video clip of the homecoming tonight at Ft. Lewis for the advance team of the 1/25 SBCT. Registration is required to access most content on the site, but it might be worth it. If you are already registered you can follow this direct link to the clip. Otherwise, visit the home page to register, then navigate to the video section of the site.
Welcome home!
In Mosul, a shaky Iraqi police force tries again
Link to Full Article
By Richard A. Oppel Jr., The New York Times
MOSUL, Iraq The Five West police station, erected over four days in July on a gravel-covered hill in the most violent part of this violent city, is little more than concertina wire, concrete barriers, gun towers and portable sheds. Police officers mill about, some in street clothes or gym shorts, sorting through Glock pistols and machine-gun belts.
It may not look like much, but garrisoning police so deep inside the insurgency's home turf would have been inconceivable a few months ago, say American officers, who credit the police with gathering intelligence leading to the capture of terror suspects even as attacks against police officers have soared. [...]
Many soldiers believe the police could crumble unless the American troops stay for years.
"Without that security blanket, the Iraqi police will be scared, and a scared Iraqi is a useless Iraqi," said First Sergeant Keith Utley of the First Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment, which patrols western Mosul.
The executive officer of one company in the battalion, First Lieutenant Dan Kearney, said Mosul could see gang-style civil war no matter when troops leave. "While we're here, it's like they have Big Brother looking over them," he says of the police. "I don't think the police are the kind of people who will stick it out." [...]
In addition, the Iraqi police suffer from widespread corruption. A $5,000 to $10,000 bribe can spring a prisoner from jail, says the American battalion's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Erik Kurilla. Many police officers terrify residents, shooting automatic weapons wildly to clear traffic or intimidate bystanders.
The police are also known to "arrest" people to serve as day laborers and to steal money during searches, say American officers.
And much of the intelligence the police gather comes from beating information out of detainees, Iraqi and American officers say - tactics some fear could hurt Mosul in the long run.
Kurilla said the police might be ready to replace U.S. troops next year - if their improvement continues and the flow of foreign fighters is stopped.
The police now shoot back at attackers instead of fleeing, and undercover officers are arresting insurgents, he said. "There are lots of issues," he said. "But where they are now versus where they were in November is night and day."
Early in the occupation, Mosul enjoyed relative peace despite its volatile ethnic mix of two million people, mostly Sunni Arabs on the west side of the Tigris River and Kurds on the east. At the outset, the American military based an oversized division of 30,000 here, but it cut the number of troops last year by two-thirds.
As the Marines invaded Falluja in November, Mosul was seized by an insurgent revolt. More than 200 Iraqi corpses, many of them soldiers and policemen, turned up along side streets or traffic circles, their heads sawed off or riddled with bullets.
For months Mosul had no police. Then, on March 23, five dozen men showed up at a police station near the Tigris called Four West, named for its status as one of the principal stations on the west side. Kurilla e-mailed his boss with the heading: "The west Mosul police are back…..for now."
Arriving in October, Kurilla's battalion endured some of the most violent urban warfare of the war. In 10 months, the 700-soldier unit has been awarded 153 Purple Hearts and seen a dozen men die, including one killed Aug. 4 by a sniper near Four West.
It is calmer now: Attacks against troops in western Mosul fell in July to their lowest level of the year. Commerce has returned, and vegetable and finished-goods markets bustle. But attacks against the police have risen as fast as attacks against Americans have declined, doubling in two months, Kurilla said.
About two of three insurgent attacks are now directed at Iraqi police officers or soldiers, he said. Even so, violence against American troops probably will never decline much further, he said.
"It's foolish to think there will be a nirvana where American soldiers can carry flowers down the street," he says. "There will always be somebody willing to pick up an AK-47 and shoot Americans."
Much of the police force's routine is still guided by American troops, who visit western Mosul's 10 police stations up to a half-dozen times a day and supply guns, barriers, computers and other needs, while inundating the police with constant direction on tactics and strategy. [...]
The story continues with more detail on the interaction the police and the Deuce Four in Mosul.
Eight suspected terrorists detained during operations in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 16, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eight suspected terrorists Monday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi and MNF net terrorist suspects and weapons
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, detained 16 individuals suspected of terrorist activity, and seized weapons and ammunition during operations today and Sunday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity, seized three weapons and a large amount of ammunition during a raid in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed a terrorist attempting to fire a rocket propelled grenade in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment also killed a sniper in Tal Afar Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Sunday. In two separate operations Sunday, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern and southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity east of Ajamiyah. Soldiers from 2-14 also seized a weapon and ammunition during a raid in Rawah Sunday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction and the suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Local leaders and Iraqi citizens respond positively to medical care for children
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 15, 2005) – Over 600 Iraqi children received medical and dental screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and the 113th Engineer Battalion with security support from Coalition Forces during two separate operations in western Mosul Friday and Sunday.
Soldiers, doctors, nurses, medics and dentists from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment and the 113th Engineer Battalion conducted the screenings and handed out stuffed animals and hygiene products to the local children. This is the fifth and sixth operation of its kind in the last four weeks. Local citizens and leaders responded positively to the care and security provided by medical team and Coalition Forces.
Unit finds possible chemical laboratory
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — The contraption looks like a homemade moonshine distillery fashioned from junk-yard parts, but the Army suspects it is a “clandestine” chemical plant .
Army officials today took reporters here on a brief tour of the facility, which was captured during an Aug. 9 raid along with 1,500 gallons of suspicious chemicals.
Initial testing by chemical teams from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) found no evidence of chemical warfare agents, but more detailed tests are being conducted in Baghdad as well as the United States, said Maj. Michael Petrunyak, chemical officer for Task Force Freedom.
Petrunyak said the home-made equipment found at the chemical plant could be used for mixing these industrial chemicals into some type of weapon such as an accelerant for explosives. He said there was no evidence as to whether the plant existed before the start of the U.S. war in Iraq in March 2003.
Michael Yon Interview - Recording
For those of you who were not able to hear the Michael Yon interview live last night, you can hear the entire hour-long interview in recorded format at this URL. The recording is courtesy of Pundit Review.
The good fight: Forging bonds in the community
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Soldiers are beginning to think fighting off suicide car-bombers here was easy compared to convincing the locals to trust coalition forces.
The troops with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, patrol the streets daily here in search of insurgent activity, but they also spend a lot of time trying to convince the residents of this town near the Syrian border that they no longer live under the control of terrorists.
The lull in the fighting since U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July has prompted many locals to return to their homes. People are beginning to cooperate with coalition forces in small ways, such as spilling the locations of enemy weapons caches.
Still, progress is slow and some residents are boldly defiant of U.S. troops.
During an Aug. 11 patrol, a 20-year-old Iraqi man tore up a coalition flier in the face of Capt. Mark Ivezaj, Bravo Company commander. U.S. forces have been handing out the single sheet of paper explaining why American and Iraqi forces are in Rawah and how residents can cooperate.
“Ask him why he thinks it’s OK to tear up our stuff in front of us!” Ivezaj shouts in a stern voice to his interpreter, while questioning the man. The young man’s demeanor changes quickly. Fear and a touch of regret spread across his face.
“I’m just a kid,” he replies through the interpreter.
Ivezaj orders his soldiers to detain him. The frustration is clear in his voice.
He tore it up “right in front of me and smiled about it,” he said, shaking his head. A few minutes later, Ivezaj turns the man over to nearby Iraqi forces for questioning.
Attacks still a fact of life.
The steady enemy attacks on Stryker vehicle patrols have eased since 3-21 and other U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July. Nevertheless, they remain a moment-to-moment threat.
Iraqi and Multi-National Forces net terrorist suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, detained 16 individuals suspected of terrorist activity, and seized weapons and ammunition during operations today and Sunday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity, seized three weapons and a large amount of ammunition during a raid in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed a terrorist attempting to fire a rocket propelled grenade in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment also killed a sniper in Tal Afar Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Sunday. In two separate operations Sunday, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern and southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity east of Ajamiyah. Soldiers from 2-14 also seized a weapon and ammunition during a raid in Rawah Sunday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction and the suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Army Conducts Combined Operation with TF Automatic, Iraqi Army Delivers IED Detonating Device, Iraqi Army and C/2-8 Conduct Combined Cordon and Search
Full Articles:
Iraqi Army Conducts Combined Operation with TF Automatic
NINEWAH, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic conducted two simultaneous raids in Ninewah Province yesterday in conjunction with 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade in order to capture Ali Hussein Bahkr and weapons caches.
At objectives Delhi and Rome, the IA and TF Automatic were able to track down the targeted individual, as well as a small illegal weapons cache. Bahkr was detained with 1 x glock, 1 x small pistol, 1 x shotgun, 4 x AK-47 and 1 x 75 round drum (7.62 mm) full. Bahkr also tested positive for both TNT and TET.
The IA and TF Automatic continue to maintain pressure against the AIF in order to ensure a successful RIP/TOA with 4-11 Field Artillery.
Iraqi Army Delivers IED Detonating Device
AL HAWD, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s explosive ordinance demolition (EOD) Team 6, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, responded to an IED related call from the front gate of FOB Endurance on August 3rd.
An Iraqi Army (IA) officer had delivered an IED detonating device to the front gate. The device was from an IED that had already detonated behind an IA convoy the day prior in Al Hawd.
The device consisted of one silver Senao LRCT base station, model 3310N with modified antenna and one gray washing machine timer. There was no power source with the device, however.
The team recovered the device from the IA officer for exploitation. The process demonstrated another example of the IA and Coalition working together.
Iraqi Army and C/2-8 Conduct Combined Cordon and Search
AKRAT, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s C/2-8 Field Artillery (FA), led by Cpt. Matt Yost, conducted a combined operation with 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallow, on August 5th in Akrat.
The units conducted a well-planned cordon and search, involving both a ground and air assault element, in order to detain suspected terrorists Fadl Raifa’I Essa and Abdullah Mohammed Sadoon. The operation also led to the capture of 23 other suspected terrorists.
The cordon and search operation demonstrated another example of the IA and Coalition working together.
There's good news, too, to be had in Iraq
Link to Full Article (Opinion)
By DEROY MURDOCK, Chicago Sun-Times
Amid roadside bombs, constitutional squabbles and even a blinding sandstorm on Monday, one wonders if anything is going right in Iraq. Plenty is, actually, although the mainstream media rarely mention such good news. [...]
Civic-affairs work by uniformed personnel may have persuaded average Iraqis to furnish useful information. On Aug. 5, GIs and medics from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Division, plus Iraqi police, performed health screenings on 200 Mosul children. They also gave these kids soccer balls.
During five such missions since mid-July, some 1,000 kids in Mosul received basic medical attention. [...]
Fort Lewis postpones Stryker ceremony
Link to Full Article
The Olympian
A welcome home ceremony for about 75 Stryker soldiers assigned to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, was postponed Sunday, Fort Lewis officials said. The new date and time for their arrival ceremony have not been announced.
The soldiers are part of the 4,000-member Lancer Brigade, which has been deployed in Iraq since October.
About 75 more Lancers are expected to arrive at the post Wednesday. [...]
Offensive operations press against terror
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 14, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces of Task Force Freedom detained 21 individuals suspected of terrorist activity today and Saturday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division along with soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity in separate cordon and knock operations north of Qayyarah Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained eight individuals attempting to cross the border south of Rabiah Saturday. Soldiers from the 3rd ACR also detained two individuals, suspected of terrorist activity, during a raid west of Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Coordinated efforts continue to strike out against terrorism
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist, injured another four, detained seven suspected terrorists and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Friday.
Iraqi Police detained one individual after being attacked with small arms fire in northeastern Mosul Friday. The suspect is in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed one terrorist and injured four after being attacked with small arms fire in northern Mosul. Two individuals suspected of involvement in the attack were also detained. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals and confiscated weapons during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul Friday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron 14th Cavalry Regiment seized weapons from a school during a raid in Rawah. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
DEO Meeting Held on FOB Endurance, Iraqi Army Reports Partially Detonated IED to TF Automatic, 1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion Detains 11 Suspected Terrorists, Makhmur Plays IA-TF Automatic Team in New Stadium, Ash Shura Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting, Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Begins
Full Articles:
DEO Meeting Held on FOB Endurance
FOB ENDURANCE, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic met with District Election Officials (DEO) from five of the most populated villages in Ninewah Province on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance yesterday, August 5th, to discuss the advent of Iraqi voters registration and elections.
The meeting, lasting just under an hour, discussed the security plan for the local polling sites during voters registration. All Iraqi’s, ages 18 and above, will be eligible to register from August 8th to the 31st. Local schools will be used as polling sites and will be secured by the Iraqi Army (IA) and Iraqi police.
“The meeting went very well,” said Cpt. Richard Crosby, TF Automatic Plans Officer. “The officials are ready to get the process underway as soon as a security and protection plan is well established.”
“What we’re concentrating on most is that the registration and voting process displays an Iraqi face, where Coalition forces play only a support and supervisory role,” said Crosby.
The villages present at the meeting were Gware, Ash Shura, and Al Hadr, represented by Khaled Ratou Bahue, Najim Hasan, and Ali Akhmed Saleh. Qayarrah and Jedda also had a representative present at the meeting.
Iraqi Army Reports Partially Detonated IED to TF Automatic
TAL AZBAH, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s explosive ordinance demolition (EOD) Team 6 responded to a post blast yesterday in Tal Azbah along ASR Richmond, which was reported by Iraqi Army’s 1/3rd Battalion.
Team 6, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, confirmed that an IED had detonated earlier that morning but there were two remaining explosives that had not detonated.
TF Automatic’s quick reaction force (QRF) established security while Lee and his team conducted an initial recon using the Talon robot. The recon identified two partially detonated 130 mm illumination projectiles in a pile of gravel. After removing both projectiles from their emplacement, they searched the area for possible secondary devices.
The team remotely placed a 5-pound drop charge on the gravel pile in order to possibly find another device. No other devices found, the leader donned the bomb suit and was driven to the site. Lee recovered the projectiles and conducted a hasty search for secondary devices with negative results.
The team returned to FOB Endurance and placed the projectiles in a holding area pending disposal.
1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion Detains 11 Suspected Terrorists
NINEVAH, IRAQ – 1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion, commanded by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh, conducted flash TCPs along route Atlanta yesterday, detaining 11 suspected terrorists, two of which tested positive when vapor traced for IED remnants.
Due to a recent increase in IED activity in Ali’s area of operations, he collected several intelligence reports and executed the direct action mission accordingly. He and his soldiers conducted a hasty planning session and executed the unilateral mission successfully.
Adjacent unit coordination was made between 1/3rd IA and 1-5 Infantry (IN) Battalion. The two units shared intelligence that led to a joint target being captured by Ali for 1-5 IN.
“It was a perfectly timed and executed operation,” commented Maj. Chris Cardoni, Task Force (TF) Automatic’s Operations Officer. “Brig. Gen. Ali properly positioned his men at the necessary TCPs, directing them to commence their target searches at the specified time.”
The 11 individuals were from the villages of Az Zawiyah, Tal Azbah, Al Hawd, Ar Rasif, and Surits. All are currently in Task Force Automatic’s detention facility for further questioning.
Makhmur Plays IA-TF Automatic Team in New Stadium
MAKHMUR, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic and soldiers from the Iraqi Army joined together against a Makhmur team in a soccer match yesterday August 1st, celebrating Makhmur’s brand new sports stadium opening.
The new $46,000 sports complex consists of a leveled playing field, bleachers, covered patio, and several cement buildings to include bathrooms, showers, and a snack bar.
“Before the stadium was built, the area was just a pile of large rocks and rubble,” explained Capt. Jon Jacobson of the TF Automatic civil affairs team. “The construction was done by a local contractor. That’s something we try to do with most projects: hire local contractors and local help.”
Several people attended the celebration. 3rd Iraqi Army Battalion Commander and Executive Officer, Lt. Col. Hogger Salahaddin Abdul and Lt. Col. Dildar Jameel Mohammed Doski were there with their soldiers. Mayor of Makhmur Abdul Rahman also attended, as well as several members of the city council.
“It was a great time spent in Makhmur,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, TF Automatic Commander. “We always enjoy spending time there because they take care of their village and their people, it’s very clean, and the food is great.”
Ash Shura Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
ASH SHURA, Iraq – The monthly Ash Shura Area Security Council meeting took place on July 31th in Ash Shura. Topics covered during the meeting included the security, civil affairs projects, and schools.
“Over 40 local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel,” said Second Lt. Joe Swisher, 2/D-52 Platoon Leader.
D-52 Infantry Company Commander, Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik, opened the meeting discussing the many good things that have happened in the region during the past month. Successes included the local law enforcement making headway in the fight against terrorists, as well as several civil affairs projects in the works.
The first litigious issue raised during the meeting concerned security. Ash Shura Mayor Khalif spoke of the importance of local leaders working hand in hand with the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police force.
Former Mayor Sabah also spoke at the meeting. “Recently relieved of his position last February, he was hoping to be re-elected as Mayor in the upcoming months,” explained First Lt. Drew Godwin, 1/D-52 Platoon Leader.
The remaining issues brought up during the monthly meeting involved civil affairs projects. Many of the local leaders were not there to discuss security, as has been the case in the past, but to ensure their consideration and status for project funding. There were many questions concerning money paid and money to be paid.
The meeting was laconic, only lasting 45 minutes, but very effective with numerous issues resolved. Wajtusik and his company continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Ash Shura to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Begins
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 25th Task Force (TF) Automatic began the third Iraqi Army (IA) Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) class on FOB Endurance, enhancing leadership capabilities of the IA and preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight.
At the NCOA, soldiers are given the opportunity to learn general NCO duties such as map reading, guard duty, first aid and basic rifle marksmanship. They also learn leadership responsibilities such as Iraqi Army values, Law of War, equal opportunity, effective communi-cations and ethics and professional standards. Military decision making process (MDMP), mission analysis and mission essential task list (METL) concepts are also taught during the 3-week course.
TF Automatic has graduated several IA basic training and NCOA classes at its IA training facility on FOB Endurance since the beginning of 2005. Just over 50 soldiers from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd IA Battalions, as well as soldiers from Hammam Al Alil outside of 3rd Brigade, will graduate from the NCOA next month. The eleven TF Automatic trainers will relish in their 1-day off before they begin their next IA basic training course.
“The Iraqi soldiers begin their training with three days of rifle marksmanship followed by a three-day first aid field training exercise,” says NCOA Chief Instructor Sgt. First Class Thomas Trott. “This coming week’s main event will be the obstacle course.”
Iraqi Cops: These Are Street Fightin' Boys!
Link to Full Article
Jim Kouri
In two staggered columns, one on each side of a busy Mosul street, a group of Iraqi Police Commandos file on foot away from the safety of Forward Operation Base Blickenstaff and into the uncertainty of mid-afternoon rush hour. They make foot patrols through the streets of Mosul a few times a week, wearing body armor vests, weapons always at the ready.
“These are the street fightin’ boys,” says US Army Staff Sgt. Chris Paschel, who works with the commandos of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade with US Army Sgt. 1st Class Carl Paris. “They are combat tested.”
On a recent patrol, a group of 25 commandos covered roughly three miles, navigating spots of heavy traffic along a commercial district. At one point, gunshots ringing out in the distance forced them to take cover until it was safe to continue. Along the route, several motorists and passersby waved hello or stopped to shake the hands of the commandos and their US advisers, Paris and Paschel. On a street with a local elementary school, a cluster of children ran to shake their hands and ask for candy.
The patrols serve several purposes, Paschel and Paris say. It lets the citizens of Mosul see their security forces at work, and it sends the commandos out in search of enemies. A couple of months ago, the group of commandos captured a high-value insurgent who was identified as having beheaded several people in a business they pass by on foot patrols.
When they go out with the commandos, Paschel and Paris do not give too much direction. The authority for the foot missions is in the hands of the ranking Iraqi officer.
The commandos also go out on coordinated missions. One recent night they set out after dark in search of a man suspected of aiding insurgents. They didn't find him, but they'll keep trying until they do, the advisers say.
“They love missions, they love to capture the bad guys,” says Iraqi Police Commando Maj. Heider. Heider says he is not only proud of his men, but emotionally connected as well.
“They aren't my company, they are my family,” says Heider.
Michael Yon Interview
Michael Yon, who is currently embedded with Deuce Four in Mosul, will be a guest on the WRKO Pundit Review radio program this Sunday. Details:
Michael will be on live from Mosul, Iraq this Sunday evening at 9pm EST. You can stream the show live at WRKO and you can call us toll-free with questions at 877-469-4322.
Visit the Pundit Review site for more information.
UPDATE 8/14: Michael Yon has posted a brief entry on his site regarding the interview as well.
UPDATE 8/15: For those of you who were not able to hear the Michael Yon interview live, you can hear the entire hour-long interview in recorded format at this URL. The recording is courtesy of Pundit Review.
Local man hurt in Iraq by explosion
Link To Full Article
By JENNIFER SICKING, Gainesville Daily Register
An Army soldier from Cooke County was injured Monday when his vehicle hit an explosive device in Mosul, Iraq.
Staff Sgt. William "Bill" J. Shaw, with the Striker Brigade out of Fort Lewis, Wash., suffered shrapnel wounds to his left thigh and leg, his mother, Carlotta Barron said Thursday.
Shaw was transported to the 228th Combat Hospital in Mosul, Iraq, for emergency treatment. He was released from the hospital Friday and is on light duty while he recovers.
His wife, Sarah, said she received a call on her cell phone from her husband's platoon sergeant Monday about 5 p.m. Texas time.
"I knew it was something bad," she said. "They don't call you unless something happened. I was scared and worried. It terrified me."
The family received official notification of Staff Sgt. Shaw's injury on Tuesday.
"He was in a Striker (tank) going down a street in Mosul when his vehicle hit an IED (improvised explosive device)," Barron said.
Barron said it was "hard" to hear of her son's injuries and for him to be in a hospital so far away.
"This is his second tour with the Army," she said. "He's a proud soldier, but he's ready to come home. I'm ready too."
He's scheduled to return from Iraq in September to Washington and to be discharged from the Army in December. [...]
Clarification on 1st Brigade's move to Germany
The following information was approved for release by Stryker Brigade News by 1st Brigade Commanders.
There is much confusion over the Brigade/Battalion’s move to Germany based on some articles in local newspapers. Much of the confusion is from the decision to re-flag (re-name) units.
Here are the simple facts to clarify for everyone:
1. The majority of the Brigade will move to Germany in summer 2006 between June and August. This includes 1-24 Infantry and all assigned battalions.
2. 1st Brigade, 25th ID will most likely re-flag (change unit designations) to become the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. All this means is the patch on the shoulder changes and the name of the Battalion designation changes. Think of when the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee and became the Tennessee Titans – same players, different name. This will happen either right prior to the deployment to Germany or upon arrival in Germany.
3. Soldiers can re-enlist here in Iraq to stay with the Brigade and go to Germany. A nice bonus is available.
4. New soldiers, NCO’s, and officers who are assigned to the 1st Brigade at Fort Lewis upon redeployment all the way until April 2006 will deploy with the Brigade to Germany.
5. Some current soldiers, NCO’s and officers will be re-assigned to other units or other posts based on needs of the Army (Drill Sergeant School, Recruiter duty, etc.), professional development schools, or individual soldier/NCO requests. Some soldiers that do not have enough time on their current enlistment will move to other units, either on Fort Lewis or throughout the Army to finish out their enlistment. The exact amount of time required to deploy to Germany is still being worked.
I hope this helps and I have not muddied the waters even more but exact timelines and ETS dates for those who deploy to Germany are still being worked.
Suspects captured, weapons cache seized during operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 12, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained three suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint north of Qayyarah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Welcome home, pack your bags
Additional reorganization details provided in this article.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The first returning 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division soldiers are due in from Iraq on Sunday night, but they and their families might not be at Fort Lewis for long.
Many will move to Germany next year under an Army-wide shift of its 43 combat brigades.
When all the moves are complete over the next couple of years, Fort Lewis will still be home to three of the Army’s leading-edge Stryker brigades. But two of the three will have a new name and military identity – and many new faces.
Still, much uncertainty and speculation remains following the July 27 announcement of the Army’s restationing plan.
“This is where we’re going to wind up,” said Joseph Piek, a post spokesman. “Exactly how we get there and what the time frame is, stand by.”
The plan was announced at the Pentagon by Gen. Richard Cody, the vice chief of staff of the Army, and Raymond Dubois, special assistant to the secretary of the Army. In addition, Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey spoke briefly about the moves during his visit to Fort Lewis on Wednesday, and Fort Lewis spokesmen added some details Thursday.
Here’s what they’re saying:
Be sure to read the details.
First contingent of Stryker soldiers returns Sunday
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
FORT LEWIS -- Nearly 150 soldiers from the Army's second Stryker Brigade Combat Team return home next week to prepare for the arrival of the unit's remaining soldiers from Iraq.
Planes carrying the rest of the soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, should begin arriving within three to six weeks, said Joseph Piek, a civilian spokesman at the Army post.
About 75 soldiers from the unit's "Torch Party" are expected Sunday, with about the same number set to arrive Wednesday.
The soldiers returning Sunday will be reunited with family members after a brief ceremony at Wilson Gym.
The group represents a small number of soldiers from each of the brigade's units.
"They basically need to come here and get acquainted with where their representative units are located and open things back up to receive the unit," Piek said. [...]
Relentless Security Forces continue pace against terror
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 11, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one suspected terrorists and seized three weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized two weapons caches during raids in western Mosul. The caches included several mortar and rocket propelled grenade rounds, a mortar tube, several blasting caps, and other improvised explosive device making material. Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah. The cache included various rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and various grenades. All weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1-24th also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul. Suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
‘Then it blew’
Link to Full Article (Opinion) (Subscription. Available in the 8/15/05 news stand edition)
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
Army Times reporter Matthew Cox and photographer James J. Lee have been patrolling the Syrian border with troops from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.
The 3-21 and 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, are part of a task force under 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division that has been operating in the area since mid-July in an effort to cut off insurgent infiltration routes.
The troops have been targeted regularly since arriving. On the afternoon of Aug. 1, a suicide bomber detonated a taxi packed with explosives in front of their stopped Stryker combat vehicle.
This is Cox’s account of getting a taste of what for the troops has become a common experience.
AL BU HARDEN, Iraq — I heard the two shots from Spc. Eddie Martinez’s M16, but I had no idea he was firing at a suicide car-bomber steering straight for us.
There was the “pop, pop” of the soldier’s weapon — though at the time, I did not know where the gunfire was coming from — then a deafening roar as a tremendous force knocked me to my hands and knees.
The suicide bomber had detonated his explosives-packed taxi fewer than 25 feet away.
Dust, earth, gravel, car parts and shrapnel flew everywhere; the air stank of scorched rubber and petroleum.
Moments before, photographer James J. Lee — we call him J. Lee — and I had been standing near the rear ramp of the Stryker combat vehicle we were riding in.
Now we were on the ground, trying to mentally process the chaos that enveloped us in an instant. I knew something had exploded, but I was in a daze. My first instinct was to crawl for cover, but I was so disoriented I didn’t know where to go.
J. Lee already was taking photographs.
A sharp, tingling pain bit into my lower left leg. A shrill ringing reverberated in both ears.
The next thing I remember was standing up and looking at J. Lee, now in the Stryker waving me over. I got inside, and it seemed as if everyone was yelling.
Martinez was holding out his bleeding hand and shouting something.
“He needs a bandage!” J. Lee said, handing me his scarf. I grabbed it and started wrapping it around Martinez’s fingers. My hands were shaking.
Cpl. Michael Wachowicz, B Company’s medic, came up and told me to come with him so he could look at my leg. I looked down and saw blood on my left pants leg and decided that was a good idea. [...]
Security Forces continue the fight against terrorism
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 12, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained seven suspected terrorists and killed three terrorists today and Wednesday.
Iraqi Security Forces detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment engaged and killed three terrorists armed with rocket propelled grenades in Tal Afar yesterday. Multi-National Forces also detained one individual at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar yesterday. No MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul yesterday. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah yesterday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Such Men
Provided below is an email sent by SSG Holcomb to his family and friends, which we are sharing with his permission.
Dear Friends and Family,
It has been quite some time since I last wrote anything of significance. My creative spirit has been dampened by the poverty and destruction that I face daily. Part of the reason I write now is because it is nearing the end of my time here and I find that I must begin to express myself if I am to be able to make the transition from combat back to the normal world.
The primary factor in this is that last night I attended the memorial service for the sixteenth fallen "Deuce Four" soldier in our ten months in this hell that is Mosul, Iraq. His name was Private First Class Nils Thompson and he had only been in Iraq for four months, because he had completed basic training just this past winter. All of eighteen years old and fresh out of high school, Nils decided that the right thing to do was to serve his country. So, he enlisted as an Army infantryman, a job that he knew almost guaranteed that he would be sent to the front lines within a year, be it Iraq or Afghanistan. Still, he raised his right hand and swore to defend his country against all enemy's. Where do we find such men?
Last week, the day after his nineteenth birthday, Nils was out on patrol with his platoon. He was standing in the back hatch on his Stryker, pulling security while his leader's were in a meeting at an Iraqi police station here in Mosul. Suddenly, and without warning, a single shot rang out and Nils dropped to the floor of the Stryker. The bullet had struck him in the head and he breathed his last before he hit the ground. We are still looking for the shooter and we will get him.
In a Battalion of more than six hundred, I never had the privilege to meet Nils, who was in C company while I am in B company. But at his memorial, all of us that didn't know him learned what a great man and soldier he had become in his few years on this earth. We learned that he was a wonderful friend to his comrades. We also learned that he was a very spiritual man who attended both Protestant and Catholic services weekly. The Chaplin told about how excited he was that he had given a friend a Bible.
Seeing the anguish and sorrow that Nils death brought to his friends, I was reminded of my own grief at the loss of good friends and brothers. Of the fifteen that preceded Nils, three names instantly leap into my mind: Captain Bill Jacobsen, my company commander and workout partner, who was killed on December twenty-first in the chow hall bombing. Specialist Clint Gertson, a dear friend that lived within four doors of me in the barracks for more than two years, who was killed on February nineteenth by a drive-by shooter. First Sargent Mike Bordelon, a true example of a warrior, who's Stryker was hit by a suicide car bomb on April twenty-third and yet he fought for nearly three weeks, through wounds that most thought would be his end within the hour, before succumbing to those injuries.
This is the first death in the Battalion since Specialist Sayles was killed at the beginning of June. On that day, one died, two lost limbs, and ten others suffered assorted injuries. The most memorable of the assorted injuries was a soldier who decided to lay in the prone and pull security while the more seriously injured were being treated. He was found shortly thereafter, passed out due to loss of blood with his weapon still in hand. No one knew until that moment that he had even been injured. Where do we find such men?
We are down to the home stretch, and yet we must always remember that we are at war. [...] I pray that we bring all who remain back home.
All my love,
Dustin
Previous Letters from SSG Holcomb:
Citizen’s call-in tip prevents IED attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and defused an improvised explosive device thanks to an Iraqi citizen’s tip during operations in northern Iraq today.
An Iraqi citizen’s call-in tip to the Joint Coordination Center lead Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment to defuse an improvised explosive device in western Mosul. No civilian or MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
Iraqi Security Forces detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity after an attack on a Multi-National Force convoy in eastern Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Division detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Effective operations in northern Iraq curtail terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 13 suspected terrorists and killed one terrorist during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist and detained three terrorists in western Mosul Tuesday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment and Iraqi Police detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul Tuesday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF or ISF injuries.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar Tuesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Headed home, down another
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News Tribune
The 4,000 or so Stryker brigade soldiers in Iraq are still on track to return home to Fort Lewis next month. At least for now.
A brigade official said Tuesday there have been no changes in redeployment plans that will see the Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers swap out with a Stryker brigade from Alaska over the next several weeks.
A Pentagon official on Monday said some units due to return from Iraq will likely be held over longer to provide extra security for the national constitutional referendum in October. The Defense Department spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, said details of the plan were still being worked out.
Stryker brigade officials have not been notified of any extension of the unit’s mission in Iraq, said Maj. Nicholas Mullen, rear detachment commander with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
“We’re still on track to have people start coming home,” Mullen said Tuesday.
He acknowledged that plans can change quickly, however.
Meantime, the post gathered Tuesday to pay tribute to its first soldier to die in Iraq in more than two months.
At a day over 19, Pfc. Nils Thompson was the youngest of the 1st Brigade’s 33 service members to be killed in the unit’s yearlong deployment to Iraq. He died Thursday in Mosul, shot by a sniper as he stood in the hatch of his Stryker.
Officials said his unit was scouting out polling places for the Oct. 15 referendum in which Iraqis will vote on a new constitution.
Thompson joined the Army last August after high school in Confluence, Pa., and arrived at Fort Lewis in January. After a couple of months of training, he was off to Mosul in March as a replacement.
Soldiers who knew him said he was deeply religious and spent his spare time reading the Bible and attending chapel services. His relatives told the hometown newspapers he always wanted to be a soldier, and didn’t trouble them with complaints about conditions or his experiences in Iraq. [...]
Soldiers praised his willingness to enlist in an Army at war. He is the 63rd service member from Fort Lewis to die in Iraq, and the 12th from his unit – the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
Soldiers who spoke Tuesday said it seemed as though Thompson had been with them all along, even though he arrived in Mosul seven months into the brigade’s deployment.
Like others who spoke at Tuesday’s memorial, Sgt. 1st Class James Grove admitted he didn’t know Thompson at all. He said he guessed, though, the young soldier might have been nervous about measuring up with his battle-hardened squad mates, afraid he might let them down.
“Rest easy, young soldier,” Grove said. “Mission accomplished.”
Jungle Law
Michael Yon has posted another detailed description of SBCT action. If you haven't read Michael's blog yet, you are missing the most detailed information available about our soldiers' experiences in Mosul.
Offensive operations in northern Iraq net terror suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 9, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 22 suspected terrorists, killed two terrorists, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion 1st Brigade 1st Division alongside Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation near Rawah Monday. Iraqi Police alongside soldiers from 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3-21st killed two terrorists while patrolling in northeastern Mosul Monday. The terrorist was seen setting up a mortar tube when engaged by 3-21st Soldiers. The unit also seized a number of weapons including rifles, a mortar firing system, and several mortar rounds. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Monday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Mosul today and Monday. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. Soldiers from the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment detained one individual at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar Monday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Tal Afar today Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Stryker soldiers coming home
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
Soldiers from the 3,600-member 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division are scheduled to begin trickling home soon, said Joseph Piek, a civilian spokesman at Fort Lewis.
"We expect sometime within the next few weeks to a month for the soldiers to begin flowing in," he said.
But he cautioned that timeline could be pushed back -- and is dependent on the progress of its replacement unit, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Alaska.
Meanwhile, the yearlong deployment has had its share of casualties.
Today a bugler will once again play taps -- this time to honor the memory of Pfc. Nils Thompson, killed Thursday in Mosul when he came under fire during a patrol.
Thompson, 19, is the 62nd Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.
It's been two months since mourners last gathered at a Fort Lewis chapel for the memorial service of one of its soldiers.
The Mosul area, where the bulk of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker unit is deployed, has been relatively calm recently.
Attacks persist, the Associated Press reported, but the U.S. military has noted a 50 percent drop in attacks in the western part of the city over the past eight months. [...]
Citizen’s tip leads to end of terrorists’ IED attacks
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 8, 2005) – An Iraqi citizen’s tip lead Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) to the location of terrorists who had attacked their patrol in eastern Mosul Sunday.
The terrorists had attacked Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment earlier with an improvised explosive device. A citizen identified the vehicle the terrorists were traveling in to Soldiers from the 3-21st. Upon locating the vehicle the terrorists threw an explosive device at the 3-21st Soldiers’ armored vehicle. The Soldiers engaged and killed the two terrorists. No MNF injuries were reported during the attack.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Soldier's spirit
The following story profiles Brent Bretz, a soldier recovering from injuries sustained in Mosul last December.
Link to Full Article
Justin Juozapavicius, The Arizona Republic
Brent Bretz has a Purple Heart.
He also has a small plastic cup with some of the stitches, staples and screws that held his broken body together for months. Even the shard of glass shrapnel doctors took out of his lower lip is rattling around in there someplace.
That cup is his other badge of honor.
At 23, he has been a state wrestling champ, a husband, a father and an Army sniper.
Now he is working on being a survivor.
In December, a makeshift bomb stole parts of his body on a road outside Mosul, Iraq.
It cost him most of both legs and the hearing in his left ear and shattered his left arm, ruptured his spleen, fractured his face and burned the left side of his body.
It also cost him months of agony.
It's early July, and 40 surgeries later, Sgt. Bretz is back home in Mesa to rest, just briefly, before returning to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
When he returns in late July, doctors will determine if he's strong enough for more surgeries. If he isn't, he'll be sent home for another month.
It is a waiting game.
"It's the not knowing," Bretz's mom, Kathy Pearce, says a day before they flew to Texas. "Do we stay? Do we go?"
Pearce, 52, left her job working for two attorneys to be at her son's side around the clock.
The prospect of more hurry up and wait is making Bretz impatient, too.
He wants to be whole again. To stand 6 feet tall again.
He wants to get his prosthetic legs and ditch his wheelchair for his hulking, black F150 truck, the one with the tinted windows, mammoth tires and Bush-Cheney decals.
"I just want everything done and over with," he says. "It's been taking too long already."
The article goes on to discuss his injury and recovery.
US troops see gains in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer
MOSUL, Iraq -- There's one clear sign that life in the Sunni Arab-dominated western half of this city is changing for the better -- children are again playing soccer at night. The reason: fewer insurgent attacks.
The US military says there were fewer bombings and mortar attacks in the Iraqi city of Mosul in July than any month since October.
A 50% drop in attacks in western Mosul in the past eight months is a marked improvement from the days when US troops routinely had to call in airstrikes and repel synchronised attacks.
But that doesn’t mean violence has been eradicated. Though attacks in July were noticeably down, western Mosul still endured over 50 shootings and roadside bombings, the US military said.
Soldiers say they’re close to solidifying gains and making further progress - if the flow of foreign fighters can be blocked so that insurgent ranks are not quickly replaced. US commanders say they have nearly uprooted the top insurgent network that steered the city towards chaos last November.
US officials attribute the recent gains to the thousands of patrols and raids mounted since Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed in 2003. They contend that nascent local Iraqi forces could be ready to face the insurgency on their own in six to 12 months, though residents remain wary about a force that relies so heavily on the US military.
But American officials say soldiers are now engaging the local population more than before.
“If you’re out there just driving around, you’re wasting gas,” Army Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, who commands the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment that oversees the area, told two new soldiers. “If you’re not talking to (civilians), the terrorists are.” [...]
Army unit offers weekly medical screenings for Iraqi children
Story, photos by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MNC-I PAO
August 2, 2005
MOSUL, Iraq – U.S. Army medical personnel conducted medical screenings for more than 200 Iraqi children at a schoolhouse in Western Mosul July 28th.
Soldiers from the 1st Styker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., arrived in the neighborhood at daybreak with doctors and medics in tow.
For three hours, mothers and fathers brought their children in to have them checked out for everything ranging from bug bites to coughs to dental work.
“This is the fifth week our battalion has been doing medical screenings for the locals,” said Capt. Paul D. Carron, commander, Company B, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st SBCT. “It is the other side of our infantry mission.”
The operation – dubbed Kalamas 5 after a river in Washington – is a way to “show the people of the area that we truly care about their welfare and the health of their children,” said Carron, who came up with the idea to begin doing the screenings.
“It’s too easy to just drive through a neighborhood on patrols,” he said. “We get out, talk with the kids and show the families we care.”
The Army doctors and medics providing care for those few hours bring only basic medical supplies. Vitamins, band-aids, over-the-counter pain relievers and topical ointments to relieve itching are the basic extent of items issued, other than advice given to the mothers of the children.
“We have a limited ability to help, and we don’t want to make promises we can’t fulfill,” Carron said.
“What we recommend for further treatment is for the citizens to use the Iraqi medical system,” he said. “We want to continue to use the Iraqi infrastructure and government to help.”
Iraqi families lined up around the walls of the school to have their children seen. A total of 287 children were screened, along with many mothers and a few fathers.
The eager families were signed in upon entry to the school and then handed papers to give to the medical personnel.
Once the patients were screened, information was written down on the piece of paper to keep track of who was seen. If the condition was urgent, the medical personnel had the ability to refer the patients for additional care.
“This way if it is something serious, we can refer them to the Iraqi Ministry of Health so the system starts working,” said Maj. David L. Brown, battalion surgeon, 1st Bat., 24th Inf. Reg.
Brown, who is a family practice doctor at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., said he “sees kids all the time,” and relishes the opportunity to do the same in Iraq.
“I really enjoy it,” he said. “I was on the team when the medical screenings first started, and it has been really rewarding to come out here and do this.”
The screening turnouts continue to grow, and part of that is attributed to using the “neighborhood’s watchman.”
“We try to empower the Iraqi Mukhtars,” Carron said. “He does the advertising for us, and it also shows the people of the area that we have a good relationship with him.”
Doing this also keeps the Soldiers and neighborhood residents safe. Carron and his crew won’t let anyone know the time or what day they will arrive to do the screenings. The Soldiers just show up and let the Mukhtar know they are there to do the screenings, and within minutes the families begin lining up.
After many thorough medical and dental checkups, the Soldiers wrapped things up and the families headed back to their homes, although this wouldn’t be the last time the families see these Soldiers for the day. Since Company B patrols the areas they screen in, Carron makes sure his teams head back out on patrol later in the afternoon to gauge the reaction from parents.
“Everyone is always very positive after the screenings,” he said.
This includes Carron, who took the time to ask an Iraqi mother if he could hold her infant child for a while. Full body armor, an M4 assault rifle over his shoulder, Carron bounced the baby in his arms while humming a tune.
“It feels good to see a child and parent walk out of here with a smile on their face,” he said.
A U.S. Soldier from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., takes time to play with Iraqi children at a medical screening July 28, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp.)
Maj. David L. Brown, surgeon, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., checks an Iraqi girl's throat for infection during a medical screening July 28, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp.)
No let up by Security Forces
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 8, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 18 suspected terrorists, killed three terrorists, injured another, and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah Sunday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division injured one terrorist and detained two suspects after they were attacked with small arms fire while patrolling in Tal Afar Sunday. The injured terrorist was detained following treatment. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Forces engaged and killed three terrorists after a small arms fire attack on their compound in eastern Mosul today. No ISF injuries were reported in the attack.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache from a vehicle at a checkpoint in western Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
In another operation, Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Tal Afar Sunday. The cache included numerous mines and various other weapons. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid near Qayyarah Sunday. Suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Tal Afar and near the Syrian border today and Sunday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend Matt in Mosul.
God's Will
Michael Yon has a new dispatch, God's Will, posted on his site. In it he talks about the recent loss of PFC Nils Thompson. Excerpt:
PFC Nils Thompson had just celebrated his 19th birthday the day before. Nils was deeply religious, and would go to Catholic and Protestant services. He was a great kid and everybody liked him; but we were in downtown Mosul searching for the sniper that killed him, and had to stay focused.
Security Forces continue offensive operations
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 32 suspected terrorists, killed one terrorist, injured another three, and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on their checkpoint in northern Mosul Saturday. Iraqi Police detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Mosul today and Saturday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah Saturday. Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Rawah Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed one terrorist and detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no IP or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment engaged and injured three terrorists after they had attacked Iraqi Army Soldiers with a drive-by shooting in Tal Afar Saturday. The injured terrorists will be detained following medical treatment. No ISF or MNF injuries were reported in the attack.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on civilians in Tal Afar Saturday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in eastern Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during two separate operations in Rawah today and Saturday. The cache included a number of mortar rounds and a mortar firing system. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
PFC Nils Thompson
Task Force Freedom has announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
PFC Nils Thompson, a Soldier with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, was killed during a terrorist attack in Mosul Thursday.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends, and fellow soldiers. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
God's Will - Michael Yon
Soldier, 19, killed in Iraq; aspired to military service - Post Gazette
Pa. soldier killed in Iraq the day after his 19th birthday - The Associated Press
Stryker Brigade GI killed a day after 19th birthday - Seattle P-I
Somerset County soldier killed by sniper while stationed in Iraq - Tribune-Review
Stryker soldier killed in Iraq always wanted to be in military - The News Tribune
Pa. soldier killed in Iraq remembered by his comrades - The Associated Press
War kills Confluence soldier - The Herald Standard
Comrades Remember U.S. Soldier, Just 19 - The Guardian
Sniper in Iraq kills soldier, 19, from Western Pa. - Philadelphia Inquirer
Headed home, down another - The News Tribune
Such Men - A tribute from SSG Holcomb of Deuce Four
Fort Lewis mourns soldier - The Olympian
Family, Friends Hold Staten Island Service For Young Soldier Killed In Iraq - NY1 News
Tears for brave, kind-hearted G.I. - The Daily News
Hundreds gather to remember slain GI - Post-Gazette
A community mourns - Daily American
Joint Security Force operation provides medical care
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 6, 2005) – Over 200 Iraqi children received medical screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) with support from Iraqi Police during an operation in western Mosul Friday.
Soldiers and medics from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment along with Iraqi Police conducted the screenings and handed out soccer balls and hygiene products to the local children. This is the fifth operation of its kind in western Mosul over the last three weeks; over 1,000 children have received medical screenings during those operations, with local citizens providing an extremely positive response to the care and security provided by Soldiers and their police force.
Three weapons caches seized as part of successful day of operations
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 5, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight suspected terrorists and seized three weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Iraqi Commandoes from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Forces alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. In a separate operation, Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from the 1-5th detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul Thursday. The suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-25th (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a weapons cache during a search operation in eastern Mosul today. The cache included several artillery rounds. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah Thursday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah Thursday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Police Works Hand in Hand with Iraqi Army, Locals Request to Have Rocket Removed, 9th Monthly Regional Security Council Meeting
Full Articles:
Iraqi Police Works Hand in Hand with Iraqi Army
QAYARRAH, IRAQ – 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, worked in conjunction with the Qayarrah Iraqi Police yesterday in detaining a suspected terrorist and his IED supplies.
Ali reported that his soldiers, along with the Iraqi Police, noticed a suspicious man near a schoolyard, face covered and carrying a box. The IA called for the man to stop but he started to run. They eventually caught the individual and he is currently being held at the Qayarrah Police station.
In the box Task Force Automatic’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team revealed 1 x 1.6 anti tank landmine, 1 x washing machine timer, and 1 x 12-volt rechargeable battery. The timer and battery was recovered for exploitation and the landmine was reduced by EOD.
Locals Request to Have Rocket Removed
TALL HUMM, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team responded to an unidentified explosive object (UXO) south of Tall Humm on July 25th.
The TF’s operational detachment alpha (ODA) reported a green missile container was lying in a wadi and the local residents asked to have it removed.
Upon arrival the EOD team, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, ascertained that the missile was still inside the container. With the help of C/2-8 Field Artillery, EOD removed the container from the wadi.
The container was opened and the missile was extracted. The missile was identified as a USSR SA-3 GOA, surface-to-air guided missile. It was severely water damaged and was destroyed on site.
9th Monthly Regional Security Council Meeting
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – “I would first like to have a moment of silence for the men recently killed in action,” began Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, at this month’s Regional Security Council meeting.
The meeting, taking place on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance on July 26th, gathered together over 400 key leaders of Ninewah Province and Mosul.
Ali and Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, Task Force (TF) Automatic Commander, handed out folded Iraqi flags to the families of eight Iraqi Police officers and IA soldiers who recently lost their lives in the fight against terrorism. The most touching moment was when a family member kissed the flag and touched it to his forehead.
A short video demonstrating the progress Coalition and Iraqi forces have made around the local villages was then played. The video touched upon the March Against Terror, water projects, medical visits, sheik meetings, IA Basic Training graduation, IA operations and missions and the upcoming elections.
Following the video, Becker announced the topics to be discussed at the meeting “The few things we’ll discuss this month include schools, gas prices and security, as well as the upcoming elections. Following the meeting we will have tables set up to discuss detainees, projects, and weapons cards on an individual basis.”
There were several distinguished speakers to include Mr. Khalid from the Iraqi Elections Council, Mr. Zubari to discuss fuel distribution, and Mohammad Suleiman from the Provincial Council Sports and Education Committee.
The Mosul Chief of Police Maj. Gen. Khalif Ahmed spoke of the elections. “I want to talk about two things. The families of the gentlemen who lost their lives recently received an Iraqi flag. Both our security forces and civilians fight and live under one flag. We must not forget we are one nation.
“The second topic I want to discuss is the elections. They will be on October 15th and we must encourage all to become involved.”
Following comments from Ahmed, Ali and Becker opened the floor for questions.
Each month’s Regional Security Council meeting involves more key leaders of the area. It is an opportunity for the local sheiks and mukhtars to come together and discuss concerns of their villages. The meeting also serves as a chance for Coalition and Iraqi forces to learn about what needs attention in their area of operation.
Stryker brigade to return in early fall
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER
Alaska group to replace Fort Lewis troops in Iraq
The deployment of nearly 4,000 Army Stryker Brigade troops from Alaska to Iraq this month heralds the beginning of the return of Fort Lewis' Stryker Brigade this fall.
An advance team of 200 soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Forts Richardson and Wainwright in Alaska are in Iraq.
They're laying the groundwork for the rest of the brigade's 3,800 members to deploy this month.
The Alaska unit is replacing Fort Lewis' 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, known more commonly as the nation's second Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
"We expect in the next couple of weeks to start seeing some of the early, early returnees" from Fort Lewis' Stryker Brigade now in Iraq, said Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek. ...
The Alaskan brigade will go through a transition with the Fort Lewis Stryker troops, literally cross-training by working and riding side-by-side for several weeks, Piek said.
The Stryker brigades, based in Mosul, have been assigned to operate in northern Iraq.
The return of Fort Lewis' Stryker soldiers will draw down Washington's commitment to the war, at least for a spell.
Since the initial invasion of Iraq in March 2003, military bases here have sent to the war zone the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier from Everett with a crew of nearly 5,000, both 4,000-member Stryker units from Fort Lewis and last year 4,000 citizen-soldiers of the state National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team.
Michael Yon Dispatch
Michael Yon has posted a new dispatch, Monday, on his website. Excerpt:
The three most dangerous places in Iraq are Baghdad, Mosul, and Al Anbar province. While most of Iraq is functioning peacefully, a civil war sizzles and pops in these important areas.The key to long term stability in Iraq is the Iraqi Security Forces, which are comprised of the Police, Army, Navy, Border Police and similar organizations. From a ground’s eye perspective, the ISF progress is remarkable. In Mosul, for instance, the ISF is fielding increasing personnel, and operations. Their success has had a few unanticipated consequences. US Army Captain Paul Carron recently reported that so many undercover police are operating in Mosul, that they have been arresting each other, sometimes accusing each other of possessing fake ID cards.
Be sure to read the rest.
Iraqi Police and Multi-National Forces team up to provide medical care for children
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 3, 2005) – Over 200 Iraqi children received medical screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) with support from Iraqi Police during an operation in western Mosul Tuesday.
Soldiers and medics from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment along with Iraqi Police conducted the screenings and handed out soccer balls and hygiene products to the local children. This is the fourth operation of its kind in the last three weeks with local citizens providing an extremely positive response to the care and security provided by Soldiers and their police force.
Iraqis make U.S. soldier honorary sheik
This is a great story regarding a soldier serving with the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT near Mosul.
Link to Full Article
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, The Associated Press
QAYYARAH, Iraq — Sheik Horn floats around the room in white robe and headdress, exchanging pleasantries with dozens of village leaders.
But he's the only sheik with blond streaks in his mustache — and the only one who attended country music star Toby Keith's recent concert in Baghdad with fellow U.S. soldiers.
Officially, he's Army Staff Sgt. Dale L. Horn, but to residents of the 37 villages and towns that he patrols he's known as the American sheik.
Sheiks, or village elders, are known as the real power in rural Iraq. And the 5-foot-6-inch Floridian's ascension to the esteemed position came through dry humor and the military's need to clamp down on rocket attacks.
Late last year a full-blown battle between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces had erupted, and U.S. commanders assigned a unit to stop rocket and mortar attacks that regularly hit their base. Horn, who had been trained to operate radar for a field artillery unit, was now thrust into a job that largely hinged on coaxing locals into divulging information about insurgents.
Horn, 25, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., acknowledges he had little interest in the region before coming here. But a local sheik friendly to U.S. forces, Dr. Mohammed Ismail Ahmed, explained the inner workings of rural Iraqi society on one of Horn's first Humvee patrols.
Horn was intrigued, and started making a point of stopping by all the villages, all but one dominated by Sunni Arabs, to talk to people about their life and security problems.
Moreover, he pressed for development projects in the area: He now boasts that he helped funnel $136,000 worth of aid into the area. Part of that paid for delivery of clean water to 30 villages during the broiling summer months.
"They saw that we were interested in them, instead of just taking care of the bases," Horn said.
Be sure to read the rest.
Army Times reporter Matthew Cox describes attack
Embedded reporter Matthew Cox was injured today during a suicide car bomb attack. Photographer James J. Lee took a number of pictures of the scene following the attack. Start here and scroll forward through the gallery.
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
AL BU HARDEN, Iraq — I heard the two shots from Spc. Eddie Martinez’s M16 rifle, but I had no idea he was firing at a suicide car-bomber steering straight for us.
It was about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 1 and Army Times photographer James Lee and I were standing near the rear ramp of B Company commander Capt. Mark Ivezaj’s Stryker combat vehicle.
I heard the “Pop, pop” of Martinez’s weapon and then a deafening roar before a tremendous force knocked me to my hands and knees. The suicide bomber had detonated his white Suburban packed full of explosives fewer than 25 feet away from the front end of the Stryker.
It was hard to see anything. Dust, earth, gravel and car parts flew everywhere.
I knew something had exploded, but I was in a daze. My first instinct was to crawl for cover, but I was so disoriented I didn’t know where to go.
A sharp, tingling pain bit into my lower left leg. And I kept hearing a shrill ringing noise in both ears.
The next thing I remember was standing up and looking at James, who also had been knocked off his feet but now in the Stryker waving me inside.
I got inside. Ivezaj, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment company, stopped on his way out the door make sure James and I were OK. It seemed like everyone was yelling.
Outside the Stryker, blackened vehicle parts littered the road. James yelled for me to check the back of his neck for burns. It looked OK, I told him.
Then Martinez, who had been standing in the left rear “air guard” hatch, began holding his bleeding hand outstretched and yelling something.
“He needs a bandage!” James shouted, handing me a cravat he’d been using as a sweat rag.
I grabbed the rag and started wrapping it around Martinez’s fingers. My hands were shaking.
His account continues...
Related Article:
Army Times reporter Matthew Cox wounded in Iraq - Army Times
Operations in northern Iraq continue
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 1, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 49 suspected terrorists, killed six terrorists, injured another, and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Iraqi Police killed three terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire while on patrol in northeastern Mosul Sunday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division alongside IA Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade killed one terrorist, injured another, and detained three suspected terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire while on patrol in eastern Mosul Sunday. Iraqi Commandoes from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed two terrorists and detained two terror suspects during a cordon operation in western Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 35 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raids northwest of Tal Afar today. In two other separate operations Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Sunday. Soldiers form the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion seized a weapons cache while conducting missions west of Dahuk. All weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Relies on Local Leaders in Rural Iraq
Link to Full Article
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer
QAYYARAH, Iraq (AP) - Last fall, insurgents overran police stations and Iraqi army bases in this northern rural region, scaring off nearly all 2,000 Iraqi troops and keeping people locked inside their homes at night.
Last month only two attacks took place in this Rhode Island-sized area mostly populated by Sunni Arabs and Kurds, according to U.S. commanders in the area.
The difference, they say, stems from a new approach of relying on sheiks and mukhtars - the tribal and local leaders who wield enormous influence among some 75,000 people in hundreds of villages and small towns south of the city of Mosul.
``Sheiks are the real power here,'' said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment. ``Mayors just aren't as good as sheiks on security matters.''
Becker says he now meets with 50 to 100 sheiks a week, and holds monthly confabs with them in a base auditorium that usually shows movies for relaxing soldiers. Sheiks and mukhtars, most in white robes, some walking gingerly with canes, flow into the room and listen to U.S. and Iraqi officials talking about security as well as local issues such as electricity supply.
About six people showed up for the first meeting early this year - but the latest, on Tuesday, drew about 300. Much of it took a townhall tone, hearing complaints about gasoline shortages and inquiries about arrested fellow tribesmen.
``After November, what happened was bad, but they came to us,'' said Sheik Nief Saleh said of the Americans. ``I try to help as I can.''
In return for the sheiks' help, Becker says he has spent close to $1 million on reconstruction jobs employing hundreds of tribesmen.
Rebels on the Run, Locals Too
Link to Full Article
U.S. forces appear to have driven militants from a safe haven near the Syrian border, but most of the town's residents have also fled.
By John Hendren, Times Staff Writer
RAWAH, Iraq — In the barren streets of this dusty town, Iraqis say the U.S. Army has chased away the foreign fighters who for two weeks staged sporadic battles with the Americans.
Also gone are nearly all of the town's 20,000 residents. The sheep munching shrubs on the outskirts appear to outnumber people.
Over the last two weeks, three out of four residents fled the town, which military strategists say was an insurgent safe haven. A few have since returned, but many have sought temporary shelter with friends and relatives across the Euphrates River in the village of Anah....
Since arriving in mid-July, the 2nd Infantry Division's 2nd Squadron of the 14th Cavalry Regiment has defeated the fighters here and will now spread out to seal the border with Syria, said Lt. Col. Mark Davis, the unit's commander.
U.S. strategists say insurgents led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi have used this town and a smuggling route along the Euphrates to train and ferry foreign fighters, weapons and explosives southeast to Baghdad and north to Mosul.
Under a plan ordered by Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, American units are trying to gain control of Iraq's ill-guarded border with Syria.
Having wrested control of Rawah, the division's Stryker Brigade Combat Team now hopes to press westward toward the border and, for the first time, gain control of a broad swath of the land north of the Euphrates that has eluded the U.S.-led coalition for more than two years....
Security Forces detain nine during overnight
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 31, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorist and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Saturday night.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while on guard in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a search operation in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported..
Base Set Up to Curb Rebels
Link to Full Article
The U.S. military hopes its first long-term presence near Iraq's border with Syria will help stem the flow of suicide bombers.
By John Hendren, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — American troops have established the first long-term military base along a major smuggling route near the Syrian border in a new effort to block potential suicide bombers from reaching targets in Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities.
A force of 1,800 U.S. troops, responding to continuing concerns that foreign fighters are crossing the Syrian border into Iraq, recently began an operation that includes setting up the base, three miles from the crossroads town of Rawah....
The 2nd Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade Combat Team is leading the operation and is the first to take up a permanent presence in the area. Officials say it has been difficult, if not impossible, for U.S.-led forces to control the region without such a commitment.
"It's a huge, desolate place and if somebody wanted to hide out it would be a good place to hide out," Marine Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Johnson, commander of coalition forces in western Iraq, said in an interview in Fallouja.
As the operation unfolds, Marines would continue to hold the region south of the Euphrates, while the Stryker Brigade, which has been based in Mosul, pushes south, putting insurgents in a "vice," a senior U.S. military strategist said.
The unfamiliar whoosh of helicopter rotors and the sight of the Army brigade's Stryker vehicles engaged in battles along largely rural roadways have prompted hundreds and possibly thousands of the estimated 20,000 people in Rawah to flee in fear of an attack similar to the one in Fallouja, officials said.
Local media have reported that as many as 80% of the residents have left. American military leaders say that the actual number appears to be far lower.
U.S. military surveillance photos said to be of the area near the town of Qaim separating Syria from Iraq show breaks in a massive berm. U.S. military strategists say the photos also show "personnel loading trucks" and a lookout point atop one building with a view across the border.
Troops from the Stryker Brigade recently chased a suspected car bomber across the river at Rawah and forced him out of the car, a senior military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A second car arrived and apparently detonated the first vehicle, killing the bomber before driving off.
War as entertainment
This is a very long article, but well worth reading in full.
Link to Full Article
Reality meets fiction on a new show about Iraq conflict
By Kirsten Scharnberg, Tribune national correspondent. Reporter Kirsten Scharnberg was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and has reported extensively on the war
NEW YORK -- A much-touted television drama about the war in Iraq made its debut in living rooms across America last week. In the show's final scene, a convoy of military vehicles rolls over a roadside bomb, and a young man who had joined the Army with the hope of eventually being able to afford college writhes in pain, one leg nearly severed.
About the same time, in a very real war zone several thousand miles away, in a place where no director can yell "Cut!" or request another take when something goes wrong, an explosion shook a northern Baghdad neighborhood. According to news reports, fire and searing shrapnel ripped through Humvees and flesh, and two U.S. soldiers lay dead when the smoke and chaos had cleared....
On televisions in Seattle on Wednesday, actor-soldiers detained a dozen insurgents; on the streets of Mosul, Iraq, soldiers from the base in Ft. Lewis, Wash., detained 11 suspected terrorists. On TV screens in America, a young Army wife cheats on her deployed husband; on bases all across Iraq, troops are finding that time away from home has contributed to divorce rates among Army officers and enlisted personnel nearly doubling. On previews for this week's "Over There" episode, a panicked wife gets the dreaded call that her husband was gravely wounded in combat; in Indiana last week, the family of Spec. Adam Harting received the visit every military family prays will never come--from grim-faced Army officials informing them that their 21-year-old son had been killed in Samarra...
The first episode of "Over There"--a series produced by Steven Bochco, the famed writer and creator of such television stalwarts as "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue" and "L.A. Law"--was all about the action of war, the horrible moments when soldiers lose comrades and question what ever made them volunteer for such a profession.
But ask your average soldier to tell you about Iraq, and he or she will very often weave a much quieter narrative--of delivering supplies to Iraqi schools, of working with Iraqi soldiers eager to learn from their American counterparts.
There is no doubt that trust is built in trenches, under fire. But camaraderie--that is established under more pleasant circumstances.
On Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, the snipers of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment gather almost every night to play Texas Hold 'Em poker. A drama like "Over There" would surely depict these young infantrymen talking with haunted emotion about the fact that in the past 10 months, 5 of their 15 snipers have been killed and nearly all the rest of them wounded.
But in reality the men don't talk about grief as they lay down their red, white and blue chips and smoke the cigars they've ordered on the Internet. Their memories are private. Without fanfare, one young man wears a baseball cap sent to him by the mother of a killed sniper....
Throughout the first episode, the squad members are shown getting to know one another, learning the backgrounds of each other's nicknames, asking about families. Not since Vietnam, when drafted soldiers were assigned to whatever unit needed a new body, would most U.S. soldiers be getting to know each other on the ground in a war zone. Most active-duty soldiers have trained together for months--if not years. They don't need to ask the origin of nicknames; they gave them to each other.
In May, when Sgt. Benjamin "Rat" Morton, 24, was killed in Mosul, his fellow soldiers gathered to mourn him. One friend stood in front of the hundreds of somber soldiers and told the story of how Morton once spent so long inside a Humvee during a weekend training exercise that when he finally got out, the litter-covered seat where he had been sitting looked "like a little rat's nest."
Bochco's Iraq shows soldiers agonizing over whether they have permission to return fire at attacking insurgents; in the real Iraq, no G.I. would dream of not firing back to save his life or the lives of those around him. In Bochco's Iraq, soldiers eat Meals Ready to Eat in makeshift field tents; in the real Iraq, the days of MREs are largely over because million-dollar mess halls--that serve lobster and crab legs once a week--have been built on bases throughout the country. In Bochco's Iraq, living conditions are austere; in the real Iraq, some bases have Harley-Davidson reps who promise to have your new bike waiting when you get home....
Security Forces seize weapons, detain 11
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 30, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 11 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation northwest of Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Rawah today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2-14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a search operation near Rawah Friday. The cache included rifles and ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces seize two weapons caches and detain 12 suspects
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 29, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 12 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in northern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized two weapons caches consisting of mortar rounds during search operations west of Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Welcome Aboard
Michael Yon has a new dispatch from Mosul posted on his site. This time he covers the recent ceremony that welcomed 12 members of Deuce Four as American citizens.
Security Force operations lead to capture of terror suspects and seizure of weapons
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 10 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Tal Afar Thursday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in Rawah today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah Thursday. The cache included AK-47s, a shotgun, and small arms ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U-S troops arrest al-Qaida cell leader in Iraq
International press are attributing this arrest to the 1/25 SBCT.
Link to Full Article
Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq U-S troops say they've captured an al-Qaida cell leader in northern Iraq.
Ammar Abu Bara was arrested Wednesday in Mosul, according to a U-S statement. He was picked up during a 'cordon and search' operation in a neighborhood in northern Mosul. No U-S or Iraqi soldiers were injured in the operation. [...]
Operations continue to net security gains in N Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 28, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 49 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Wednesday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained 11 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during four separate operations in Mosul today and Wednesday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in Mosul today. Soldiers from the 1-5th detained seven individuals during three separate operations in Rawah today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Successful operations lead to capture of terror suspects
(TFF PRess Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 27, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 11 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during three cordon and search operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Medical Visist in Jedellah, Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village, Da Bombs, Sewage Treatment Plant Completion Ceremony
Full Articles:
Sewage Treatment Plant Completion Ceremony
AL HURIYAH, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic met with local leaders of Al Huriyah yesterday to celebrate the completion of renovations to their village’s sewage treatment plant.
The plant had been unusable for over seven years. “The local leaders were very grateful for Coalition forces’ assistance, since they were certain it would take a great deal of time for their government to make the necessary renovations,” explained Maj. Andy Ingalsbe, Civil Affairs Officer for TF Automatic.
Lasting just over an hour, the ceremony allowed for all involved to join in one location and appreciate the work that was done. Present at the completion ceremony with Ingalsbe were several local leaders, two local Iraqi police officers, a city councilman and A/2-8 Battery Commander, Cpt. Cherokee Parks.
The locals were very pleased with the finished product and are looking forward to working with Iraqi and Coalition forces on future civil affairs projects.
Da Bombs
TIGER SOUTH, IRAQ – The evening of July 18th revealed 4 x 500 pound, 6 x 1000 pound and 2 x 2000 pound bombs in Task Force (TF) Automatic’s area of operations.
1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh reported from Tiger South his soldiers finding 4 x 500 pound bombs.
TF Automatic’s quick reaction force and explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team headed to the site where IA engineers guided them to an old bunker. EOD reported that the bunker looked to have been reduced from past Coalition forces attacks.
Further investigation by the EOD team, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, uncovered 6 x 1000 pound bombs. Later that evening, 2 x 2000 pound bombs were discovered under three feet of water.
All ordinance was collected and destroyed by EOD on July 21st with no incident.
Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village
HATRA HOTEL, Iraq – The monthly Al Hadr Area Security Council meeting took place on July 20th at the Hatra Hotel. Topics covered during the meeting included water and road projects, teacher concerns and police pay.
The meeting began at 1045 hours and lasted just over and hour. Over 30 local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel.
Lt. Col. Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, opened the meeting, welcoming everyone who had come. He then directed their attention to Cpt. Matt Yost, C/2-8 Field Artillery Commander.
Yost addressed the many successes that 2/3rd IA and Task Force (TF) Automatic have had, working with the local leaders over the past month. After discussing some projects still on going in the area, Yost then opened the floor to questions.
The first several questions pertained to the Al Hadr and Shekan water projects. According to the local leaders, illegal taps and pressure on the water plant manager to divert the water elsewhere are two of the greatest problems. Yost said that he and Ra’ad would be sure to look into the issues very soon.
Other issues addressed were the road to Slobi village and a school in Dewaliah. Tal Abtah Mayor Rachman and Al Hadr Police Chief Lt. Col. Agab spoke of the importance of working with the village mayors.
“As one team, the leaders of the area need to help gather information and develop project priorities,” said Rachman. “The better projects are those that will help many people, and not just one or two people.”
Also present at the meeting were TF Automatic intelligence represent- atives and civil affairs (CA) team representatives. Following the meeting, shieks and mukhtars were able to ask questions individually of the intelligence and CA personnel concerning detainees and projects. Meanwhile, C/2-8 personnel opened a weapons card issue table for those in need of weapons cards.
Yost and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Al Hadr, Tal Abtah and surrounding villages to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Medical Visist in Jedellah
JEDELLAH SOFLA, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic medics conducted a medical visit in Jedellah Sofla, home of 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh, on JUL 20th.
The visit lasted over two hours and more than 60 men, women and children were treated.
“This was the second time we’ve visited Jedellah,” said Cpt. Jon Christiansen. “This visit was especially helpful for the locals because we brought a dentist from one of the other units on our FOB.” With the help of Christiansen, dentist Cpt. Mark Van Tessle pulled teeth out for six patients.
After Christiansen and his medics treated all patients, Ali’s family provided dinner for TF Automatic.
Medical visits are conducted about four to five times a month around the local villages. They not only assist in improving the health and welfare of the citizens, the visits also strengthen the relationship between TF Automatic and the local Iraqis.
Carver turns art to aid of soldiers
Raffle will help troops now in Iraq
Link to Ful Article
By THERESA HOGUE, Gazette-Times
CORVALLIS — When retired Army Col. John Komp looks at a piece of wood, he sees more than just the subtle colorations and swirls in the grain. He sees smiling faces, wide eyes and hooked noses, cascades of hair and the fringe on a cowboy's chaps.
Komp, 82, is a wood craftsman whose steady hands make wood come alive under the steady pressure of his blades. Whether it's a one-sided relief of an American Indian or a fully three-dimensional sculpture of a swaggering Viking warrior, Komp has learned to bring out the life hidden in the depths of the wood.
Now, Komp is combining his passion for wood carving with another passion, the support of American troops. Komp is currently the honorary colonel of the First Battalion 24th Infantry of the First Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, including soldiers from all over the country. While his role is largely ceremonial, he takes a keen interest in the lives of the 1-24th soldiers, who are currently serving in Iraq.
The regiment will be returning in early October, and their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, wants to throw them a welcome home ball. However, the cost will be quite steep, and Komp hopes to raise some of the ball funds by raffling off a piece of his work, a piece he calls "Buffalo Hunter." [...]
Retired Army Col. John Komp is selling raffle tickets at $10 apiece or three for $25 to raise money for a ball to honor soldiers in the First Battalion 24th Infantry of the First Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. The ball will be held at Fort Lewis, Wash., when the soldiers return in the fall. To purchase raffle tickets from Komp, call him at 758-6702.
Dust storms, lack of showers make outpost a real beach
Link to Full Article (Subscription) On news stands in the 1 August print edition.
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Living is hard here at this fledgling combat outpost near the Syrian border.
The soldiers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, arrived at their new home July 16 to find none of the comforts they left behind at Forward Operating Base Courage in Mosul.
No air-conditioned housing units, no showers, no flush toilets, no running water, no phones and no chow hall — just a barren but defendable stretch of desert sand on the north side of the Euphrates River.
B Company, 3-21, is the infantry portion of 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment’s task force sent here to crack down on insurgent forces coming across the Syrian border about 60 kilometers to the west.
“The whole point is to get some combat power into this area,” said 2-14 commander Lt. Col. Mark Davis. “Nobody likes sucking down dirt, but ... we are certainly willing to endure a few hardships to take the fight to the enemy.”
Spartan living for B Company and the other 2-14 units began right after they left Mosul on July 13.
B Company’s 21 Strykers had no problem traveling the 230 kilometers on the country’s less than perfect roads. But they did have problems when some of the other vehicles in the convoy suffered from overheating, mechanical problems and equipment damage.
The hours of delays resulted in the trip taking more than a day to complete.
“The Strykers can go everywhere, but the heavy equipment trucks and fuelers can’t,” said Col. Robert Brown, commander of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), parent to the 2-14.
The weather took its toll, too. Back-to-back dust storms took visibility down to less than 50 feet at times.
“We didn’t expect the dust storms to be as bad,” Davis said.
Leaders actually abandoned the original site they had picked for the outpost because the open desert offered no protection from dust storms. The current location is surrounded by several pieces of high ground that provide wind buffers in addition to making the terrain easily defendable. [... ]
The story continues.
Wild, wild west
Stryker units move to cut off insurgents entering Iraq — and find trouble on the way
Link to Full Article (Subscription) On news stands in the 1 August print edition.
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — The two homemade bombs exploded to the front and rear of the three Stryker combat vehicles.
As with the dozen or so previous attacks over the past week, soldiers from B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, were quick to report that no one had been hurt in the blasts.
But as the two rear Strykers were about to back up, another enemy attack ended that record.
A rocket-propelled grenade streaked through the darkness and blasted a grapefruit-size hole in the combat vehicle, driving chunks of shrapnel into B Company 1st Sgt. Joseph Alexander’s lower body.
The shot apparently was a lucky one, finding a small gap in the vehicle’s protective armor.
“I knew it had penetrated because the first sergeant was talking on the radio and then I started hearing screams,” recalled Spc. Craig Young, who was driving the rear Stryker.
The Stryker drivers pushed the vehicles as hard as possible to rush their wounded comrade to the aid station as Cpl. Michael Wachowicz, B Company’s senior medic, applied first aid.
From the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment’s aid station, Alexander was loaded onto a Black Hawk helicopter and flown east to a nearby forward surgical hospital in Tikrit.
The 35-year-old Los Angeles native was in stable condition and is expected to recover, said 1st Lt. James Duncan of 2-14’s Combined Aid Station.
This was welcome news to the soldiers of B Company, but it was clear the attack had momentarily shaken the unit. The enemy had penetrated the vehicle that, up until now, had been a safe haven from countless close calls over the past 10 months. The attack had also wounded a soldier who had been an enduring symbol of gritty resolve in a harsh and dangerous environment.
It had been tough week.
The early morning ambush July 22 came after five days of fighting in this small city just north of the Euphrates River near the Syrian border.
Insurgent forces here have attacked combat patrols from B Company and other elements of 2-14 every day, using homemade bombs, suicide car bombers, RPGs and machine guns.
B Company, 3-21 and 2-14 are part of a battalion-size task force under 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, based in Mosul, roughly 230 kilometers north of here. [...]
The feature article continues. Photographs support the story.
Security Forces relentless against terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 26, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 45 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police detained 40 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons following two separate attacks in western Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity after they were attacked while patrolling in western Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during a cordon and search operation south of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Force operations net terror suspects and weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 26, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained seven suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Monday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th also seized a weapons cache during a search operation in western Mosul. The cache included artillery rounds, rocket propelled grenades, and grenades. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Empty Jars
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
Michael Yon has posted a new entry to his blog. In his invitation to this new posting he said,"We happened to come in from a combat patrol just in time to see the final countdown for the Space Shuttle Discovery. Was great to see the Shuttle go back to space!
Interesting developments in Mosul. Have nabbed some serious terrorists in last few days. I woke up to the sound of a large IED explosion that shook the walls, and the day started from there. IEDs are a daily occurrence here. But apparently as reprisal for capturing the bad guys, there were some attacks on several of the police stations today, but the cops held their ground. Was no chance of getting overrun like the old days. A couple police were wounded but nothing too serious. We brought them more ammunition, and there was even an American General out there with us. (Good way to lose a General, but at least he can see what's going on.)
There is a definite shift in the soldiers here at Deuce Four. They talk more and more about their families and children and getting home; the return draws nearer. I plan to come home with Deuce Four before returning to Iraq.
But for now, we continue here in Mosul while the astronauts circle the earth!"
Security Forces continue to pressure terrorists, seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 25, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained seven suspected terrorists and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah. The cache included 40 rockets, a number of rocket propelled grenade launchers, artillery rounds, various explosives and explosive charges, hundreds of rounds of small arms and machine gun ammunition, and a machine gun. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
In a separate operation Soldiers from the 3-21st detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Pressure continues to route terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 25, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 42 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Iraqi Police detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 18 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid northwest of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Squadron also detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling near the Syrian border. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid west of Tal Afar.
In other operations, Soldiers from the 3-21st detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during two separate operations in Rawah and Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid west of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in Rawah. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Successful Security Force operations net terror suspect and weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 25, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one suspected terrorist and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Saturday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul. Suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in eastern Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Dispatches From Iraq
Oh his site Dave has posted the third Dispatch From Iraq written by his friend with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul.
Operations continue, in the north, to suppress terrorists
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 23, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 17 suspected terrorists and defused a mine during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Friday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained one individual after they dropped a box with a mine in it near their checkpoint in Qayyarah Friday. The IA Soldiers had the mine defused. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Brigade also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in Qayyarah Friday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in Rawa Friday. Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling near the Syrian border today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Long Rehabilitation Ahead for Wounded Lodi Soldier
Link to Full Article
KXTV, Sacramento
Family and friends of a Lodi soldier seriously wounded in Iraq are coming together Friday to help raise money for the 23-year-old's costly rehabilitation.
Army Specialist Nick Beintema with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was one of six soldiers aboard a Stryker armored vehicle in northern Iraq last April when a roadside explosion tore through the vehicle.
Four soldiers died in the blast. Beintema, who was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, sustained massive injuries, including losing part of his jaw and extensive damage to both legs.
"The kid sitting right next to him was killed. The kid sitting across from him was killed. Nick gets away with just serious injures and, why? I don't know," said Nick's father and San Joaquin County Sheriff's Lt. Randy Beintema.
Doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. anticipate several more surgeries for Beintema in the coming months, including bone grafts from Beintema's hip to repair his jaw. Rehabilitation for Beintema are expected to take several years.
Family members are holding a fundraising dinner at the Linden Lion's Club at 5041 N. Market in Stockton Friday to help offset medical costs.
Anyone interesting can also contribute to a special fund for Beintema established through the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department. Contributions can be sent to the Nick Beintema Fund through the San Joaquin County Deputy Sheriffs' Association, P.O. Box 1224, Stockton, 95201.
Note: The fund raising activities are to help defray the travel expenses of his family, not the medical or rehabilitation treatments for SPC Beintema. It is explained better in this news story.
Fund-raiser for soldiers family - The Valley Herald
JC & Friends: Corporal Matthew Hast
Link to Full Aticle
by JC Hayward, WUSA-TV
America Supports You campaign is designed to show love and appreciation to those who put their lives on the line each day fighting on behalf of our country.
J.C. And Friends is joining this effort to support our troops in Iraq by featuring some of the men and women from the metropolitan Washington area.
We salute Corporal Matthew Hast from Hagerstown, Maryland. [...]
I'm from Hagerstown, Maryland. My job is I'm an infantry soldier on one of the striker vehicles in the striker brigade combat team. And right now I am a squad leader for one of the motor squads", says Corp. Matthew Hast.
September 11, 2001 was a fateful day when many Americans would search for answers that somehow seemed elusive. The solution for Matthew Hast was to join the Army. He was only 17 at the time but with his parents' signature he enlisted, less than one month later.
Corporal Hast is a member of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. He's been in Mosul for nine months and ready to come home.
When asked who he left behind, Hast responds "I left behind my mom, my dad, my brother some of my friends, but most of all my family. I'd like to send to them that I lov'em, I'll be home in a couple months and that I'd love to see them", he says.
"When I get home to Hagerstown the first thing I'm going to do is take a week off and spend it in my pj's and probably not leave the house and just rest”, says Hast.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Doctor Mohammad Brings in Hachow, TF Automatic Captures High Value Target, Successful Mission Conducted by Iraqi Army, 3/3rd IA Detains Three Suspected Terrorists, Iraqi Army BCT Graduates Over 60 Soldiers, Automatic 6 Meets with Local Shieks, Qayarrah Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
Full Articles:
Qayarrah Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – The monthly Qayarrah Area Security Council meeting took place on July 17th on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance. Topics covered during the meeting included the Qayarrah hospital, security and civil affairs projects.
Over 30 local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel.
A/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) Company Commander, Cpt. Cherokee Parks, opened the meeting discussing the many good things that have happened in the region during the past month. Successes included the local law enforcement making headway in the fight against terrorists, as well as several civil affairs projects in the works.
The first issues raised during the meeting concerned manning of the Qayarrah hospital. Police Chief Gen. Aziz explained the doctors and medical staff have been neglecting the hospital.
“A number of times, I’ve gone there and there is no one there and trash everywhere,” says Aziz.
Fuel stations are another issue among the locals. They’re requesting security forces to be present at fuel stations during operating hours. Many say the fuel stations are dishonest, conducting illegal acts such as selling fuel to friends, increasing prices and selling to terrorists.
The police present at the meeting raised the issue concerning the traffic control point (TCP) living conditions. They were built in the few months and are of poor quality, too small and are not predicted to last very long.
There are two TCPs in particular needing new buildings. The police force also requests concertina wire be placed around the buildings to improve security.
The remaining issues brought up during the monthly meeting involved civil affairs projects. Many of the local leaders were not there to discuss security, as has been the case in the past, but to ensure their consideration and status for project funding. There were many questions concerning money paid and money to be paid.
Parks and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Qayarrah to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Automatic 6 Meets with Local Shieks
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 18th the 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh hosted a dinner at his battalion compound for Automatic 6, Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, to meet with and over 20 sheiks from the Tigris River Valley.
The sheiks talked mostly of civil affairs projects, jobs, security and the New Ba’ath Party.
“The meeting was very successful,” said Becker. “It promoted the unifying of local leaders. More will be accomplished if everyone works as one team.”
Iraqi Army BCT Graduates Over 60 Soldiers
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 18th Task Force (TF) Automatic graduated the fourth Iraqi Army (IA) Basic Combat Training (BCT) class on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance, enhancing leadership capabilities of the IA and preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight.
The ceremony opened with the US and Iraqi National Anthems and the invocation, delivered in Arabic by one of the graduates. The guest speaker, 1st Sgt. Stephen Winters, was then followed by the presentation of awards and certificates.
Since the beginning of 2005, TF Automatic has graduated four IA basic training classes and two NCOA classes at its IA training facility on FOB Endurance.
At BCT, soldiers are given the opportunity to learn general soldier duties such as map reading, guard duty, first aid and basic rifle marksmanship. They also learn leadership responsibilities such as Iraqi Army values, Law of War, equal opportunity, effective communi-cations, ethics and professional standards.
Over 60 privates and privates first class from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd IA Battalions completed the BCT on July 18th. The ten TF Automatic trainers will relish in their 1-day off before they begin preparing for their next non-commissioned officer course.
Awardees included distinguished honor graduate Rizgar Abdulghafoor Mohomed (3rd BN), 1st Platoon honor graduate Badraddin Kamal Hamad (3rd BN), 2nd Platoon honor graduate Badir Mohammed Hassan (1st BN), distinguished leadership award Fahad Khalil Salih (1st BN), physical fitness award Amer Rumdan Saleh (2nd BN), and distinguished marksman Mohammed Khalaf Aysa (2nd BN).
The FOB Endurance BCT academy is led by Commandant Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Martinez, his Deputy Commandant Master Sgt. Christopher House and his Chief Instructor Sgt. First Class Thomas Trott.
“I couldn’t help but see the pride in each of these graduates’ eyes as I shook their hands,” said Martinez. “Today we do not only recognize you because of your accomplishments, but also for the positive impact you will have on your family and children.”
3/3rd IA Detains Three Suspected Terrorists
DUYAYZAH, Iraq – Lt. Col. Hogart Salahaddin Abdul led his 3/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion in a unilateral operation in Duyayzah As Sufla on July 14th, detaining three suspected terrorists.
Two individuals were believed to be associated with high value individual Abu Muthama. The third individual detained is a suspected member of the New Baath party.
Earlier this week, Task Force (TF) Automatic and 3rd IA Brigade began planning a large operation in order to capture these three individuals. After discussing the plan with Hogart, Hogar felt he had the ability to conduct the operation and capture the individuals on his own, without the assistance from Coalition forces. This being a much quicker and simpler plan, Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, TF Commander, agreed to adjust the original plan accordingly.
The three individuals were detained by sheiks from Duyayzah As Sufla and handed over to Hogart. Hogart then transported them to Forward Operating Base Endurance and handed them over to TF Automatic. They are currently being held in the TF’s detention facility for further questioning.
Hogart’s method of operation demonstrated the value of local shieks and mukhtars. Local leaders encourage men of their villages to turn themselves in to Iraqi security forces. If the individuals are proven innocent, they are returned to their respective local leaders, therefore boosting their standing in the community. This technique also increases the trust between local leaders and the Iraqi Army leaders.
Successful Mission Conducted by Iraqi Army
TAL ASHIR, Iraq – On July 10th Task Force (TF) Automatic received a priority mission from 1/25th Brigade. A source from 1-24 Infantry (IN) would positively identify a house in Tal Ashir to retrieve sensitive intelligence. The source arrived at TF Automatic the afternoon of July 11th. He accompanied the TF and identified the house, resulting in retrieval of important items and three suspected terrorists being detained.
A/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) searched five other houses around the target house, while the TF Automatic TAC attempted to find suspected terrorists on the blacklist.
The northern outer cordon element, consisting of a platoon of 1/3rd Iraqi Army, left Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance at 1300 hrs. They drove to Tal Ashir compound, north of the objective, in order to stage while they awaited the southern cordon’s arrival. The southern cordon element, led by Maj. Saddam, left FOB Endurance at 1630 hours.
The search element consisted of the TAC, A/2-8 FA and 1/3rd IA. The element followed 30 minutes behind the cordon element, ensuring they would not alert traffic control points along alternate supply route Charleston of anything other than normal activity.
The outer cordon was established by 1730 hours. The search element arrived on the primary objective and the TAC engaged the muhktar, who assisted in locating and identifying two suspected terrorists.
A/2-8 FA retrieved the intelligence and detained one suspected terrorist from the objective.
The cordon and search was complete by 1920 hours and all elements returned to FOB Endurance without incident. The source was flown back to 1-24 IN.
Successful crisis action planning and execution of this mission demonstrated excellent teamwork between two separate Coalition forces battalions and the Iraqi Army.
TF Automatic Captures High Value Target
JURN, Iraq – On July 6th 2/C/2-8 Field Artillery conducted a successful cordon and search against Abu Yaman, an IED expert and assassin active in Mosul.
Abu Yaman, IED expert and active assassin.
The platoon, supported by F-16s and AH64Ds, conducted the search between the villages of Jurn and Amrini. Led by First Lt. James Upson and Staff Sergeant James Harpell they detained both Abu Yaman and his host, Kineaim, without any incidents.
Abu Yaman hid under a hay stack to avoid capture. The search element, however, conducted a thorough investigation leading to the capture of Yaman and his companion.
Doctor Mohammad Brings in Hachow
AITHA, Iraq – July 9th marked the end of a 2 ½ month search for suspected terrorist Hachow from Aitha. With the help of Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh, local leader and close friend Doctor Mohammad is credited with bringing Hachow into Task Force (TF) Automatic’s custody.
On April 23rd TF Automatic was attacked with RPG and small arms fire between Jamissa and Aitha. There were at least three terrorists involved in the attack. One was captured, one was killed and one got away. The terrorist who got away was reported to be Hachow.
Mohammad and Hachow have had a friendly past. At TF Automatic’s request, Mohammad invited Hachow to his home. Ali was also there and asked Hachow to come with him to TF Automatic’s headquarters on FOB Endurance. Upon arrival and after initial questioning, TF Automatic detained him.
Local leaders have become more and more supportive in the Tigris River Valley. The assistance TF Automatic receives from people like Doctor Mohammad greatly improves their ability to locate suspected terrorists, making the area a safer place day by day.
1/25 SBCT Good News Links
Provided below is a note from the brigade that includes a long list of stories highlighting the good work the brigade is doing in Iraq. Many of the articles we've featured before, but it's nice to have them all in one spot.
Dear 1/25 Stryker Brigade Friends,
We've compiled a series of Internet links below that capture just a small portion of the many great things the 1/25 SBCT - Lancer team does each day for Iraq and its citizens. The links are divided into five sections: Lancer Operations, Life as a Lancer, How Lancers are Influencing Iraqis, the Lancer Truth about Strykers, and Photos of the Lancer Team. In each case we have selected articles that reveal the great things Lancer soldiers are doing and refute much of the negativity specific to the larger media forums. Each of these articles is available through one link. We did not include any article links that required a webpage membership or a subscription.
The large media networks so often focus on tragedy at the expense of the progress we and the Iraqis witness every day. I hope that these links will illustrate for you and your friends the rest of the story. These amazing Lancer soldiers, and the equally amazing Iraqi security forces and Iraqi people, are fighting fiercely together to defeat these insurgents and bring peace to this country. The Lancers' physical and emotional investment in this noble mission is often overwhelmed by the media reports that confine their coverage to violence, when stories of courage and progress are happening on every street corner in Mosul and the Ninevah Province. The Lancer team is grateful for your constant support and prayers. Best wishes from Mosul!
LANCER OPERATIONS
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002386093_sunnis17.html
* Qabr Abed, an insurgent hideout, turned around by SBCT troops.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159763,00.html
* Fox News covers the capture of Abu Talha, a Zarqawi Lieutenant.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-980445.php
* An embedded reporter in the recent SBCT operations at Rawah.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=59669
* LT Kenneally describes Mosul and election success for the (Spokane) Spokesman-Review
LIFE AS A LANCER
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/webx?14@345.VcLUaaWubjh.0@.ee85c59
* Tacoma journalist Matt Misterek describes his two-week experience with SBCT soldiers.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4942608p-4522619c.html
* Tacoma journalist Matt Misterek on “The Life and Times of Lancer 6.”
http://www.67cshdocs.com/Daily_Journals/November/nov07.htm
* Soldiers run ½ marathon at Mosul Airfield.
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
* Michael Yon describes in detail the life of Lancer Soldiers in combat.
HOW LANCERS ARE INFLUENCING IRAQIS
http://www.backfive.net/main/2005/07/iraqis march ag.html
* Short summary with photos of the Iraqi March against Terror
* Iraqi Police rescue a kidnapped child and uncover a large weapons cache.
* A brief example of one of many operations to aide local Iraqis.
http://1-25sbctmosulupdates.blogspot.com/2005/06/visit-to-girls-orphanage-school.html
* A Lancer Platoon Leader describes his unit’s visit to an Iraqi girls’ orphanage.
http://1-25sbctmosulupdates.blogspot.com/2005/05/102nd-iraqi-army-leads-successful.html
* An example of a Lancer-trained Iraqi Army unit conducting independent operations.
THE LANCER TRUTH ABOUT STRYKERS
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2005/as-iraq-0406-0-5d05v3431.htm
* Soldiers’ opinions of the Stryker in combat in The Anniston (AL) Star.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22009-2005Apr2.html
* Soldiers’ opinions of the Stryker in combat detailed in The Washington Post.
PHOTOS OF THE LANCER TEAM
http://community.theolympian.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album145
* Photos of 1-25 SBCT in The Olympian
http://www.thenewstribune.com/images/galleries/iraq/photos/gunsight2.htm
* Photos of 1-25 SBCT in The News Tribune
http://www.strykernews.com/gallery/smilesfromiraq
* Photos – “Smiles from Iraq” – a photo compilation of Iraqi civilians with Lancer soldiers.
Respectfully,
Lancer 6
Robert B. Brown
Commander, 1/25 SBCT
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Security Forces detain nine suspects, seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 22, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons while patrolling south of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi Police repel terrorist attack
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 21, 2005) – Iraqi Police traveling in civilian clothes and a civilian vehicle were attacked with small arms fire by terrorists in western Mosul today. Iraqi Police alongside Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) repelled the attack killing one terrorist and detaining six others. No IP or MNF injuries were reported in the attack.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces uncover two more weapons caches and detain 29
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 29 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Iraqi Police detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul. The cache included a number of improvised explosive devices and detonators. Suspects are in custody with no IP injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during two separate operations in eastern Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid southwest of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
The Devil's Foyer
Michael Yon has posted another story about the activities of the Deuce Four in his blog.
Calling all 1-24 INF Family and Friends
The 1-24 INF Family Readiness Group (FRG) is planning Homecoming events. We would like to keep all of our Deuce Four friends and family up-to-date on all the homecoming events and projects. Please e-mail us at deuce4FRG@hotmail.com. We will provide you with battalion updates and put you in contact with your company FRG for their updates as well.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Security Forces detain 36, seize three weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 20, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 36 suspected terrorists, killed two terrorists, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Tuesday.
Iraqi Police detained 19 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during three separate operations in and near Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed two terrorists, detained three suspected terrorists, and seized a large weapons cache after being targeted for an attack in Rawah. The individuals had aimed a weapon at the 3-21st patrol from a van. The cache was hidden inside the van and contained numerous mortar and rocket propelled grenade rounds, fuses, RPG launchers, a mortar firing system, and over 2,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
In other operations Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from the 3-21st detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation north of Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
A Co., 1-24 INF Announcement
(From the A Co. FRG)
The Alpha Company, 1-24 Infantry's Family Readiness Group (FRG) has created an email account for all Apache families and friends to contact in order to receive official updates regarding homecoming information, including upcoming fundraisers, The Single Soldier Project and various other activities. For more information, please contact apaches1_24@msn.com.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Italian police break up ring they say was sending steroids to troops in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Italian police have busted an international drug ring that had been sending steroids and performance-enhancing drugs to U.S. soldiers in Iraq who, Italian investigators say, were ordering them via the Internet.
But for unknown reasons — possibly security precautions — the packages and envelopes of drugs were not reaching some of the troops, said Mario Bo, head of the criminal division for the Trieste, Italy, police department. [...]
Unit leaders and soldiers contacted in Iraq said the issue was news to them.
“We do not have this problem in Deuce Four,” Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, commander for 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, now serving in Mosul, said in an e-mail. “We do 100 percent health and welfare checks often, basically lock down a unit and go through everything looking for anything illegal. We have never found drugs or steroids.
“I have heard of only a few cases of drugs in other battalions supplied by interpreters, but this has never surfaced in Deuce Four. Our mail clerk also handles every package that arrives in the battalion and he has not seen strange European addresses either.” [...]
Stryker units again clash with insurgents in western Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq – U.S. forces destroyed a suspected terrorist safe house with a 500-pound bomb today after shooting dead two insurgents during a brief gun battle.
This is the third day of violent clashes between insurgents and soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), since the U.S. troops set up a camp Sunday outside this remote city in west-central Iraq near the Syrian border.
Insurgents have attacked soldiers here every day, planting roadside bombs and steering explosives-packed cars into U.S. patrols. Today was no exception.
At 9 a.m. this morning, an insurgent detonated his car bomb near a Stryker combat vehicle with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. The explosion punctured two of the Stryker’s eight tires, but no soldiers were hurt.
Thirty minutes later a burnt-out car, packed with explosives, blew up near another Stryker in the same unit but caused no damage.
This city of some 20,000 was quiet for about 90 minutes, until B Company commander Capt. Mark Ivezaj’s Stryker surprised a handful of insurgents sitting in an idling van.
This long article continues...
Security Forces detain 20, seize two weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 19, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 20 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Monday.
Iraq Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army seized a weapons cache during a search operation south of Mosul. The cache consisted of thousands of pounds of explosives. The munitions were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 14 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in and near Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on a military base south of Sinjar. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during operations in Mosul and Rawah. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3-21st also seized a weapons cache during a search operation in northern Mosul. The cache included numerous explosives detonators and various artillery rounds. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Soldiers of (good) fortune: Strykers find weapons cache
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Troops from the second Fort Lewis Stryker brigade, with their Iraqi counterparts, found an underground weapons stash in Mosul on Monday that might be the biggest since they arrived in the city 10 months ago, brigade officials said.
The find – it included thousands of mortars and artillery rounds and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as 26 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles – was another instance of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division’s recent good fortune.
Things are going well for the Fort Lewis troops as they head into what will likely be the final two months of their yearlong deployment in Iraq.
More than any other measure, there’s this: It’s been 52 days since the brigade lost a soldier. But that’s not anything brigade leaders want to say out loud.
“We notice it, but we’re superstitious also, so we try not to recognize it,” said Lt. Col. Gordy Flowers, the deputy brigade commander. “It’s just so heartbreaking when we lose someone.
“We’re spending every day making sure we’re doing everything we can to keep every young soldier alive and bring them back to their loved ones,” he said.
Recent successes include the capture last month of Mohammed Shakara, also known as Abu Talha, al-Qaida’s leader in northern Iraq, and several of his lieutenants.
Troops also have made it tougher for insurgents and foreign fighters to move into and around Mosul by constructing a berm and beefed-up traffic checkpoints around the city of 2 million.
Flowers and others said Stryker troops have seen more success in their partnership with the Iraqi army and police. Flowers is two months into his second stay in Mosul. He was there 10 months last year as a battalion commander with the first Stryker brigade.[...]
Stryker soldiers fend off suicide attacks during border town fight
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Navy Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Insurgent forces launched two suicide car bomb attacks against U.S. soldiers Monday in the second day of fighting in this small city near the Syrian border.
The first suicide attack came at 2:45 p.m., as soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were patrolling the streets of the city, located in southwestern Iraq just north of the Euphrates River.
That’s when a car bomb detonated near one of 2-14’s three Stryker combat vehicles. None of the soldiers inside the armored vehicle were injured, but the explosion set ablaze a nearby Iraqi fuel tanker.
The patrol quickly started hunting for a white sedan, believed to be the spotter vehicle in the attack.
Within minutes, a quick-reaction force made of about 30 soldiers from 1st Platoon of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment rolled out of a newly established combat outpost three kilometers north to re-enforce the patrol.
On the way, 1st Platoon leader 1st Lt. Matthew Uremovich was directed to the bridge crossing the river on the city’s west end , where elements of the patrol had stopped a white sedan .
A military-aged male stood with his hands up near the vehicle as Uremovich’s Stryker crosses the bridge. Just then a pickup truck approached rapidly in the opposite lane.
From inside the Stryker, Staff Sgt. Jason Hughes rotated the remotely-operated .50 caliber machinegun atop the vehicle and fired off a three-round burst at the truck. The pickup exploded violently within 50 feet of the Stryker.
Uremovich, who was standing up in the front hatch of the Stryker, ducked down as the truck disintegrates, hurling the engine block into the front of the armored vehicle. “Everybody OK?!” Hughes shouts, turning around to check the nine infantrymen and two Army Times reporters in the back of the vehicle.
Again, no Americans are injured in the blast. [...]
The story continues with more details on the engagement.
Iraqi Police working with MNF uncover large weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 18, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom seized a large weapons cache, detained eight suspected terrorists, and killed five terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Iraqi Police with support of Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a raid operation in western Mosul today. The cache consisted of over 1,000 mortar rounds, over 25 mortar firing systems, 150 rockets, 450 rocket propelled grenade rounds, 26 RPG launchers, numerous missile firing systems, shape charges, improvised explosive devices, and over 30 assorted rifles. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
In a separate operation Iraqi Police and Soldiers form the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid operation in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF or ISF injuries reported.
In other operations Soldiers from the 1-24th killed one terrorist and detained five other suspected terrorists during two raid operations in today. The 1-24th killed the terrorist after being attacked with small arms fire during one of the operations. Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed four terrorists setting up a mortar attack in Tal Afar Sunday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. reliance on Sunni leaders calms rebel haven — for now
Link to Full Article
By Richard A. Oppel and Jr.
QABR ABED, Iraq — These days, this town in northern Iraq is relatively safe, at least compared to other Sunni Arab-dominated areas of Iraq. For a village that held folk status among Iraqis as one of the most sinister places in the country, that is quite a change.
As the insurgency gathered strength last year, Qabr Abed served as a weapons depot and safe haven for a large number of home-grown insurgent commanders, including Mohammed Shakara, the al-Qaida leader for northern Iraq and its biggest city, Mosul.
"It was for the insurgency what the Dominican Republic is to baseball," said Capt. Kevin Burke, who commands Company C of the 1st Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment, which oversees Qabr Abed.
Now, however, the village has a home-grown police force that maintains checkpoints and conducts patrols — a rarity in rural Sunni Arab areas, where the police often hunker down in their barracks or, worse, conspire with insurgents.
No U.S. soldiers have been killed or wounded here in five months. And members of Shakara's family fed information to U.S. forces that aided in his capture one month ago, according to U.S. commanders in Mosul.
If Qabr Abed can maintain its relative calm, which U.S. officers here say will require constant hand-holding, it would stand as a striking contrast to other Sunni Arab regions in Iraq where the insurgency remains undiminished. Just 15 miles north, in Mosul, insurgents routinely kill policemen and attack soldiers and civilians with mortars and car bombs. And in Tal Afar, 40 miles to the west, residents say insurgents effectively control many neighborhoods.[...]
MNF detain nine and seize weapons cache
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 16, 2005) – Multi-National Force Soldiers from Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during three separate operations in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in southeastern Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi Police rescue child, detain four, and seize large weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 16, 2005) – Iraqi Police and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom rescued an Iraqi child, detained 13 suspected terrorists, and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Iraqi Police detained four individuals suspected of kidnapping an Iraqi child during a raid west of Mosul Friday. The Police also rescued the child and seized a large weapons cache during the operation. The cache consisted of more than 50 missiles and mortar rounds, missile and mortar firing systems, numerous explosives, and various other weapons and ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. The suspects are in custody with no IP injuries reported.
In other operations, Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint near the Syrian border Friday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in Mosul today and Friday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raid operations in western Mosul today and Friday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Angels Among Us
Another incredible story from Michael Yon about the Deuce Four. I'm at a loss for words.
Local soldier returns to Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Crystal Beckett
Daniel Suiter, son of Mark and Sherry Suiter of Crawfordsville, returned to Iraq Thursday to conclude his year-long deployment oversees.
Suiter, a 1995 graduate of North Montgomery High School, has served three and a half years of a four-year term in the Army.
“The Army is fluid, however, and I could be in Iraq for an indefinite amount of time,” Suiter said. He will conclude his active duty in February 2006.
Suiter is married to wife of less than one year, Hirra, who teaches at Glen Acres Elementary School, Lafayette. They have no children.
Suiter enlisted in the military post 9-11, but not for that reason.
“I felt ever since I was a little kid that this is something that I’ve always wanted to do,” Suiter said. “I used to dress up in camo and play war with my friends, and ever since I have wanted to be in the Army. I just thought that I’m not getting any younger so I might as well do something that’s worth recognition and honor.”
According to Suiter, he is part of the 1st platoon, Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regimen, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Striker Brigade Combat Team. After returning home two weeks ago, Suiter was well received by individuals as he departed the plane.
“I had a lady come up to me and give me a starbucks coffee,” Suiter said. “There were so many people there to welcome us home and to say thank you.”
Soldier charged with murder
This is a very sad story from Ft. Lewis. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
U.S. military authorities have charged a 19-year-old Fort Lewis soldier with premeditated murder in the death of his 18-year-old wife, officials said Thursday.
Spc. Brandon Bare, an infantryman who was wounded in Iraq, was being held in the Army post’s Regional Correctional Facility, a Fort Lewis news release said.
Nabila Bare’s body was found Tuesday in the couple’s home in the Clarkdale family housing area on post, the Army said. Officials declined to release the cause and manner of her death.
The post misspelled the victim’s name in its news release about the case Wednesday.
Nabila Bare’s father, William Neverette, who’s also a soldier stationed at Fort Lewis, said his family is in too much pain to talk about what happened. He and his wife have two other children, Nabila’s younger brothers.
Neverette declined to say much about the case Thursday except that his daughter “was a very sweet young woman.”
She was planning to attend Lakes High School in the fall to complete her senior year, he said.
“She was full of life, and for someone to take that away ripped my heart out,” Neverette said. “She was a very loving person, and a lot people loved her.”
The Army continued Thursday to withhold many details about the case. Fort Lewis officials said military police are continuing to investigate.
Related Articles:
Soldier charged in wife's death - The Seattle Times
Soldier had been in treatment - The News Tribune
Security Forces provide medical aid for local children
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 15, 2005) – Over 250 Iraqi children and their mothers received medical screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from Task Force Freedom during an operation in western Mosul Thursday.
Soldiers and medics from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment along with Soldiers from the 25th BSB and 113th Engineer Battalion participated in an operation highly supported by a local mukhtar who helped bring the mothers and children together for the medical screenings. The citizens were pleased with the care provided by the medics.
Security Forces combined efforts net 21 terror suspects, weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 21 terror suspects and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Thursday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division seized a weapons cache during a search operation in eastern Mosul Thursday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
In other operations, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons and ammunition during a cordon and search operation west of Tal Afar Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
In a separate operation Soldiers from 1st Squadron seized a weapons cache during a search operation near Sinjar Thursday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Cracking down on ‘commuter terrorists’
Link to Full Article (subscription; also available in the 7/18 news stand edition)
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
MOSUL, Iraq — It’s just past 8:30 a.m. when Capt. Blake Lackey notices the three Iraqi men in a gold Toyota sedan pass his Stryker combat vehicle on the opposite side of the highway.
“Virginia this gold car!” the commander of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, barks into his radio headset.
Each of the three Stryker vehicles in the column makes a hard, 90-degree left turn, drives over the median and halts perpendicular to traffic in the opposite lane.
The aggressive maneuver is known as a “flash TCP,” or traffic control point, and “Virginia” is a code word Lackey uses to signal his men to execute the movement without hesitation.
The tactic blocks oncoming traffic and traps cars with suspicious passengers between the Strykers.
The rear ramp descends from Lackey’s Stryker, and Sgt. James Duke quickly emerges with his M4 carbine leveled at the gold Toyota. First Lt. Ryan Mendenhall follows with an M16 at the ready.
With the help of Selva Saker, an Iraqi-American interpreter, the duo orders the men to the side of the road.
Nothing suspicious is found, so Duke and Mendenhall release the three and begin to search the only other car between the Strykers.
Crack! Crack! Two rifle shots splinter the morning quiet. One bullet glances off the back right corner of the Stryker to their rear.
Both soldiers crouch low and seek cover near the blue sedan they were searching seconds ago.
“Selva! Get down!” Duke shouts to Saker. “Get in that Stryker!” The interpreter obeys, disappearing into safety.
the Strykers’ grenade launchers shoot multicolored smoke canisters in all directions. The thick smoke fills the air as Duke and Mendenhall dash inside Lackey’s Stryker.
The enemy sniper is never spotted, but everyone knows the pattern — an insurgent fired the shots from an idling car, this time about 300 meters away, before disappearing into traffic.
A Company’s July 7 sniper contact is a common occurrence these days as Stryker units from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), scour this northern Iraqi city for what leaders here refer to as “commuter terrorists,” Lackey said. [...]
Medical team visits village, offering help where it can
Link to Full Article (subscription; also available in the 7/18 news stand edition
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
OLM AL MAR, Iraq – Capt. Jon Christensen carries some of the most up-to-date medical technology aboard his Stryker medical vehicle. The Special Forces-qualified physician’s assistant can treat everything from broken bones to infected cuts and sores, from bacterial infections to typhoid fever.
But most of the treatments he hands out during visits to tiny hamlets in the Tigris Valley have more to do with common sense than modern medicine.
The three Stryker vehicles that made up Christensen’s July 3 “MedCAP” visit drove from Qarrayah 45 minutes across open country before reaching this remote village of about 60 Iraqis.
MedCAP stands for medical civil assistance program, a practice that began during the Vietnam War. Christensen and his soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment’s battalion aid station have performed about 20 of these medical visits since their deployment to northern Iraq began in November.
In addition to his medical Stryker, two Anti-tank, Guided Missile Strykers from D Company, 52nd Infantry Regiment, an anti-armor unit attached to 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), went along to provide security.
The village mukhtar greeted the soldiers as they unloaded their medical packs.
“Anybody that’s sick in the town, let them know I’m the doctor and I will see them,” Christensen told the village leader.
Soon villagers were trickling into the large carpeted room of the mukhtar’s home.
With the help of an interpreter, an old woman complained of pain as she pointed to her kidney area.
“She says when she drinks a lot of water, she doesn’t feel the pain,” the interpreter told Christensen.
He smiled and in a kind voice told the woman to keep drinking water as he offered bottled water.
“They think they need the medicine to get better, but they really need preventive medicine; most of it is education instead of medicine,” he said.
He treats some cases, but he encourages the people to see an Iraqi doctor. [...]
Peace march draws 1,000 in rural Iraq
This was previously reported by 1LT Scott
Link to Full Article (subscription; also available in the 7/18 news stand edition)
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
QAYYARAH, Iraq — About 1,000 Iraqis marched through this small, rural town over the July 4 weekend, waving banners and flags in a show of defiance against insurgent violence.
The normally bustling market section of the town sat still as the crowd walked along, chanting, “Our soul! Our life! We give all for Iraq!” during the July 2 event, dubbed the first-ever “Peaceful March Against Terrorism.”
The idea for the march materialized in late May at the monthly regional security council meeting. Local Iraqi leaders wanted to hold a peace march in Mosul for the entire area.
The sheiks and mukhtars later decided to hold a smaller event here to see how people took to the idea.
“It was really a good idea, but it would be a lot tougher to do in Mosul,” said 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment Command Sgt. Major Victor Martinez.
His unit is part of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), and is responsible for Qayyarah, a town of about 10,000 people, about 60 miles south of Mosul.
Terrorists continue to target Mosul, a sprawling city of 2.5 million people, in bombing attacks.
“The governor felt like if we did this in Mosul, and it wasn’t successful, it might turn the momentum” of recent successes that included the capture of Madhi Ahmed Moussa, a man coalition forces believe to be one of the most powerful terrorist cell leaders in northern Iraq, said 2-8 commander Lt. Col. Brad Becker.
Becker’s unit was on hand to support the event, but Iraqi army forces provided the bulk of visible security.
“I wanted to be completely in the background,” Becker said. “This was their idea, their plan and their march.”
Much of Becker’s work to ensure the success of the event began hours ahead of the mid-morning march.
The night before, Becker, Martinez and about a dozen soldiers rolled out of Forward Operating Base Q-West in four up-armored Humvees to find out what local leaders knew about a botched enemy bombing in the area.
“They had two 152mm rounds — big ones — buried in the road” between the tiny villages of Cheila and Huriya, Becker said.
The improvised explosive device detonated by accident on the morning of July 3, about 15 minutes after Brig. Gen. Ali Atalah, commander of the 1st Iraqi Army Battalion here, had left a nearby traffic control point.
No one was hurt in the explosion, but the incident was a sharp contrast to the peaceful stretch of several months here in the rural section of the Tigris River Valley.
“We don’t get IEDs. We don’t get rocketed,” Becker said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice. [...]
Three TFF Press Releases
- Security Forces detain 41 and seize a weapons cache in northern Iraq
- Terrorist attack kills an Iraqi Civilian
- Terrorist attack targeting civilians kills two
Please read the entire entry to see the full text of all three.
Security Forces detain 41 and seize a weapons cache in northern Iraq
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 41 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Iraqi Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Police and Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search south of Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained 13 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raids in southwestern and central Mosul Tuesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in central Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache in eastern Mosul Tuesday consisting of mortar rounds and a hand grenade. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Terrorist attack kills an Iraqi Civilian
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 13, 2005) – One Iraqi civilian was killed in a terrorist attack in Mosul today. The Iraqi civilian was killed when terrorists fired on an Iraqi police station from a moving vehicle in western Mosul.
Terrorist attacks have continually targeted innocent civilians killing 16 and injuring 64 in the over the past two weeks in northern Iraq.
Terrorist attack targeting civilians kills two
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 13, 2005) – Two Iraqi civilians were killed and another seven were injured when terrorists fired mortar rounds in to a southeastern Mosul neighborhood today. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Terrorist attacks have continually targeted innocent civilians killing 18 and injuring 71 over the past two weeks in northern Iraq.
Medical Clinic Treats 30 Iraqis
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
ALIBAH, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic medics conducted a medical visit in Alibah, 20 kilometers west of the Tigris River, with 1/C/2-8 Field Artillery on June 27th.
The visit lasted over two hours and more than 30 men, women and children were treated.
“The village was very friendly and they enjoyed having us there,” said First Lt. Derek Loveland, 1st Platoon Leader. “Everyone from the village showed up, even if they didn’t need treatment.”
Medical visits are conducted about four to five times a month around the local villages. They not only assist in maintaining healthy citizens, they also strengthen the relationship between TF Automatic and the local Iraqis.
Iraqis Flood the Streets of Qayarrah for March Against Terror
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
QAYARRAH, Iraq – At 9:00 AM on July 2nd, over 1,000 citizens, including influential sheiks and mukhtars, and 500 Iraqi security forces (ISF) from numerous villages in Southern Nineveh Province participated in a March Against Terror.
An abundance of Iraqi and International media covered the march. Participants included a significant Kurdish contingent from the east of the Tigris River.
Following the march, many of the participants rallied near a school to demonstrate a further resolve, while the organizers participated in post-march interviews.
By early afternoon, with normal traffic patterns in and around the city restored, Qayarrah Marketplace resumed its normal activities. All Iraqi Army and Coalition forces returned to Q-West without incident.
This March Against Terror is only the first of a series of marches to be conducted in Northern Iraq. The march demonstrated many things. It demonstrated that ISF control Ninewah Province and not the insurgents, ISF are strong enough to plan and execute such a massive event and the local Iraqis are not afraid to stand up against those who terrorize their villages.
Marines Honor Iraqi Freedom Veterans at Evening Parade
Cpl. Andy Choi, a soldier from 1-24 INF, 1/25 SBCT was an honored guest at a recent parade in Washington D.C.
Link to Article
By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 11, 2005 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt said that the generation that survived the Depression and fought World War II had a "rendezvous with destiny."
The generation fighting the global war on terrorism has a similar destiny, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said, adding that he hopes Americans "appreciate how truly lucky we are to have young men and women to do what these folks have done for us."
"These folks" were representatives of the five armed services who were the focus of the Evening Parade July 8 at the Marine Barracks here. Pace, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hosted the parade. The guests of honor - a soldier, Marine, sailor, airman and Coast Guardsman - represented all of those fighting against terror.
Four of the five servicemembers had suffered wounds. All of them thought of others before themselves, Pace said.
This was the second year in a row that Pace honored servicemembers at the Evening Parade, which features the Marine Band, the Silent Drill Team, the Drum and Bugle Corps, and the Marine Corps Color Guard and is held every Friday at the Marine Barracks here.
It is a singular honor to "stand on center walk" and receive the salutes of the Marines, a Marine Barracks official said.
The following servicemembers were honored during the event:
Army Cpl. Andy Choi came to the United States from Korea when he was 12. He enlisted in the Army from Philadelphia and became an infantryman. He was serving with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, in Mosul, Iraq, when a car bomber tried to get to his position on April 12 of this year. Choi fired warning shots and then opened up on the vehicle with a machine gun. He hit the vehicle causing it to blow up before it reached his unit. Shrapnel hit the 23-year-old, and he lost the sight in his left eye and suffered three fractures to his face.
Marine Cpl. Lenard A. Watson was wounded during his second deployment to Iraq. He was a squad leader during the battle for Najaf in 2004. He led his machine-gun squad with expertise during the battle, Pace said. At one spot, he provided covering fire for his squad as they moved. A rocket-propelled grenade hit the corporal, and he suffered extensive facial injuries, a broken jaw and shrapnel wounds to his knee and thigh. The corporal is serving as a platoon sergeant in Camp Pendleton, Calif., as he awaits further surgery.
Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin Hendrickson served as a medic with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, in Anbar province this year. He was part of a convoy that got hit by an improvised explosive device. Despite having wounds that required having his leg amputated, Hendrickson hopped from Marine to Marine providing medical care.
Air Force Staff Sgt. Rudolph M. Funn III served in Mosul, Iraq, as a convoy commander. On Dec. 30, 2004, Funn's truck took heavy fire. The staff sergeant kept his composure and radioed for help. He remained on the radio until it was disabled and he suffered injuries. Despite his wounds, Funn volunteered to stay with mission. He came home to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., at the end of January.
Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Melissa Jacobs represented all the Coast Guard personnel who have deployed to the Persian Gulf region during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She volunteered for assignment to the region and supported six Coast Guard patrol boats and 85 personnel in Bahrain during her year-long deployment that ended in May.
Recent Videos
Provided below are links to, and descriptions of, recent public affairs videos from Task Force Freedom in Iraq.
The citizens march through the streets of Qayyarah, Iraq protesting against terrorist activities. Colonel Bob Brown delivers a short speech to a crowd as an interpreter relays his comments. Speech draws applause from crowd. Video from the 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
Sergeant Dawn Walker (hometown:Chicago, IL) discusses the quality of food at the dining facility at Forward Operating Base Courage in Mosul, Iraq. She compares it to that of Chicago's restaurants. Video from the 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
Sergeant John Franzen (hometown:Des Plains, IL) discusses the quality of the dining facility's food at Forward Operating Base Courage in Mosul, Iraq and describes the contents of a Meal Ready to Eat (MRE). Broll footage of dining facility precedes interview. Video from the 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
SF kill 14 terrorists, detain five suspects
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 11, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed 14 terrorists and detained five suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed 10 terrorists during an attack in Tal Afar today. In a separate operation Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron killed four terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire in Tal Afar Sunday. No MNF injuries were reported during the operations.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in western Mosul Sunday. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid west of Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center's telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
8th Monthly Regional Security Council Meeting
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – Dan Terrell of IAP and Loren Stoddard of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were the distinguished speakers for this month’s Regional Security Council meeting. The meeting, taking place on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance on June 28th, gathered together over 300 key leaders of Ninewah Province and Mosul.
Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, and Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, Task Force (TF) Automatic Commander, opened the meeting with a welcome speech and a short video. The video demonstrated to those in attendance the great deal of progress Coalition and Iraqi forces were making in local civil affairs projects.
Ali then discussed the upcoming March Against Terror. The march will be taking place just south of Mosul in the next few weeks. It will be conducted solely by Iraqi locals and secured by Iraqi Army and Police forces, with no Coalition forces present.
Next on the agenda were the distinguished speakers, Terrell and Stoddard. Terrell’s company hopes to begin major civil affairs projects in the Tigris River Valley. He explained to the local leaders what IAP had to offer.
“As you can see, we hire local Iraqis and train them. Please understand, however, that this takes time. You’ve done a great job of securing the area so that we can move in and assist you in building new roads, clinics and anything else you are in need of,” said Terrell.
Stoddard then gave an overview of USAID. “What we’ve found in other countries is a strong business structure will in turn help develop overall community health and education.”
“We notice you have a lot of business opportunities in your area, such as sheep, agriculture and tourism. We are especially interested in developing the wool business in your country.”
He then introduced the local leaders to his agency’s Matching Grant programs. Whatever the local Iraqi is willing to put into a project, USAID will match it. “It’s not about how much money the U.S. or my company puts into a potential business, but how much money everyone contributes.”
Stoddard then spoke of the upcoming Kurdistan Trade Show in September. “Over 250 companies from all over the world will be coming to Irbil to look for new ideas and business partners.” He recommended all try and attend this production. “In August, we hope to hold a Ninewah Trade Show right here in the Tigris River Valley.”
Each month’s Regional Security Council meeting involves more key leaders of the area. It is an opportunity for the local sheiks and mukhtars to come together and discuss concerns of their villages. The meeting also serves as a chance for Coalition and Iraqi forces to learn about what needs attention in our area of operation.
Dispatch from Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend Matt, currently serving with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul. He also has a link to his previous dispatch.
The Great Wall of Makhmur
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
MAKHMUR, Iraq – Today marks the 12th day in the last two weeks C/113 Engineers (EN), of Task Force (TF) Automatic, have gone out to Makhmur with the mission to improve the force protection measures of 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion headquarters.
The 2nd Platoon of C/113 EN, led by First Lt. Matthew Flaherty and Sgt. First Class James Robinson, have loaded, transported and unloaded 309 cement barriers for this mission. The barriers now line the front perimeter of the IA headquarters building.
The engineer company begins their day rolling out of FOB Endurance at 0800 hours with 11 trucks and 25 soldiers. The cement barriers in tow slow their pace, but they arrive in Makhmur, just 20 kilometers east of the Tigris River, within an hour. The crane they use is locally hired, so they work until they no longer have use of the crane, usually about 1630 hours.
TF Automatic’s engineers are also transporting living containers onto the headquarters property. These containers will house Iraqi Army soldiers, as well as the Coalition forces there to train them.
“The concept was planned well,” said Cpt. Sean Begley, C/113 EN Commander. “We’re saving American tax payers money by recycling the living containers from Jaguar North and using them here at 3rd IA’s battalion headquarters.”
United States of America Environment contractors originally used the high quality living containers at Jaguar North. Since they have recently departed the area, it’s perfect timing to transfer the containers to Makhmur.
Terrorist Turns Himself In
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
ASH SHURA, Iraq – A suspected terrorist turned himself in yesterday at the Ash Shura combat outpost (COP). Well known for setting IEDs along main roads used by Coalition and Iraq forces, the individual was encouraged by his relatives to turn himself into authorities.
Several days ago, a source notified Task Force (TF) Automatic of this terrorist. Coalition and Iraqi forces immediately searched his home but he was not there. His Uncle falsely reported he was in Baghdad.
Later that same week, however, due to the encouragement of family and neighbors, the individual turned himself in at the Ash Shura COP. He is now in TF Automatic’s custody on Q-West.
1/D/52 Infantry, led by First Lt. Drew Godwin and Staff Sergeant Jose Delgato, was the platoon that occupied COP Ash Shura during capture.
Security Forces detain 16 in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 16 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police and Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained 15 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-24th also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity in separate raid operation in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Three terrorists killed by Security Forces
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 8, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed three terrorists, detained 11 suspected terrorists, and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Thanks to a tip provided by an Iraqi citizen, troops from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation outside Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed three terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire in eastern Mosul today. The 3-21st also seized a number of weapons from the vehicle of the terrorists. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 3-21st also detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in Mosul Thursday. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation southwest of Mosul Thursday. While patrolling in western Mosul Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual for violating curfew today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Force Soldiers discovered a weapons and munitions cache during a search operation south of Mosul Thursday. The weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Port Angeles woman gets brief respite from Iraq duty
Link to Full Article
by RAUL VASQUEZ, Penisula Daily News
PORT ANGELES -- April Gregory has witnessed war's horrors.
Stationed by the Army in Mosul, Iraq, since September, the 23-year-old Port Angeles High alumnus flew home Tuesday night to spend two weeks of rest and relaxation with family and friends.
On Thursday, speaking from home and far from the stifling heat of Mosul, Gregory detailed how she was only a couple of hundred yards away from a bomb that ripped through an Army dining facility on Dec. 21, killing 22 people and injuring scores more.
``All I remember is throwing my gear off, running in there and starting to carry people out,'' said Gregory, a communications sergeant who was awarded an Army Commendation Medal for her quick-thinking that deadly day.
``It was horrible . . . after that, it was hard for [soldiers] to talk about it and morale went down for quite a while.
``People were very angry, upset. They wanted revenge.''
Gregory lost friends in the suicide-bombing incident and admits it was the worst day of her 10 months in Iraq, where 138,000 U.S. troops are now stationed -- 11,000 of them women. [...]
Citizens’ tips lead to several IEDs being defused
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 7, 2005) – Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were able to defuse five improvised explosive devices and detain three suspected terrorists thanks to leads provided by Iraqi citizens during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment had four IED’s defused and detained three individuals suspected of emplacing the IED’s following leads given by Iraqi citizens in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment had an IED defused in northern Mosul following a lead given by an Iraqi citizen. Suspects are in custody with no injuries reported in any of the incidents.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
One terrorist killed and 24 suspects detained
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained 24 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Troops from 4th Battalion, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul. Troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division Iraqi Army alongside Multi-National Force Soldiers detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation west of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
In a separate operation in Tal Afar Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment were attacked with small arms fire. Their return fire killed one terrorist. No MNF injuries were reported in the attack.
In other operations, Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 16 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations east of Tal Afar and near the Syrian border. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity at two checkpoints in Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in a village south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces detain nine terror suspects; kill one and injure one terrorist
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 6, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist, injured another, and detained nine suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Iraqi Army troops detained two individuals, believed to be triggermen, after their convoy was struck with an improvised explosive device north of Tal Afar Tuesday. One Iraqi civilian was injured in the blast. The civilian was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
During another operation Tuesday in Tal Afar Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed one terrorist and injured another with small arms fire after observing the two armed men taking positions to attack Multi-National Forces. The injured terrorist will be detained following treatment. No MNF injuries were reported during the incident.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation north of Qayyarah today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
A sergeant's proposal - Local soldier, on leave from Iraq, surprises soul mate
Link to Full Article
By Reina Newton Tefs, Naples Sun Times
Both attended different high schools but met while serving in ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps). They dated for three years. Ten years later, Jason received an e-mail from Sara who traced him through www.classmates.com. Elated, he poured out his feelings in a long letter. As he hit Send, the barracks' power went out. But Sara's and Jason's sparks began to glow again from a distance.
"Although we're thousands of miles apart," Jason smiled, "we're absolutely inseparable. We're heart and soul mates."
Naples resident Jason returned from Iraq, his first leave since Oct. 9, 2004, for a two-week visit. He attended a welcome home party given by his mom Janet Miller at the Ministry Center of St. Williams Catholic Church. His mom, director of Social Ministry, wanted him to meet people who sent him e-mails, letters and packages. Comic books sent by Bigkatts owners Bob and Chris Kobzina kept Jason and his squad entertained.
"The party was overwhelming," Jason said. "I met vets and many people who sent packages. It was a system shock, but it was really nice." [...]
On July 8, Jason returns to Iraq for three more months. There he leads a squad of soldiers who patrol in a Striker, a 22-ton wheeled armored vehicle. They search through what's left of Mosul's streets and buildings for IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices).
"We've gotten good at finding them," Jason said. "It's the enemy that's hard to spot. With 2.3 million Arabs in Mosul, anyone could be an insurgent or a business person. There's no way to tell."
There is no safe place in Mosul. Jason and his squad were blown up while riding in a vehicle but survived because they wore protective gear. At FOB (Forward Operating Base) soldiers are so used to having mortars fired at them that many deal with danger from a fatalistic perspective. Humor helps lighten the heavy war-torn curtain around life in Iraq. Jason takes his job seriously, but if a mortar wakes him and he sees he is not injured, he goes back to sleep.
"Our soldiers feel supported in Iraq," Jason said. "It's great for morale to know that Americans haven't forgotten about us." [...]
MNF kill one terrorist, injure another two, detain 6 suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist, injured another two, and detained six suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment were hit with small arms fire while patrolling in Tal Afar. They returned fire killing one terrorist and injuring another two. The injured terrorists will be detained following treatment. No MNF injuries were reported during the incident.
During separate operations, Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in western Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation southwest of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
IED defused thanks to citizen’s tip
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were able to defuse an improvised explosive device thanks to an Iraqi citizen’s tip during an operation in northern Iraq today.
A call-in tip by an Iraqi citizen to the Joint Coordination Center led Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment to discover an IED hanging from a highway overpass in western Mosul. The 1-24th Soldiers had the IED defused with no injuries being reported during the operation.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
One terrorist dead, five suspects detained by MNF
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained five suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Monday.
While patrolling in Tal Afar, Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed one terrorist attempting to place an improvised explosive device. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment patrolling in northern Mosul, detained three individuals placing an IED. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
A letter from home
A StrykerNews.com reader posted this letter in our "Thank You" topic area. I've copied it here for greater visibility. Perhaps this will be an incentive for all of you to post a thank you note to our soldiers on this Independence Day.
On July 4, 2005, "Maine Stryker Mom" wrote:
[just a 'letter from home' to share with all who wished they'd received one today]
Good morning Son,
It's 6am on the Fourth of July, I was up before 5am and sitting on the deck listening to the quiet of the woods and the birds singing as the sun came up. Dad mowed the lawn yesterday and it looked so green and lush because of all the rain we've had - not as beautiful as you keep yours at home in Ft. Lewis, but pretty nice. We are looking forward to the usual Bath Heritage Days parade, Art in the Park, the carnival and fireworks. I can't help wish that you, JoAnne and the children were here to enjoy the day with us all....but you and your team are putting your lives on the line to win peace and independence for another nation and to keep this nation safer, and so many of your friends, teachers, acquaintances and strangers send you and all the troops their thanks, wish you well and hope & pray that you stay safe 'til you're home again.
If keeping you in our thoughts could put a safety bubble around you - you know you wouldn't have a thing to worry about!
There are many differences of opinion on whether this war should continue with our soldiers in it, however there is never a lack of support for our soldiers who are there. You have 100% support from the people of the good ol' U.S of A.
As we watch the Phippsburg Elementary [sitting] Band go by later today, with the same music teacher who taught you drums, we'll remember and laugh at that first time 20 years ago when dad quickly ran to Rogers Hardware before the start of the parade and built the safety trestle on the back of that first float to keep you and your classmates from falling off as it jerked to a the stop/start of those marching ahead, and I walked the parade at the back of the float - just to make sure none of you came to harm! [Wish I could do the same for your Stryker - now there's a thought to make you smile!]
Dad and I hold you in our hearts and thoughts always, we are very proud of the man you have become.
All our love,
mom
July 4th Special Connection
Link to Full Article
Kara Lusk, WNCT-TV 9
July Fourth is an especially emotional day for military families with loved ones fighting overseas. The very thing we are celebrating here – they are trying to achieve in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Monday – it was a special reunion between an Army soldier and his wife -- half-a-world apart.
ShanTay Smith, of Ayden, has not seen her husband Cpl. Emmitt Smith in nearly a year. But on July Fourth, Nine On Your Side helped "spark" a connection via satellite.
"Honey? Yeah? Hi! How are you? Not bad. Not bad at all," said Cpl. and ShanTay Smith to one another.
On America's Independence Day, Cpl. Emmitt Smith got to leave the frontlines in Mosul, Iraq for a short while to talk to his wife ShanTay from the WNCT-TV studio.
They haven't seen each other since last August. Their son, KeJean, is now just over a year old.
"How's the rest of the family doing,” asked Cpl. Smith. “Oh, busy as ever, you know," said Mrs. Smith.
Cpl. Smith is a Striker Vehicle Commander. He is with 3/21 Alpha Company, based at Fort Lewis, Washington.
Fox TV News Story On the Deuce Four
It is likely that FOX TV News will run another story today. The piece is called "Mosul Morale" and takes a less militaristic look at Deuce Four life. As soon as we find out the time it will air, we will update this post and push it to the top of the page.
Sending help from the home front
Women’s Republican Club’s “Adopt-a-Boca Soldier” program ships boxes of supplies to local Pfc. and his brigade in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Nicol Jenkins, Boca Raton News
A few family photos, boxes of clothes and pieces of a broken motorcycle are all the mother and stepfather have left of their oldest son James until he returns home from Iraq.
"It's been a year ago in June since we've seen him," said Richard Fenick, as he sits at his desk in his Boca Raton office with his wife Vicki clutching a family photograph and talking about happier times spent with his stepson.
"He left a motorcycle in a pile of pieces and we're supposed to hold it for him to rebuild it when he gets back," Richard said.
"He likes motorcycles," adds Vicki, who also has two younger sons named Richard and Matthew.
The mother and stepfather say they miss their son but are proud of what he is doing for his country. [...]
In June of 2004, James was shipped off to Fort Louis, an Army base in Washington and then a few months later to Iraq, where he serves as an E3 private first class in the stryker brigade escorting convoys in an artillery vehicle around Mosul, just north of Baghdad.
The 25-year-old soldier still manages weekly phone calls filled with stories and assurances of his safety bringing some comfort to his mother.
"It's a very draining job," Vicki said. "They're out there every day. They have highs and lows. He tells me they have moments where they throw candy at the kids and joke around with the people. There's a lot of downtime too, when they sit around, it's tedious." [...]
The Contemporary Federated Women�s Republican Club of Boca is looking to adopt more local soldiers and their families. For more information, you can e-mail Mary Mulhall at confedrepclub@yahoo.com or call 561-479-4483.
Nicol Jenkins can be reached at njenkins@bocanews.com or 56-893-6619.
Security Forces detain 19, seize weapons with help of citizens
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 3, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 19 and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individual suspected of terrorist activity thanks to leads provided by Iraqi citizens during two separate operations in southeastern Mosul today and Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained 14 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons and ammunition during three separate cordon and search operations in Mosul today and Saturday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during an operation east of Mosul today. The cache included over 70 mortar and artillery rounds. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
CALLING ALL FRIENDS AND FAMILIES OF THE CAV
The 2-14 CAV Family Readiness Group (FRG = spouses and family members of 2-14 CAV soldiers) have begun plans for the fast approaching homecoming this fall. We have many activities planned. If you would like to be a part of these or could offer your support, please contact us at CAVINFO@msn.com for more information.
Security Forces detain nine overnight in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 2, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raid operations in western Mosul today and Friday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in northern Mosul Friday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Qayarrah Receives Donated Medical Clinic
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
QAYARRAH, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic and representatives of the two civilian construction firms met with local sheiks to discuss and plan major projects in the Tigris River Valley on June 24th. The two companies represented were IAP from the United States and PetroLand Middle East Energy Petroleum Engineering Construction Industry and Trade Ltd., a subcontractor for IAP.
The first site visited was Tiger South near FOB Endurance, the future home of the 1/2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) and the 3rd Brigade, 2nd IA, headquarters. The project will consist of a major headquarters complex for up to 1,000 soldiers.
The group then drove to Qayarrah village to meet with local sheiks, passing numerous traffic control points enroute. The PetroLand representative, Volkan Kazova, was so impressed with the security of the area that he announced his company would build a clinic, free of charge for the people of Qayarrah village. Once a year PetroLand pledges a free project, Qayarrah was chosen for this project.
Kazova first offered the key leaders of the village a new school. However, the village was more in need of a medical clinic than the school.
TF Automatic then traveled to the Zafina Bridge site, which is to span the Tigris River from Tal Ashir to Zafina.
Approval of these projects will mark the first major foreign company in the area. A major benefit of IAP is they hire local labor. For skilled labor, IAP brings in specialists that shadow the local workers and train them in American construction standards, teaching them valuable skills.
Both of these civil affairs projects will begin accepting bids from contractors this week. Once at least three bids are received, the most sensible bid will be chosen, funds will be drawn, and construction will begin.
Second IA NCO Academy Graduation Held at Q-West
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
Q-WEST, IRAQ – “As we all know, the Iraqi Army Non-Commissioned Officer Corps is the backbone of the Iraqi Army,” stated Brig. Gen. Ali, 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion (BN) Commander. “We are grateful to be trained by the United States Army’s non-commissioned officers.”
On the morning of June 13th, the second IA Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) class graduated at the MWR Center on Q-West.
There were 49 NCOs in the graduating class who were trained, coached and mentored by 12 Coalition forces NCOs of Task Force (TF) Automatic. Iraqi Army trainees are taught in 60 subject areas, including marksmanship, physical fitness and first aid.
The main focus of the IA NCOA is leadership and Army Values. Instructors for the class included Staff Sgt. Alvarez, Staff Sgt. Pratcher, Staff Sgt. Newton, Staff Sgt. Dodd, Staff Sgt. Chevalier, Sgt. Dicker, Sgt. Dixon, Sgt. Phillips, Sgt. Reyes, Sgt. Thomas, Sgt. McKenzie and Sgt. Littlejohn.
The ceremony opened with the US and Iraqi National Anthems and the invocation, delivered in Arabic by one of the graduates. Master Sgt. House of TF Automatic then introduced the guest speaker, Lt. Col. Curry. Following remarks by Curry were the presentation of awards and certificates.
Awards included the Distinguished Honor Graduate, Sgt. First Class Mehdi Micki Mehdi Khdheer; Honor Graduates, Sgt. Mohamed Muzail Argaimn and Sgt. Antar Ebraim Mekahi; Leadership Award, Sgt. First Class Alaa Ahmed Abdularmir; and Physical Fitness Award, Sgt. Azeer Bakir Ibrahim.
The graduating class closed the ceremony by reciting the Iraqi NCO Creed.
“This NCOA class was a little different than the last class,” explained House. “The last class consisted of senior NCOs who had already established some bad habits from previous years spent in the Iraqi Regular Army. Bad habits are tough to break. This class, however, were junior NCOs very new to the Army with clean slates. They were all about training and less concerned with what time lunch was.”
TF Automatic will conduct their fourth basic training class for Iraqi soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, beginning later this month. Upon completion of this basic training cycle, TF Automatic will begin their next class of the NCOA.
1/3/2nd Iraqi Army Delivers Generator to Village
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
HAMADIYAH SHARQI, IRAQ – A generator was delivered to Hamadiyah Sharqi by the 1/3/2nd Iraqi Army (IA) and TF Automatic on Tuesday, June 14th. Once the generator is wired into the town’s electrical system it will provide electricity for the entire village.
The massive piece of equipment was delivered to the house of the Mukhtar, Abd Ibrahim Garaf. The townspeople were very excited to receive the generator, knowing it meant they would soon have power.
B/2-8 Field Artillery, led by Cpt. Jeff Cullen and First Sgt. Joseph Torres, continue to work with the IA and key leaders of Hamadiyah Sharqi to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Security Forces detain 12, seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 1, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 suspected terrorists and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during three separate operations in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during two separate operations in Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in central Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
G.I. Joe's Donates $10,000 To Soldiers, Families
I guess I know where I'll make my next sporting goods purchase.
LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- A soldiers-and-family fund at Fort Lewis will receive a $10,000 donation from G.I. Joe's stores.
The check will be given to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division's soldiers-and-family fund in a ceremony at the Lakewood G.I. Joe's store.
Additional information from The News Tribune
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave Doyle has posted a dispatch from his friend, who happens to be a sergeant with the 1/25 SBCT, on his website. Apparently this might be a recurring feature, so we'll keep an eye out for new entries.
Terrorist actions continue to target innocents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 30, 2005) – Three Iraqi civilians and one policeman was killed, and five other civilians injured during two separate terrorist attacks in northern Iraq Wednesday.
An Iraqi policeman was assassinated by terrorist gunmen, dressed as Iraqi Army Soldiers, at his home along with two of his family members in central Mosul. One Iraqi civilian was killed and another five injured when terrorists fired mortar rounds in to a Tal Afar neighborhood. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Three terrorist attacks in the last two days have killed seven civilians and injured another 26. These attacks all directly targeted innocent civilians.
First Soldiers receive Combat Action Badge
SGT Michael Buyas, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division is among the first five soldiers to receive the Combat Action Badge.
UPDATE 6/30: New articles added below.
Link to Full Article
Army News Service
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 29, 2005) – At a Pentagon ceremony today, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker awarded the Army’s new Combat Action Badge for the first time to five Soldiers who engaged in combat with the enemy.
The CAB, approved by Schoomaker in May, was created by the Army's leadership to recognize all Soldiers in combat. Soldiers engaged in the War on Terrorism since Sept. 18, 2001, are retroactively eligible to receive the award.
“Today is an historical day for the Army. These Soldiers, who represent our total Army, know what being a Soldier and a warrior stands for,” Schoomaker said. “The Soldiers standing here have earned the right to be American – they have walked the walk, they stand for nobility and they represent the Warrior Ethos.”
Schoomaker and Sergeant Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston presented Combat Action Badges to:
• Sgt. Michael Buyas, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division
• Sgt. Manuel J. Montano, 21st Military Police Company
• Sgt. Sean Steans, 377th Transportation Company, 3rd COSCOM
• Army Reserve Sgt. April Pashley, 404th Civil Affairs Battalion
• Army National Guard Sgt. Timothy Gustafson, 1st Battalion, 278th Regimental Combat Team
“These Soldiers are a reflection of the Army team fighting the Global War on Terrorism,” Preston said. “Sit down and talk with any one of them and you’ll find they are Americans who chose to be a part of something bigger than their selves and serve our nation at large.”
Standing in front of the Warrior Ethos display, about 100 ceremony attendees congratulated the Army’s first CAB recipients. Four of the five awardees were wounded in combat. Buyas, a native of Orondo, Wash., lost both of his legs from an improvised explosive device used by enemy forces while he was on security patrol in a Stryker vehicle near Mosul, Iraq, Dec. 23.
“After being in a coma for 12 days, I woke up on New Year’s Eve. I made it my New Year’s resolution that I would one day walk again,” he said.
Buyas, who said he is coping with his injuries and plans to attend law school at the University of Washington next year, was honored to be one of the first recipients of the award.
“Words can’t describe how I feel today. I am proud to be the first in a long line of Soldiers,” Buyas said. “I’m not the first to earn this award and I am glad that it will be retroactively awarded – it’s important to take care of all Soldiers who served in combat too.” [...]
Related Articles:
First five soldiers receive Combat Action Badge - Stars & Stripes
When is the Iraqi army ready to take over?
Link to Full Article
By Jim Maceda, NBC News
QAYYARAH, Iraq — On a recent day, some of the 2,000 soldiers of the 1st Iraqi Army Brigade patrolled a violent neighborhood in West Baghdad, while more than 200 miles to the north, soldiers of the 1,500-strong 3rd Iraqi Army Brigade were on a raid near Mosul.
They represent two different Iraqi units and both are backed by the U.S military. The 1st Iraqi Army Brigade works with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad and 3rd Iraqi Army Brigade trains and works with U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division near Mosul. [...]
Last fall, entire battalions cut and run in clashes with insurgents south of Mosul. Undisciplined and under daily attack, the mostly Sunni brigade disintegrated.
But today, it is fighting back and was recently a key part of a joint raid on a local Sunni leader, suspected of arming insurgents in Mosul.
Some Iraqi soldiers were visibly uncomfortable with bedroom searches for weapons, but were no longer hiding their faces, or their uniforms.
What accounts for the turnaround?
“The only way I can explain it is that we found two or three leaders who are genuine and capable,” said Maj. Kevin Murphy, of the U.S. Army’s 25th ID.
Deuce Four On Fox Tonight
Fox News will broadcast its second story from Mosul featuring 1-24 INF tonight during the Special Report program. The segment discusses the training of the Iraqi Army, and will air sometime during the 6 PM EST (3 PM PST) hour. It will be replayed 8 hours later in all time zones.
UPDATE: We changed the broadcast time listed above - it is now correct. Additionally, the replay might be on at a different time in your area. As always, it is probably best to check your local listings.
1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul
There are two new entries at the 1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul, Iraq blog.
Five Task Force Freedom Press Releases
The national and international press is awash with stories about civilian and military action in Mosul on Sunday. Click on "Read the entire entry" for 5 new press releases from the Task Force Freedom Public Affairs Office.
Two citizens’ tips thwart terror attacks
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 26, 2005) – Tips provided by Iraqi citizens helped Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom defuse two improvised explosive devices and detain two suspected terrorists in northern Iraq Saturday.
A citizen’s call-in tip to the Joint Coordination Center led Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment to detain two individuals attempting to emplace an IED in southeastern Mosul. Another citizen gave a tip leading Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment to defuse an IED placed in eastern Mosul. No injuries were reported in either operation.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces detain 10, seize weapons
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 26, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 10 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Saturday.
Troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment were attacked with small arms fire while patrolling in Tal Afar. They returned fire killing one terrorist and injuring another. The injured suspect was detained after treatment. Soldiers from the 3-21st detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during separate operations in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of conducting an IED attack on their convoy during a search operation in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 2-14th seized a weapons cache during a search operation east of Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Suicide bomber claims lives of 16 innocent civilians
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 26, 2005) – Sixteen Iraqi civilians were killed and another seven injured when a suicide bomber detonated at Al Kasik military base northeast of Tal Afar today. Initial report indicates the attack took place at a parking lot to the southeast entrance to the military compound in the early morning hours when local Iraqis, who worked on the post, had just arrived to go to work. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Of the injured, one lost their leg and another was paralyzed from the waist down.
A number of terrorist attacks over the past ten days have killed 26 and injured at least 47 Iraqi civilians in northern Iraq. These attacks have either directly targeted or disregarded civilian lives.
Suicide car bomb attack near police station kills 12, injures eight
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 26, 2005) - Ten Iraqi Police were killed, two civilians were killed, and another eight Iraqi Police were injured when a police station was targeted by a suicide car bomber in central Mosul today. The police station sustained heavy damages due to the blast. This was the second attack in as many days to target Iraqi Police, however policemen in Mosul have continue to man their posts. The injured Iraqi Police were taken to a local hospital for treatment. Terrorists continue to disregard the health and safety of Iraqi citizens and those wishing to secure the country. A number of terrorist attacks over the past ten days have killed many and injured many more Iraqi civilians, including policemen, in northern Iraq. These attacks have directly targeted and disregarded civilian lives.
Third suicide attack of the day kills five, injures 12
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 26, 2005) - Five Iraqi Police were killed, another eight were injured, and four Iraqi civilians were injured when a suicide bomber detonated at an Iraqi Police guard station near a hospital in central Mosul today. This was the third suicide attack of the day, two of which have targeted Iraqi Police. However, policemen in Mosul have continued to man their posts. The injured were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Terrorists continue to disregard the health and safety of Iraqi citizens and those wishing to secure the country. A number of terrorist attacks over the past ten days have killed 43 and injured another 67 Iraqi civilians, including policemen, in northern Iraq. These attacks have directly targeted and disregarded civilian lives.
Brown: 113th has key role
Embedded reporter W.S. Wilson has published the following interview with COL Robert Brown, commander of the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul.
BY W.S. WILSON, Editor, The Sentinel
Col. Robert Brown, a strapping West Pointer, is in charge of U.S. Army operations in and around Mosul, Iraq. The Indiana National Guard 113th Engineering Battalion is one of the units he directs.
This interview was conducted in Brown’s office, located in one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces. The U.S. Army now calls the complex Forward Operation Base Courage.
Sentinel editor W.S. Wilson spent three weeks embedded with the 113th, which is based in northern Indiana and about halfway through what is expected to be a year-long tour of duty in and around Mosul.
SENTINEL: I’ve sensed a little bit of rivalry between the Guard and regular army units.
BROWN: You know, I would tell you that before I had this experience I had only gotten to see National Guard to occasionally train and occasionally work with them back in the States, and you had just like active duty, you’ve got great units, you got average units, you got some that need a little bit of work. You know, it is kind of very similar.
What I found here is the Guard brings a whole other dimension to the battlefield that we (regular Army) don’t have: the experts from the civilian world in their regular jobs. You know, they’ll have electrician’s, they’ll have guys that are financial guys, guys that run companies. We got guys that are, you know, that are like “Big Country,” the vice principal of a school (Sean Begley, of Lake Central High).
All of that is extremely valuable to have, and really brings a great dimension to the battlefield and the complications that you have here. As you can see we are dealing with everything every day from electricity, power, gas, food and then the insurgents.
It’s been fantastic and I’ve been nothing but impressed by the 113th. You know, the 113th came in at a critical time. We were all worried. I’ll be honest. We had a great unit from Virginia, and the 113th came in two weeks before elections and we were kind of nervous. I’ll tell you what, they were amazing. The 113th – they have been terrific.
There's much more, so be sure to follow the link. To view a complete archive of Wilson's articles, you can visit the Sentinel's website.
Deuce Four On Fox Tonight
We received notice that Fox News will broadcast a story from Mosul featuring Alpha Company, 1-24 INF during the 7pm EST (4 pm PST) hour tonight. The story is called "Operation Blackhills". If you miss the story it will be repeated again 8 hours later in all time zones.
Citizens helping to improve security situation in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 25, 2005) –Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 10 suspected terrorists, seized a number of weapons, and were able to defuse an improvised explosive device with the help of an Iraqi citizen during operation in northern Iraq Friday.
A citizen’s call-in tip to the Join Coordination Center led Multi-National Force Soldiers to an IED site in northern Mosul. MNF Soldiers were able successfully defuse the IED with no injuries to citizens or MNF reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized IED making materials during two separate operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a large weapons cache during two separate operations in and near Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul thanks to a tip provided by an Iraqi citizen. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
BEYOND THE COOL RIDE
Link to Full Article
By Matt Misterek, THE NEWS TRIBUNE
It was engineered with the stealth to creep into dense urban terrain on eight wheels and go virtually unnoticed. More often, however, it barrels down the streets of Mosul with air horn bellowing, warning cars to pull over while it passes.
Indeed, with its exoskeleton of heavy green slat armor, the 21-ton Stryker vehicle at times looks like a dinosaur making a show of force in an environment where only the strongest survive.
But ask most soldiers in the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division and they’ll agree on this point: Northern Iraq will never be secured from inside the carapace of a Stryker.
No matter how thick the steel, how powerful the weapon system or how tall the sandbags outside the hatches, this war will be won or lost the way of any conflict: with boots on the ground, one house and one neighborhood at a time.
With every handshake or high-five exchanged, every stuffed animal or school notebook given away and every useful civilian tip received, coalition forces can claim a small victory. And with each broken front gate, ransacked room and terrified look on the face of a child, a mark is left on the negative side of the balance sheet.
“It always goes back to the same thing: What is the mood of the local populace? Because that is the key to the insurgency,” said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, commander of the Stryker battalion known as Deuce Four. [...]
Security Forces continue to round up terror suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 24, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 26 suspected terrorists and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons from the suspects during a raid in western Mosul Thursday. Iraqi Commando troops alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operations in eastern Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3-21st also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid south of Tal Afar Thursday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces detain 21 terror suspects, seize weapons
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 23, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 21 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two operations in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations near the Syrian border west of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling near Qayyarah. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during three separate operations in Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in Hamam Al Alil. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Weed Fire t-shirts appreciated in Iraq
Link to Full Article
Mount Shasta Herald
Sgt. Travis Johnson, originally from St. Louis, MO. and currently stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA, is deployed to Mosul, Iraq with the Army's 73rd Engineer Company of the 1st Brigade (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) 24th Infantry Division.
He is shown here with the Stryker he commands. A Stryker is a light armored fast attack vehicle outfitted with a plow to safely detonate mines and I.E.D. devices, and a protective fence to deflect missiles and RPG's.
Over the last few months t-shirts were gathered from fire departments all over the United States, boxed and shipped to troops at military bases in Iraq through the Hero-to-Hero program. When Sgt. Johnson blindly reached into the box sent to his base in Mosul and pulled out this t-shirt from the Weed Fire Department, he was surprised. [...]
1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul, Iraq
The 1/25 SBCT Life blog posted a number of new entries today.
Security Forces kill one terrorist, injure another, detain five, and seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 22, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist, injured another, detained five suspected terrorists, and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Tuesday.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Task Force Freedom Soldiers shot and killed one terrorist and injured another after their convoy had been hit by an improvised explosive device in northern Mosul. The two terrorists had detonated the IED that struck the convoy.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals after they observed them attempting to emplace an IED in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache while patrolling in Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces detain 13 terror suspects
(TFF Press Releases)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 13 suspected terrorists and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Monday.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah. Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Troops from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division Iraqi Army detained one individual suspected of conducting a mortar attack on Security Forces earlier in the day at a checkpoint in Tal Afar. The IA troops also confiscated weapons from the individual’s vehicle. Troops from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southwestern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in northern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Additional TFF Press Items:
Three civilians injured in IED attack
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 21, 2005) – Three Iraqi civilians were injured when an improvised explosive device detonated near their vehicle while they were traveling in eastern Mosul Monday. No Security Forces were in the vicinity at the time of the attack indicating that terrorists were targeting the civilians. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
A number of terrorist attacks over the past five days have killed two and injured another 27 Iraqi civilians in northern Iraq. These attacks either directly targeted or disregarded civilian lives.
Arrest over suicide bombs
Possible link to the 12/21/04 attack on our soldiers.
Link to Full Article
By Deborah Haynes, The Sunday Times
A MAN has been arrested in northern England in connection with suicide bomb attacks on US-led coalition forces in Iraq, police said.
A 40-year-old man has been arrested today in northern England in connection with suicide bomb attacks on US-led coalition forces in Iraq, police said today. Around 30 officers detained the man in a dawn raid on a house in the Moss Side area of Manchester.
Greater Manchester police said the arrest was not connected to any threat in Britain but to "an incident overseas" involving attacks in Iraq.
"Since the beginning of the year, there have been a series of suicide bombings against coalition forces in Iraq," a spokesman said.
"It appears that one of the suicide bombers may have travelled from the UK, where he had been living." [...]
Ailing Iraqi girl one step closer to operation
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Rhma Taha Ahmed might not have to have her hands and feet amputated after all. And she just might live to a ripe old age.
The 5-year-old Iraqi girl, who suffers from a congenital heart defect, tapped a soft spot earlier this year in some soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment in Mosul.
After an article about the little girl appeared in Stars and Stripes in May, her plight touched off a hailstorm of e-mails across continents which, in less than a month, has prompted a doctor and hospital to perform the surgery and a nonprofit organization to pay all expenses.
The sole sticking point to getting her care in the United States is acquiring non-immigrant visas for the child and her parents, and military personnel are working through official channels to get those.
Once approved, the plan is to bring Rhma to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, N.M., where Dr. Carl Lagerstrom has agreed to perform the surgery, said Pam English, a hospital employee, who is the mother of one of the 1-24 soldiers. [...]
“These congenital heart problems are all too common in Iraq,” said Dr. (Maj.) Dave Brown, the battalion’s surgeon. Brown was instrumental in the making connections to get Rhma the needed help to save her hands, feet and possibly her life.
But her plight is special to the soldiers of “Deuce Four.”
It was during a late-night raid into the Isla Zeral neighborhood of Mosul on May 20 in which Pfc. Matthew Nolan and Spc. Matthew English first came across the pale little girl.
“This came about because two young soldiers came into a house one night and saw someone less fortunate and in need,” said Capt. Paul Carron, Company C commander. “If soldiers have one consistent trait it is problem solving, they see a wrong and they make it right. We all want to see this made right,” said in an e-mail to Stripes. [...]
Security Forces rescue citizen, continue to detain terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 20, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) rescued an Iraqi civilian who had been kidnapped, detained 18 suspected terrorists, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraqi today and Sunday.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. The suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army alongside 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation south of Qayyarah Sunday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment rescued an Iraqi civilian who had been kidnapped when they spotted him, hands bound, inside a home in southeastern Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-5th also seized a large weapons cache while patrolling in southeastern Mosul today. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation southeast of Mosul today. Soldiers from the 2-8th detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling south of Qayyarah Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Manhattanville College shows support for U.S. troops
Link to Full Article
THE JOURNAL NEWS
"Hey, it's Stephen, the guy you wrote. I'm on guard and writing in the dark with a flashlight."
— Army Pfc. Stephen Castellano
About 40 percent of the soldiers who receive packages and letters from stateside folks in the My Soldier campaign don't write back.
Stephen Castellano, a private first class in the Army, did.
"I'm 20 years old. Some of my favorite hobbies are boxing ... reading, writing, poetry," he wrote from Iraq to Stephany Valencia, 16, of Rye High School. "I have such a diverse group of friends. I have friends who are preps, who are in band, some who like rap ..."
That unfinished handwritten letter was the last the Long Beach, Calif., man wrote, said the cousin who sent the letter on to Valencia, saying he was killed in Mosul on Jan. 28.
"She told me I shouldn't be disappointed, to get another soldier and I should continue supporting the troops," said Valencia.
That was to be the first letter from Castellano to Valencia, who, with some 70 or so colleagues, joined a club at the high school to help in the Manhattanville College effort to reach U.S. soldiers overseas.
News of his death was shocking and depressing, Valencia said, but she is seeking another soldier to write to and to send lip balm, sunblock, beef jerky, soap, socks, pens and other little comforts, much of it donated by Rye residents and business people.
"I want them to know we care," she said. [...]
Security Forces kill two, detain 17, and seize weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 20, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, detained 17 suspected terrorists, and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Troops from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division Iraqi Army killed two terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire in Tal Afar.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army detained 12 individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in central Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity after being attacked with small arms fire while patrolling in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation south of Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Happy Father’s Day
The administrators, moderators, contributors, and readers of StrykerNews.com extend a sincere Happy Father’s Day greeting to all the fathers deployed with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Your families miss you, but they are ever so proud of your strength, courage, and service to your country.
Iraq Operations Result in Captures, Arms-Cache Discovery
(American Forces Press Service)
WASHINGTON, June 19, 2005 – Operations throughout Iraq this weekend resulted in the capture of violent extremists and the discovery of weapons.
Six Iraqi civilians, including five children, were injured during a terrorist attack near a soccer field in Tal Afar June 17. Terrorists were attacking a nearby Iraqi security-force post with mortar and small-arms fire. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
In northern Iraq, three terror attacks over two days injured 14 Iraqi civilians. These attacks either directly targeted or totally disregarded civilian lives, coalition officials said.
In and around Mosul, U.S. soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations June 17 and 18. Soldiers detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon-and-search operation in southern Mosul June 18. Other soldiers detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during a cordon-and-search operation.
Soldiers killed one terrorist and injured another after their convoy was attacked with small-arms fire in northern Mosul June 18. The soldiers detained the injured terrorist following treatment and seized a number of weapons from the terrorists' vehicle.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation east of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no coalition injuries reported.
Soldiers deployed with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force uncovered a large weapons cache northeast of Yusafiyah. The soldiers seized and destroyed 60 rocket rounds, 88 mortar rounds, two 57 mm improvised rocket launchers, four 125 mm artillery rounds, 100 projectile fuses, 21 rocket-propelled grenades, a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher, two rifles, two blasting caps, 500 7.62 mm rifle/light machine gun rounds, 400 12.7 mm machine gun rounds, a 122 mm rocket warhead, a 2.75 mm rocket warhead, and a "missile infantry light anti-tank" guided missile.
In Baghdad, multinational forces conducted operations to capture a reported bomber who worked for the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi terrorist network in Iraq. Though the individual in question fled prior to the forces raiding the home, they did seize a substantial weapons cache.
Weapons and extremist items found at the home included: two S5K launchers, two modified S5K rounds, five rocket-propelled grenades, seven RPG launchers, five PG-7 85 mm rounds, four PG-7m 70 mm rounds, 16 PG-7 propellant charges, 11 AK-47 rifles, more than 50 ammunition magazines, 5,000 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, three RPK machine guns, 5,500 rounds of RPK ammunition, six RGD-5 Russian-made fragmentation grenades, and nine AK magazine vests. Most of the weapons were found packed into four large bags. Twelve "terrorist masks" and various extremist materials were also found at the home.
The soldiers also found a variety of bomb-making materials and explosives, including one large improvised explosive device ready to be employed, in the home. There was also a variety of remote-controlled bomb-initiation devices found, to include 15 walkie-talkies, five cordless telephones, and various circuit boards, resistors, transistors and batteries. A video camera, which officials believe was used to film attacks, was also found.
Two suspected terrorists were found at the location, and both engaged coalition forces with small-arms fire. The soldiers returned the fire, killing one and wounding the other. Multinational forces took the wounded suspect into custody, and his wounds were treated. He is currently being held and questioned by multinational forces.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Task Force Baghdad news releases.)
One terrorist dead, 18 detained ...
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 18, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed one terrorist, injured another, detained 18, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army alongside 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force and 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed one terrorist and injured another after their convoy was attacked with small arms fire in northern Mosul. The 3-21st detained the injured terrorist following treatment and seized a number of weapons from the terrorists’ vehicle. In a separate operation Soldiers from the 3-21st uncovered a weapons cache in northern Mosul. All weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint south of Mosul. In a separate operation Soldiers from the 2-14th seized a weapons cache south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Additional TFF Press News
Terrorist gunmen target two innocent civilians in latest attack
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 18, 2005) – One innocent civilian was killed and another injured when terrorists fired on their vehicle in western Mosul today. The injured civilian was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
A number of terrorist attacks over the past three days have killed one and injured another 15 Iraqi civilians in northern Iraq. These attacks either directly targeted or disregarded civilian lives.
Security Forces seize weapons, capture nine suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 18, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Friday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation east of Mosul Friday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
More TFF Press News
Terrorist attack near soccer field injures five children
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 18, 2005) – Six innocent Iraqi civilians were injured, including five children, during a terrorist attack near a soccer field in Tal Afar Friday. Terrorists were attacking a nearby Iraqi Security Force post with mortar and small arms fire. The injured civilians were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Three terrorist attacks over two days injured 14 Iraqi civilians in northern Iraq. These attacks either directly targeted or disregarded civilian lives.
Deuce Four’s many hats
Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – A convoy of Strykers was making a beeline for one of the busiest crossroads in the city, rushing to the aid of some cavalrymen who’d hit a roadside bomb near the infamous Yarmouk Traffic Circle.
But the explosion was small, and by the time Capt. Scott Cheney and his soldiers arrived, the cavalry vehicle had already started back to base.
After a busy morning, Cheney’s troops were ready to turn around and head home, too – until they spotted a black column of smoke rising about 500 meters west of the traffic circle.
A fuel tanker was on fire, the second of the day and the third in two days.
The 28-year-old officer from Lacey, suddenly thrown into the role of arson investigator, led his soldiers to the plume. They walked building to building in an industrial area, looking for witnesses while Iraqi fire crews doused the flaming truck cab.[...]
Fighting a war without a true front or linear battle lines, the soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade – find themselves doing jobs where the titles and distinctions have blurred. They are being pressed into a variety of roles for which they might have little experience or training: policeman, fire commissioner, public contracting expert, teacher and diplomat, to name a few.
Of the Stryker brigade’s three infantry battalions, Deuce Four is the one perhaps most associated with a single-minded focus: an intense warrior ethos.
The battalion’s charismatic commander, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, has an anti-insurgent poster pinned by a dagger on his door frame. It features an emaciated skull and a warning:
“Terrorists, we are coming for you! You cannot escape us, we hunt you by day, we hunt you by night. Do not run … you will only die tired.”
But Kurilla said he’s constantly impressed by the flexibility and initiative shown by junior leaders in his battalion. And some of the roles they fill are a few steps removed from capturing or killing the enemy.[...]
Stryker soldiers catch terrorist at top of the list
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Fort Lewis troops have captured one of the most wanted terrorist leaders in Iraq, officials said.
Muhammad Khalaf Shakara, also known as Abu Talha, directed hundreds of bombings and other attacks on American and Iraqi soldiers as well as on Iraqi government officials and facilities, Stryker brigade and other U.S. military officials said.
His capture Tuesday in a quiet neighborhood in Mosul is the biggest blow to the insurgency since U.S. troops killed Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay in 2003, said Lt. Col. David Spencer, intelligence officer with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.[...]
Stryker brigade commander Col. Bob Brown told the BBC on Thursday that videotapes captured with Abu Talha show more than 50 suicide bombings he directed. Other videos and evidence connect him to more than 100 killings, including captives who were beheaded or shot in the head, he said.
U.S. military officials in Baghdad on Thursday said U.S. and Iraqi troops captured Shakara at an associate’s house in Mosul. Although he reportedly wore a suicide-bomber vest constantly and vowed not to be taken alive, he was detained without a struggle.
“He had a pistol. He could have defended himself, but he didn’t,” said Spencer, the Stryker brigade intelligence officer.
He said U.S. and Iraqi forces have made steady progress in capturing or killing members of Zarqawi’s network in Mosul. Abu Talha was responsible for tactics and operations – for example, it was on his orders that insurgents have carried out the wave of suicide bombings that have killed scores of Iraqi civilians, government troops and U.S. soldiers the past three months, Spencer said.[...]
Related Stories:
U.S. and Iraqi Troops Capture a Top Militant Leader in Mosul - New York Times
Conflict continues in Iraq
A transcript of an interview with COL Brown, Commander, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT)
Link to Full Article
Michael Vincent, The World Today
TANYA NOLAN: While Australia's focus has been on freed hostage Douglas Wood who is now leaving Iraq, the bloody violence in Baghdad and elsewhere in the country continues.
In the past few days, five US soldiers and more than 40 Iraqis have been killed in deadly attacks by insurgents.
Coalition forces are claiming a victory today, with the capture of a senior adviser to Jordanian militant and key insurgent, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Michael Vincent reports.
MICHAEL VINCENT: In Iraq the violence is relentless.
Insurgents continue to use suicide bombers, like the one overnight, who on the road to Baghdad's airport, ploughed his car at high speed into a truck carrying Iraqi policemen. He killed at least eight and wounded another 25.
A day earlier, a suicide bomber wearing an Iraqi uniform walked into a barracks north of Baghdad and detonated, killing at least 26 soldiers and leaving 29 wounded.
It's not only the nature of their attacks, the insurgents also appear to be modifying their bombs to pierce armoured vehicles.
In Ramadi, five US marines were killed yesterday when their vehicle was blasted by an improvised explosive device. Their Humvee had special armour plating.
US officers say the militants may be making "shaped charges", which can focus a blast to pierce even thick protection.
More than 1,700 US military personnel have now been killed in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003.
While there are no official figures for Iraqis, it's estimated more than 20,000 have been killed in the same period.
US forces have been able to claim a victory overnight. They released the details of a man they captured earlier in the week named Abu Talha, believed to be a senior aide to al-Qaeda affiliated militant, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
US Colonel Robert Brown of the 25th Infantry Division has told the BBC they're certain they've got the right man.
US Colonel Robert Brown of the 25th Infantry Division has told the BBC they're certain they've got the right man.
ROBERT BROWN: We had captured a series of videotapes back in November. This gave us pictures of the individual, of Talha, and in those videotapes it shows over 50 suicide bombings that he directed, killing many, many innocent women and children, many innocent Iraqis, and then also we have a video and then statements and absolutely certain that he was responsible for over 100 brutal murders, including beheadings and murders where they tied the hands behind their back and shot individuals in the head.
No question he's done these things, and a very, very evil individual has been taken off the street, a high level al-Qaeda member, and the al-Qaeda network is clearly being disrupted. [...]
U.S. military: Al Qaeda leader in Mosul captured
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The U.S. military on Thursday reported the capture of a man described as al Qaeda's leader in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Donald Alston identified him as Abu Talha -- whose actual name is Muhammad Kalaf Shakar -- and said he was captured on Tuesday.
"Talha has been one of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's most trusted operations agents in Iraq," Alston said. "This is a major defeat for the al Qaeda organization in Iraq."
"Numerous reports indicated he wore a suicide vest 24 hours a day and stated that he would never surrender. Instead, Talha gave up without a fight," Alston said.
Talha surrendered to multinational forces in a quiet neighborhood in Mosul, Alston said, after information from Iraqi civilians contributed to his capture.
Civilians providing such information indicates they are taking steps against the "increasingly unpopular insurgency," he said.
Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, wanted by U.S.-led forces for terrorist attacks in Iraq, pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden in October. The United States has put a $25 million bounty on al-Zarqawi's capture or death.
Related Links:
U.S. and Iraqi Troops Capture a Top Militant Leader in Mosul
Discovering what makes a hero
Features soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery
Link to Full Article
By Patrick Dickson and Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Their stories are like those of the soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who came before them:
Flying where anti-aircraft gunners can take a pop at you. Racing through a hail of bullets to pull a wounded friend to safety. Just staying with someone in what might be their last moments on Earth.
Are they heroes? What is a hero?
Servicemembers in the field had a lot of definitions to offer, but a recurring theme was not needing or wanting praise. [...]
“A hero is someone who does the right thing in spite of adversity,” said Spc. Ian Johnson, a medic with 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash.
“It’s doing what is right when everything is against you, doing what is morally right in spite of peer pressure.
“If we had more people like that in the Army, stuff like Abu Ghraib would never have happened.”
One night while conducting a traffic control point in the flatlands south of Mosul, a couple of soldiers from Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25 Infantry Division offered a few insights on heroism.
Many felt that volunteering to do their job makes them heroes.
“I think every soldier makes a hero,” said Spc. Nathan Meyers, 24. “From private E-1 all the way up to ‘General Whoever-It-Might-Be.’ We volunteered to give up so many things to do what we are doing, friends, family, free time.”
Other than his absence, it’s a sacrifice that won’t directly affect his wife, Amanda, for example, he said. “We’re trying to stabilize this country, get rid of terrorists from afar and local terrorists. I don’t feel we’re out here to protect the United States. Everything we’re doing, we’re doing for this country.
“It’s an unselfish act.”
Pfc. Damian Pete, 23, wasn’t as sure.
“Good question. What the hell is a hero? I just know that I’ve never met one.”
Pete and Meyers, both field artillery crewmembers, get to talking a little to pass time in the darkened desert. They talk of the $82 billion funding supplemental, and whether Pete will be able to get a new flak vest instead of wearing one that not only is a hand-me-down, but held together in one spot with string.
They speak of the hellhole that is this part of Iraq.
“This sucks,” Pete said. “I want to go home. I have a son.”
His 2-year-old son, Camree, lives on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota with his great-grandmother, abandoned by his mother.
“I can’t wait to get back to make up for lost time,” Pete said. He wants custody of Camree and to bring him back to his home base of Fort Lewis.
“You’re gonna be a single dad — in the Army?” Meyers asks, incredulous. “See now, that’s a hero right there.” [...]
Law-abiding Iraqis caught up in U.S. effort to stamp out insurgency
Link to Full Article
BY KIRSTEN SCHARNBERG, Chicago Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq - (KRT) - In Iraq insurgency, anyone might be the enemy.
So with weapons drawn, a dozen U.S. soldiers charged down the ramps of their armored Stryker vehicles, roughly yanked three Iraqi students out of a car by their necks and shoved their faces into a nearby wall.
"What's your name? Where are you going? Don't lie to me!" Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla shouted at the first teenager.
"To my house to study," the trembling young man answered. "We have exams next week."
Kurilla questioned each of the young men separately, twisting their shirt collars around their throats throughout each interrogation. But the students soon were deemed harmless; everyone had a current university ID and told the same story.
As abruptly as they had appeared, the soldiers from the Army's 1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment got back into their Strykers to leave. As the ramps clanked shut, the wide-eyed young students stood on the sidewalk, their vehicle stopped in the middle of the street blocking carloads of gawking Iraqis in both directions.
On the receiving end of the U.S. military's increasingly aggressive patrol posture are many apparently law-abiding Iraqis - the college students in Mosul getting shoved face-first into a wall; the retired English teacher in Baiji thrilled to practice his language skills on U.S. soldiers until they barge into his home and search under his beds; the homemaker in Tikrit who begs soldiers with words they don't understand to take off their muddy boots before walking across her carefully maintained pastel carpets. [...]
"Some days you wonder if you've rounded up one bad guy but created 10 others," a tired Kurilla acknowledged in his Minnesota Vikings-decorated command post the night after stopping the three students in Mosul. "That's the balancing act we're left with at this point. ...
"But I've seen too many of my boys die out there, too many of them bleed out or get burned beyond recognition. I've seen too many limbs blown off. I can't do my work wearing kid gloves because if I do, it'll get soldiers killed."
Kurilla's battalion is an example of how the nature of the insurgency has changed the approach of U.S. soldiers on the ground. When his unit arrived in Mosul last fall, Kurilla often was a walking ambassador of American goodwill. A gregarious man, he would joke with residents that he was going to buy himself "a little flat in old Mosul."
But now, after having 11 soldiers killed and some 140 wounded, Kurilla is unapologetically aggressive on the streets of this city that has remained a hideout for insurgents. Patrol strategies he and his infantrymen employ can be linked to their experiences.
For example, when soldiers enter any home in Mosul, they do so with weapons drawn, running in teams throughout the house to clear each room. They learned the hard way - after an insurgent suddenly appeared from a balcony to shoot and kill a young soldier earlier this spring_ that in even an apparently welcoming home there may be those who will do you harm.
Street patrols rely on the same experience. The day before Kurilla pulled over the college students, he and his soldiers stopped another car. The two young men in it - who like the students did not appear suspicious - turned out to be running weapons for a local insurgent cell; their trunk held guns, ammunition and ski masks.
"The tricky part in any insurgency is telling good guys from bad guys, isn't it?" Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez said during a recent patrol through a fruit market in Mosul where merchants have been known to hide guns beneath their wares. "Maybe one guy is really just selling watermelons. Maybe the next guy has weapons hidden at the bottom of that wagon full of watermelons." [...]
A FAREWELL TOP 10 LIST
News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley have returned from Iraq. They had been following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis and reporting news in their blog.
Nine suspects captured, weapons seized
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 13, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation north of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache while on patrol in western Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF LANCER 6
He joined to play ball, but Col. Robert Brown stayed to lead
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK, The News-Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – It was early the morning of Iraq’s first democratic elections in more than 50 years, and Col. Robert Brown was as anxious as anyone in the Stryker brigade tactical operations center.
After a sleepless night, the brigade’s top leaders had huddled to see the first returns trickle in. They were unsure whether terrorists would fulfill their threat of polling-day bloodshed and Sunni Arabs their pledge to stay home.
“Any voters?” inquired Brown, the 46-year-old commander of the Fort Lewis-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, known as the Lancers.
“No,” replied a voice over the radio.
About 15 minutes later, the first report came in from the field: “Two voters!”
Cheers burst out in the control room, but Brown kept cool and grabbed the microphone.
“Find out who they are – Kurds, Sunni Arabs, Christians.”
He got his answer a few minutes later.
“One of the two was a Sunni Arab,” the voice on the radio said.
“Close all the polling sites now,” Brown quipped. “We can report to Baghdad that 50 percent of the voters in Mosul are Sunni Arabs!”
The room erupted in laughter, providing a well-timed stress release.
For Brown, the Jan. 30 election remains the defining event of his brigade’s deployment and a turning point that emboldened Iraqis to stand up against intimidation.
“In November, no one thought it could happen,” he said in a recent interview. “We gave the credit to the Iraqi government, we gave credit to the Iraqi security forces and of course to the people who had the courage to come out. But when it came down to it, this couldn’t have happened without the soldiers.”
His brigade is the muscle behind the counterinsurgency in and around Iraq’s third-largest city. Brown says they have captured more than 4,000 suspected terrorists, including 100 key cell leaders, and spent $17 million on more than 340 public infrastructure projects to help win the friendship of the Iraqi people. [...]
Security Forces seize weapons, capture terror suspects with help of citizens
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom seized two weapons caches based on citizens’ tips and detained five suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Troops from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division Iraqi Army seized a weapons cache based on a tip provided by an Iraqi citizen during a search operation northeast of Tal Afar. Based on a tip provided by another Iraqi citizen in Tal Afar, Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache, which included a rigged car bomb. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained a total of five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
The Battle for Mosul, Part III
Michael Yon has posted a new entry to his blog. It is a long article. It is also one of the most chilling yet engaging articles regarding the soldiers of the 1/25 Stryker Brigade I have read yet.
Caution: Michael Yon reports on the death and wounding of Deuce Four soldiers in detail that I have not seen elsewhere.
1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul, Iraq
There are two new entries in this blog maintained by soldiers of the 1/25 SBCT.
Visit to girls orphanage school
The 1/25 SBCT public affairs blog has a new article describing a recent visit to an orphanage. Excerpt:
On 19 April 2005 one Platoon in 1/25 were tasked to perform an uncommon mission: to deliver several boxes of critically needed school supplies to an all girls orphanage school. My first impression after walking in was the look of surprise as the headmasters witnessed military vehicles, the big green fighting machines, drop ramp in front of their school. To any regular person, this would have left a very strong first impression. As the security perimeter was established, the men dismounted not to fight the enemy, but to make a connection with the children at the orphanage.
Citizens fight back; Sheiks turn over terror suspect
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 11, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Local Sheiks turned over a terror suspect to Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment. This is the second time that Sheiks have banded together in order to turn in terror suspects to Security Forces.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from the 2-8th detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division Iraqi Intervention Force alongside 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache while on patrol south of Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Army medic returns from Iraq
Link to Full Article
By David J. Lee, Odessa American
U.S. Army Pfc. Laura Ann Springer pulled into the parking lot of Red Lobster on Friday night with a mission.
Hopping out of the vehicle in desert fatigues, she moved quickly across the pavement. Spinning around the corner into the restaurant lobby, the screams of joy from her family echoed outside as she tearfully moved to hug her surprised mother.
“I’m speechless; I’m surprised,” Patty Springer said, tears streaming down her face, her voice quaking with emotion.
Mike Springer, Laura’s dad, arranged a get-together Friday night at the Odessa restaurant with his daughter as the surprise guest.
“Her and my daughter — they’re really tight,” Mike Springer said in anticipation of the surprise for his wife.
Laura Springer came back Friday to Odessa for a brief nine day stay before she heads back to Mosul, Iraq.
“It’s awesome. I feel like I haven’t been here in forever,” she said. “I didn’t realize how much I missed my family. I definitely appreciate things more now.”
Laura Springer injured her hand while working on the Stryker armored combat vehicle she drives in Iraq.
“I was working on my Stryker and the locking mechanism of my knife let go, and it cut me to the bone,” she said.
Mike Springer said the U.S. Army brought her back to Washington to try to repair some nerve damage in the cut. [...]
Operations in Mosul net terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 11, 2005) – Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained a total of four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate raids in western Mosul Friday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Infantrymen deliver terror suspects to court, not to death
Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – It would have been so easy for Staff Sgt. Olene Togiailua to pull the trigger again and kill Abdullah Al Jabouri after the firefight was over.
Togiailua and his Stryker brigade buddy, Staff Sgt. Wilson Langford, spoke together that day in their native Samoan, adrenaline racing, both men struggling with the impulse to finish off the enemy fighter who lay on the ground with a bullet in his upper leg.
But the Fort Lewis soldiers not only resisted killing the man who’d shot at them, they also made sure his wounds were treated, took him into custody and ultimately saw justice done.
Abdullah is the first, and so far only, detainee of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division to be convicted by the Central Criminal Court of Iraq. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for terrorism activities.
He also was the poster boy of a coalition information campaign in his hometown of Hammam al Alil and in southern Mosul.
Soldiers from the 361st Psychological Operations Company, an Army Reserve unit from Bothell, created handbills and leaflets trumpeting his fate. They dropped them from a helicopter and had soldiers hand them out in the streets.
Citizen’s tips lead to large weapons cache finds
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom detained 20 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons thanks to Iraqi citizens’ leads during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday and Thursday.
Troops from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force seized a weapons cache thanks to a tip provided by an Iraqi citizen during a search operation in Mosul Wednesday. Soldiers from the 113th Engineer Battalion seized a large weapons cache after an Iraqi child led them to the site of the cache in northeastern Mosul Wednesday. Two individuals were also detained in connection with the cache. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Troops from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation west of Mosul Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation in northeastern Mosul Wednesday. The cache included several artillery shells, rockets, and a number of 5,000 pound bombs. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul Thursday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint south of Tal Afar Thursday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron also detained two suspected terrorists during a raid in Tal Afar Wednesday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in eastern Mosul Wednesday. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Sharing joy with the littlest Iraqis
News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley are in Iraq following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis. They have posted a new entry.
Operations continue to net terror suspects and weapons in northern Iraq
(TFF press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 8, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained six suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Tuesday. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul.
Terror cell leader and four associates captured
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five suspected terrorists, including a high-level terrorist leader, during operations in northern Iraq.
Iraqi Army troops alongside Stryker Brigade Soldiers detained Mullah Mahdi, leader of the Ansar Al-Sunnah terror cell based in Mosul, and four associates during cordon and search operations in Mosul. Mahdi is wanted by Iraqi authorities for a number of terror acts conducted in Mosul including multiple kidnappings, attacks on polling stations, mortar attacks on Multi-National Forces, and the likely murdering of a local government officials.
Along with local terror leaders, ISF and MNF have recently captured a number of foreign fighters from Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Morocco who have revealed during interviews that they have been lied to and deceived by terror leaders to get them to fight in Iraq. Foreign fighters were told MNF Soldiers were raping women and destroying Iraq. They were also told by terror leaders inside Iraq that they would be asked to fight and kill Americans, but once they arrived were ordered to kill innocent Iraqi civilians instead. The foreign fighters have admitted that they have been abused and mistreated by the terrorists who employed them. They also admitted that they were not told the truth about Iraq, and freely stated that they would not have come here to fight had they know the truth.
Father of slain soldier stunned by meeting with son's nurse
Link to Full Article
By AUDREY McAVOY, The Associated Press
HONOLULU (AP) — The father of slain Army 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe said a chance meeting with the nurse who treated his son when he died in Iraq was "like being struck in the chest."
Allen Hoe and the Army nurse, Maj. Paula Coughlin, told CNN in a joint interview Tuesday they were stunned and amazed by their Memorial Day encounter in Washington.
Coughlin and Hoe were visiting a monument to nurses who served in Vietnam when Coughlin recognized a picture of the slain Hawaii native that the elder Hoe had pinned on his shirt.
"When I went to put the lei on Major Coughlin and she bent down for me to put it on, she saw the button and she said 'Oh my God. I know him,'" Hoe said.
"When she said that, it was like being struck in the chest. I said 'You know him? He's my son.' And she said 'I was with him at the moment he died.'"
Nainoa Hoe, 27, was killed by a sniper in Mosul, Iraq, on Jan. 22 while leading his platoon.
"I was amazed to see that it was somebody I knew. I automatically recognized him from one of our trauma victims," Coughlin said. "When I talked to Mr. Hoe about it, he confirmed my realizations. We got teary eyed and hugged."
She said she felt lucky to have met Nainoa's father.
"I wasn't supposed to be home from Iraq, so I think it was destiny that we met there that day," Coughlin said.
Stryker brigade medics strive to be a healing force
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
RAMADANIYAH, Iraq – The villagers entered the sitting room of the local muqtar’s house a few at a time, the youngest an infant and the oldest a 73-year-old man.
They lined up to see the Fort Lewis soldiers for free medical help, maybe even a plush toy to take home.
A sobbing 5-year-old girl with a chronic kidney infection was dragged in by her mother, herself struggling to recover from typhoid fever. A 10-year-old boy showed a dog-bite puncture on his leg. A 12-year-old boy stepped forward with head lice.
One young child, who didn’t know his age but looked to be around 5, said he hurt his back playing soccer. A 10-year-old girl left with a new asthma inhaler and a unicorn Beanie Baby.
A 6-year-old boy with a cold walked away with a stuffed monkey. Stryker brigade Sgt. Joel Mattingly, 32, contributed some simian sound effects that made the child smile.
Animal noises, it seems, are a universal language that require no interpreter. [...]
Capt. Jon Christensen is in charge of the seven-person battalion aid station. They call themselves the “Automedics,” a twist on the field artillery unit’s nickname, “Automatic.”
Christensen is trained as a physician’s assistant, which makes the 2-8 Field Artillery the only battalion without a doctor in the entire 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. It is a point of pride for his team.
“No doc, half the staff and we still get the job done,” said Staff Sgt. Brady Love, 35, of Lakewood.
Their main job is tending to the aches and pains of the 1,500 people who live at Q-West, the coalition base in Qayyarah about 40 miles south of Mosul, Their first priority is providing care for U.S. troops, but they also respond to sick calls from three Iraqi Army battalions on base and about 60 prisoners currently held at the detainee center. [...]
“You should be a kindergarten teacher. Seriously,” Spc. Jennifer Guay said to her fellow medic with the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment.
1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul
This site maintained by the brigade has a number of new entries highlighting recent operations in Mosul.
Car Bombs Kill at Least 20 as Attacks Roil Northern Iraq
News from Northern Iraq with a mention of the Stryker Brigade
Link to Full Article
By EDWARD WONG, New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 7 - Insurgents set off three simultaneous suicide car bombs this morning at checkpoints around a rebel town in northern Iraq, killing at least 20 Iraqis and wounding 30 others, a police chief said. At least seven other Iraqis were killed or found dead throughout the country, while a suicide car bomb in Baghdad injured 28 people. [...]
Farther north, in the hostile town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, American armor rolled through the streets in another attempt to root out the insurgency there. Tal Afar, a town of mostly Turkmen, lies near the Syrian border and is believed to be a staging post for foreign fighters entering the country from Syria. American forces have never been able to control the town, and it was a "no-go zone" for much of the summer of 2004.
More recently, during the American-led offensive in Falluja last November, Tal Afar and the Sunni neighborhoods of Mosul erupted in open rebellion, forcing the Stryker Brigade and Army units attached to Task Force Freedom to step up the pace of operations and patrols.
In northeast Mosul today, four Kurds were killed when gunmen in three separate cars surrounded the vehicle carrying the Kurds and opened fire, witnesses said. "After the armed men fled, we approached the car of the dead," said Ahmed Saber, a 35-year-old taxi driver. "I found ID's which were written in Kurdish and had the Kurdish flag on them." [...]
On raids like this, GIs must be sleuths in armor
This story appears to have been published yesterday under a different title.
Link to Full Article
By Kirsten Scharnberg, Chicago Tribune
BAIJI, Iraq -- By military estimates, the odds in this unruly city situated at the apex of the Sunni Triangle should be firmly in favor of the Americans.
In a nine-hour raid that began well before dawn Monday, more than 600 soldiers stormed house by house through some of Baiji's most troublesome neighborhoods. Armed with a list of "high value targets" that included names, aliases and physical descriptions, they searched for the "less than a couple dozen" insurgents who the Army commander here estimates have made this dusty city a hotbed for insurgent bombers. [...]
Conference offers chance to bring security to Tal Afar
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 7, 2005) – In an unprecedented move towards security in the city of Tal Afar nearly 80 sheiks agreed to work together to end violence in the restive city during the Tal Afar Security Conference Saturday.
The conference, held at Al Kisik and hosted by Iraqi Maj. Gen. Kursheed, commander of the 3rd Iraqi Army Division, and attended by the Mosul Chief of Police and the Vice Governor of Ninewah Province, allowed the various community leaders to voice their concerns and to develop solutions to remedy security issues in Tal Afar.
The violence in Tal Afar led to the call for the Security Conference which focused on five points – starting civil services and construction of city projects; placing security in the hands of Tal Afar leaders and citizens; reestablishing the Tal Afar Police force; reestablishing local government and infrastructure renovation and encouraging the community to cooperate with the Army, police, provincial and local officials in order to defeat terrorists.
At the conclusion of the conference, the Sheiks agreed to work together on the five talking points addressed during the conference, to end insurgent activity in the city and bring normalcy to the people of Tal Afar.
Soldiers raid Iraq city for insurgents; success cloudy
Link to Full Article
BY KIRSTEN SCHARNBERG, Chicago Tribune
BAIJI, Iraq - (KRT) - By military estimates, the odds in this unruly city situated at the apex of the Sunni Triangle should be firmly in favor of the Americans.
In a nine-hour raid that began well before dawn Monday, more than 600 soldiers stormed house by house through some of Baiji's most troublesome neighborhoods. Armed with a list of "high value targets" that included names, aliases and physical descriptions, they searched for the "less than a couple dozen" insurgents who the top Army commander here estimates have made this dusty, dangerous city a hotbed for roadside bombs, vehicle bombs and suicide bombers.
But military success in Iraq today is no longer solely determined by odds, by troop strength or even by who has more physical resources on the battlefield.
"It'd be nice to be able to come back ... at the end of a mission and say, `We blew up this many tanks today; we policed up this many weapons caches today; we captured or killed this many bad guys today,'" said Lt. Col. Philip Logan, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 103rd Armor Regiment, the unit that overseas Baiji and its surrounding area. "But it is no longer nearly that simple or that cut and dried. It takes a long while to figure out what we've got and how successful we've been."
What is left then is an imperfect system of imperfect patrols in an imperfect search for the enemy. [...]
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, a top commander in Mosul, a restive city north of Baiji, likes to explain the phenomenon by quoting an Iraqi expression one of his detainees told him: "If death comes to greet you at your door, introduce him to your brother."
For nearly nine hours, soldiers went house to house in a part of the city believed to be used by al Hamdani and his deputies, who are said to have bodyguards and multiple safe havens. [...]
Two terrorists dead following attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 6, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed two terrorists, seized a large weapons cache, and detained six suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Iraqi Police killed two terrorists with small arms fire after the terrorists had attacked their compound with a rocket propelled grenade in Tal Afar. No ISF or civilian injuries were reported in the attack.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation in northeastern Mosul. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during raids in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
ISF seize large number of weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 5, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a number of weapons and defused an improvised explosive device following an Iraqi civilians tip during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force seized a number of weapons from a suspicious vehicle while on patrol south of Mosul today. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
An Iraqi civilian informed Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment of an IED emplaced in western Mosul today. The IED was defused with no injuries reported.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division alongside 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation south of Qayyarah Saturday. The cache included over 100 mortar and rocket rounds, a number of fuses including thousands of feet of timed fuse, and several grenades. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Thick-skinned Humvees offer peace of mind
Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
QAYYARAH, Iraq – Even when driving into one of the calmest parts of northern Iraq, it’s reassuring to know you have a reliable cocoon of steel armor between you and potential enemy militants.
Spc. Dale Rageth understands that feeling well because he didn’t always have it. But on Saturday morning, he fired up his engine and took a team of artillerymen outside the wire of the Stryker brigade base, his mind much less careworn than four months ago.
His new rig is faster, smoother, easier to maintain and, above all, more resistant to roadside bombs.
Rageth doesn’t drive one of the brigade’s famous eight-wheeled Stryker carriers. He drives the M1114, one of the Army’s new class of beefed-up Humvees.
It’s a far cry from the thin-skinned, open-rear older model that the soldiers of the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment had when they arrived from Tacoma last fall, just as the fighting was at its hottest.
“With the old Humvees, it was an adrenaline rush just to get into it,” said Rageth, 22. “And when you rolled out, you prayed to God it didn’t break down.”
For those who assume Stryker soldiers always ride into combat on the namesake 21-ton vehicles, it’s time to think again.
The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade – has a wide range of supply trucks, wreckers, fuel tankers, combat engineer platforms and other vehicles to go along with its 300 Stryker troop carriers. The fleet includes about 150 up-armored Humvees. [...]
Operations continue to net terror suspects in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 5, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation southeast of Mosul Saturday. Troops from 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
A terror suspect was brought in to Iraqi Security Forces by his brother at a ISF compound south of Mosul. The suspect is in custody with no injuries reported.
Possums of Iraq, run for your lives!
News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley are in Iraq following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis. They have posted a new entry.
Makmur Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
MAKMUR, Iraq – The monthly Makmur Area Security Council meeting took place on May 30th at the Makmur Iraqi Army (IA) compound. Topics covered during the meeting included security, power and water, among several other concerns.
Thirty-two local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel.
B/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) Company Commander, Cpt. Ryan Gist, opened the meeting discussing the many good things that have happened in the region during the past month. Successes included the local law enforcement making headway in the fight against terrorists, as well as an abundance of new police equipment, which has been distributed to the local police.
The meeting was called at the request of local Arab leaders of the Makmur-Karach area. A minority in the Kurdish areas, the Arab leaders were concerned that provincial leaders in Mosul were ignoring them.
Mayor Abdul Rahma of Makmur assured the Arab leaders that they shared the same problems as many people in Ninewah Province. Lt. Col. Hogger Salahaddin Abdul, Commander of 3/3rd IA BN, and Gist encouraged the Arab leaders to begin several civil affairs projects that would bring immediate economic growth to the region.
Gist and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Makmur to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
EOD Team Reduces Accumulated Ordinance
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
JAGUAR SOUTH AMMUNITION STORAGE POINT, Iraq – Concerned citizens continued to lead the Iraqi Army (IA) to weapons caches throughout the month of May. 2/3rd IA Battalion, in conjunction with C/2-8 Field Artillery of Task Force (TF) Automatic, stored several collected weapons caches at Jaguar South, until TF Automatic’s Explosive Ordinance Detachment (EOD) could reduce them at a later date.
The ordinance had been collected from several weapons caches found in the Tal Abtha and Al Hadr regions.
EOD’s Team 6, led by Master Sergeant Charles Lee, reduced the following ordinance on May 1st: 113 x USSR 82mm O-832 mortars, 225 x Iraqi model unknown hand grenades, 78 x USSR 30mm VOG-17 projos, 2 x Yugoslav 100mm M63 projos, 66 x Chinese MD-21 rocket fuzes, 25 x USSR RGM-2 projo fuzes, 27 x Chinese M6 projo fuzes, 1 x USSR 122mm 9M22U rocket motor and 20 pounds of projectile propellant.
The Coalition and Iraqi Security forces continue to capitalize on a surge of popular support in the Tigris River Valley. The caches uncovered throughout May contributed to the positive momentum enjoyed by TF Automatic.
ISF net weapons cache and terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 4, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 18 suspected terrorists, seized weapons with the help of Iraqi civilians, and uncovered a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Two Iraqi boys turned over hand grenades to Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment while they were patrolling in southern Mosul. Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation south of Qayyarah. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Troops from 1-3rd Iraqi Army also detained 17 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Tal Afar. Soldiers from the 2-8th detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Clown's bag of nastiness hauled from Mosul home
Bill Wilson of The Rochester Sentinel is embedded with the Valparaiso-based 113th Combat Engineering Battalion of the Indiana National Guard in Mosul, Iraq. They conduct operations with the 1-25 SBCT.
Link to Bill Wilson's Blog
Link to Full Article
BY W.S. WILSON, Rochester Sentinel
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ – Indiana’s 113th Combat Engineers started off Wednesday night with a bang, then things got better.
They safey exploded two land mines and hauled home a terror cache that included a clown’s bag of nastiness: a suicide bomber vest, perhaps 15 pounds of plastic explosives, mortar shells rigged as hand grenades, detonators, rocket propelled grenades and their launch tubes, launchers, a computer and propaganda by the drawer full.
Also in the win column: at least three suspected terrorists in custody.
Along the way, three terrorists ended up dead; two seriously wounded by gunfire. Nobody from the 113th got hurt.
The two land mines were called into the 113th command center as possible improvised explosive devices. Under the direction of Lt. Elijah Gray, the 113th headed for the west side of Mosul. Two Stryker combat vehicles – 19 tons of high-tech, high-speed imaging, firepower and attitude – had located the mines and secured the site in a relatively unpopulated part of the city, a safe distance from any homes.
The mines were at the side of the road. The 113th provided cover with foot soldiers and the big .50-caliber machine guns atop Humvees while 1st Sgt. Bob Chandler, an explosives expert from Toole, Utah, dispatched a radio-controlled robot. Chandler had a little trouble with visibility but nursed the robot into position from about 100 yards away. He directed the robot to place a charge of plastic explosive on ttop of one mine and nudged the other mine over so that they were touching and the explosive was on top of both. Detonation cord ran from the explosives back to the truck. [...]
The story continues. It was also picked up in a condensed version by the Associated Press.
heat, dust and the hunt
If you did not read part 1 of this story about the 6-day mission of the 2-14 "Rattlesnakes", you may want to start here.
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
Editor’s note: This story picks up immediately at the end of the Stryker story in Friday’s paper. AL-JAZIRAH DESERT, Iraq – For six months, the cavalrymen of the Stryker brigade had hunted a suspected smuggler and terrorist known as Abu Anwar.
They believe he is one point of a triangle connecting the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Biaj with smugglers across the border in Syria. The smugglers move guns and materials for use in suicide bombings against Iraqi and U.S. forces.
“He’s a guy who trains, recruits and equips foreign fighters,” said Maj. Bryan Denny, the executive officer with the Fort Lewis brigade’s 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
But they’ve never been able to nab him in and around Tal Afar, a city of 200,000 where the Cav normally operates.
So this past week the Rattlesnakes, as the 2-14 is known, fanned out across the heart of the Al-Jazirah Desert. It’s where Anwar’s tribesmen dwell in primitive villages and secluded shepherd’s tents.
For six days, the squadron’s 500 scouts trekked beyond their normal boundaries all the way south to the Euphrates River, 185 miles away.
It was here they hoped to find their prey, in a place he might feel most at ease because they’ve seldom pursued him there.
They’d not likely get a better chance to track him across his desert home. After this, the squadron would be moving to Mosul with the rest of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, for operations in the city of 2 million.
No social call
The morning of the fifth day, Capt. Keith Walters and a platoon from his Blackjack Troop rolled up to a mud-brick compound, spacious compared to most of the crude shelters in the hot, dusty desert.
The man of the house was [name deleted], a member of the Jeygafi Tribe. A few days earlier he had been detained because of suspicious communications traced to his property. His brothers were still in custody.
Hamed came outside to greet his guests, all smiles and handshakes, but he knew this wasn’t a social call. He had promised the Americans that if they released him, he would give them the individual they were seeking – a fellow tribesman named Naef Gabash Abed – within a few days. [...]
Follow the link to the full article for the conclusion of this very interesting story.
Restless nephew finds solid ground in service
Middletown soldier Colby tries to focus on Iraq's positives
Link to Full Article
By ANDREA ALEXANDER, Asbury Park Press 06/4/05
In defending his country, Matthew Colby fought his way to a better life.
Matthew Colby faced trouble as a teen and moved in with his aunt, Katie Colby of Middletown, when he was 18 years old to start over. He passed a high school equivalency test and obtained his GED, then tried working a few different jobs. [...]
Matthew Colby, now 21, is currently stationed in Mosul, on Iraq's Turkish border. He is a SAW gunner serving as a private in the Army. Colby operates a sub-automatic weapon on top of a Stryker, his brigade combat vehicle, Katie Colby said.
When Katie Colby is able to talk to her nephew, he shares stories about the beauty of the country and the extraordinary architecture of the churches and mosques.
"A couple of months ago, he wouldn't have talked about architecture," Katie Colby said. "I don't even know if he knew that word.
"I think it has given him a purpose in life," his aunt said. "He is not the kid who hangs around anymore. He gets up every morning and he has a job to do and he is proud of what he does." [...]
"He has done more in the last couple of months than most people do in a lifetime," she said. "To hear the difference from when he left for boot camp . . . I am talking to a man now."
Matthew Colby cannot share the details of his mission with his aunt, but he tells her all the positive things he has seen since he was deployed, such as children bringing the troops cans of soda as a thank you. The soldiers also have been adopting stray puppies and kittens that run wild in the city streets, Matthew Colby told his aunt.
He tells her about the rolling hills, the clear river that runs through Mosul and the beauty he found in the middle of a war zone. But some days he talks about how much he cannot wait to come home, Katie Colby said.
She checks the Internet almost daily to search for news and pictures of her nephew on the Army's 5th Infantry Regiment Web site. She also worries often. Her nephew recently was hospitalized after he suffered a concussion when his Stryker ran over an explosive device.
Katie Colby said she was grateful his injuries were not more severe.
"Our prayers were answered," she said. "(My nephew) sounds well adjusted and happy, so hopefully we all did the right thing by this kid."
Terrorists continue blatant disregard for innocent civilians
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 4, 2005) – One innocent Iraqi civilian was killed, another three injured, and two Iraqi Policeman were killed during a terrorist attack in northern Iraq Friday.
A suicide car bomber detonated near an Iraqi Police checkpoint possibly targeting a policeman’s house causing the deaths and injuries south of Mosul. The injured were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Four terrorist attacks the past two days have killed five innocent civilians, and injured another nine in northern Iraq.
Locals Continue to Lead TF Automatic to Caches
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
ASH SHURA, Iraq – Concerned citizens continued to lead the Iraqi Army (IA) to weapons caches yesterday, May 29th. D/52 Infantry (IN) of Task Force (TF) Automatic, in conjunction with 1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion from Misraq, uncovered two weapons caches near Ash Shura.
A source reported the whereabouts of the weapons cache to TF Automatic’s combat out-post in Ash Shura in the early evening. The first, and smaller cache consisted of 18 x 120mm mortar rounds. The second cache included 3 x mortar primers, 1 x sandbag full of gunpowder, 19 x AK-47 rifle grenades and 15 x TNT blasting caps.
“1st Platoon [D/52 IN] did a great job yesterday,” said D/52 IN Commander, Cpt. Ted Wojtusik. “They received the information and acted upon it without delay.”
TF Automatic’s Explosive Ordinance Detachment (EOD) and Quick Reaction Force were notified immediately. Both caches were reduced by EOD without incident.
The Coalition and Iraqi Security forces continue to capitalize on a surge of popular support in the Ash Shura region. The cache uncovered yesterday contributed to the positive momentum enjoyed by TF Automatic.
Umm Hajara Turns Up Six Terrorists
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
UMM HAJARA, Iraq – On May 27th, the 1st and 2nd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalions of 3rd IA Brigade, conducted a combined operation in Umm Hajara, with Coalition forces from C/113 Engineers (EN), D/52 Infantry (IN), C/2-8 and HSB/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) Battalions, as well as the 2-8 FA TAC. Umm Hajara is located 45 kilometers southeast of Mosul.
The day began with Task Force (TF) Automatic establishing blocking positions around three separate villages, prohibiting all incoming and outgoing traffic. By 0515 hours, once the town was isolated, the main ground force, two companies from the 1st IA BN and one from the 2nd IA BN, launched from staging points throughout the area. The force converged on the towns to begin their dismounted and mounted house-to-house search. Complicating the search was a complex wadi system that stretched for over 20 kilometers; terrorists were believed to be hiding in the wadi system.
At 0630 hours, 2nd IA Commander Lt. Col. Ra’ad Naif Haroosh requested via loudspeaker, “All military age males please report to the Umm Hajara elementary school right away.”
Meanwhile, the engineer platoon of the 1st IA BN created a suitable environment for the Iraqi citizens to remain in while being screened. They transported pallets of food and water into the schoolyard, as well as laid concertina wire, dividing the individuals to be photographed from those who were already processed.
Six people, including one battalion high value target, were positively identified as terrorists by a source. Individuals detained were immediately guided into separate rooms for questioning by TF Automatic’s Tactical Human Intelligence Team. Innocent Iraqis were directed to the holding area until the mission was complete. While waiting, these citizens were provided food, water, shelter and medical aid.
Each and every military age male of Umm Hajara crossed the eyes of Iraqi and Coalition forces intelligence specialists. The terrorists extracted from the village population will leave Umm Hajara a much more secure place.
As TF Automatic’s intelligence teams and the 113th EN’s processed Iraqi citizens at the schoolhouse, the TF command team was able to meet with one of the local mukhtars.
The mukhtar explained to them that they were the first Coalition forces to visit his small town. He and his family were very pleased to serve them tea and food at their home in Umm Hajara.
The village had electricity and a good school, but was in desperate need of water. This was the first time the mukhtar was able to speak to someone about his village’s issues and concerns. TF Automatic will be certain to keep a close watch on this small village in the future.
All searching was complete by 1030 hours and units returned to base by 1400 with no issues.
Conducting the mission 24 hours ahead of schedule on short notice, the planning, execution and teamwork demonstrated by the 1st and 2nd IA BNs were exceptional. Brig. Gen. Ali Atallah Malowh and Lt. Col. Ra’ad showed their ability to command agile and adaptive battalions, promising an effective Army for Iraq’s Ninewah Province.
'Outside the wire' with a Stryker brigade
Link to Full Article
By Carla Kelly, Times-Record Staff Writer
As his squad patrols in Iraq, Spec. Ebe Fornes, U.S. Army 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry (Light), spends his day at the office sitting inside a locked-down hatch.
He's the driver of a Stryker, an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) that epitomizes the army's transition to a fast-moving, small-unit force - the kind of mobile army equipped to deal with insurgencies.
Accompanied by a gunner, Ebe drives a nine-soldier squad on periodic patrols "outside the wire" (Forward Operating Base Courage), in the restless city of Mosul, north of Baghdad.
Son of Merlin and Eunice Fornes who farm near Fort Ransom, Ebe is on his way back to Iraq after a two-week leave enjoying home cooking, rest and relaxation, and a seat in the 12:01 a.m. first showing of George Lucas's blockbuster, "Revenge of the Sith."
He got into Fargo on May 18 in time to grab a shower, eat something, and get to the first showing of "Sith" in the wee hours of May 19. "That's going to make me the envy of my company," he joked.
Ebe's brigade arrived in Iraq last September, and is due to rotate back to Fort Lewis, Wash., sometime this fall. In his eight months in Iraq so far, he's noticed more construction, and a general cleanup of the community.
The article continues...
ISF lead operations to capture terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 3, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 11 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police alongside 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. Troops from 1st Battalion, 4th Brigade Iraqi Army alongside 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Fort Lewis pays tribute to another fallen soldier
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The U.S. Army had a lot invested in Spc. Phillip N. Sayles.
The 26-year-old infantryman from Jacksonville, Ark., was a smart guy with computers and was in at the beginning of the long conversion of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, to a Stryker brigade.
He took all the computer training and then taught others. He knew all the digital stuff and how to keep the networks running, and how to drive a Stryker and fight the 1st Brigade way.
But losing him hurts most of all because of who he was as a person, his friend and a former commander said Thursday. [...]
Sayles worked in the operations section in the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment headquarters, drove and operated computers for the battalion commander and then moved to a job out on the line with Bravo Company. He’d pleaded for the chance to get out with an infantry squad, said his former commander, Capt. Bryan Carroll.
“Nick lived up to every one of my expectations,” Carroll told 150 or so soldiers and family members at Evergreen Chapel. “Not only was he extremely intelligent, he was a natural leader and a brave soldier.
“He led from the front, taught, coached, mentored – he looked out for everyone around him.”
The cavalry rides again
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK, The News Tribune
AL-JAZIRAH DESERT, Iraq – Two young cavalry leaders rode hard through the western border country, pushing their Fort Lewis troops nearly 185 miles from Tal Afar to the Euphrates River, then back again.
Their faces caked with dust stuck to a week’s worth of sweat, Capts. Keith Walters and Vince Maykovich watched the horizon unfold at 35 mph from the rear hatches of their Stryker.
Their troop of 15 vehicles rumbled over scrubland and dry lake beds, slowing now and then to clamber across the wadis – narrow desert gorges where water flows during the rainy season. The longtime friends joked about seeing a mirage in the distance. It was Safeco Field.
“Right-field seats. Second row. Garlic fries,” said Maykovich, 35, of DuPont.
Walters agreed. Five days into a six-day mission across parched wasteland, and what he thirsted for were Mariners box scores. [...]
This week’s foray was only the second time the 2-14 scouts – they call themselves the Rattlesnakes – have ventured out on a multiday reconnaissance mission since they arrived in Iraq last fall.
The urban focus of this war has required all units of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, including the cavalry and the field artillery, to work like a front-line infantry battalion. The 2-14 has had responsibility for Tal Afar: patrolling neighborhoods, going on house-to-house raids, hunting for weapons caches – then returning to base the same day for a shower, a hot meal and an air-conditioned room.
On a traditional cavalry mission, troopers wear the same dirt for days, eat prepackaged meals and sleep inside or on top of a Stryker.
When this one’s over, the 2-14’s nearly 500 scouts will be back to the urban landscape, rejoining the rest of the brigade in Mosul. Denny acknowledges that his Rattlesnakes will feel a little “caged in.”
They’ve turned over Tal Afar and the western border area to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo. The 3rd ACR has about seven times more soldiers in Tal Afar, giving it a potentially longer reach into areas heretofore barely touched. But some say the increasingly volatile city will dominate its time and attention, as it did the 2-14 Cav.
“We could have done a lot more good if we had the manpower to come out here more, while still looking after Tal Afar,” said Staff Sgt. Jacob Powell, a Stryker gunner from Spanaway. “We can make it all the way to the Euphrates in two days if we have to. That’s the one thing we bring to the battlefield: mobility and range.” [...]
This week’s foray was only the second time the 2-14 scouts – they call themselves the Rattlesnakes – have ventured out on a multiday reconnaissance mission since they arrived in Iraq last fall.
The urban focus of this war has required all units of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, including the cavalry and the field artillery, to work like a front-line infantry battalion. The 2-14 has had responsibility for Tal Afar: patrolling neighborhoods, going on house-to-house raids, hunting for weapons caches – then returning to base the same day for a shower, a hot meal and an air-conditioned room.
On a traditional cavalry mission, troopers wear the same dirt for days, eat prepackaged meals and sleep inside or on top of a Stryker.
When this one’s over, the 2-14’s nearly 500 scouts will be back to the urban landscape, rejoining the rest of the brigade in Mosul. Denny acknowledges that his Rattlesnakes will feel a little “caged in.”
They’ve turned over Tal Afar and the western border area to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo. The 3rd ACR has about seven times more soldiers in Tal Afar, giving it a potentially longer reach into areas heretofore barely touched. But some say the increasingly volatile city will dominate its time and attention, as it did the 2-14 Cav.
“We could have done a lot more good if we had the manpower to come out here more, while still looking after Tal Afar,” said Staff Sgt. Jacob Powell, a Stryker gunner from Spanaway. “We can make it all the way to the Euphrates in two days if we have to. That’s the one thing we bring to the battlefield: mobility and range.” [...]
As the sun started to go down early this week, the soldiers of Blackjack Troop finished their meals-ready-to-eat and tossed the brown plastic pouches into a fire pit they dug in the desert.
Their Strykers were arranged in “coil formation,” like covered wagons circled together for protection.
Lt. Lanelle Pickett daydreamed about going back to base in a few days. He rested on the back ramp of a Stryker, his shaved head so encrusted with dust from the Al-Jazirah Desert, it looked like he’d dyed the roots yellow.
“I look forward to the silliest stuff,” Pickett said. “Handwritten letters – there’s nothing like ink on paper. Powdered Kool-Aid. Just being on the phone, even if I have to wait an hour to get on. Warm water so I can shave.”
Maykovich said a long cavalry operation is hardest on the families back home. The soldiers can’t tell them much, only that they’ll be out of contact for several days.
Sgt. Donald Rummer and Lt. Keith Neanover dropped to the dirt in an impromptu moment of Wrestlemania, with Rummer quickly pinning his smaller friend. Pent-up aggression got the best of several other soldiers, too, as they made a dogpile on top of Spc. Alex Scott in honor of his 25th birthday.
It was nearly dark when an Iraqi soldier approached the troop medic and reported he might have a scorpion bite. U.S. soldiers clustered together and told stories about the giant camel spiders they’ve spotted with flashlights.
They started to bed down for the night, some in the troop compartments of the Strykers, others sprawled atop the steel roofs. Iraqi soldiers crawled under blankets on the desert floor.
Over the next two days the Rattlesnakes would pursue one of the most-wanted smugglers in western Iraq, a man they’d had on their black list for six months.
This would likely be their last chance to find him. They would need their rest.
Matt Misterek: mtmisterek@hotmail.com
Iraqi Police help uncover weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 2, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one suspected terrorist and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police led Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment to a weapons cache during a search operation northeast of Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF detain terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (June 2, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four suspected terrorist during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. All detainees were taken into custody with no Iraqi Security Force injuries reported.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raids in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Operations like these illustrate the continued pressure ISF and MNF are putting on terrorists, in order to better secure northern Iraq.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TNT Blog
Embedded journalist Matt Misterek has a new entry on his blog. He's in Tal Afar with the 2-14 CAV right now.
U.S. Army officers in northwest Iraq say they don't have enough troops
Officers from the 3d ACR comment on the situation in Tal Afar. According to the article the 3rd ACR has taken operational control of the region from elements of the 1/25 SBCT.
Link to Full Article
BY TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Newspapers
TAL AFAR, Iraq - (KRT) - U.S. Army officers in the badland deserts of northwest Iraq, near the Syrian border, say they don't have enough troops to hold the ground they take from insurgents in this transit point for weapons, money and foreign fighters.
From last October to the end of April, there were about 400 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division patrolling the northwest region, which covers about 10,000 square miles.
"Resources are everything in combat ... there's no way 400 people can cover that much ground," said Maj. John Wilwerding, of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is responsible for the northwest tract that includes Tal Afar.
"Because there weren't enough troops on the ground to do what you needed to do, the (insurgency) was able to get a toehold." said Wilwerding, 37, of Chaska, Minn.
During the past two months, Army commanders, trying to pacify the area, have had to move in some 4,000 Iraqi soldiers; about 2,000 more are on the way. About 3,500 troops from the 3rd ACR took control of the area this month, but officers said they were still understaffed for the mission. [...]
When an attachment of 25th Infantry soldiers, doing a sweep in tandem with the 3rd ACR, came across a house near Rawah last week, they were expecting to sit down and talk with the locals about water quality.
In June 2003, American troops had destroyed an insurgent training camp in the area, killing more than 70 suspected fighters with helicopter strikes and a large ground offensive. It was one of the biggest camps discovered in postwar Iraq.
Last week, when the ramp of an armored vehicle began to open outside the house near Rawah, an insurgent shot a rocket-propelled grenade at it and other insurgents let loose with machine-gun fire.
The 25th Infantry soldiers responded first with .50-caliber machine-gun fire and then two shoulder-launched rockets. Four insurgents - three from Saudi Arabia and one from Morocco - were killed, Maj. Denny said. After the house caught fire, four more insurgents surrendered. They were from Syria, Jordan and Algeria.
"They'd come to Iraq to kill Americans; they were looking for jihad" - or holy war - Denny said.
1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul, Iraq
There are 3 new entries in this SBCT blog.
Iraq to Move Up Trial of Hussein and Start It in Summer
Second Squadron of the 14th Cavalry plays a key role in Anbar Province.
Link to Full Article
By JOHN F. BURNS, New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 31 - Iraq's month-old transitional government, keen to establish its authority after weeks of intensifying insurgent violence, announced Tuesday that planned to move up the trial of Saddam Hussein, bringing him to court this summer. [...]
The renewal of the mandate for American forces came on a day of more jarring developments in the war. The government announced that a shootout involving American troops in the volatile western province of Anbar on Sunday had ended with the discovery of the body of the province's kidnapped governor.
American soldiers involved in the shootout said a rocket-propelled grenade had been fired at a patrol of Stryker armored vehicles from a cinder-block building just north of Rawah, about 70 miles from the Syrian border. After they returned fire, the soldiers said, they found four dead rebels and three who were wounded, and identified all seven as foreigners, from Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
Maj. Bryan Denny, executive officer of the Second Squadron of the 14th Cavalry, said one captured man had told the Americans that they had a hostage in the building. But exploding ammunition in the structure, and a warning from the captive that the explosives included a homemade bomb, caused the Americans to pull back, the major said.
When the soldiers entered, Major Denny said, they found the body of a hostage - identified by the government as Raja Nawaf Farhan al-Mahalawi, the Anbar governor kidnapped in an insurgent ambush on May 10 - blindfolded and tied to a propane tank.
The cause of the governor's death was not clear, although government officials in Baghdad said his wounds suggested that he had been struck by falling masonry.
His death continued the grim history of the men who, by joining the revolving-door succession of governors in Anbar, have tackled what may be the country's most dangerous job. Rebels have forced two of Mr. Mahalawi's predecessors to quit, including one who wept uncontrollably in an insurgent video last year after he traded his resignation for the release of three sons the rebels had kidnapped and threatened to behead. [...]
7th Monthly Regional Security Council Meeting
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, Task Force (TF) Freedom Commander, was the distinguished speaker for this month’s Regional Security Council meeting. The meeting, taking place on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance on May 26th, gathered together over 500 key leaders of Ninewah Province and Mosul.
Planning for the meeting began immediately following last month’s meeting on April 24th. After attendees spent about two hours in the Moral Welfare and Recreation (MWR) center, they were to proceed to the 1/3 Iraqi Army Battalion compound. There, Commander Brig. Gen. Malooh Atala Ali provided lunch with over 50 sheep and 50 fish for the local leaders.
Ali and Lt. Col. Bradley Becker opened the meeting, followed by a moment of silence for two soldiers recently killed in action, Lt. Ra’id Ferman Abdullah and First Sergeant Ali Ahmad Ali.
One of the biggest ideas discussed at the meeting was a Mosul Peaceful March, proposed by Ali. Still in the concept phase, the march will take place in Mosul in the next month. It will involve many of the local leaders from Mosul and the Tigris River Valley in order to demonstrate to the terrorists that they are not wanted in Mosul and must leave. All present at the meeting, including Rodriguez, were very enthusiastic about supporting the march.
A 5-minute slide show, created by Sgt. Dianna Ross, highlighted the many civil affairs projects in TF Automatic’s Area of Operation.
Maj. Gen. Khalil, 3rd Iraqi Army Brigade Commander, and Maj. Gen. Khalif Ahmed, Mosul Iraqi Police Chief, then spoke to the local leaders.
Ahmed spoke of villages in need of attention. “Tal Afar must be cleaned up,” he said. “Who here is willing to help make Tal Afar a more secure village?”
At this point, several Kurdish sheiks and muktars rose to their feet. They raised their hands with enthusiasm, claiming, “We will go to Tal Afar. We will speak with the leaders there and guide them to a cleaner, safer environment!”
Sheiks from Hammam Al Alil, Sharqat, and Heychel, and an Imam from Qayarrah, then approached the podium separately. “We are from one country, one family.”
Other sheiks spoke of forming a committee. “I would like to propose the idea that all shieks and muktars establish a committee in order to meet with the people of the government regularly,” said one sheik. “We must all work together to improve the security and economy of the Tigris River Valley.”
Detainees were also an issue discussed at today’s meeting. “We are prepared to take full responsibility for [the released detainees]. We will teach them and guide them to do the right thing,” claimed one local leader, concerning detainees soon to be released from Mosul, Irbil and other detention facilities.
TF Automatic Economics Officer Cpt. Dan Florey gave an update on water projects in the Ninewah Province. “As you can see on the projected map, we have five water projects completed and four in progress. More importantly, we have 10 water projects that have yet to be started.” It will take support from the local leaders of villages such as Chayalah, Al Hadr, Awsijah, Kubota and Al Zawiah to get these irrigation projects started, explained Florey.
“I am confident Mosul and surrounding villages will become safer and safer,” Ali said in his closing remarks. “When you return to your villages, immediately go out and start working to make your area safe.”
Each month’s Regional Security Council meeting involves more key leaders of the area. It is an opportunity for the local sheiks and muktars to come together and discuss concerns of their villages. The meeting also serves as a chance for Coalition and Iraqi forces to learn about what needs attention in our area of operation.
Imam Makes a Difference
By 1LT Dana Scott
2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
MOSUL, Iraq – May 25th marked the second time in recent weeks that Imam Abdul Sufyan from the Qayarrah village was willing to travel to Mosul, and speak on Iraqi Media Network’s (IMN) radio.
Sufyan flew out of Qayarrah-West by helicopter with interpreter Ghassan and escort First Lt. Dana Scott, both from Task Force Automatic. Upon arrival, they linked up with Maj. Michael Petrunyak and Cpt. Jon Pendell, from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, and drove via Strykers to the radio show.
Representing IMN were Manager Mr. Hamen, Studio Director Mohammad Nori, Sound Operator Khaled Mageed, and Introducer Muhialdin Abdulrahman.
This time, IMN listeners had requested Sufyan to return to the radio show. They wanted him to elaborate on his last session, concerning the belief that Muslims who kill will not go to heaven, but will go to hell.
Several people called in with questions about terrorists and security in their villages. “What does a Muslim have to do in order to end terrorism?”
“Don’t be afraid,” responded Sufyan. “If you see strange men, or even women, in your village that you do not know, ask them what they are doing there. Ask them where they are from and who they are visiting? Report suspicious men and women to your nearby police station or traffic control point.”
A couple of listeners called in simply pleading Sufyan to ask the people of Iraq to stop fighting. They begged him to tell everyone listening, and everyone he encounters in his home village Qayarrah, to please stop the fighting.
One caller commented on the searches conducted by the Iraqi Police (IP) and Iraqi Army (IA). “Some IP and IA forces are rude and disrespectful when they search our homes. Could you please speak to them and ask them to be more respectful.”
Sufyan addressed the IP and IA listeners, asking them to conduct their routine searches in a more respectful manner. He also enforced to the public that it is important they trust Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and continue to report suspected terrorists to them.
Another caller wanted to know why the Coalition Forces (CF) have not left Iraq yet. “We don’t want them here anymore. When will they leave?”
“CF cannot leave yet because we are still fighting each other. As long as we fight against each other, CF will remain here and help maintain security. Americans and other CF have families, too. They miss their families and their families miss them. They want to go home, but do not want to leave our country until terrorists no longer roam the streets, the villages are safe and an effective Iraqi government is established,” said Sufyan.
Following this call, an individual called in asking Sufyan to tell CF that Iraqis can protect themselves. “The government needs to issue weapons to the Iraqi people, people that can be trusted, so that we can protect ourselves.”
Sufyan’s response to this was that that is what the IP and IA are for. However, the caller insisted they were not enough. “This is what they did in Baghdad and it worked,” he claimed.
He also asked CF to stop daytime patrols and only do nighttime patrols. “You must understand, the patrols are to protect you,” Sufyan explained.
In addition to calls concerning terrorists and security forces, several individuals called simply to thank Sufyan for speaking on the radio. “Continue to help inform citizens what to do to make Iraq better for our children. We really appreciate it,” said one woman from Qayarrah.
Sufyan is very happy to travel to Mosul once a month and speak on IMN. “For a long time I felt there wasn’t much I could do to help the people of Iraq. With this radio show, I feel I am really making a difference.”
Back from Iraq for a short stay
The following is part two of a column by Rachel Howard (read part one).
Link to Full Article
By Rachel Howard, The San Francisco Chronicle
Already Mom and I feared we would hardly see Emmet during his 15-day leave from Iraq, and we sat on edge for indications of how much time Emmet would set aside for us. He was 23, six years my junior; he had partying to do. For the next three days we counted ourselves lucky to take Emmet out to breakfast at Denny's per his request. When Emmet wasn't with us, Mom trucked back and forth to Costco, exchanging camera accessories, getting his digital pictures developed. By the third breakfast we had his stack of photos, and we thumbed through them over "Meat Lovers Skillets," which Emmet, ever frugal, ordered without the meat because the "Meat Lovers" were cheaper than plain scrambled eggs.
There were photos of Emmet holding a stray puppy his platoon had adopted, of his teammates loaded with 40 pounds of hand grenades in specially equipped vests, of the crew arrayed around the Stryker vehicle, the soon-to-be-dead platoon leader at the edge of the shot. Nothing remotely Abu Ghraib worthy, to my immediate relief.
And yet Emmet's stories kept coming, about cars rushing toward the convoy, no way to tell if they were carrying bombs or if the driver was just plain scared. About swooping in on houses via Blackhawk in the middle of the night with only the most rudimentary language skills to help the soldiers find weapons, and physical force to fill in where words couldn't. About women holding dead children in the street, little more Emmet's team members could do but bandage wounds and stare with stricken faces.
The long column continues.
Iraq war vet stirs crowd at Capitol
Link to Full Article
BY KATHERINE TAM, THE OLYMPIAN
DJ Skelton carries the battle scars of Iraq on his body.
He lost his left eye, upper palate and partial use of his left arm, but he's refusing to leave the Army without a fight. He's working to prove he can still perform so he can keep his active-duty status. He'll know this summer whether he's successful.
He spoke Monday before a crowd of about 200 inside the Capitol dome of the patriotism that drives men and women to enlist in the military, even though war is unforgiving.
Memorial Day means a day off work or school for many, but "our soldiers do not enjoy such a privilege," he said.
Audience members, some moved to tears, made their way through the crowd at the end of Skelton's speech to offer a hug and express their gratitude.
Most were strangers, but Skelton said, "This is family. Family doesn't define itself by blood." [...]
Norma Melo has found her own way of honoring her husband, Julian S. Melo, who was killed in a December mess hall bombing in Mosul, Iraq.
He loved being a soldier and traveling to different places, Norma Melo said. He was a fan of music that ranged from reggae to country. He had a soft spot for stray animals and children.
On Monday at the Capitol service, Norma Melo recounted her last conversation with her husband. The day before he died, he told her the children of Mosul were dancing in the streets after listening to music from his MP3 player.
After he died, the family established a memorial fund to benefit the children of Iraq. They delivered the first check for $10,000 to the Iraqi embassy Saturday for a children's music program.
"I can't think of a better way to honor him," she said.
You can learn more about Norma's project in this previous entry from January.
SPC Phillip Sayles
Task Force Freedom announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Phillip N. Sayles, 26, of Jacksonville, AR, died May 28 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his security position. SPC Sayles was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and comrades SPC Sayles leaves behind.
UPDATE: A memorial will be held at 9:30 AM, Thursday, June 2nd at the Evergreen Chapel, Ft. Lewis.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Press Release
Living Memorial Day every day - Chicago Tribune
Enemy explosive kills Stryker brigade soldier - News Tribune
Killing for God - Michael Yon Dispatch
Soldiers who fell in Iraq praised - The Leader
Fort Lewis pays tribute to another fallen soldier - The News Tribune
Farewell to soldier killed in Iraq - The Leader
REMEMBERING WAR DEAD
This story describes the events surrounding SPC Sayles' death.
Link to Full Article (subscription)
By Kirsten Scharnberg, Chicago Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq -- In places like this, memorials come more than one day a year.
They come when a young soldier refuses to enter a shiny new mess hall that has opened to replace the one destroyed by a suicide bomber who killed four of his friends.
They come in U.S. express mail packages holding copper bracelets engraved with the names of comrades lost.
They come when a young company commander looks at one of his new officers and somberly remarks, "That kid's got a tough job--coming in here to replace a guy who's back in the States recovering from severe burns from an explosion."
No one needs to remind the nearly 700 men of the 1st Battalion of the Army's 24th Infantry Regiment to remember.
After eight months in Iraq in which 11 soldiers from their unit have been killed in action and more than 140 wounded, they pretty much exist in a constant state of working memorial: On patrol they drive past the street corner where Spec. Clinton Gertson was shot and killed; when they head out in their armored Stryker vehicles, they pull on flame-retardant gloves in even the most oppressive summer heat because they remember seeing men's hands nearly burned off from the flash heat of a big explosion.
There are certainly moments of formal remembrance. On Saturday evening, while many Americans attended holiday barbecues or settled in for the long weekend, much of the 1-24 Battalion gathered for a memorial service for Benjamin Morton, 24, a sergeant killed in a firefight several days earlier. [...]
On Saturday afternoon before the memorial was to begin for Sgt. Morton, Deuce-Four was hit again. A roadside bomb went off as a platoon of soldiers searched cars for weapons. [...]
The story continues with a very graphic description of the injuries to Deuce Four soldiers.
Enemy explosive kills Stryker brigade soldier
Link to Full Article
By Matt Misterek, The News Tribune
A Fort Lewis soldier attached to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – the Stryker brigade – was killed in Mosul on Saturday morning.
The soldier was killed by an enemy explosive while dismounted from his Stryker vehicle at a traffic checkpoint. His family has been notified, but the soldier’s name and infantry battalion have not yet been released by the Department of Defense. [...]
Vietnam vet finds nurse by chance who held his dying son in Iraq
Link to Full Article
WTVM-TV
WASHINGTON Vietnam veteran Allen Hoe came to Washington for Memorial Day to speak at the wall built for his fallen comrades, and by chance made a remarkable discovery.
He found the nurse who held his son as he died in Iraq.
Hoe told the crowd that a few hours earlier, he'd stopped by the memorial built for Vietnam nurses. He met a woman who looked at the button he was wearing that bore a picture of his son, and she recognized him. She told him that she was an Army nurse and had held his son, First Lieutenant Nainoa (ny-ee-NOH'-ah) Hoe, as he died in Iraq. He was shot by a sniper in January while on foot patrol in Mosul.
He introduced the Army trauma nurse and said thank-you as part of his prepared remarks. [...]
Related Article:
Chance meeting 'blessing' for father - Associated Press
Killing for God
Michael Yon has posted a new entry to his blog. Michael is currently with the Deuce Four in Mosul.
Memorial Day Tribute
The following remarks were delivered today at a memorial service in Washington, D.C. by Allen K. Hoe, Esq., in honor of his son 1LT Nainoa Kealiiho'kuhelelani Hoe who was killed in action on January 22, 2005 in Mosul, Iraq.
Our thanks to COL Brown for bringing this to our attention.
Aloha:
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Scruggs, fellow veterans; my ancestors are honored by my invitation to be here today.
Jan, thank you again for your timely visit to Hawaii in 1991. Your presence made a difference in establishing Hawaii's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, now a prominent part of our State Capitol.
A quote from it reads:
Aia ho'i lakou mau
Inoa I mahalo 'ia
ko Hawai'I Mohai aloha
Pau ole
"America's greatest sacrifice is before us in their names."
On a day much like today 15 years ago, a 12 yr. old boy stood on these hallowed grounds. He touched the names of 1Lt. Fred Ransbottom, William "Skip" Skivington, and a dozen others, on Panels 47, 55, 58, & 59. They were the men from Long Range Recon Platoon, 2nd Battalion 1st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade. He knew the story of how they came to be on this sacred wall.
Mother's Day, 1968 at a remote Special Forces Camp called Kham Duc.
They were the men of Recon team "Snoopy" and this was our battle flag.
Something stirred in his soul that day connecting him to this legacy; at that moment he knew what he would do with his life.
He dedicated himself to being the very best; he earned top honors in high school JROTC at Kamehameha. A Business Degree with honors at the University of Hawaii.
The path to his commission began from the enlisted ranks. Basic training at Ft. Jackson; as the soldier of the cycle. Ft. Gordon for AIT; as the Class honor graduate. Then service with the United States Forces Korea. Selected as its Soldier of the Year and the 9th RSC Soldier of the Year, the United States Army Pacific Reserve Soldier of the Year, and the runner-up for the United States Army Reserve Soldier of the Year for 2001.
"Dad, you're enlisted." "I need to succeed as an enlisted soldier before I can lead as an Officer." With a pure heart like that, the stars would surely guide him in his future army endeavors.
He returned to the University of Hawaii for an MBA degree on an academic scholarship. He was a platoon leader with the 100th Battalion 442nd Inf., of "Go For Broke" fame, now serving in Iraq, and he led University of Hawaii?s Army ROTC Cadet Corps as its Command Sergeant Major, Battalion S3 and Battalion Commander.
He earned a SCUBA badge from the U.S. Navy Dive School at Pearl Harbor and he was the 4th ranking ROTC graduate in the nation, when he received his Gold Bars on May 17, 2003;
Then IOBC at Ft. Benning with Jump School and Ranger School in a whirlwind of time and place.
He knew he was to be a soldier, his ancestors had been warriors for 200 years; they came to his beloved Hawaii from the four corners of the globe, Massachusetts, Scotland, England, Germany, China, Japan and the Azores. His U.S. Army heritage descends from his great grandfathers, a grandfather and his father?s service with Team Snoopy of Recon 2/1.
It was cool, that grandma in 1942 at age 17 served with the Army Signal Corps in the Women's Air Raid Defense command and grandpa's sister earned her "gold bars" as a member of the first group of women officers in the WACs.
Hawaii women serving their country is a proud family legacy continuing with cousin Army Captain Courtney Blake Sugai, who served with the 101st ABN Division in Afghanistan and Iraq; Courtney and husband, Army Captain Iven Sugai, join us today, thank you for your service Courtney and Iven;
Count me among the thousands of veterans who are proud of our service in Vietnam. However a greater pride is our children?s gift to the world. They are brave these young men and women who sacrifice daily for the cause of freedom.
America's daughters set new benchmarks daily with their service. Heroes like Army Blackhawk pilot, Major Tammy Duckworth, a University of Hawaii graduate, shows us what personal courage is really all about. They, like the legions of women we honor have not only worn the uniform, they have also birthed a generation of our finest soldiers and have also borne the heavy price of freedom whose roots run deep upon these hallowed grounds.
13 months ago, Nainoa called, "Dad, I got a platoon in Charlie Tigers of the Gimlets." He knew their history; the 3rd Bn. 21st Inf., 196th Light Infantry Brigade, Vietnam. To be part of dad?s legacy, to serve with a unit which served with Recon 2/1 in Vietnam, was all he hoped for.
How do these things happen, is it karma, luck, good fortune, or simply fate.
Here, we remember the 339 "Gimlets" who gave their last full measure on the battlefields of Vietnam. I am comforted in the belief that they have welcomed my son to their heavenly ranks. Nainoa joins with them as our guardian angels, vigilant always in the cause of freedom and liberty.
When Nainoa and I stood here, how could we ever imagine that he also would be bound to this place?
Panel 54 honors American Hero, 1Lt. Edward F. Guthrie, of Idabel, Oklahoma, who died on May 2, 1968 while leading the 2nd Platoon, C Co. 3/21 Inf., "Charlie Tigers" in the Battle for "Nhi Ha Village near the DMZ." His CO, "Tiger 6", Denny Leach, ret'd. Brigadier General, recalls, "Ed never asked his troops to suffer any hardship that he himself would not endure. He was always up front and had his face in the mud just like his shooters. He led by example and was incredibly brave. He never beat his chest and there was no bravado on his part. He was a proud warrior, but was very humble and always gave his troops the honors for the platoon's heroics. I could not have asked for a better platoon leader."
1Lt. Guthrie was the only officer killed from "Charlie Tigers" while the Battalion served with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam between 1966 and 1972.
On January 22, 2005, a single American Hero died in the war on terrorism. It was my precious son, 1Lt. Nainoa Keali?ihokuhelelani Hoe. Like 1Lt. Guthrie, he too was killed while leading the warriors, of 2nd Platoon, Charlie Tigers, on a patrol in northern Iraq in the battle for the city of Mosul.
Is it fate after 37 years that the Platoon Leaders of 2nd Platoon Charlie Tigers, are now linked together because of their commitment to duty honor country and the desire to make a difference in the lives of others.
The current "Tiger 6", CPT Robert Born, shared the following. "2nd Platoon Charley Tigers were the most cohesive infantry platoon that I had seen in 8 years. Often referred to as 2nd Ranger Platoon for the amount of platoon leadership who served with 2nd Ranger Battalion and the number of Ranger SOPs and TTPs. The Charley Tigers "Outlaws" were strongly led and even stronger willed." "Nainoa took charge and never looked back. He was the perfect man for the job and he was a natural fit. He earned their respect and the trust of his men, his peers, and superiors. Everyone saw the same man. If you asked a private to describe Nainoa you would get the same description as the Battalion Commander."
The other Platoon leaders of Charlie Tigers reflected upon him as "fiercely competitive, but he never micromanaged his soldiers, he trusted and empowered his NCO's and allowed his men to succeed and fail on their own merits. He never accepted credit for his men's accomplishments, and never deflected the blame for any deficiencies his platoon encountered. His men were the most important thing to him. This was true in both training and combat. Nainoa led from the front in Mosul, no matter the mission, he would be in the first vehicle leading his men or right up front with the lead element in a dismounted patrol. He never asked his men to do anything he would never do first himself. He was not out seeking glory or spotlighting he was just doing what he knew was right, leading from the front."
Is it also fate that 37 years ago in the sky above Kham Duc, a young air force pilot with the call sign Helix, would be on station directing covering air strikes while the men of Recon Team Snoopy tried desperately to escape the NVA which had over run their positions.
Is it fate that the Helix pilot, James Gibler's son LTC Mike Gibler would become Gimlet 6, Nainoa's Battalion Commander.
Is it fate that this sacred battle flag which protected me through the grim days of 1967 & 1968 in Vietnam, would be carried by my son and his platoon the day he was killed in Iraq. "Dad I want to carry your Recon flag to honor the men who served with you in Vietnam."
Is it fate?, whatever it is, the bonds that bind the brotherhood of the American soldier like a father and son, is a special one.
To Steve Fainaru, Washington Post writer, mahalo for your incredible tribute to my son. "On Campaign Trail ~ A Single Shot."
To the Outlaws of 2nd Platoon Charlie Tigers, you are my heroes, SFC. Corey Meyers, SSG. Victor Birdseye, SSG. Steve Siglock, SSG. Evans, SSG. Hank Moreno, Doc Mauney, Phil Fassieux and Darren Glenn; to Pfc. Jerome Roettgers, Pfc. Robert Layton and Pfc. Darrin Gooding your heroic efforts in holding your ground against the fusillade of bullets to save Nainoa, was above and beyond, my family will hold each of you in our hearts forever.
A very special tribute to Blackhawk pilot, 1Lt Jeremy Wolf, a fellow ROTC cadet who preceded Nainoa as the Battalion Commander for the University of Hawaii. Is it also fate that Jeremy also preceded Nainoa in death when he was killed in Iraq in November, 2003.
I now have a better appreciation of Churchill's quote, "never was so much owed by so many to so few". A grateful nation thanks each of you, Gimlets, 3/21 Infantry and all of the brave men and women in uniform who risk it all to share our country's legacy of freedom and liberty each day.
"Grieve not for lost youth,
Carved in memory and stone
We dwell in your dreams."
SSG Thomas Kaulukukui
A related news story:
Vietnam vet finds nurse by chance who held his dying son in Iraq
Feeling both pride and fear, a sister struggles to understand her brother's life in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Rachel Howard, The San Francisco Chronicle
Editor's note: In February, Emmet Cullen, a sniper with the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Team, returned to California on 15 days' leave from Iraq. This is the first of two parts on Cullen's short stay before returning to Iraq, as seen through the eyes of his sister Rachel Howard. Howard, a regular contributor to The Chronicle Datebook and Pink sections, has also written about her family in her first book "The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder," which will be published by Dutton in July.
My brother's job is to kill people. He's a sniper with the U.S. Army, an occupation that fills me with a mix of unease and admiration. But never have I felt more intensely conflicted than when he returned to California on 15 days' leave from Mosul, Iraq.
He was the same Emmet, only buffed. He zipped up the street on his tricked-out mountain bike, dismounting with unruly grace. He'd grown his hair well past Army-regulation length -- it was fuzzy on the sides, like a puppy's. Frayed cut-off corduroys stopped short of chiseled calves; a green T- shirt stretched across his muscled chest. He grinned with that brand of wry mischief that has always made my mother and me do whatever he pleased.
He hugged my mother, and she rubbed his head and said, "Your hair's getting awfully long." She was smiling -- with pride, and probably with relief that Emmet had raced over to see us.
Mom and I had already lost two days of his leave. Emmet chose to land in Santa Barbara, where he was staying with friends. My mother, Aleta, a night nurse in Merced, couldn't get out of work and I was living in San Francisco. The moment her shift ended, we'd hurried south together to my in-laws' house, our agenda simple: to fulfill Emmet's every whim, and hope that he would make time for us before heading back to a country where insurgents shot at him every day. [...]
A hot day shows hope for the future
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Just across the fence from a U.S. Army base and airfield, a half-dozen Fort Lewis soldiers guarded what might have been the most secure swimming pool in Iraq this weekend.
A group of VIPs from the Iraqi army and the Mosul Olympic Committee gathered under a canopy for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. But it was the 50 or so local boys running and laughing on the pool deck who made a positive impression.
Many children from the Ghizlani and Wadi Hajar neighborhoods come from families of squatters – Arabs who were forced off land they occupied for years. In 2003, long-repressed Kurds returned to take back property seized from them during Saddam Hussein’s systematic process of “Arabization.”
Now these dispossessed kids can enjoy a form of recreation that U.S. soldiers who live on the other side of the fence don’t have: a full-size lap pool and another containing a few feet of water for waders and non-swimmers.
The youngsters waited several weeks for the pools to open. So did Col. Bob Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade.
Brown passes within sight of the pools whenever he drives south from the brigade headquarters to visit Forward Operating Base Marez. Since February, he had urged the support battalion to get them filled and opened to the public by the first of May.
The swimming pool project underscores how rebuilding Iraq’s battered civic infrastructure can sometimes feel like treading water. From schools to public health facilities to athletic programs, Iraqis at the local level often balk at making decisions. Instead, they defer to their American patrons who pay most of the bills.
“We’re trying to take a step back and be in the shadows,” said Capt. Dan Welsh, who helped oversee the pool restoration for the support battalion. “We could have brought soldiers in here and rebuilt the whole thing, but all that would have done is encouraged a dependency on American forces.” [...]
Outside on the pool deck, 13-year-old Mohammad Esmail spent more time following around some American visitors than he did playing in the water. One of seven children in his family, Mohammad said he plans to come to the pool every day. If it weren’t open, he said he’d probably go to the Tigris River to cool off.
Meanwhile, Spc. John Brown broiled inside his Kevlar helmet and armor vest while pulling guard duty at the pool. The Stryker soldier said he brought a pair of swim trunks in his duffel bag, just in case.
But he didn’t get a chance to use them. This was a day for the children.
As soldiers die in ones and twos, technology brings loss to the world
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
The day the Defense Department announced the deaths of three Fort Lewis-based soldiers last week, electronic condolences appeared on a Web site for military families.
Newspapers and television stations from the soldiers' hometowns in Kansas, Arkansas and Ohio noted their passing. On Thursday, their comrades eulogized the fallen in a Fort Lewis memorial, one of three funerals for the men.
The outpouring, by no means unusual, underscores the fact that we remember the 1,834 who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan more comprehensively than in any other conflict in American history, said Fort Lewis Chaplain Maj. David Shoffner.
The pace of casualties is slow and steady, leaving time to feel each loss. [...]
On the Web site strykernews.com, anyone with Internet access could read comments by an officer during a memorial service for the three men in Mosul, and peruse postings by "idaho stryker mom," "MosulStrykerwife" and others who offered kind thoughts.
"Know that your entire Stryker Family holds you close to our hearts and prayers for your comfort and strength," reads one message. "We will never forget the sacrifice that you have made."
Similar messages will be posted for the next casualty. [...]
Security Forces continue operations to suppress insurgency
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 30, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, detained seven suspected terrorists, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Iraqi Army troops killed two terrorists after they were attacked by a drive-by shooting in northern Mosul today. After a search of their vehicle IA troops also discovered a number of weapons. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. No ISF injuries were reported in the attack.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Force Soldiers discovered a large weapons and explosives cache during a search operation south of Mosul Sunday. The weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction.
Four terrorists dead following attack on Security Forces
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 30, 2005) – In combined operations with Iraqi Security Forces, Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed four terrorists and captured four suspected terrorists in northern Iraq Sunday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were attacked by terrorists while conducting a raid in a village in northern Al Anbar Province. Iraqi Army Troops and 2-14th Soldiers quickly overwhelmed the enemy killing four terrorists and capturing four suspects. Following the attack the units also discovered a weapons cache inside the building from where the terrorists fired. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
Welcome to Tal Afar
There is a new posting in the News Tribune blog maintained by editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley. They are in Iraq following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis.
Soldiers remember ‘brothers in arms’
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MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Memorial Day came early Saturday, as hundreds of Stryker brigade soldiers gave a final send-off to three comrades who died within hours of each other a week ago in northern Iraq.
Lt. Aaron Seesan, 24, was a boyish combat engineer platoon leader who would slyly write down people’s comical quotes and compile them into top-10 lists.
Spc. Tyler “Cream Puff” Creamean, 21, was a fellow engineer known as much for his fearlessness as for the way he made friends wherever he went.
And Sgt. Benjamin “Rat” Morton, 24, was a sniper, a reconnaissance scout and an all-around leader who lived up to his nickname by packing away everything he acquired. [...]
The article continues with excerpts from the memorial service.
Soldier honor 3 of their own in Iraq
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BY W.S. WILSON, Northwest Indiana Times
FORWARD OPERATIONS BASE MAREZ, IRAQ | Soldiers came quietly into the muted light Saturday night to bid farewell to three fallen comrades.
The big recreational hall theater was lit only by the spotlight shining on Old Glory, three battle flags, three rifles and three helmets. A couple of sniper rifles were off to the side.
Projected onto the curved wall behind the dais were photographs of three good-looking lads sporting Army uniforms and smiles that could melt an undertaker's heart.
They came to honor 1st Lt. Aaron Seesan, Sgt. Benjamin Morton and Spc. Tyler Creamean. The three were members of the 73rd Engineering Company, which bunks in the same compound as the Indiana National Guard 113th Engineering Battalion, and the 24th Infantry Regiment, the Deuce Four. Seesan and Creamean were killed when their Humvee was bombed. [...]
By the time the funeral started, the hall was full of soldiers. It seats about 400. There was another 100, maybe 200, standing reverently at the rear. They came as family members: Big tough blocky guys with buzz haircuts, lanky boys, seasoned veterans, soldiers in all shapes and sizes looking grim.
It was a hard thing to watch. Say what you will about the U.S. Army, it sure knows how to put on a funeral. If this doesn't get to you, get counseling.
The 113th was represented on the front row by Lt. Col. Richard Shatto and Sgt. Maj. Larry Smith.
There was a lot of brass up there, including two generals.
Many of the 113th officers were in the crowd, too.
So were Master Sgt. Mike Thomas, a Valparaiso High School alumnus, and Sgt. 1st. Class Steve Patterson. They had volunteered to take guard duty for members of the 73rd Engineering Company, to which Seesan and Creamean belonged, but the 73rd declined their offer. [...]
Upon returning to the 113th headquarters they learned that two of their units had been called out on missions. One was straightforward, the other assignment was riskier. Someone had reported a car bomb.
Think about that this Memorial Day weekend when you are sitting on your lawn chair having another cold one: Three members of the 113th were hurt Saturday night on those missions.
There were no explosives in the car. They towed it to an open field and blew it up. But a grenade exploded on the bullet run. The good news is that the injuries were minor. Two soldiers had cuts and were returned to duty. One sustained a concussion. He'll get a day of bed rest and is expected back on duty in 24 hours. Their names were not released.
The funeral began at 7 p.m. The grenade exploded an hour and 40 minutes later.
Soldiers look to gain, secure trust with Iraqis
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
MOSUL, Iraq — Gain the trust of the people, and you’ve won more than half the battle.
At least that’s what soldiers in Mosul say. In an evolving quest to defeat insurgents in Iraq, soldiers must find a balance between hard fighting and soft handshakes.
“We’re out building a rapport with the population and that is turning into intelligence that we use to track down the enemy,” said Capt. Jeff Vanantwerp, commander of Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade (Stryker Brigade Combat Team).
Over a lunch of piping hot pita bread, roasted chicken, potatoes, eggplant and lamb-topped pizza, Vanantwerp, 29, sat with a restaurant owner to learn of new developments.
“All the men in your neighborhood need to make an agreement that if you ever see foreigners committing a crime, you have to go out and scare them off,” he said through a translator. “And you need to call us.” [...]
While making connections helps, sometimes it’s soldiers’ observations that lead them to insurgents, such as the suspicious behavior of two men driving who caught battalion commander Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla’s attention Wednesday afternoon.
When soldiers stopped the car and dismounted from their Stryker vehicles, the men were reluctant to get out of the car. When they finally did, a search turned up a machine gun and 500 rounds, two Kalashnikovs with 10 magazines, three ski masks and documents. The men were detained.
“This neighborhood is what we’d like to see the rest of Mosul become,” 2nd Lt. Dave Beaudoin, 23, said of the al-Mansoor area of about 6,000 residents, whose polling place had the highest voter turnout for the Jan. 30 elections. The few bombings and small-arms fire encountered when they first arrived in October have all but stopped, he said. [...]
On Thursday, Cheney checked on a teenage boy jailed by Iraqi police commandos who thought he was involved with a roadside bomb nearly three weeks earlier. The teen had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, Cheney said.
The teen’s family erupted with joy when Cheney told them the teen was well and soon would be released.
The hour-and-a-half it took out of his day will pay off immeasurably, Cheney said, hoping word will spread through the neighborhood.
“You can win or lose a counterinsurgency on the support of the population,” Kurilla said.
Taking back the streets
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
HAMMAM AL ALIL, Iraq – Fifteen miles south of Mosul lies the ancestral homeland and longtime safe haven for some of the most-wanted terrorists in northern Iraq.
Many of them haven’t been back in a while.
Not since Stryker brigade soldiers put down roots in Hammam al Alil, started retraining the local police and Iraqi Army forces and set about rebuilding the local government from scratch.
As recently as four months ago, this city of 60,000 had a sinister reputation among coalition forces. What was long a thriving tourism destination had turned into a post-Saddam bedroom community for top insurgent planners, Ba’ath Party financiers and car-bomb makers.
“We used to be scared rolling down these roads. Everybody had fear in their eyes,” said Spc. John Blough, a soldier with the brigade’s 1st Battalion, 25th Infantry Regiment.
Hammam al Alil illustrated how terrorist cell leaders could hide out in the smaller Tigris Valley cities and towns where coalition forces were stretched thin and use them as a staging point for attacks on Mosul.
Today, battalion officials hold up the city as a success story – an example of what can happen when you support effective and courageous local leaders, saturate the streets with professional soldiers and spread around a lot of money.
“I don’t lose sleep at night anymore over Hammam,” said Lt. Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the 1-5 “Bobcats.” “But we’ve paid a price for what we’ve accomplished there.” [...]
When the soldiers aren’t patrolling Hammam al Alil, they’re catching a few winks back at Command Outpost Aggies.
There’s not much else to do. It is a bare-bones facility with no hot chow – maybe bagels and powdered eggs if they’re feeling creative – no air conditioning, no indoor toilets, no phones or Internet.
Charlie Rock rotates its three platoons through the outpost; each group of 40 soldiers stays here roughly three out of every nine nights, then convoys north to Mosul to the relative comforts of Forward Operating Base Marez, where it resumes its urban missions.
The company commander, Capt. Kevin Burke of DuPont, still scratches his head at times over how Hammam became such a mess.
“How can 50 people terrorize 60,000? How can that happen?”
It’s easier for him to assess what has gone right in the last several months.
“By getting some of the biggest bullies on the block, it kind of emboldened the people. We removed the source of their fear.” [...]
A few hours later, as Capt. Burke walked downtown to check on his soldiers, a mixed group of men – young and old, Arab and Kurd – sat smoking on a street corner, talking nostalgically about the glory days.
Back before the U.S. invasion and the insurgency, they said, their city was so safe you could sleep outdoors without fear.
Burke redirected the conversation to current events. How many of them voted in the January election?
Only one man raised his hand.
How many would vote if given the chance today?
Slowly, one by one, several arms went up.
Despite such friendly encounters on his daily rounds, Burke later confided that a true measure of the people remains elusive.
“Right now I’m trying to figure out if they are with us because we are stronger or because they really believe that this is the right way to go,” the Charlie Rock commander said.
Will they bend or break when their own army and police force take complete charge? Will they let themselves be bullied again?
What will happen when the bad guys try to come home?
Time will be the judge in Hammam al Alil.
‘Sith’ lets soldiers drift into space
Link to Full Article
By Matt Misterek, The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – A night or two ago in a country far, far away, hundreds of “Stars Wars” fans wearing Stryker brigade patches on their shoulders got a rare treat.
They saw a big-screen version of “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” almost as soon as the folks back home did.
The contractors who run the Morale, Welfare and Recreation office here landed a DVD copy of the sixth and final film in George Lucas’ science-fiction saga. They’ve been playing it once a day since Monday, switching up the showtimes between noon and midnight to accommodate the soldiers’ crazy schedules.
Spc. James Gentry grabbed a box of popcorn on his way into the auditorium Friday night and said he’d been trying all week to catch the movie, but the screenings kept conflicting with his unit’s Stryker missions chasing down insurgents.
The 34-year-old soldier said he was impressed with how quickly “Sith” made it to the war zone.
“It’s hard to express how difficult it is for us to catch up with the outside world over here,” said Gentry, who’s part of the brigade’s 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, known as Deuce Four. [...]
Shiek Ibrahim Cordon and Search Conducted Without a Hitch
1LT Dana Scott, 2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
SHEIK IBRAHIM, Iraq – On May 16th the 1st and 2nd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalions, 3rd Brigade, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atalah Malowh and Lt. Col. Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, conducted a combined operation in the village Sheik Ibrahim, with Coalition forces (CF) from Task Force (TF) Automatic, C/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) and C/113 Engineer (EN) Battalions.
Recent intelligence reports suggested that during Task Force (TF) Automatic’s operation in Muhallabiyah last week, several key insurgent cell members escaped to the nearby village of Sheikh Ibrahim. According to a source, these individuals had set up a VBIED operation in this village, possibly to replace the VBIED factory that was found and destroyed by TF Automatic in Muhallabiyah.
The main body left FOB Endurance at 0430 hours. An hour and a half later, they arrived in Sheik Ibrahim and began transforming the school into a terrorist identification center and holding area.
At 0730 hours, Lt. Col. Ra’ad made an announcement from the village mosque loud speaker, directing all men ages 16 to 60 to the school for screening. Individuals were told to bring any medication they may need since it was to be a long day.
Throughout the mission, the 1st and 2nd IA concentrated on retaining key terrain within the village, accurate and timely reporting, and a thorough searches of all houses to reveal suspected VBIED factories.
However, the small village did not produce any VBIED related concerns yesterday. TF Automatic was pleased to leave the village knowing it was a relatively safe and secure community. Soldiers were happy to hand out the remaining food and water pallets to the citizens of Sheik Ibrahim, before departing in the early afternoon.
100 Additional Jobs Soon to be Created in Qayarrah
By 1LT Dana Scott, 2-8 FA, 1/25 ID
QAYARRAH, Iraq – The monthly Qayarrah Area Security Meeting took place on May 16th on Forward Operating Base Endurance. Topics covered during the meeting included security, power, and water, among several other concerns.
B/2-8 Field Artillery Company Commander, Cpt. Ryan Gist, opened the meeting discussing the many good things that have happened in the region during the past month. Successes included the local law enforcement making headway in the fight against terrorists, as well as an abundance of new police equipment, which has been distributed to the local police stations.
Gist also mentioned the recent cordon and search operation in Aitha. The success of the mission was due to the cooperation of local leaders.
Security remains the number one concern of Qayarrah’s citizens. Other issues discussed included police, electricity, roads, and the economy.
TF Automatic’s Civil Affairs Officers, Maj. Robert Reiner and Cpt. Dan Florey, continue to work with Qayarrah’s Chief Civil Engineer, Mohammad, on running continuous power to the water project and Qayarrah Police Station.
“Numerous projects are in the works to increase jobs throughout the area, including road work which will continue all summer,” reported Florey. “The Qayarrah market sees increased business as people are willing to drive from greater distances to shop there.” This willingness is due to the ever-improving safe and secure environment in the Tigris River Valley.
“The Ministry of Oil is currently acquiring additional production equipment for the Qayarrah Oil Refinery, which will increase its output and create an additional 100 jobs [for the people of Qayarrah],” continued Florey.
Gist and his battery continue to work with the Iraqi Army, the local police stations, and key leaders of Qayarrah to improve their safety, as well as their living conditions.
SGT Mike Buyas Homecoming
Lynda Pheasant sent us the following report on the homecoming of SGT Mike Buyas, and the community's fundraising efforts on his familiy's behalf. Also included are links to two articles in the Wenatchee World newspaper. This is an inspiring story to lead us into the Memorial Day Weekend.
AWESOME, ABSOLUTELY AWESOME - words are inadequate to describe the dual events of this past weekend to benefit 1/25 Stryker soldier Sgt. Michael Buyas!
Early Saturday morning motorcyclists began gathering for the 3rd Annual "Run For The Border", a 300 mile RT from Wenatchee, WA to the U.S./Can. border at Oroville and back. At 9:00am, about 317 cyclists revved engines and headed out. Riding in pairs with patriotic colors flying, Combat Vets in the lead, it was indeed an impressive sight to behold!
As the Ride passed through small rural communities to the north, more cyclists joined, swelling the numbers to 340 at the border. Communities welcomed the Riders and their cause, contributing significantly to a highly successful fundraising effort.
Sunday - another glorious day in the Wenatchee Valley. Final preparations were underway for a little "surprise" celebration to welcome home Sgt. Michael Buyas from Walter Reed. Transformed into full patriotic regalia, Pangborn Airport in East Wenatchee was festooned with flags, balloons, and banners thanks to some very special Red Hat Grandmas. The Columbia River H.O.G. and other motorcyclists began to arrive, along with members of the American Legion, three VFW posts, and our local Applarians in their red jackets (Apple Blossom Festival), joining the growing throngs of community supporters.
The crowd let out a big cheer as the Horizon flight carrying Sgt. & Mrs. Buyas touched down at 2:18pm. After other passengers deplaned, the three little Buyas boys - Justin - 8, Julian - 7, and Jaiden, almost 4, were taken up the ramp to greet their parents inside the plane. As Sgt. Buyas came into view the roar of the crowd flowed across the tarmac. Gazing to the right of the ramp Sgt. Buyas saw a full line of 130 motorcyclists standing at attention beside their machines. And at the foot of the ramp, saluting their wounded comrade, a Stryker honor guard from Ft. Lewis - all having known Sgt. Buyas or served with him in Iraq - SFC Gerardo Avila, SST Bryan Cassidy, SSG William Cossins, SPC Jason Grinstead, and SPC Gabriel Padilla.
Greetings by family members followed, and then into the airport terminal overflowing with exuberant supporters. Sgt. Buyas and family were slowly ushered through the airport as community reached out to shake his hand or pat his shoulder, each wanting to express appreciation. While the HOGs moved their cycles from the tarmac to the next staging area, family and community gathered for a brief ceremony. Welcomes & intros, and then Charles Buyas, serving as family spokesman, gave the most memorable tribute to his brother that one could ever hope to hear. Not a dry eye anywhere! Acknowledgements & recognitions included a contribution by the Military Officers Assoc. of America (MOAA). Rep. Mike Armstrong, 12th Legislative District, made a special presentation of an American flag and a WA State flag, certified to have flown over the WA State Capitol. Then Columbia River H.O.G Pres. Larry Pearson announced the exciting news that with the pledges anticipated next week, they will have exceeded their goal of $20K for the Buyas housebuilding project. HOOAH!!!
In contrast to Sgt. Buyas last ride in a Stryker five months ago near Mosul, the Buyas entourage departed the airport riding in a stretch Limo, led by Douglas County Deputy Sheriff Sgt. Harvey Gjesdal, an Iraqi Freedom veteran, and followed by at least 130 H.O.G.s and cyles for the remaining 40 mile trip home.
We love our Soldiers! We truly appreciate your service and your sacrifice. THANK YOU!
Lynda Pheasant
Related Articles:
Sgt. Buyas returns to hero's welcome - The Wenatchee World, 2 articles included
Previous Entries:
Casualties of War, and SGT Mike Buyas Update.
Fort Lewis mourns its dead
Soldiers mourned deeply, remembered fondly
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
FORT LEWIS — Sunlight filtered into the chapel, but it couldn’t penetrate the pall over those gathered Thursday to mourn the deaths of three more soldiers from the Army post.
Family members and friends dressed in black to grieve for Spc. Tyler Creamean, Sgt. Benjamin Morton and 1st Lt. Aaron Seesan, the 58th, 59th and 60th Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began.
The three Stryker soldiers died in two attacks Sunday, making it the deadliest day for Fort Lewis soldiers since a Dec. 21 mess hall suicide bombing killed 14 U.S. service members, including six from the post.
“There have been too many memorial services lately,” noted Maj. David Shoffner, a brigade chaplain. [...]
The article continues with excerpts from remarks delivered at the memorial service.
Follow this link to read the memorial address to be delivered in Mosul tomorrow by LTC Kurilla, Commander of the Deuce Four.
3 Fallen Stryker Soldiers Remembered
Link to Full Article (Video included)
By Keith Eldridge- KOMO News
FORT LEWIS - A tough start to the Memorial Day weekend as Fort Lewis pays tribute to three Strykers killed in the fighting in Iraq. The loss is hitting the troops hard and also a local community with special ties to the Strykers.
Army Chaplain David Shoffner tells crowd, "We come to mourn, to remember and to honor our brothers who have fallen."
Friends and family of three fallen Strykers were there to pay tribute Thursday. All three died last Sunday in Iraq.
24-year-old Sgt. Benjamin Morton was shot as he led the way through a home, trying to flush out insurgents. [...]
25-year-old Lt. Aaron Seeson and his fellow engineers were trying to find and clear roadside bombs when one of them blew up.
"Even as Aaron lied there wounded, his response was to say, 'Take charge Sgt. Arnold and take care of all of the others first,' " said Capt. Bryan Carroll.
One of the 'others' was 21-year-old Spec. Tyler Creamean. His new wife KaMisha wrote a letter that was read at the memorial.
Security Forces continue to apprehend terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 26, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained seven suspected terrorists and seized a cache during operations in northern Iraqi Thursday.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained six suspected terrorists in operations south of Mosul. Items confiscated from the individuals included a sniper rifle with 600 rounds of ammunition, AK-47s with ammunition, and a shotgun. The individuals were taken into custody with no MNF injuries to report.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one suspected terrorist during a raid in Tal Afar. Items confiscated from the individual included AK47s, a rifle, and a RPG launcher with rounds. The individual was taken into custody with no MNF injuries to report.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three suspected terrorists during a cordon and search in western Mosul. The individuals were taken into custody with no MNF injuries to report.
Efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Deuce Four Fallen Warriors
LTC Kurilla, commander of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, forwarded the following comments he will make during a memorial service for 1LT Aaron Sessan, SPC Tyler Creamean, and SGT Ben Morton on Saturday, May 28th in Mosul, Iraq. He said, "I offer these comments to give everyone a small glimpse into the lives and sacrifices of three incredible men."
Thank you for sharing this message.
GEN Rodriguez, GEN Bergner, COL Brown, Sergeants Major, friends of Deuce Four, and most importantly the men of Deuce Four. Thank you for coming today to honor and remember three of our fallen warriors.
Forgive me if I go long but these were extraordinary men.
Again we are drawn together as a band of brothers to mourn the loss of three Deuce Four warriors and sappers. We are truly a band of brothers. The bonds of camaraderie and friendship that we share from fire team to battalion are as strong as the very bonds of marriage. These bonds are forged and bound under the stress and fire of daily combat. We are bound together in shared friendship, shared hardship, shared loss and a desire over any other to ensure you care for the man on your left and right flank.
William Shakespeare in Henry V describes the bond that we all share. At the battle of Agincourt in 1415 AD, the English were outnumbered 5 to 1 and faced a formidable French foe that blocked their return route to England. The English were certain that no one would make it out alive. Henry V turned to his men to tell them about the uncommon bond that is shared in combat. He states –
“From this day to the ending of the world. But we in it shall be remembered; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother.”
Today we mourn the loss of three brothers in arms – 1LT Aaron Sessan, SPC Tyler Creamean, and SGT Ben Morton.
Deuce Four with our Sapper brothers have done extraordinary things for one reason and one reason only. It is because of extraordinary men. There is no piece of equipment that makes us successful, there is no technological advantage that is the key to winning, there is no special training we possess that turns the tides against the enemy. It is for one reason and one reason only that we are successful – the extraordinary men that make up this organization. Men who know that leadership means just that – leading – out front, in harms way where they are at the greatest risk. Extraordinary men who would sacrifice their own lives for their fellow soldiers. Men who place the needs of others above their own. Men who accomplish every mission for no reason other than they do not want to let down their brothers in arms.
LT Aaron Sessan and SPC Tyler Creamean were out front leading on a Stryker sweep. These were men who knew the cost of leadership – out front exposing themselves to risk. A Stryker IED Sweep by its very name implies great danger and risk. You are traveling the most heavily mined and bombed roads in Iraq not trying to avoid the mines and bombs, but actually trying to find them. Why? So that others can travel safely without fear of attack. Stryker sweeps are not an exact science as the enemy has become very adept at hiding his mines and bombs. It requires experience, incredible skill, patience and being out in front of the other combat patrols and logistical convoys. Sappers LT Sessan and SPC Creamean were out front leading a Stryker IED sweep in the early morning hours of 22 May. They risked their lives so that others might be safe. Our brothers in arms, LT Sessan and SPC Creamean made the ultimate sacrifice for others when their vehicle was hit by one of the very IEDs they were looking for. But it did not end there, while they were mortally wounded LT Sessan and SPC Creamean kept trying to direct medical attention to each other and PFC Buck who was also wounded. That is what leaders do – they place the needs of others above their own, even when they are mortally wounded. These Sappers were incredible men that will never be forgotten.
I would now like to talk about a very special person and leader with whom I had daily interaction, someone I fought next to, and one of the finest men I have come had a chance to get to know – SGT Ben “Rat” Morton.
If there was someone who defined the term quite professional it was Rat.
Rat was special and quite frankly I do not think I ever heard him called anything else. I remember one time someone said “Morton” and I said, "who?" " Rat sir". "Oh"…I didn’t now we had a Morton, but I damn sure knew we had Rat. I am not sure he even knew he had any other name. It even extended to the battlefield. I am not sure what day it was – but we were somewhere in northwest Mosul doing a cordon and search. Rat was carrying the radio – I heard the call on the net on my PRC-148 “Hunter Three Romeo, this is Hunter Seven over..there was a pause for about 3 seconds…more agitation in his voice, Hunter Three Romeo, this is Hunter Seven over…another pause of about 3 seconds. Damn it Rat answer the radio!…then came the calm response,… this is Rat over…” that was Rat.
Rat knew about leadership and courage under fire. On the night Rat fell, he was leading his team clearing a house of a terrorist cell that specialized in car bombs. They quickly detained three of the terrorists on the first floor and moved rapidly up the stairs with Rat in the lead. The house had at least three women and 5 children on the first floor, some of them infants so they decided not to use flash bangs which can kill an infant. There were two terrorists hiding in a back room and then moved to the balcony in the hopes they would not be caught. Rat was the #1 man into the room, followed by his team. The terrorist hiding on the balcony knew they would be certainly caught and reached around the corner and fired an AK-47 on full automatic through the window hitting Rat four times. The team returned fire and cleared the rest of the house. Rat’s sacrifice resulted in killing one terrorist, wounding one, and detaining 5 members of a car bomb cell. Rat was awarded an ARCOM with Valor device for his actions that night. Rat knew that leaders lead from the front. I also know there is not a man in Deuce Four that would not want to be the #1 man entering and clearing a room of terrorists.
Rat also showed me how to laugh in the worst of situations. It was 11 Dec and we had just been hit by a suicide car bomb followed by very heavy small arms, RPGs, and mortars from 3 directions. We now had seven wounded and a Stryker was on fire. Rat and Plum were the first ones on the scene with fire extinguishers in hand putting out the fire, caring for wounded comrades, and then rejoining the fight. Strykers with dismounted teams were holding a tight perimeter against 25 insurgents who were attacking from 3 directions. An RPG had just hit one of the Strykers and two mortars landed right behind Rat’s Stryker. We had a fix on one enemy position to the SW. We were doing our best to rubble the building with .50 cal and Mark-19 and fast movers were still 5 minutes out. Rat grabbed a SMAW-D which would certainly rubble the building. As he raised the weapon, 2 more mortars landed in our perimeter within 20 meters of Rat’s Stryker. He fired and the SMAW-D impacted about 30 meters in front us – we even thought it was a larger enemy mortar. Rat smiled, laughed and yelled out over the fire fight – “This one was defective – what do you expect from a Marine weapon…” You see, the SMAW-D was designed by the Marines; however it has to be aimed to hit its target…
Rat did many more amazing things that day that I do not have the time to share. Rat was awarded the Bronze star for Valor for his actions on 11 Dec. He was a hero to all of us. He is now in heaven taking pictures from an incredible vantage point. He is finding and collecting things so that when we join him and go to him and ask if he has a certain item – he will smile and return with just the item you needed.
To the men of Deuce Four we now honor our 14th warrior and sapper to die defending the freedom of an oppressed people that truly do not understand the sacrifices that we make. The only words I think that can describe their sacrifice are not even my words. They are the words of Winston Churchill in WWII describing the sacrifices warriors make. He states:
“Never was so much owed by so many to so few”
You see – there are 26 million people in Iraq whose freedom we are fighting for, against terrorists and insurgents that want a return to power and oppression, or worse, a state of fundamentalist tyranny. Some of whom we fight are international terrorists who hate the fact that in our way of life we can choose who will govern us, the method in which we worship, and the myriad other freedoms we have. We are fighting so that these fanatical terrorists do not enter the sacred ground of our country and we have to fight them in our own backyard. We fight for 296 million US citizens in America. We fight for the man on your left and right so that he can return home to his family and loved ones --we fight for each other. LT Aaron Sessan, SPC Tyler Creamean and SGT Ben Morton fought for all of us. Never was so much owed by so many to so few.
These three warriors joined the rest of the Deuce Four Advance Party. CPT Bill Jacobsen is in charge of the formation while 1SG Bordelon called out the names to make sure all are present. SPC Tommy Doerflinger, CPT Bill Jacobsen, SGT Robert Johnson, CPL Jonathan Castro, SPC Lionel Ayro, PFC Oscar Sanchez, SGT Nathanial Swindell, SGT Adam Plumondore, SPC Clint Gertson, SGT Anthony Davis. 1SG Mike Bordelon, SPC Tyler Creamean, 1LT Aaron Sessan, and SGT Ben “Rat” Morton. These 14 warriors now stand high above us overwatching us, providing guidance and direction in the most difficult times. Never was so much owed by so many to so few.
On this day, we ask almighty God to grant us patience and steadfast resolve in all that is to come. We ask the Master Physician to reach down and use his healing hand to heal our wounded brothers. May God Bless Deuce Four, 1st Brigade, and may God Bless America.
Security Forces continue to pressure terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 26, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one suspected terrorist and seized a cache during operations in northern Iraqi Wednesday.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment had a weapons cache turned over to them in an area southeast of Mosul Wednesday. The cache consisted of mortar rounds, rocket propellant, sticks of plastic explosives, and an explosives detonator.
Efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for the citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Memorial Service
A memorial service will be held for 1LT Aaron Seesan, SGT Benjamin Morton, and SPC Tyler Creamean on Thursday, May 26th at 10:00 AM at the Evergreen Chapel, Ft. Lewis.
Brigade soldiers rescue pair of Iraqi hostages
Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – They’ve uncovered caches of enemy weapons and flushed out a variety of shady characters since coming to Iraq last fall.
But the most astonishing find of the war for several Tacoma-area soldiers turned up this week in a secret room behind a bookshelf in a northeast Mosul basement.
Following a tip from an Iraqi source, Stryker troops rescued two handcuffed and hooded citizens from a squalid concrete-block room.
One of the captives was an Iraqi government official who works closely with American forces. He had been missing 58 days, said officials with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis.
The other was a wealthy merchant whose family was close to paying a $150,000 ransom, officials said.
Their names have not been released for security reasons.
“To see them reunited with their fellow friends and workers is something I will never forget,” said 1st Brigade commander Col. Bob Brown.
It was the biggest hostage recovery in the area since February, when Iraqi soldiers found the brother of Mosul’s mayor in the trunk of a car near Qayyarah.
Sgt. 1st Class Dave Hoogendorn, a platoon sergeant with the Stryker brigade’s 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, knew right away that Monday’s find was a big deal. His soldiers were even given the next morning off from their patrol duties.
The rest of the article describes the rescue mission.
Women face growing combat roles in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Ann Scott Tyson, The Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq — Jennifer Guay went to war to be a grunt. And the 170-pound former bartender from Leeds, Maine, with cropped red hair and a penchant for the bench press, has come pretty close.
It was mid-February and Guay, 26, an Army specialist who was the first woman to be assigned as an infantry combat medic, was spending 10 hours a day on missions with the 82nd Airborne Division, dodging rockets and grenades in the crowded streets of Mosul. [...]
"The Army has to understand the regulation that says women can't be placed in direct-fire situations is archaic and not attainable," said Lt. Col. Cheri Provancha, commander of a Stryker Brigade support battalion in Mosul, who decided to bend Army rules and allow Guay to serve as a medic for an infantry company of the 82nd Airborne. Under a 1994 policy, women are excluded from units at the level of battalion and below that engage in direct ground combat.
"This war has proven that we need to revisit the policy, because they are out there doing it," said Provancha, a 21-year Army veteran from San Diego. [...]
"We live and work with the infantry," said Maj. Mary Prophit, 42, who heads a four-person civil-affairs team with a Stryker battalion in Mosul. An Army reservist and librarian from Glenoma, Lewis County, Wash., Prophit handles security duties from the hatch of a Stryker armored vehicle, watching houses during searches and returning fire when shot at. "Civil-affairs teams have to be prepared to perform infantry functions, because at any time we could be diverted," she said.
In January, Prophit was delivering kerosene heaters to a Mosul school when insurgents detonated a roadside bomb as her convoy passed, fatally wounding three Iraqi soldiers. Prophit moved to shield the medic treating the wounded, firing at insurgents who were shooting at them from a mosque across the street. "Women in combat is no longer an argument," she said matter-of-factly at her camp near the Mosul air field. "There is no rear area."
We can't post all of it here, but I would recommend reading the entire article.
TNT Blog Entries
News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley have posted two new entries to their blog.
How Marez got its name
1/25 SBCT Life in Mosul, Iraq
A Public Affairs Officer for the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division (SBCT) has alerted us to a new blog being maintained by members of the Brigade. It will be added to our page of Stryker-related links.
SPC Tyler L. Creamean
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Tyler L. Creamean died on May 22 in Mosul, Iraq, from injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his HMMWV. Creamean was assigned to the 73rd Engineer Company, Fort Lewis, WA.
We extend our deepest sympathies to SPC Creamean's wife, KaMisha Hickman-Creamean, and his entire family. KaMisha maintained an album on our site if you'd like to browse the photos of SPC Creamean.
Please scroll down for today's news.
DoD Identifies Army Casualties - Official DoD Press Release
Grandson of Pontiac resident killed in Iraq - The Daily Leader
Latest brigade casualties ID’d - The News Tribune
Roadside bomb kills soldier based at Fort Lewis - Associated Press
Soldier with Arkansas Ties Dies in Iraq - KATV
Memorial To Fallen Stryker Soldiers - KOMO News
3 Fallen Stryker Soldiers Remembered At Fort Lewis Memorial - KOMO News
Fort Lewis mourns its dead - The Olympian
Deuce Four Fallen Warriors - Strykernews.com
J’ville soldier killed - Jacksonville Patriot
Soldier honor 3 of their own in Iraq - Northwest Indiana News
Soldiers remember ‘brothers in arms’ - The News Tribune
Fallen soldier honored by soldiers, family - Sherwood Voice
SGT Benjamin C. Morton
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SGT Benjamin C. Morton, 24, of Wright, Kan., died May 22, in Mosul, Iraq, when his dismounted patrol encountered enemy small arms fire. Morton was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family, friends, and comrades SGT Morton leaves behind.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Press Release
Kansas native, Fort Riley solider killed in Iraq - The Star-Telegram
Latest brigade casualties ID’d - The News Tribune
Soldiers of Deuce Four mourn loss of 'one in a million' sergeant - Stars and Stripes
3 Fallen Stryker Soldiers Remembered At Fort Lewis Memorial - KOMO News
Fort Lewis mourns its dead - The Olympian
Deuce Four Fallen Warriors - Strykernews.com
Soldier honor 3 of their own in Iraq - Northwest Indiana News
Soldiers remember ‘brothers in arms’ - The News Tribune
1LT Aaron Seesan
Family members have confirmed the death of 1LT Aaron Seesan. 1LT Seesan, 24, of Massillon, OH, died May 22 at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center of injuries sustained when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Mosul, Iraq, on May 21. 1LT Seesan was assigned to the 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Ft. Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers during this difficult time.
We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Massillon man killed in Iraq war - Beacon Journal
Massillon soldier killed in explosion in Iraq - The Times Reporter
Soldier killed trying to make Iraq safer for others - WKYC News
Massillon soldier dies after explosion in Iraq - The Plain Dealer
WHS grad killed in Iraq - The Independent
Service set for fallen soldier - The Independent
A pledge to never open son's will is shattered - Seattle P-I
Latest brigade casualties ID’d - The News Tribune
Scholarship will honor Massillon’s fallen soldier - The Canton Repository
Calling Hours For Fallen Soldier Planned - WBNS-10TV
Seesan one of two killed by bomb on road - The Independent
U.S. flags given in honor of Lt. Seesan -The Independent
3 Fallen Stryker Soldiers Remembered At Fort Lewis Memorial - KOMO News
Fort Lewis mourns its dead - The Olympian
Deuce Four Fallen Warriors - Strykernews.com
Soldier honor 3 of their own in Iraq - Northwest Indiana News
Soldiers remember ‘brothers in arms’ - The News Tribune
Hundreds honor fallen soldier - The Canton Repository
Salute to soldiers - The Independent
2 Northeast Ohio Soldiers Laid To Rest - NewsNet5, includes link to photo gallery of memorial service.
Hero laid to rest -The Independent
Massillon soldier laid to rest - Canton Repository
Hundreds attend service to honor fallen soldier - Beacon Journal
Memorial garden will honor fallen Massillon soldier - WKYC News
Soldiers of Deuce Four mourn loss of 'one in a million' sergeant
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq — Death snatched more than a young soldier in the prime of his life early Sunday morning.
It took away a lover of fast motorcycles, country music and Disney films; a husband who had just celebrated his first wedding anniversary; a guy who never tackled a task half way.
It took away a man who loved to laugh, and even more, to make others laugh.
Death snatched 24-year-old Sgt. Benjamin Morton.
“Rat was the guy who, if you asked him to run to the top of a hill with 3,000 pounds of gear, he would,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Bowman, using Morton’s nickname.
“He would do anything you asked him to do, and then he’d find a better way to do it. He was one in a million. One in a million.”
The men of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, or Deuce Four, have had 10 soldiers killed in action and 132 wounded since the Fort Lewis, Wash.-based unit arrived in Iraq in October. [...]
“I’ll tell you how I feel. It rips my heart out every time because I know every one of these men. However, Rat was special,” Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla said of the 700-man battalion he commands and the man whose soft-spoken voice he heard almost daily on combat patrols.
“There isn’t a man in this battalion who wouldn’t want to be the No. 1 man entering and clearing a room of terrorists,” Kurilla said. “But I know what they’re doing here is the right thing, and the right thing is getting back out there and taking out terrorist networks.” [...]
“We sat in dead silence for three or four hours when we returned to the FOB,” Ferguson said. “Sat stunned. How could we have lost Rat?”
It’s the second combat death for Recon Platoon, a tight-knit group of scouts and snipers used more offensively in Iraq than is usual. They’re a platoon of soldiers awarded 18 Purple Hearts and nominated for numerous valor awards, including three Silver Stars.
“I wonder who has it worse, us or the family members?” Bowman thought out loud. “It’s a rough ride, any way you look at it.” [...]
Morton has been awarded a Bronze Star with valor device for his actions during a Dec. 11 fight against attackers using a car bomb and small arms. He was also posthumously awarded an Army Commendation Medal for his actions the night he died.
Privately, they’ll mourn. But first, they’ll need to jump back in the saddle, soldiers said.
In the kill zone, for now, it’s the only way to cope, Ferguson said.
“We’ll go out again and again. There’s no time here to think about it. There will be plenty of time to think when we get back. We still have a job to do here. Rat knows that,” he said.
“He knew that.”
Latest brigade casualties ID’d
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News Tribune
The military has identified the three Stryker brigade soldiers from Fort Lewis who were killed in action Sunday in Mosul, Iraq:
• Sgt. Benjamin C. Morton, 24, of Wright, Kansas, was shot by insurgents, the Defense Department said in a news release Tuesday.
• Lt. Aaron Seesan, 24, of Massillon, Ohio, died after a roadside bomb detonated near his Humvee, the Pentagon said in a separate release.
• Spc. Tyler L. Creamean, 21, of Jacksonville, Ark., also died in the explosion that hit the Humvee.
The deaths bring to 31 the number of service members from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – the Army’s second Stryker brigade – to be killed since its arrival in Iraq in October. Ninety-seven Washingtonians or service members from Washington bases have died in the war in Iraq. [...]
A memorial ceremony for the three soldiers has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday at the Evergreen Chapel at Fort Lewis.
It’s a battle for hearts and minds
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Lt. Raul Vasquez looked like a man having a frustrating afternoon.
The 24-year-old platoon leader and his Stryker brigade soldiers were banging on metal gates in an upper-middle-class neighborhood east of the Tigris River, not far from Mosul University.
They were holding a “block party,” an unannounced visit of every house to ask if residents knew of anything suspicious, any sign that terrorists might be trying to get a foothold on their street.
Mostly they found Sunni housewives and their frightened children. In one kitchen, a pan of onions sat on the stove where a woman had been cooking before the soldiers barged in.
Vasquez dropped to one knee as a sign of respect and told her to sit while his soldiers and Iraqi army trainees swept through each room. Wiping sweat from his brow, he gave instructions to his civilian translator.
“Explain to her that the search we are doing right now is for our own protection, it is not because we think she is a bad person,” said the young officer with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment – one of the front-line units of Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade.
“Tell her not to be concerned; nothing will be taken and nothing will be broken.”
Vasquez, who lived in University Place before deploying to Iraq last fall, has picked up enough Arabic to communicate superficially. He knows, for instance, that “mantaqa zena” means “good neighborhood” and “mako shee” means “nothing’s happening here.” [...]
The article continues with a number of quotes from SBCT soldiers about their mission.
The chaplain knocks, and grief answers
Even when it's not on your door, pain bonds families
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
It is the terrible mix of relief and guilt that bonds military families at times like these.
Relief that the Army chaplain did not show up at their house, and guilt that in passing them by, the chaplain knocked on someone else's door.
At 26 and with two kids at home and a husband serving with Fort Lewis' Stryker Brigade, Jessica McCarthy felt it again this week when word spread over the weekend that three Stryker soldiers were killed in Iraq.
"If it's not your husband, it's somebody else's dad, husband or son," said McCarthy, who left Fort Lewis after her husband was deployed to Iraq. She lives with in-laws in Florida. "I can visualize it. I'm sure when the chaplain shows up at the house to tell you the bad news, they don't have to say anything. You already know," she said. "That's why we as families support each other so much. We all feel it."
The wait has been unbearable this time in part because of a blackout imposed by the Army. To control information before official notification has been made, the Army shut down e-mails from soldiers in Mosul to families at home.
Yet everyone soon knew -- the wife of one of the casualties, Spc. Tyler Creamean, shared her grief with her Stryker family on the Stryker Brigade news site.
McCarthy is among the many moms, dads, husbands, wives, kids and siblings of soldiers who write in to the site to reassure and support each other. [...]
A pledge to never open son's will is shattered
Mother left to honor wishes of Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
In a January meeting at Fort Lewis, a month after the deadliest attack upon Stryker Brigade soldiers in Iraq claimed six of them in a suicide bombing, 24-year-old 1st Lt. Aaron Seesan stood up and volunteered to help replace the dead.
Seesan reasoned that the only other person of his rank who might go had a wife and kids, Seesan's mother recalled last night. Also, his going provided a chance to rejoin a unit he belonged to until shortly before it was deployed to Iraq last October.
"I had an opportunity to visit Aaron at Fort Lewis in January before he left for Iraq," his mother, Chiquita, said from the family's home in Massillon, Ohio, yesterday. "I think Aaron tried to prepare me."
Her son was adamant that they not dwell on packing his belongings but enjoy their time together, take in such sites as the Seattle Art Museum and just talk.
During a drive to see the Hoh rain forest, "we talked about his last will and testament, and he wanted my input. It was a very casual conversation. He gave me a copy before I left to go home. I put it in the cupboard here and decided I was never going to look at it again," the soldier's mother said.
Last Sunday, she retrieved it. An Army chaplain arrived at the family's home to tell her and her husband, Thomas, that their son was among the three Stryker soldiers killed in Iraq early Sunday. [...]
Seesan and Spc. Tyler Creamean both died in the same roadside bomb attack while riding in a vehicle. Both were members of the brigade's 73rd Engineer Company.
Sgt. Benjamin C. Morton, 24, of Wright, Kan., a member of the brigade's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, died in a separate incident in Mosul. He was shot and killed during a house-to-house search.
Creamean's wife, KaMisha, confirmed her husband's death on the Stryker Brigade News Web site, a clearinghouse for information and a support network for families.
"It's still a shock to me as well as the family, but we are doing good. Please keep the rest of his unit in your prayers because I am more worried about the guys. It will take time, but we will get through it,' she wrote.
"I love you today, tomorrow and the days to come," she wrote to her husband.
Last night, the Defense Department confirmed the deaths of Seesan and Creamean, 21, of Jacksonville, Ark.
Creamean was killed immediately in the explosion. Seesan, burned over 80 percent of his body, clung to life as he was airlifted to Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany. [...]
Michael Yon Dispatch
Embedded author Michael Yon has a new dispatch from Mosul published on his website.
Deaths bring agonizing wait for news
Stryker Brigade families know 3 of their own died, but not their names
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Families of Fort Lewis-based soldiers braced for the worst yesterday as the Army confirmed that three Stryker Brigade soldiers had been killed in Mosul early Sunday.
Names and specific units of the three, who died in two separate attacks, were not released while Army casualty officers sought out their next of kin. A fourth soldier was injured, according to U.S. Central Command officials.
A reporter from The News Tribune of Tacoma who is embedded with the unit in Iraq said the Army in Mosul imposed a news blackout, shutting down e-mail sites there, so fellow soldiers could not release the identities of the dead ahead of official Pentagon notification channels.
Family members said the three soldiers were members of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, called the Stryker Brigade Combat Team after the light-armored Stryker vehicles and tactics specifically developed with them.
As the wait continued, hands wrung with worry or clasped together in prayer yesterday, according to messages on the Stryker Brigade News Web site, a clearinghouse of information and support for families of the brigade, which began serving a yearlong tour of duty in Mosul last October. [...]
The article continues with commentary on the impact of the agonizing wait for the DoD announcement of the names of casualties.
TNT Photo Gallery #2
Link to TNT Photo Gallery #2
By Peter Haley, The News Tribune
News Tribune photographer Peter Haley is in Iraq following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis. This the the link to their first photo gallery.
Three Fort Lewis soldiers die in separate incidents
Link to Full Article
By Matt Misterek; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Three soldiers based out of Fort Lewis were killed in a pair of enemy attacks that occurred early Sunday morning, Stryker Brigade officials confirmed.
One member of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division was shot to death by insurgents while he was helping clear a house during a search. One assailant was killed at the scene; a second person was injured and detained.
Another Stryker soldier died and two others were wounded on an overnight mission when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle. One of the men was gravely injured and died Sunday night.
The names of the three soldiers, and the battalions or companies to which they belong, were being withheld until next of kin could be notified. The phone lines and Internet stations around Forward Operating Marez were shut down all day Sunday and early Monday morning to keep soldiers from spreading the news before the Army could properly release it. [...]
The month of May had seen a reduced level of daily activity against U.S. forces even as insurgents stepped up their campaign of violence against civilian targets. On Sunday, four Iraqi civilians were injured in a suicide car bombing in North Mosul, according to a spokesman for Task Force Freedom, which oversees all coalition operations in Northern Iraq.
But the vulnerability of American troops was not lost on Capt. Donald Carrothers Sunday night as he led a chapel prayer for the dead soldiers and their families.
“We truly know that every day is a gift from you,” the chaplain prayed, “ and we cannot presume upon tomorrow.”
Matt Misterek: mtmisterek@hotmail.com
Solace in a Mosul monastery
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – When Spc. Jennifer Guay and Sgt. Noribelle Starck decided to re-enlist for five more years in the Army, they wanted to hold the ceremony in a special place – a location with some good karma.
The two Stryker Brigade medics chose the courtyard of a 1,400-year-old Christian monastery that lies on the south end of Forward Operating Base Marez.
“It’s a powerful spot, and doing it here shows respect for the country where we are serving,” said Guay, surrounded by fellow soldiers from the 25th Brigade Support Battalion on Sunday. [...]
Soldiers find faith in the face of fire
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Gathered together in the renovated shell of an old Iraqi Army pistol range, a few dozen Fort Lewis soldiers and civilian military workers joined in singing Hymn No. 212 from the Baptist Hymnal.
“Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves.
He will lift you by his love, out of the angry waves.
Love lifted me, love lifted me
When nothing else could help, love lifted me.”
It was a declaration of religious faith and an acknowledgement that they can’t go it alone. And on a day when they would learn two of their Stryker Brigade comrades had been killed overnight, they could use the lift they get each week at Transformation Chapel.
Sitting in church on Sunday morning provides a spiritual sanctuary but not a physical one for these men and women who deployed from Tacoma in October. Twice last fall, enemy mortar rounds struck near the chapel during services, peppering the side of the building with shrapnel and breaking eight window panes. Sheets of plywood with cutout crosses now cover those gaps.
Sgt. Anita Shaw is still amazed that no glass shards fell on worshippers inside. She says it was “God’s way of showing off.”
“You know he’s here to protect you,” said Shaw, who works in the 25th Brigade Support Battalion’s supply shop. “Even though you always have your buddy on your left and your buddy on your right, God gives you overall protection.” [...]
The article continues on to describe how the religious needs of Stryker Brigade soldiers are met.
Brother, can you spare a fork
There is a new blog entry from News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley.
Security Forces continue to apply pressure on terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 23, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 suspected terrorist, killed one, injured another, and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity, killed one terrorist, and injured another during operations in western Mosul. The injured terrorist was taken to a local hospital and will be detained following treatment. Suspects are in custody.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-5th also seized a weapons cache during a separate search operation south of Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Despite its flaws, troops prefer Stryker
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, Iraq — In spite of its flaws, there is no other vehicle Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers say they would rather be in.
Some soldiers say the Stryker’s safety factor outweighs the litany of shortcomings outlined last year in an internal study by the Center for Army Lessons Learned at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
“It’s a lot safer than a Humvee and we have more mobility than a tank that is so cumbersome,” said 1st Lt. Drew Godwin of Delta/52 Infantry Company. “Being a wheeled vehicle makes it more maneuverable. I wouldn’t want to be in anything else.”
The CALL study reported problems that included a tendency for rollovers caused by the weight of add-on armor, a lack of protection against rocket-propelled grenades, computers overheating, and wheels that need constant attention.
Some of the findings are over dramatized, soldiers say. But in instances where the vehicles fall short, soldiers are forced to adapt.
The article goes on to discuss the various modifications.
The picture that we seldom get to see
Link to Full Article (opinion)
By Bob Kerr, The Providence Journal
I talked to Mike Yon by satellite phone. It was a little scratchy at times and helicopters intruded occasionally. But it was worth it.
He describes himself as an author, explorer and photographer. He uses his camera as a notepad, he says.
And earlier this month, he took notes that were seen around the world.
He is in Iraq, he says, because he didn't quite believe what he was seeing in the news. He is a former Green Beret, and he wanted to see for himself.
He and I share the belief that we just aren't getting a full and honest look at this war -- or even a steady helping of small, telling snapshots. It is part of the reason why I appreciate Joel Rawson, the Journal's executive editor, going to Iraq with photographer John Freidah to give us an idea of what the day-to-day life of some Rhode Island National Guard members is like.
And it is why I appreciate what Mike Yon does to satisfy the need to know more. [...]
He thinks Iraq represents a turning point in modern history and that it is difficult to understate its importance. He has been in other places where there was a struggle to introduce democracy. It is a messy process, he said.
And he saw perhaps the worst of the struggle in the city of Mosul a few weeks ago when he was with the Stryker brigade on normal operations.
At first, he had a photo opportunity in front of him that seemed like one of those timeless shots of soldiers and civilians claiming simple human contact in the middle of a war.
Then, it turned crazy. [...]
He is still sorting through the strange case of the photo that slipped from his control. But Army officials have told him something very good came from its release within Iraq. Iraqis saw the picture of a child killed by insurgents and started to come forward with information.
And others saw it, too. Intended or not, Yon has given us a look at innocents caught in the crossfire of a war without frontlines. He has let us see the other victims, the ones who die in far greater numbers than American troops but seldom claim a place in the nightly body count.
He has helped fill in a picture of the war in Iraq that has long been out of focus and sadly lacking in detail.
This is the photograph and story that Bob Kerr wote about.
Four-star chow hall
Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – The tile floors and marble-pattern tables and chairs gleam with a shade of white seldom seen at this dust-choked U.S. Army base. Filipino workers in tuxedo vests and matching ties keep the food stations heaped with fresh fruit and salads; others distribute gourmet-looking desserts from a well-stocked glass case.
A gold-rimmed decanter and decorative wine glasses rest atop a faux brick fireplace, while the sound system plays Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young.”
The words “chow hall” hardly seem to fit what military contractors have built in the middle of Forward Operating Base Marez, the most populous Army post in Mosul and home to thousands of Fort Lewis troops.
The $8 million dining facility, which opened at the beginning of the month, is meant to help soldiers relax a little before they head out for another mission. The restaurant atmosphere is an escape from the razor wire, portable toilets and endless miles of grit just outside the front door.
Most of all, it’s designed to help them forget what happened five months ago at the old chow hall about a quarter-mile down the road – and to make them less vulnerable to it happening again.
The new building was under construction Dec. 21 when an Islamic extremist, reportedly dressed as an Iraqi soldier, blew himself up in the plastic-and-aluminum tent where thousands of soldiers, contractors and others gathered to get their three squares a day.
Twenty-two people were killed in the lunchtime blast, including 14 U.S. soldiers, and more than 60 were wounded. Many were badly burned.
Six of the dead were from Fort Lewis, the largest number of casualties sustained at one time by either of the post’s two Stryker brigades that have deployed to Iraq since November 2003.
Something else was lost that day – an intangible quality that made the structure the size of a football field an appealing target for the insurgency.
“You’ve got the symbolism of what this place stands for,” said Maj. Rob White, an Arizona National Guardsman whose unit has on-base police duties. “This is the one place where we all come together on the battlefield.”
One crazy morning with the Bobcats
Link To Blog
News Tribune reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley
There is a new blog entry with photographs.
Terrorists show disregard for citizens, injure three
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 22, 2005) – Three innocent Iraqi civilians were injured during a terrorist attack in northern Iraq Saturday.
Mortar rounds exploded injuring the three civilians in Tal Afar. The injured were transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Terrorist attacks like this are becoming more frequent and reckless, with terrorists continually disregarding the safety of innocent Iraqi civilians.
Survivor recovers, comes back to Iraq post
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Spc. Don Larson couldn’t see. His skin felt like it was on fire and his legs hurt like somebody had whacked them with a bat.
It was Dec. 21 and a suicide bomber had just blown himself to bits in the dining facility – DFAC, in Army shorthand – at Forward Operating Base Marez. Larson lay on the floor with second-degree burns on his face and hands and four shrapnel wounds in his legs. He didn’t yet know the blindness would pass.
But the Fort Lewis soldier and Steilacoom resident had a wife and a son back home, with another boy on the way. He was determined to stay as upbeat as possible.
“From the moment they picked me up from the DFAC that day, I said to myself, ‘It will do me no good to be negative,’” Larson recounted last week. “‘I will not scream out in pain because there are enough people around me already in pain.’”[...]
Those who didn’t make it
As the danger passed and the minutes crawled by, Larson found out about some of the 22 who didn’t make it. He knew Capt. William Jacobsen from religious services on base. He was acquainted with Spc. Jonathan Castro, who used to bring his weapon into the small arms shop.
From Baghdad to Balad, from Landstuhl, Germany, to San Antonio, Texas, Larson said he received good medical care, and he won’t forget the nurses who stayed by his bedside. Back home in Washington, his wife, Stacy, and his sons gave him plenty of incentive to heal quickly.
He returned to Marez this month to find a swankier and more secure chow hall.
“When I went through it the first time, I went through all the emotions of ‘It’s OK, I’m going to be all right here, I’m safe.’”
There’s no way to make sense of the violence that day five months ago, but for Larson it has helped to make it personal and to find it within his power to even the score.“(The enemy’s) mission was to take me away from my unit,” he said. “My mission was to get back to my unit, because it makes the enemy that less effective.
“Coming back was a victory for me.”
ISF continue to grow in their ability to provide security
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during raids in central Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation south of Mosul. The cache included 42 mortar rounds and C4 explosive. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
'Deuce Four' balances Mosul raids with medical aid
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
MOSUL, Iraq — There are at least 13 fewer insurgents terrorizing Mosul.
In the overnight hours of Thursday and Friday, soldiers with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted nine simultaneous raids and cordon-and-searches throughout Mosul.
The unit, known as the “Deuce Four,” captured 13 terrorists, including three foreign fighters who said they’d come to be suicide martyrs, said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the battalion’s commanding officer. The military declined to specify the fighters’ nationality.
The detainees were high on drugs and some weren’t captured without a fight, to include one combative detainee who bit Kurilla.
“They were on drugs, they admitted to it this morning,” he said. Kurilla said he did not know what drugs they had been taking. “They were ... hopped up.” [...]
Since Deuce Four arrived in Mosul in October, soldiers have killed nearly 300 insurgents and captured more than 600. [...]
Day in and day out, the Deuce Four soldiers patrol Mosul to find holed-up insurgents and their weapons and bomb-making materials, and to drive a wedge between law-abiding residents and the insurgents, said Capt. Paul Carron, Company B commander. [...]
But the soldiers’ missions are not all about capturing bad guys.
During the late-night raid into the Isla Zeral neighborhood, Company B soldiers learned about 5-year-old Rhma Taha Ahmed, who suffers from a congenital heart defect that is slowly taking her life.
As promised, at about 7:30 a.m. Friday, soldiers brought a doctor to her family’s home.
Though Rhma was frightened at first of the armed soldiers in vests and helmets, she finally yielded to Dr. (Maj.) Dave Brown’s soft words and touch as he listened to her heart and lung sounds and tapped her hands and feet. [...]
While he could make no promises that care would be provided, Brown is working to see what services might be available, through U.S. channels or others, to save Rhma, he said.
Troops fill holes before bombers plant explosives
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Three Strykers roll through the streets in the dead of night. The soldiers standing in the hatches sweep their flashlights across the pavement.
Curfew hours are in effect, and the only creatures out are the wild dogs that don’t know any better and the men of the 73rd Engineer Company, trolling for holes in the roadway
These are not your standard urban potholes like you’d find on Meridian Avenue or South Tacoma Way, and this is not your everyday municipal public works department.
It’s a wartime mission to make the roads safer for Stryker brigade supply convoys and infantry soldiers who need to move freely around Nineveh Province.
Combat engineers from Fort Lewis sweep nightly for cavities where bombs might hide; another team based out of Germany comes along later and plugs some of the holes with concrete. [...]
Up ahead, soldiers spot a hole in the road covered by a green sack, a sign of possible mischief. Sgt. Jason Harris brings the Buffalo up broadside to the hole, and Spc. Jackie Pickren extends the machine’s 30-foot hydraulic arm. He scrapes the surface with a rake that’s attached to the end of the arm. Then he flips the tool over and jabs at the loose dirt and gravel with a pick.
“We call it proofing the hole,” explains Spc. Ben Sherman, a soldier in the back of the Stryker that scouts ahead of the Buffalo. [...]
The 73rd Engineers operate under the cloak of darkness, with no smiling Iraqi children around to offer thumbs-ups and waves. They work behind the scenes, where they don’t get the infantryman’s glory of racking up captured or killed enemy fighters.
But Sgt. Jesse Grandinetti, the sergeant of 1st Platoon, says that’s OK with him.
“I think everybody respects everybody equally in this brigade,” Grandinetti says, riding in the Buffalo as it roamed western Mosul early Thursday. “We do the best we can clearing the road for them so they can come out here and take down the high-value targets. We basically make the road safe.” [...]
Insurgents have figured out that one small hole in the roadway will get progressively bigger – and hold progressively larger and more powerful explosives – if they keep detonating IEDs in the same spot, said Lt. Ernest Urquieta, the 73rd’s executive officer. [...]
In one week, the platoon filled 15 holes for the scouts of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, the Stryker unit responsible for patrolling the Tal Afar region, said the engineers’ Capt. Michael Votca. [...]
“The pothole repair mission not only denies the enemy use of a place to hide an IED, but it also repairs the infrastructure of Iraq,” Votca said.
Meanwhile, the soldiers of the 73rd continue to handle the nightly street sweeps. In addition to the Buffalo, each platoon has three of the engineer-variant Strykers. They can be fitted with a heavy-duty plow for pushing aside garbage, animal carcasses or anything else that might conceal an explosive.
Because Mosul is crosshatched with so many busy roads traveled by Strykers every day, the engineers must work quickly and have learned to distinguish a real threat from a phantom.
“The tricky thing is, you could be out here all night long and 90 percent of what you’d be looking at is trash,” Grandinetti says. “You wouldn’t be able to clear a single route.”
Even on their slow nights, these soldiers don’t work anything close to banker’s hours. But you’re not likely to hear them complain about it as the days grow hotter and the moonlit nights feel cooler.
“We usually work until 6 a.m. and sleep until about 4 p.m.,” says Spc. Jeremy Smith, riding in the back of one of the escort Strykers. “So it all works out.”
Effective combined security operations making difference in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 10 suspected terrorists and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raid operations in southeastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation southeast of Mosul. The cache included two tons of artillery charge. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Michael Yon Dispatch
Embedded author Michael Yon has a long dispatch from Mosul on his website.
TNT Photos
News Tribune photographer Peter Hayley has posted a handful of photos, some featuring the 3-21 INF. Fair warning - one is quite graphic.
Security Force operations net top terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 20, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 suspected terrorists in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Troops from the 3-3rd IIF also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody.
Troops from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained eight individuals including a mortar cell leader and future suicide bombers during operations in northern and western Mosul Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Citizen’s cooperation having positive affect on security
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 20, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized three weapons caches with the help of Iraqi citizens in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized two weapons caches during two separate search operations after being provided tips by local Iraqi civilians in western Mosul. The caches included five artillery rounds, an RPG launcher, 12 grenades, and an automatic rifle. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. The cache included 31 anti-tank mines, 22 grenades, 70 large machine gun rounds, 31 mortar rounds, and two smoke grenades. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi citizens have increasingly been more willing to turn in terrorists and their weapons to Security Forces in northern Iraq. Their cooperation has had a positive affect on the security situation in northern Iraq.
Winning in Iraq, one step at a time
Link to Full Article (Opinion)
By Oliver North
RAMADI, Iraq -- Our men and women in uniform, doing extraordinary work day in and day out, are winning the ongoing battle for Iraq. Some days, in some places, the battlefront requires house-to-house searches, military "hardware" and courageous actions by the most awe-inspiring fighting force the world has ever known. I witnessed the tenacity and skill of our Marines, soldiers and sailors firsthand in the recent Operation Matador. Other days, in other places -- and more commonly -- the battle is won with a smile, a shared canteen, a soccer ball, a "human experience," heart to heart. America's men and women in uniform are so remarkable (removed comma) because they play the dual roles of warrior and diplomat in the midst of a constant struggle between life and death.
Just the other day, Marine Lt. Dave Russell, a veteran of the recent Operation Matador, told me, "We get along very well with the Iraqi people. The children are always running up to us, looking for candy, pencils, footballs, whatever you want, and our interaction with the Iraqi populace on a whole has been extremely positive." Just a few weeks ago, Army Maj. Mark Bieger sent a U.S. helicopter on a life-flight mission in a vain attempt to save a young girl, a victim of a terrorist attack in Mosul. That helicopter could have been needed for force protection or medevac for U.S. troops. Bieger, husband and father of three, took the risk because he valued that one young Iraqi life so much. The Iraqi people have come to trust our troops -- that we do not intend to stay any longer than necessary; that we desire to help them be self-sufficient and leave as soon as possible. [...]
This is the story published about MAJ Bieger by Michael Yon.
Medics fill care void in Iraq towns
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
SKHARTIAT, Iraq — Wish as he might, Capt. Jon Christensen can’t cure them all. But if nothing else, he can help alleviate their discomfort.
Time and again, the 36-year-old physician’s assistant and his crew of medics from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division visit impoverished towns and villages that pepper Ninevah Province to bring medical supplies and knowledge that, if even for a short time, dissolve the aches of arthritis, burden of birth defects, hurt of heart disease.
“The thing we’re doing is trying to win the hearts and minds,” said Staff Sgt. Chuck Lanham, 43. “I know people don’t like that phrase anymore, but there’s no simpler way to describe it.”
Medics save lives, not take them, they said. Even soldier medics.
And so early Wednesday morning, the crew hopped into their specially configured Stryker armored vehicle and set out for a more than two-hour drive to Skhartiat to visit eight patients in a village of around 200 residents. [...]
Iraqi doctors aren’t trusted by villagers, Christensen said. They are thought to give medication just for the sake of dispensing medication. But it’s not always the doctors’ fault.
A handful of Skhartiat’s residents, for example, can’t read, which makes it hard to follow a prescription. Some can’t afford medical bills. Others have no vehicle to get to the larger towns and cities.
So they suffer. They ache. They cough. They battle diarrhea. They limp. They go blind. They compensate.
And in some places, they wait for the Americans.
Surprise sweep reveals terrorist-free Iraqi town
Another article from Stars & Stripes featuring the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery.
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
SHEIK IBRAHIM, Iraq — Mohammed Said Abudullah let out an incredulous laugh when asked if terrorists had provided his impoverish villagers with money to harbor weapons and provide a hideout.
“Look at what our children are wearing,” he said, pointing to their broken sandals and tattered clothing. “Look at the dirt on their faces. We are poor. There are no terrorists here. They have not given us money.”
And neither has the U.S. military, the 25-year-old Iraqi pointed out, speaking through a translator.
The 200-house village of Sheik Ibrahim, tucked in the foothills of northern Iraq less than 50 miles from the Syrian border, is difficult to reach.
But as battalions of the Iraqi Army become better trained and equipped to assume security responsibilities of the nation, towns like Sheik Ibrahim will be getting their fair share of attention, Iraqi leaders said.
In the meantime, residents can expect surprise sweeps by U.S. and Iraqi forces as they seek to root out insurgent strongholds, as was done Monday when soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division swooped in, cordoned off the village and had all the military-aged men assemble in the schoolhouse.
The forces have done the same in about 10 towns and villages in the past seven months.
National Assembly member’s home attacked, eight dead
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 19, 2005) – A terrorist attack on an Iraqi Transitional National Assembly member’s house ended with eight people dead, two injured, and at least three terrorists injured in northern Iraq today.
The U.S. military is investigating an incident where in Multi-National Force Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment observed terrorists on a rooftop near the Assembly member’s home in northeastern Mosul. Terrorists began firing at a helicopter that had been called to investigate. The helicopter returned fire injuring three terrorists. Members of the Transitional National Assembly member’s personal security team were killed and injured in an exchange of gun fire that followed. The injured parties were taken to a local hospital.
Operations continue in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 19, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraqi Wednesday and today.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations in western and southern Mosul today. Soldiers from the 1-24th also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southwestern Mosul Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for the citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi citizens take part in securing Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 19, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) responded to a tip from Iraqi children concerning a roadside bomb in northern Mosul today.
Commandos from the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade Iraqi Police and soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment received a tip from several Iraqi children that a large improvised explosive device was placed in the median of a road between two schools. The IED was defused with no Iraqi civilians, ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi civilians of all ages are taking action against terrorists in their community and their efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for the citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Westport first-graders welcome Sgt. Jenkins home as a hero
Link to Full Article
The Ceres Courier
Westport first-grader Skye Bradley couldn't have been prouder Wednesday afternoon as she escorted uncle, Army Sgt. Daniel Jenkins to her classroom with one hand wrapped around his arm and the other around an American flag.
Jenkins, 29, visited the school on a 14-day leave from his wartime duties in Iraq. The son-in-law of Westport teacher Karen Bradley and wife of former Westport student Mandy Bradley Jenkins came by to answer questions posed by students.
The sergeant, who joined the Army 10 years ago, guides the computer system in an armoured personnel carrier. He told students that he has lost a number of friends in Iraq.
Last November Jenkins was in the Army mess hall in Mozul which had been attacked by a suicide bomber. He was among the fortunate ones and escaped injury or death.
Jenkins lived in Ceres up to the age of two before his parents relocated to Lewistown, Idaho where he was raised. The irony is that the Idahon later met Mandy, another Ceres resident, through a mutual friend.
The visit was bitter-sweet for Mandy, who faced the reality of his impending departure. Daniel is returning to Iraq, likely for another six months.
"It's tough," she said. "But we stay in touch by phone or online when he's gone."
Mandy is using her time away from her husband in studying to become a teacher at Cal State Stanislaus.
Students asked about writing Jenkins and his wife supplied them the address. Readers may write Jenkins or any other soldier at the following address: Any Soldier, B.Col-24IN, SBCT RGT, APO AE 09345. - By JEFF BENZIGER / Managing editor of the Ceres (Calif.) Courier
Soldiers take turns in watch tower
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Climb 37 steps to the roof of a gutted former Iraqi Army barracks, then walk another 15 steps up into a wooden box where refreshing breezes blow on a 98-degree day, and you find yourself in Bravo Company’s watchtower.
Spc. Joe Jones of Portland ducks inside for the start of his three-hour shift and cracks open a beer – a nonalcoholic Beck’s, which he grabbed from the dining hall.
“It’s boring up here, but at the same time, I don’t want it to get too exciting,” says Jones, whose job with the Stryker brigade is working on missile systems.
“Then once in a while you get yay-hoos like that,” he says, pointing to a white sedan driving in reverse down the highway shoulder just outside the fence line. “But you can’t really say what he’s doing is wrong because there are no motor vehicle laws in this country.”
Welcome to another afternoon of tower duty for some of the Fort Lewis soldiers assigned to Forward Operating Base Marez. Everyone has to “pull guard” every few days, switching off between the dozens of sentry towers, the perimeter gates, chow hall and occasional convoy runs for supplies outside the wire. [...]
From this west-facing viewpoint, you can see Iraq’s main highway as it threads through a traffic checkpoint on the southern end of Mosul, past billboards for Siemens and Hitachi, and into the farm country beyond. It disappears over the horizon, running 250 miles south to Baghdad and another 300 miles to the Kuwait border.
For the first few months after the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division arrived last October, the towers provided a good place to look for insurgents ramping up their attacks before the Jan. 30 elections.
Pfc. Carlos Johnson points to an area of smashed pavement where he saw a piece of unexploded ordnance land within a few dozen yards of the tower’s base.
“It was still spinning,” recalls Johnson, who fixes generators. “That’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve seen up here.”
But Bravo’s tower is mostly a place for marking time. Someone from the 1st Brigade’s predecessors – Fort Lewis soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – drew two calendar pages on a wall, crossing off each day in September and October 2004 before they finally got to return to Tacoma.
“Good luck, 25th!” says a parting message to their replacements.
This second group of Stryker soldiers is halfway done with its deployment – not quite far enough along to count down calendar dates. They just mark time in their heads and in their conversations, to keep from getting sleepy. They long for hometowns and family activities – for Johnson, it is Savannah, Ga.; for McDonald, Greensboro, N.C.
During the day, they watch for suspicious vehicles, enemies who might be laying roadside bombs or potential trespassers getting too close to the fence line. After dark, they put on their night-vision goggles, look for curfew violators and swat mosquitoes.
And after three hours, they walk down 15 steps, then 37 more.
Iraqi Police seize large weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 19, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four suspected terrorists, seized a large weapons cache, and killed one terrorist during operations in northern Iraqi Wednesday.
Iraqi Police seized a large weapons cache during an operation southeast of Mosul. The cache included a rocket propelled grenade launcher, 14 RPG rounds, 30 RPG charges, 16 mortar rounds, a mortar tube, 26 mortar fuses, one anti-tank mine, a crate of TNT, and 13 sticks of PE explosive. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
A suicide bomber was shot and killed by Iraqi Security Forces after attempting to run the gate of their compound in northeastern Mosul. The vehicle contained 11 artillery rounds and 2,000 pounds of explosives. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for the citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
MNF continue to round up terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 18, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorists during operations in Northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three suspected terrorists in a raid conducted in southwestern Mosul.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four suspected terrorists and seized explosives-making materials in two raids conducted in eastern Mosul.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained a terrorist cell leader and two other terrorists during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul.
Efforts continue toward ensuring a safer environment for the citizens. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to round up terrorists and their destructive weapons so that citizens can live a terror free and peaceful existence.
TNT Blog Entries
Reporter Matt Misterek of The News Tribune has a couple new entries on the blog he's maintaining while in Iraq.
20 insurgents killed in fighting at Mosul
Link to Full Article
The Associated Press
BAGHDAD -- U.S. troops backed by attack helicopters clashed with militants in a Mosul neighborhood Tuesday, killing 20, the military and Iraqi officials said. In Baghdad, gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead, police said. [...]
On Tuesday, U.S. troops and militants clashed in the northern city of Mosul, and heavy exchanges of machine-gun fire were heard, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
U.S. forces were seen advancing into the eastern neighborhood of Dhubbat, a known insurgent stronghold in Iraq's third-largest city, which is 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. The city has suffered well-organized attacks by insurgents and dozens of deadly car bombs in past months.
U.S. military spokesman Sgt. John Franzen said American troops were investigating reports that a homemade bomb was planted in the area when they came under fire from militants.
"Forces were attacked and called in helicopters to support them in the battle with insurgents," Franzen said. He added that U.S. soldiers reported minimal damage to the two buildings and found no injured or dead insurgents.
But Lt. Gen. Ahmad Mohammed Khalaf, commander of Mosul's police forces, told a news conference later that U.S. aircraft destroyed two homes where the militants were holed up, killing 20.
He said U.S. soldiers fought 80 militants who had fled to Mosul from Qaim, a town near the Syrian border that was the scene of a recent weeklong U.S. military operation aimed at destroying supporters of Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Iraqi citizens helping make northern Iraq more secure
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 17, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five suspected terrorists, seized a number of weapons thanks to an Iraqi civilian’s tip, and defused a number of explosives during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache following an Iraqi civilian’s tip of the location of the weapons in western Mosul today. The cache included seven rocket propelled grenade rounds and six RPG charges. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment were able to successfully defuse a series of artillery rounds placed as an IED after Iraqi Police reported their presence south of Tal Afar today. No Iraqi civilians or MNF were reported injured during the incident.
Multi-National Force Soldiers detained a terror suspect who turned himself in at a MNF base near Tal Afar Monday. The suspect is in custody.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of possibly conducting mortar attacks during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul today. The 1-24th also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Stryker unit sets eye on Tigris River
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
NINEVAH PROVINCE, Iraq — First Lt. Drew Godwin is testing new waters.
The leader of 1st Platoon of Delta/52 Infantry Company, 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division is scouring the banks of the Tigris River in northern Iraq for spots where insurgents might cross over.
Insurgents have been known to cross the river at strategic points, especially at night, to bypass U.S. and Iraqi army checkpoints along the major routes between Mosul and Tal Afar, Godwin, 24, said. [...]
For the time being, the “Demons” of Delta/52 can only patrol the banks in Stryker vehicles, monitoring possible docking points and spreading word that boats are prohibited on the river at night, Godwin said. But he wants a boat so soldiers can begin patrolling the waterway itself, he said. [...]
Delta/52 has a unique outpost in Ash Shurah which they share with Iraqi soldiers of the 102nd Battalion and maintain a 24-hour presence in the town of 6,000 residents.
That’s where Spc. Krist Zeynalyan, 24, prefers to work.
“It’s a great success story,” Zeynalyan said. “When I’m back in the rear, I miss being out there. For one, it takes so long to get to a destination. Just one way can take an hour. Out there, we’re on our own schedule, there’s more freedom of movement. We’re out in the community, doing more patrolling and that makes me feel better about myself when I can really do my job.”
And the Iraqi army soldiers with whom they live and work have come a long way from once scurrying away from a firefight to now sticking by the American soldiers to provide security, U.S. soldiers said.
U.S. troops clash with militants in Mosul
UPDATED: Related articles added below.
Link to Full Article
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops backed by attack helicopters clashed with militants in Mosul on Tuesday, the military said. In Baghdad, gunmen killed a Shiite Muslim cleric, and two missing Sunni clerics were found shot dead, police said. [...]
U.S. troops and militants clashed in the northern city of Mosul on Tuesday, with heavy exchanges of machine gun fire heard, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
U.S. forces were seen advancing into the eastern neighborhood of Dhubbat, a known insurgent stronghold in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
"Forces were attacked and called in helicopters to support them in the battle with insurgents," said U.S. military spokesman Sgt. John H. Franzen. He did not have further details. [...]
Related Articles:
Iranian Envoy in Iraq for Talks, as Rebels Battle U.S. Gunships - The New York Times
The next line of defense
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
QUYARRAH, Iraq – A stone-faced Yousif Thofeek Sadeek stood before his 59 fellow Iraqi boot camp graduates Monday and led them in the soldier’s creed.
“I am an Iraqi soldier, a protector of my country,” they recited the opening lines crisply in their native language, eyes straight ahead, Arabs and Kurds standing side by side. “I am sworn to uphold the constitution and to fight terrorism in my country.” [...]
Sadeek, an honors graduate, was one of the stars of this basic combat training class. His is the second group to be taught by members of the Stryker Brigade at a U.S. compound amid rolling farm fields 39 miles south of Mosul. [...]
Instructors from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment dropped their drill-sergeant demeanor just long enough to join in the dance, wrapping their arms around the Iraqis and riding on their shoulders.
For the last four weeks, a cadre of Fort Lewis sergeants has taken a ragtag group of mostly illiterate shepherds, menial workers and jobless young men and taught them how to shoot an AK-47 rifle – the Iraqi army’s standard weapon – and to patrol a street, take down a suspect, administer first aid and a host of other basic combat skills. A few didn’t graduate because of disciplinary problems.
“It seems like just yesterday that these soldiers arrived here in civilian clothing in need of a fresh haircut,” said Master Sgt. Christopher House in some prepared remarks. “Now they are here before you in uniform, trained and ready to protect the Iraqi people.”
The troops of 2-8 Artillery – also known as “Automatic” – usually operate the big guns that back up the front-line Stryker infantry units. But on a nontraditional battlefield where there’s no front line, some of them have a new job: molding the future of the Iraqi Army. In addition to the 100 new recruits they’ve trained, they’re about to kick off a second class for non-commissioned officers. [...]
The training that Khashem and his classmates just completed is a condensed version of the 13-week boot camp required of American soldiers before they pursue an area of specialization.
“It’s basically the same things we went through,” said Sgt. Jeff Newton, who hails from Ohio and lives on post at Fort Lewis. “They have to do pushups and sit-ups like we had to do. They have to pull guard duty.”
Basic training in Quyarrah also comes with its share of rebukes from sharp-tongued sergeants, although the Iraqi translator is careful to turn the mother-related insults into something less culturally offensive – comparing a soldier to a donkey, for example.
There’s a good reason for the tough-guy approach, said Sgt. Jamal Dixon, 38, of Spanaway. “We want them to remember what we’re teaching them under duress,” Dixon said. “We want them to focus on it even when they’re being shot at.” [...]
Iraqi Security Forces detain terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 17, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorist in during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Troops from 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate cordon and search operations in central and western Mosul today and Monday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation near Sinjar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Local connection renewed by two soldiers in Iraq
Link to Full Article
Westside News, inc.
It was a chance conversation that led former Spencerport classmates and graduates (Class of 1988) Lonny MacDonald and Gary Vandertang to become reacquainted. The conversation is a bit out of the ordinary as it didn’t happen at a local sporting event or grocery store - it happened in Iraq, more than 6,000 miles from where they both started out.
“Gary and I met here through Task Force Freedom (TFF) Provost Marshal’s office,” MacDonald said. “One of the captains up in TFF that works with Gary’s unit asked me if I knew a ‘Gary Vander-something?’ I said, ‘You mean Gary Vandertang?’ The captain said ‘yeah, that’s him.’ ”
After that comment, the captain e-mailed Vandertang and confirmed that MacDonald worked in the 1/25 Infantry (SBCT). [...]
The article continues with interesting information about how these soldiers spend their day as members of Task Force Freedom.
U.S. soldiers reporting steady progress in one-time insurgent stronghold
News and photographs of Stryker Brigade action in northwest Iraq
Blood, sweat and tears pave way for new day in Tal Abtha
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
TAL ABTHA, Iraq — After seven months in the bowels of the war in Iraq, there’s one thing that lifts Sgt. Erik Griffin’s spirits.
“The one thing that doesn’t keep me down in the dumps is that I see progress,” said the 34-year-old soldier with Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. [...]
Progress also is measured by the collaboration between the U.S. and Iraqi army forces.
On Wednesday, 2-8 U.S. soldiers and 102nd Iraqi Army Battalion detained 94 suspected insurgents and killed three in a firefight that ensued after they descended on the town of Aitha.
The assault didn’t come without a high price, however. Two Iraqi army soldiers were killed and two U.S. soldiers were wounded severely.
With the U.S. military clampdown on the northern city of Mosul, insurgents have been heading south and west to the vast open areas of Ninevah province, where they find safe harbor in impoverished tiny towns and villages. [...]
On May 7, combined forces of U.S. soldiers and 102nd and 107th Iraqi Army Battalions cracked down on the village of Muhallabiyah, a nexus of insurgent activity where terrorists manufactured car bombs.
An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed three ready-made car bombs, and forces detained 34 suspected insurgents.
But the soldiers don’t rest on their laurels. In fact, they don’t rest much at all.
Missions for soldiers of Battery C, for example, typically last for 12 hours or more mainly because it takes so long to drive from one objective to another. Most soldiers get by on five or six hours of sleep, if that.
On the long drives, they often pass the time talking about anything that pops into their minds. About their families, life in Iraq, near-death experiences, future plans. And there’s always a comic among them.
“I signed up for three years and I want to get out in three years,” said Pfc. Tony Gastone, 25, of Long Island. “I need to go home. I need to become president. They need me.”
Toby Keith electrifies Mosul troops
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, IRAQ – By the time Toby Keith finished a 25-minute acoustic set Sunday in Mosul, the crowd was so pumped up you might have thought he’d just played a two-hour show at the Tacoma Dome with two encores.
The soldiers of the Stryker Brigade weren’t watching the clock, however, and they weren’t shelling out the $45 to $60 they would have paid to see the country superstar’s unabridged honky-tonk act in Tacoma six months ago. [...]
“I’ve been trying to see him for six years. All it took is for me to go to Iraq and get shot at,” said Lt. Raub Nash, 25, of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, known as “Deuce Four.” “In college, I was too poor to see him.” [...]
Capt. Brian Jovag grew up in Kirkland listening to Seattle grunge bands such as Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. It’s just been the past few years that Jovag, a physical therapist with the brigade’s support battalion, has learned to appreciate Keith.
“He speaks to the reality of being a soldier and being in the Army,” said Jovag, 34, of Tacoma. [...]
“Are you kidding me? It’s amazing,” said Lt. Col. Cheri Provancha, commander of the 25th Brigade Support Battalion. “Folks just don’t come up this far.”
Keith’s new CD hits record stores on Tuesday, the same day he’ll appear on the Academy of Country Music Awards via satellite during his USO tour.
The 4,000-some Stryker soldiers aren’t likely to return home to Fort Lewis until the fall, and Sgt. Bruce Gleason of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry “Bobcats” said they need whatever inspiration they can find to keep their chins up.
“This will put some fire in the young men and women,” Gleason said, “make them strong for a few more months.”
Another terrorist attack targets innocent civilians
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 16, 2005) – A terrorist drive-by shooting caused a vehicle accident that killed one innocent Iraqi civilian and injured another in eastern Mosul Sunday. Terrorist attacks against innocent civilians are becoming more frequent and reckless, with terrorists continually disregarding the safety of innocent Iraqi civilians.
Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained seven suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Iraqi Police detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in northern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southwestern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Forces detain 21
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 15, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 21 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq Saturday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations south of Sinjar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations in southeastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
With the Stryker Brigade in Iraq
There are two news posts from News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley.
Keep your gear out of the toilet, soldier
Free speech, measured in watts
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Just a few nights after mortars pounded some nearby fields, the fortresslike compound of the Iraqi Media Network enjoys a peaceful Wednesday sunset.
A Fort Lewis soldier boots a soccer ball with an Iraqi soldier and three Kurdish kitchen workers. Two stray dogs settle their litters of puppies in for the night. And several men from Charlie Company rest on their cots until their next shift in the Stryker vehicles parked out front.
The emblem of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment is the gimlet – a bitted tool that’s tougher than stone – which helps explain the battalion’s motto, “Bore, brother, bore.”
After pulling 48-hour detail guarding these gates, however, they might consider changing it to “Bored, brother, bored.”
Locally known as Al Iraqiya, the TV network that transmits four hours a day might be the best hope for a free press in northern Iraq and the source of one of the most popular shows in the country.
But the soldiers from Washington’s second Stryker brigade mostly tune out the TV and radio technicians down the hall.
“We don’t talk to them and they don’t talk to us,” Sgt. John Garrison said after emerging from two hours inside an armored Stryker carrier.
Still, there’s a sense of accomplishment in helping keep the network on the air.
“It’s not so much that we take pride in what they do, but we take pride in what we do protecting them,” said the 36-year-old New Yorker. “Because if Ali Baba gets a lot of bad information out to the public, then it’s not good for anybody.”
The soldiers have been here since January, when a string of mortar attacks led commanders to assign a rotating security platoon. To some it might look like a war-zone defense of First Amendment values, but the brigade is primarily just protecting one of its most valuable assets – information. [...]
“In an insurgency, getting information out to the general public is one of the key tools of the fight, because it prevents the bad guys from moving around anonymously,” said Maj. Mark Smith, information operations coordinator for the brigade.
But when it comes to Al Iraqiya’s most controversial program, “Terrorism in the Grip of Justice,” brigade leaders stress that the network is working independently.
The show has featured footage of bruised and spirit-broken detainees confessing to terrorism, drug abuse and other anti-social acts rivaling anything on “The Jerry Springer Show.”
Human rights advocates say the confessions look coerced and might violate the Geneva Convention. The Iraq Interior Ministry has pledged to review the show.
“We have to keep our distance,” said Smith, the brigade information operations coordinator, “because there are legal issues.” [...]
Though the mortar hits and other threats have tapered off since the elections, the risks continue. Omari, the station engineer, said he was headed out to visit a transmitter site recently when he discovered the brake lines of his pickup truck had been cut. A female newsreader was abducted in the city and never heard from again.
But Faisal and Omari are determined to keep the cameras rolling.
“If I didn’t do my job and that man over there didn’t do his job,” Omari said, pointing around the studio, “then who would do it? This is the tax for the good of our city, and we must pay it.”
TFF Press Releases
Task Force Freedom distributed a number of press releases today - full text provided below.
Security further being improved through successful operations
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 14, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five suspected terrorists and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police led Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery to the site of a large weapons cache south of Tal Afar. The cache included two rocket propelled grenade launchers, 12 RPG rounds, seven mortar rounds, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, six fuses, and 144 artillery rounds. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three terrorists after they were attacked with small arms fire while patrolling in eastern Mosul. Two of the terrorists were injured when 3-21st Soldiers returned fire, they were detained following treatment. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one terrorist and seized an AK-47, pistol, and ammunition after they were attacked while patrolling in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation near the Syrian border. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Two innocent civilians dead in suicide attacks
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 14, 2005) – At least two innocent Iraqi civilians were killed during two terrorist attacks in northern Iraq today.
Both attacks were suicide car bomb attacks that took place in northern Mosul. The first was near a Multi-National Force convoy that killed two innocent civilians. The second exploded in a neighborhood and was believed to have directly targeted innocent civilians. Multi-National Forces arrived on the scene after Iraqi Police had already secured the area and evacuated the injured to a local hospital.
These attacks show a continued pattern of terrorist attacks that have targeted and disregarded the lives and safety of innocent citizens.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
With help of Iraqi civilians Multi-National Forces securing northern Iraq
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 14, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 16 suspected terrorists, seized a large number of weapons, and defused an improvised explosive device during operation in northern Iraq Friday.
A tip provided by an Iraqi civilian led Multi-National Force Soldiers to the site of an improvised explosive device in western Mosul. MNF were able to defuse the IED without any civilians or MNF Soldiers being injured.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a number of weapons from a vehicle at a checkpoint in eastern Mosul. The weapons seized included two Ak-47s, one RPK Russian machine gun, one rocket propelled grenade launcher, seven RPG rounds, two mortar tubes, and 27 mortar rounds. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during three operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a patrol south of Qayyarah. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation east of Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation north of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Five Iraqi civilians killed following terrorist attack on Multi-National Forces
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 13, 2005) – Three terrorists were killed by Multi-National Forces when several vehicles used small arms fire to attack a military convoy in northern Iraq today.
The vehicles had attempted to ram the convoy and then began firing at Multi-National Force Soldiers in Mosul; the return fire killed three terrorists and destroyed one vehicle. Two more vehicles approached the convoy appearing to be hostile. The Soldiers fired on the vehicles disabling both. Five Iraqi civilians were killed as a result. The attack is under investigation.
SGT Mike Buyas Update
Back in March we posted an article about SGT Mike Buyas, who was seriously injured in Mosul before Christmas. While he's still recovering at Walter Reed, his local community is holding a fundraiser to assist his family. Lynda, a former "Stryker Mom", sent us the following press release the group put together, which includes donation information if you would like to help.
NORTH CENTRAL WA COMMUNITIES SUPPORT HERO
Last December, on the eve of Christmas Eve, Sgt. Michael Buyas, 1st BN/5th Inf, 1/25 SBCT, was on patrol near Mosul. His Stryker hit a large IED, flipping the 22 ton vehicle and catapulting Buyas more than 40 feet distance. He woke up Christmas Day at Walter Reed Army hospital, his wife, Carrie, at his side. The explosion cost Buyas his left leg above the knee and his lower right leg.
This Ft. Lewis soldier from Chelan, WA is working hard on his rehabilitation at Walter Reed, and making an awesome recovery. In March, when his three young sons came to WR for the first time since the accident, Buyas was concerned about their reaction to his prosthetic legs. Jaiden, age 3, summarized it best - "Cool! You've got robot legs."
Extended family and several North-central Washington communities have rallied in support of this SBCT soldier and his family. On 21 May, Armed Forces Day, the Columbia River H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) will hold its 3rd annual "Run For the Border". More than 300 motorcycles are expected to gather in Wenatchee to make the 300 mile RT ride to the US/Canada border at Oroville and back. The Ride, initiated as a fundraiser to support military personnel with special needs, last year raised more than $14,000 for Campaign SOS (Support Our Soldiers). This year's proceeds will benefit Sgt. Buyas and his family in their housebuilding project.
A fund has been established by the Fraternal Order of Police, NCW Lodge #17. Contributions may be made to:
NCWFOP Michael Buyas Benefit Fund, and deposited with the North Central Credit Union, 349 Simon Street, East Wenatchee, WA 98802. Tel: 509-884-2222.
Soldier from Stryker brigade ‘fought with all he had’
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – 1st Sgt. Michael J. Bordelon came from a Cajun Coast community known for its swamp tours and antebellum homes.
And whether he was serving his country at Fort Lewis or in Mosul, Iraq, he was still every square inch a bubba from St. Mary Parish, La. – from his appetite for red beans and rice to the way he liked a good front-porch sitdown with his sergeants.
“One day I know we will be together, and I will see that crazy Cajun from Louisiana again,” said Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, commander of the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry, better known around here as “Deuce Four.”
Bordelon’s life and his leadership of nearly 200 soldiers were remembered Friday evening in a darkened theater on Mosul’s largest U.S. Army base, just a few hours before a light rain and lightning storm blew through. [...]
Deuce Four has suffered more total casualties than any other Stryker battalion. It is sometimes referred to as “the tip of the spear,” and its counterinsurgency operations have taken it into some of the most lawless parts of Mosul west of the Tigris River. Bordelon’s company alone has had 38 soldiers wounded.
Carrothers, the chaplain, cited a biblical passage from the book of Isaiah that says, “The Lord will march out like a mighty man.”
He said people can know more of what God is like by looking at the mighty warriors of history, and he counted Bordelon among them.
“We see our lives in a new light because of you. We see our God in a new light because of you,” Carrothers said in closing.
“Godspeed, 1st Sgt. Bordelon.”
Another memorial
A memorial service for 1st Sgt. Michael J. Bordelon will be held Monday at 2:30 p.m. at the main post chapel at Fort Lewis.
He died Tuesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio from combat injuries suffered April 23 in Mosul, Iraq.
Michael Yon: Online Magazine
There is a new posting in the blog of this embedded reporter.
Multi-National Forces seize large weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 14, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a large weapons cache during an operation in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation southwest of Qayyarah. The cache included 16 rocket propelled grenade rounds, a mortar round, one case of fuses, two bags of charges, one pound of C4 explosives, and a case of ammunition. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Pursuit continues, route of terrorists persists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 18 suspected terrorists and confiscated a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Troops from the 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force and 106th Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized two rocket propelled grenade launchers and hundreds of rounds of AK-47 ammunition northwest of Mosul Thursday. Troops from the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment recovered a cache of weapons in eastern Mosul after receiving a tip from an Iraqi civilian Thursday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations west of Tal Afar today. Soldiers from the 1-24th detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during raids in western Mosul today. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
The decline in terrorist attacks in recent days can be attributed to successful Security Force operations in that time period, including a single operation that lead to the detention of 94 suspected terrorists Wednesday.
U.S. forces rebuild ragged local police
Link to Full Article
By David Axe, Washington Times
QAYYARAH, Iraq - U.S. forces in the area around the northern city of Mosul are rebuilding the local police in the wake of a complete collapse of native forces last year.
"It all happened in two weeks," said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker.
Col. Becker commands the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis in Washington state.
Since October, the 2nd Battalion has patrolled the dusty approaches to Mosul, an area known to U.S. soldiers as Q-West after its most important town, Qayyarah.
Qayyarah, which is located along the Tigris River and the main Baghdad-Mosul highway, controls approaches to Mosul from the south. Police in Qayyarah are critical to keeping insurgents from reaching Mosul, an impoverished and ethnically divided city.
In the wake of a battle for Fallujah in November, Q-West, which had been relatively peaceful, "fell apart," said Maj. Kevin Murphy, Col. Becker's operations officer. [...]
The insurgents' flight from Fallujah to Mosul coincided with Ramadan, the Muslim religious month of fasting, which last year inspired anti-American violence countrywide.
The result was bloodshed in Q-West late last year as the insurgency's center of gravity shifted north.
Police stations were attacked. Iraqi army bases were struck. Iraqi police and soldiers deserted by the thousands.
"I went from 2,000 police to 50," Col. Becker said, adding that there was a similar exodus in the Iraqi army. "Let me tell you, there were some sleepless nights."
After six months of intensive effort by the 2nd Battalion and other coalition forces, Iraqi forces in the area are back up to strength.
Officers say there are three battalions of 500 Iraqis each manning checkpoints and outposts in Q-West.
And hundreds of Iraqi police are operating out of new stations in Qayyarah and surrounding towns.
With the Stryker Brigade in Iraq
There are two news posts from News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley.
Where's AAA roadside when you need it
The dangers and the food, et cetera
Civilian’s death mars day’s work
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – A body bag for a fallen comrade elicits the worst feelings imaginable. A body bag for a terrorist who won’t surrender is a cause for celebration.
But when Stryker brigade soldiers bundled up the body of 45-year-old Turky Mansor Abshee on Thursday afternoon, there was virtually no emotion at all – just the awareness that an Iraqi civilian had been killed for no good reason.
It happened in the Al Bareed neighborhood of northeast Mosul, where a platoon from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment and a group of Iraqi soldiers they’re training were ready for another day of hunting down bad guys. Instead, they found themselves stalled while an Army explosives team disposed of a roadside bomb up ahead.
It wasn’t long before the Stryker soldiers heard the radio call of a KIA – killed in action – behind them, where their Iraqi protégés were supposed to be blocking traffic.
A passenger in a white Toyota pickup truck was dead, shot in the head by an Iraqi soldier whose marksmanship was exemplary but whose judgment was not.
“These guys can get skitchy on the trigger finger,” said Spc. Chris Reed, who took photos and collected other evidence at the scene. “It’s our standard operating procedure to fire two or three shots at the ground, but they don’t seem to get it.” [...]
Mosul was on high alert for potential suicide bombers Thursday, but Stryker forces didn’t encounter any in what turned out to be the fourth consecutive day of fewer-than-average enemy attacks.
Still, there’s a constant recognition that things could change overnight and northern Iraq could begin to resemble Baghdad, which was struck by two suicide attacks and two other bombings Thursday. The worst killed at least 12 Iraqis and wounded more than 56 near a market and a cinema.
The Fort Lewis soldiers with 3rd Platoon are all too familiar with the dangers of VBIEDs. On May 4, one of their Strykers was knocked out of service – and their platoon sergeant was sent home with face and hand injuries – when a suicide bomber smashed into the right front side. The force of the impact knocked all the radios off their mounts and blew open the rear hatch.
But Thursday, as the soldiers prepared to return to base from the Al Bareed neighborhood, there was a sense of the routine in the midst of the unpredictable. The roadside bomb had been safely disposed of, and an ambulance was en route to pick up the dead civilian.
“We had some of the usual day-to-day frustrations, but it’s all good,” Kenworthy said. “Just another day at the office.”
The 361st Psychological Operations
We should not forget that there are many ways in which soldiers support our infantry.
The 361st Psychological Operations Company in Iraq
Thanks to SFC SHAWN W. MCELRAVY for the link.
Michael Yon: Online Magazine
Embedded author Michael Yon has a new entry from Mosul on his site.
Iraq war casualty making progress
An update on SGT Brandon Huff, including details regarding a fund established on his behalf.
Link to Full Article
By SHAWBONG FOK/Democrat Staff Writer
Sgt. Brandon Huff remains in stable condition, his health improving since being admitted on April 26 to the intensive care unit of Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Since May 3, Huff has been in the orthopedic ward, where he continues undergoing multiple therapies that have tended his infections and physical traumas sustained by a hidden explosive, said Huff's father, Don. [...]
Although not able to stand, Brandon has been conditioning in the ward so he could eventually use an above-the-knee prosthesis that will help him resume a more normal way of life.
Brandon, having also sustained shrapnel wounds from the bomb, has underwent surgeries to speed up the healing process. His most severely injured area on his body, the abdominal area, should completely heal within the next 10 to 14 days, Don said. [...]
Donations to Brandon may be sent to Wells Fargo in Woodland. Give the bank cash or check made out to: Wells Fargo Account No. 3546050018. Left over money will be donated to the family support program at WRACK.
Letters may be sent to: Sgt. Brandon Huff, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20307-5001.
ISF lead in single operation that turns in 94 suspected terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 12, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 97 suspected terrorists, killed four terrorists and injured another two during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
During a tremendously successful operation lead by Iraqi Security Forces troops from the 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment killed three terrorists and detained 94 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah.
Soldiers from the 2-8th also detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint west of Qayyarah. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist and injured another two with small arms fire while patrolling in central Mosul. Troops from the 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul.
1SG Michael Bordelon
Family members have confirmed the death of 1SG Michael Bordelon. 1SG Bordelon, 37, of Louisiana, died yesterday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He died of injuries sustained when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker military vehicle in Mosul, Iraq, on April 23. 1SG Bordelon was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Ft. Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers during this difficult time. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry. This entry will remain at the top of the page today. Please scroll down for more news.
UPDATE: A memorial service for 1SG Bordelon will be held at 2:30 PM on Monday, May 16th at the Main Post Chapel, Ft. Lewis.
First war fatality confirmed - Morgan City Daily-Review
Soldier dies of wounds from blast - The Daily Advertiser
Fort Lewis soldier dies at Texas hospital - News Tribune
Wounded Stryker sergeant dies - Seattle P-I
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Press Release
Council memorializes fallen soldier - Morgan City Daily-Review
Soldier from Stryker brigade ‘fought with all he had’ - News-Tribune
Michael J. Bordelon - Michael Yon: Online Magazine
Soldier laid to rest - The Daily Advertiser
Memorial Day - This year is special - The Daily Review
94 suspected insurgents detained in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
FOB QAYYARAH-WEST, Iraq — Ninety-four suspected insurgents were detained and at least three killed Wednesday in a firefight that ensued after U.S. and Iraqi soldiers descended on the town of Aitha in the pre-dawn hours.
Of the 94 detainees, at least five are considered to be mid- to high-level targets sought by coalition forces as possible terrorists, said Maj. Kevin Murphy, operations officer of 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. [...]
Aitha, about an hour south of the northern city of Mosul, “is known as a town that harbors terrorists,” said Capt. Mike Yea, the fire support officer. “It has a decent number of people [a population about 2,000], so terrorists can hide and blend in. And it’s close to a major highway” which insurgents use to traffic weapons and people between Mosul and Baghdad, he said.
About 5 a.m., 2/8’s Battery B cordoned off the town to prevent anyone from entering and leaving, as the 102nd IA Battalion, accompanied by U.S. Special Forces, took the lead in rounding up suspects and searching homes, Murphy said.
By 2 p.m., the forces had searched and cleared all of the town’s estimated 55 homes, Yea said. No weapons caches were found in what was dubbed Operation Fruit Brute, a reference to a short-lived General Mills cereal. [...]
Soldiers Try to Bridge Cultural, Military Divide
Provided below is a summary of an audio report by NPR. Follow the link and click the "Listen" icon.
Morning Edition, May 11, 2005 · The number of attacks in Iraq rises and falls, but that is just one way to try to measure progress in the war. Other factors are harder to quantify. One is the way Iraqis view the American troops who still patrol their cities. Philip Reeves spent a day with an American platoon in and around the northern city of Mosul.
Security measures continue to yield weapons and terror suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 11, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 17 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday night.
Troops from the 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Iraqi Police arrested two curfew violators while patrolling in southern Mosul. Troops from the 3rd Division Iraqi Army detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation northeast of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation southwest of Tal Afar. Multi-National Force Soldiers detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation west of Tal Afar. Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during cordon and search operations in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Trading big guns for rifles
This is a featured article on a SBCT unit. The full article can be found in the 16 May print edition of the Army Times.
New grunts also take on role of trainers
Link To Full Article (subscription)
By Alex Neill, Army Times
AYYARAH, Iraq — Five Humvees pull to a sudden halt in the street, surprising the dozens of men milling about the grimy car lot at the edge of this ragged market town.
The soldiers seamlessly dismount in full battle rattle, shouldering their M4s. The vehicle drivers take blocking positions to close off the road. The hatch gunners scan the area, gripping their squad automatic weapons.
Capt. Ryan Gist, filling in for a platoon leader on leave this day, had learned that a suspected terrorist might be at the lot. Though his team was heading home after a long, hot day of patrolling about 40 miles south of Mosul, he detoured them here.
Striding into the narrow car-lot office with his M4 slung over his shoulder, he greets the men loitering nearby as more drift toward the scene. A couple of soldiers follow him inside, where he sits down and soon begins prodding the Iraqis inside for information. They offer cold cans of Pepsi, but the atmosphere is not altogether welcoming. [...]
Though the mission had the markings of an infantry action, it was conducted by cannon cockers, the artillerymen of Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery. The soldiers of the Fort Lewis, Wash.-based unit have reinvented themselves for this war, one in which the big guns have been all but silent.
Part of 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), the 2-8 soldiers have not only had to learn to walk and talk like grunts, they’ve assumed a big chunk of the responsibility for teaching infantry skills to Iraqi army forces. [...]
The soldiers have honed their infantry skills by having to master them enough to teach them, as 2-8 soldiers have been training Iraqi army troops. The training began before 2-8 got here, but disintegrated in November when the IA came under heavy attack during Ramadan and either fled or refused to fight.
The 2-8 was left to pick up the pieces. Becker hired three new commanders for the IA battalions. He fired one of the previous leaders and arrested another suspected of having ties to the insurgency.
“The Iraqi army did not stand and fight,” he said. “They easily could have stood up to the fight — they had plenty of weapons and plenty of soldiers — they lacked leadership.”
Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Martinez spearheaded the establishment of a three-week NCO Academy to drill IA soldiers in leadership skills, as well as a four-week basic training course in which a cadre of 2-8 artillerymen teach future IA troops basic rifle marksmanship, dismounted operations and other fundamental skills of the grunt.
“It fit right in with what was going on,” Martinez said.
The 2-8 also conducts joint patrols with IA forces, assigning individual platoons of about 20 soldiers to companies of about 120 to 150 Iraqi army soldiers. They’ve gone out together and kicked in doors and arrested bad guys with the howitzers left behind at Forward Operating Base Endurance like silent relics of a recent past. [...]
With the Stryker Brigade in Iraq
This new blog is back up with an improved format. Two recent posts highlight SBCT soldiers.
News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley are in Iraq following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis. See how the Stryker Brigade is doing in Iraq with their regular reports and add your comments to the mix.
Army moms deserve more than chocolate
Robot on patrol
Michael Yon Articles
Embedded author Michael Yon has two new entries from Mosul on his site:
- Fallen Soldier - Regarding SGT Anthony Davis.
- Rounding Up Bombers - Outlining recent 1-24 INF operations.
Thanks to Moose for the links.
MNF continue to impede terrorists resources
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 10, 2005) –Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment received a tip leading to the seizure of a weapons cache in an area south of Mosul. The weapons cache consisted of 46 RPG rounds, 11 RPG launchers, five artillery rounds, six AK-47 magazines, two spools of wire, two containers of small arms ammunition, one bag of IED ignition timers, one bag of IED ignition switches and other bomb making material, 200 sticks of explosives, one bag of plastic explosives, one bag of explosives igniters, one periscope, one bag of mortar charges, one bag of shotgun shells, one can of anti-tank grenade fuses, two sets of night-vision goggles, 150 lbs of C4 plastic explosives, and one can of TNT explosives.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual during operations in southwestern Mosul today. The individual stated he was a terrorist and hated America during questioning.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two suspected terrorists in western Mosul today.
Troopers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained a suspected weapons smuggler during a cordon and search operation near the Syrian border in northern Mosul today.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
An Iraqi girl’s life ends but image lingers
Link to Full Article
MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – Spc. Moises Medina regrets now that he even asked the question.
The young girl he was treating – the victim of a car bomber on a crowded street in west Mosul – made him think of his own daughter back in Spanaway. The 24-year-old Stryker brigade medic checked the Iraqi girl’s vital signs and tried to keep her alive on the way to the hospital.
At some point he felt compelled to ask: How old is she?
“Two years and two months,” Medina recalled the answer Monday. “I pretty much knew that she wasn’t going to make it, but I have a daughter the same age. I made the mistake of asking.
“This one will be with me for a long time.”
By now, much of the world has seen the wrenching photograph of a Fort Lewis officer cradling a dying toddler after a suicide bomber left a neighborhood in ashes last week. It has appeared in newspapers everywhere, galvanizing the emotions of everyone from soccer moms to bloggers to the commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
“It shows the compassion of the American soldier versus the evil of the terrorists and religious extremists,” said Col. Bob Brown, who leads the Stryker troops in northern Iraq.
What the world will likely never see is a single image that captures the quick actions of the brigade’s infantry scouts. Patrolling a part of the city where they circulate nearly every day, they were the first to swoop in after seeing a dark plume rise in the west on April 28.
Security Forces continue relentless pursuit of security in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 25 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Troops from the 101st Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army; the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army and the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained six members of a terrorist cell during a cordon and search in northeastern Mosul today. All suspects are in custody.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained a suspected terrorist and confiscated one sniper rifle, one RPG launcher, one pistol, two rockets, three mortar rounds, one AK-47, and various magazines of small arms ammunition during a cordon and search conducted in Mosul Monday.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14 Cavalry Regiment detained 18 suspected terrorists and confiscated five AK-47s, one sniper rifle, five rifles, two pistols, three shotguns, various types of small arms ammunition and $100,000 in US currency in a cordon and search conducted near Tal Afar Monday.
Soldiers from the Task Force Freedom Provost Marshall’s Office seized a weapons cache consisting of three RPGs, three mortar rounds, and an IED detonation device.
The Number of Operations designed to enhance security in the north continue unabated. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have been relentless in their pursuit of terrorists who threaten the peace and security of citizens.
Recent Videos
Provided below are descriptions of, and links to, the latest videos from Mosul, courtesy of the DVIDS website. Included are the Stryker vehicle testimonials that people have been asking for, as well as an interview with author/photographer Michael Yon who took the unforgettable Little Girl photo.
Interview with Michael Yan/Fox
Freelance photographer, Michael Yan, talks from Mosul to a Fox news reporter in New York about photographs he took of Major Mark Beager (1st Battalion, 24th Regiment) holding a wounded Iraqi girl. He also talks about insurgents attacking the regiment's Stryker, which was near playing children at the time of strike. Video from 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
[Correct spelling is Michael Yon and Major Mark Bieger - Strykernews]
Several Soldiers from 3/21 Infantry, and 1/24 Infantry, of the 1/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team (Fort Lewis, WA) give testimonials about the Stryker combat vehicle's ability to save Soldier's lives. Soundbites from 1) Sergeant First Class Robert Bowman, 2) Specialist Michael Braskett, 3) First Lieutenant Michael Lueckeman, 4) Sergeant Hector Matos, 5) Lieutenant Colonel Eric Kurilla, 6) Sergeant First Class Pablo Coronado, 7) First Lieutenant John Bourque, 8) Sergeant Joshua Tatum, 9) Staff Sergeant Michael Randolph, 10) Captain Christopher Hossfield, 11) Staff Sergeant Duane Kohlman, 12) Major Mark Bieger, 13) Lieutenant Colonel Michael Gibler, 14) Sergeant First Class Robert Ercolino, 15) Captain Bradley Warr, 16) Sergeant Jeffrey Reynoso, 17) Chief Warrant Officer Third Class Joseph Deblois, 18) Specialist Jerry Abriam, and 19) Specialist Dustin Buyatt. Video produced by Sergeant First Class Lance Milsted, 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Mosul, Iraq.
The 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (Fort Lewis, WA) like to take it easy at the end of the day, so they gather around a fire to share stories, have friendly conversations, laugh with each other, and smoke cigars. They call this place the 'Sappers Lounge,' "a place to decompress." Soundbites from Staff Sergeant Jesse Grandinetti, Specialist Joseph Hillard, Staff Sergeant Chester Wall, Specialist Bobby Doucat, and Sergeant Roy Freeman. Video produced by Sergeant First Class Lance Milsted, 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Mosul, Iraq.
The 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (Fort Lewis, WA) has the important job of searching for, identifying, and disposing of improvised explosive devices before they can do any damage. Soundbites from platoon sergeant Staff Sergeant Jesse Grandinetti, and medic Staff Sergeant Vincent Sandoval. Video produced by Sergeant First Class Lance Milsted, 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Mosul, Iraq.
Four Soldiers from the 98th Division (Rochester, NY) talk about a recent weapons cache found near Al Kasek, Iraq. 1) Major J. B. Smith talks about this being the first Iraqi Army operation involving two independent units, as well as being the first time that they've operated under black-out drive. 2) Staff Sergeant Rick Avery comments about some odd metal found in a field. 3) Captain Carl Bronson gives in formation about the ammunition that was found buried at the site. And 4) Master Sergeant John DeMarco explains that the arms dealer got away. See also " Al Kasek Weapons Cache" package and b-roll in the Iraq section. Video from 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Mosul, Iraq.
Specialist Charlotte Swab talks from Mosul to reporter at KTVQ in Billings, Montana about her duties in the post office, and how she is dealing with separation from her husband and home. Video from 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
Interview With 1SG Watkins/KING TV
First Sergeant Kevin Watkins talks from Mosul to reporter at KING TV in Seattle, Washington about recent violence in Mosul. He says the level has risen recently but is only ten percent of the amount of violence experienced around the January elections. He also tells how he keeps his Soldiers focused on the mission during their last few months of duty. Video from 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
Staff Sergeant John Mitchell(Hometown: Tacoma, Wa) talks to a reporter at KIRO, Seattle, about his job in Mosul. SSG Mitchell helps keep the local population informed about the Military's efforts. Video by the 366th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. (USAR)
Lakewood softball team inspires dads, others on front lines
Link to Full Article
By TED MILLER, SEATTLE P-I
LAKEWOOD -- The little things -- the details -- matter in sports. And in father-daughter relationships. And in war.
Jazmin Mercado, Jennifer Pich, Alyson McWherter and Liesl Chappell understand that more than most adolescents. The four Lakes High School softball players learned from their fathers to keep their chins down when the ball is bouncing toward them; to not drop their front shoulder when batting; and to embrace the mental part of competition.
"He always says, 'Remember to breathe. ... When everything gets overwhelming, just remember to breathe,' " Alyson said.
Their dads are in the Army and based at Fort Lewis. Jennifer, Alyson and Liesl's fathers are safely home, their tours complete after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Jazmin's father, Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Mercado, is part of the "Bobcats" -- the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade -- based near Mosul, a city of 2 million in northern Iraq that has long been a flashpoint for the insurgency. [...]
Victor Mercado and his buddies can't wait to get their sports scores every morning. These are red-blooded American males after all. Their base's Internet cafe makes it a lot easier than during past wars.
More and more often, though, the Bobcats aren't checking their hometown pro teams first. They eagerly await write-ups on Lancers games provided by coach Gerry Nuss.
"It's better than (reading about) the Mariners, because they are winning and are really playing with heart," Mercado wrote to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by e-mail. "I get nightly updates from Coach Gerry, Robin (Mercado's wife) and Jazmin after every game. In turn, I forward them to everyone in my address book.
Top Army general praises Strykers
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK; The News Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq – The U.S. Army’s highest-ranking general clashed with all the assembled Stryker brigade officers Sunday morning as he paid a visit to their main tactical operations center.
Or rather, their uniforms clashed.
Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army’s chief of staff, arrived decked out in the Army’s new pixilated sage-green-and-beige battle dress uniform. The soldiers of the Army’s 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division still wear the traditional tan camouflage pattern.
Otherwise, the general was fully in synch with leaders of Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade as he individually greeted them in one of Saddam’s former palaces.
Schoomaker later stepped down into a former swimming pool, which now contains the space where captains present their daily battle updates amid video screens and communications gear. [...]
ven while he was working the room, business carried on as usual for soldiers on the ground, including the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry’s discovery of a cache that contained 40 artillery rounds and four rockets. Before he left, Schoomaker made a house call on infantrymen with another battalion, the 3-21 “Gimlets.” [...]
While waiting for the general to arrive, Stryker captains and other commanders milling around the operations center joked about how they rarely get a Sunday off from a VIP visit these days. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a trip here at Christmastime and again this spring. Sen. John Kerry passed through in January.
But the fact that powerful people are coming to Mosul is a positive development, according to the brigade’s top two leaders.
“They want to get a feeling for this area,” said Lt. Col. Emmett Schaill, the brigade’s deputy commander. “There is a spreading realization that northern Iraq is important to the success of all Iraq.” [...]
“Everybody wants to come see the Stryker brigade and see what the future looks like,” he said. “We are a bridge between the old and the new.”
ISF helping take out terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 9, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday night.
Troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force killed one terrorists with small arms fire and detained another three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southeastern Mosul today. Troops from 103rd Battalion, 20th Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah Sunday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southwestern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Terrorist attacks continue to target innocent Iraqis
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 8, 2005) – Four Iraqi citizens were killed in two attacks in northern Iraq today.
Three citizens were found dead outside their vehicle after they had encountered an improvised explosive device attack and then were pulled from the vehicle and shot dead in western Mosul. Another Iraqi citizen was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near an Iraqi Army patrol in eastern Mosul. This continues a pattern of terrorist attacks that have targeted and disregarded the lives and safety of innocent citizens.
In an earlier operation, Troops from the 107th Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed one terrorist and injured another with small arms fire while patrolling in western Mosul. The units also seized a rocket propelled grenade launcher, an RPG round, a BKC automatic rifle, and various rounds of small arms ammunition from the terrorists’ vehicle. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
MNF seize weapons cache, detain four
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 8, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation southeast of Mosul. The cache included 40 mortar rounds and four rockets. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint west of Tal Afar. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
War, close up
Link to Full Article
By ADAM LYNN; The News Tribune
A day Maj. Mark Bieger would just as soon forget has become one many Americans will forever associate with the Iraq war.
The 35-year-old DuPont soldier stepped into the nation’s consciousness last week when he stooped to pick up a young Iraqi girl mortally wounded in a suicide bombing on the streets of Mosul. [...]
Freelance journalist Michael Yon snapped a photograph as Bieger – operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment – cradled the girl to his chest and pressed his face close to hers.
It is a powerful image, reflecting both a father’s tenderness and the horror of war.
Many people have come to view the photograph as a symbol of insurgent brutality and American compassion.
“It’s certainly a very powerful photo,” said Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a Fort Lewis spokesman. “I think this helps explain why we’re over there. This is why we’re there: to try to bring freedom to that country and give children there a chance to live in peace. The children are caught in the middle.”
Disseminated by The Associated Press, the photo ran last week in newspapers and on news broadcasts from coast to coast. At first, the identity of the soldier depicted was unknown.
Amy Bieger’s telephone started ringing not long after journalists learned that it was her husband in the photo. [...]
For Amy Bieger, Yon’s photograph should not be viewed as an icon of the war but simply as a symbol of the sacrifice her husband and other American soldiers are making daily to help the people of Iraq.
“If it just makes one more person think about the incredible job our soldiers are doing over there every day to help the Iraqi people, it will be OK,” she said.
Bieger himself has remained mostly silent about his actions that day and the strong feelings they evoked in a nation 8,000 miles away, Amy Bieger said.
“He hasn’t talked about it much at all,” she said. “When he talks about it at all, he just talks about what a sad, horrible day that was. He said he and his soldiers were all just doing their jobs. He was just the one who got his picture taken.”
Related:
A thank you note from Michael Yon
Mother's Day on the home front
One of the soldiers featured in this article is a SBCT soldier recovering from his injuries in San Antonio.
Moms' hearts heavy, but supportive, of children fighting in Iraq
Link to Full Article (subscription)
By Michael Hines, Times Record News
With her son prepared to enter the Marines and possibly Iraq, Pamela Moller is learning to let go. Sometimes she even thinks about pushing him out. [...]
Leisa Fudge's son, Paul Bublis II, also decided to join the Army somewhat out of the blue, she said. This Mother's Day, her son lies sedated in a San Antonio burn unit.
An Iraqi attack killed a fellow soldier and left Bublis with third degree burns over most of his body. A section of bone was removed from his skull to relieve pressure there.
"It will be at least six months before they put a plate in his head. As I write, he is in surgery for more skin grafts. The tendon in his right leg is exposed, and the doctor said if they don't get that fixed, he will lose his leg," Fudge said. "He will probably have some scarring, but hey, we can deal with that!!!!"
The Archer City High School and West Point graduate had been in the Army for less than a year. He is expected to recover, but he's not out of the woods yet, Fudge wrote via e-mail. [...]
"At first he was all so gung ho on going over there to join the fight, but in the days before he left, he became very nervous," Fudge wrote. "I said 'Soldier, you have been to training and preparing for this day for five years. You get over there, do your job and I'll see you in a year or so.' He looked at me, a big smile broke out on his face, he hugged me and said, 'Thanks mom, I needed to hear that.' " [...]
She learned about the car bomb that blew up near Bublis' Stryker military vehicle two weeks ago. Fudge had prepared herself for such an outcome.
"When he got his deployment papers, yes, I was very worried. Two days before he left, I was blessed with a most wonderful peace from God," wrote. "I knew he would be ok."
Fudge didn't take long to get to his side when he returned to the United States for treatment.
"I tried to prepare myself for the first time I saw him. He was swollen, his nose looked like it was sunburned, the doctor had already done the first round of skin grafts, so he was bandaged up," she wrote. "But ya' know, it doesn't matter what he looks like, he is still my baby."
Bublis went to Iraq in October 2004, and Fudge knew injury or death were possibilities.
"I do have a very strong faith in God and had resigned myself to his will," she wrote. "I'm sure my son will want to go back to Iraq when he is fully recovered to be with his buddies. When that time comes, I will continue to support my son in any decision he makes."
Soldiers take on the increasingly deadly suicide car bomb
Link to Full Article
By MATT MISTEREK, Tacoma News Tribune
MUHALLABIYAH, Iraq - Soldiers from Fort Lewis in Washington state and the Iraqi troops they are training struck a blow Saturday against the insurgency's latest favored weapon - the suicide car bomb - in a town that had gone largely unnoticed until recently.
In the last two weeks, five soldiers have lost their lives after attacks on their 20-ton Stryker vehicles. One died and six were seriously injured when an explosives-laden car rammed into their armored carrier in Mosul; a few days later, four were killed after running over a roadside bomb in Tall Afar.
Roughly halfway between those cities, tucked among the hills, is the town of Muhallabiyah, where soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division on Saturday found and detonated three cars they believed would be used as bombs.
Later discoveries there included 53 artillery rounds inside a tractor-trailer and various components in what appeared to be a car-bomb factory. [...]
Saturday began early when Iraqi Security Forces and the artillery unit from Fort Lewis, acting on tips from informants, locked down the town. A prominent Iraqi lieutenant colonel, known as Sheik Raad, announced from the mosque that all local men would be rounded up at the schoolhouse.
For the next several hours, they were searched, checked against a list of potential terrorism suspects and marched in front of a black curtain that cloaked the identity of a key informant. Some were taken upstairs and questioned. By day's end, 22 men had been detained.
One enemy fighter was killed on a nearby ridge after attacking Iraqi Security Forces with small arms fire. An Iraqi Army lieutenant also died in the exchange.
The cordon-and search operation gave some 200 Iraqi soldiers, two Stryker artillery platoons and one infantry platoon a chance to show the tactics they've refined since they started working side by side in recent months. [...]
Under the Stryker concept, artillery batteries have been asked to deemphasize their big guns and help more with front-line patrol missions - a departure that Bael-Santana says he was ready for after 15 years in the field artillery.
"In the last two years since we found out we are going to Iraq, we pretty much turned our battalion into an infantry unit," he said. "I love it. The way I see it, if I'm going to come halfway around the world, I want to do something productive."
Related:
This version of the story has photographs of SBCT soldiers. - News-Tribune
Woodlander recovering from Iraq bomb blast
An update and contact information for SGT Huff.
Link to Full Article
By SHAWBONG FOK/Democrat Staff Writer
Woodlander Sgt. Brandon Huff, whose left leg was taken by a hidden explosive in Mosul, Iraq in April, remains in the intensive care unit at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Huff has been listed as serious but stable condition. [...]
But family members say letters may be sent in care of Brandon Huff to:
Sgt. Brandon Huff
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001.
Citizens and ISF partner to improve security
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 30 suspected terrorists, seized a large number of weapons and were able to defuse improvised explosive devices thanks to a tip provided by an Iraqi citizen during operations in northern Iraq today.
One Iraqi citizen was killed and another injured by small arms fire southwest of Tal Afar. The injured citizen was taken to a local hospital for treatment. This continues a pattern of terrorist attacks that have disregarded the lives and safety of innocent citizens. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment defused three car bombs at the site of the attack. The car bombs included 44 artillery rounds and 20 mortar rounds. The 2-8th detained 22 individuals in connection with the attack and the car bombs, they also seized a large number of munitions from the individuals including 259 blasting caps, 300 feet of detonation cord, and eight pounds of PE-4 explosives. Weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
An Iraqi citizen led Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment to the site of two IEDs placed in southeastern Mosul. The explosives were defused with no Iraqi citizen or MNF injuries reported.
Troops from the 3rd Division Iraqi Army detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint southwest of Tal Afar. Suspect is in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations west of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Putting a face on compassion
The wife of a Stryker Brigade officer is deeply moved by the photo of a soldier helping an Iraqi child -- and more so when she recognizes him
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
On Tuesday, as she does every night, Amy Bieger went to her computer to write an e-mail to her husband, Mark, in Iraq.
Her eyes moistened when she logged on looking for news and saw a heart-wrenching photo of a U.S. soldier cradling the limp body of a 2-year-old girl wounded in a terrorist attack the day before.
The helmeted soldier's face, unseen, is pressed reassuringly into the girl's.
He clutches her close to his heart. Bieger could almost hear it beat faster as he ran to save the girl.
"I was just taking it in. It was emotional," she said from her home in DuPont.
Since the soldier's face couldn't be seen, the photo seemed to represent every soldier in Iraq. But Amy Bieger, the Army wife who knew from the lightning bolt insignia on the soldier's sleeve that it was her husband's Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade, wondered if she could learn more.
She double-clicked on the photo to magnify it.
"I saw the insignia, then rank, major. Near the girl's blanket you could see the last four letters on a name tag, 'e-g-e-r.' That sealed the deal. I knew it was Mark," she said. [...]
Stryker families who follow the site posted their own reactions:
A woman who signed herself "Stryker sister" said, "I couldn't stop crying. I went to the bathroom and cried and cried like a baby. Just thinking how our soldiers go through this everyday. This photo is imprinted in my mind, and the image is just always flashing b4 me. Thanks Amy Bieger for your soldier for giving love to this little girl in her final moments."
Another, Erin, said:
"I don't know if I have ever been that moved by any photograph, seeing that patch on our soldiers shoulder, knowing that my son wears that same patch, I wanted everyone to know that our soldiers are so much more than just that. The body language of that soldier is so intense -- for lack of a better word and I could feel the pain in that moment across the miles. I don't know how else to describe it, but if that were my child, my grandchild that he was holding, I don't think that I could ask for anything more."
As such national attention mounted Wednesday, Amy Bieger figured she'd better clue in the couple's three sons, ages 4, 9 and 10.
"I wanted them to see the picture and hear an explanation from me before they heard it from someone else," she said.
"It was hard for them to look at because they miss him so much. They weren't surprised. They said, 'Dad's helping everyone.' They look up to him so much."
Lieberman ends war-zone study
Link to Full Article
By PETER URBAN, Connecticut Post
WASHINGTON — Sen. Joe Lieberman is back from a little-noticed trip to the Middle East. He toured one of the bloodiest regions of Iraq, visited with family in Israel and met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, politicians and diplomats in Mideast hot spots.
The Connecticut Democrat returned Wednesday from the six-day visit, notable for its lack of fanfare. He did not publicly reveal he had been abroad until Friday while speaking with the Connecticut Post.
Lieberman said he visited Iraq to see the Army's new Stryker Brigade in action.
"I wanted to see the Stryker vehicle in combat. They are a very impressive vehicle and are giving a lot of protection and speed to our troops," Lieberman said in an interview Friday. The Stryker is a new 19-ton, eight-wheel-drive, heavily armored troop-carrier capable of speeds in excess of 60 mph. [...]
The Stryker Brigade Combat Team is operating in Mosul, in northern Iraq, where attacks on U.S. forces have been formidable.
Two Iraqi children were killed and 15 other Iraqi citizens were injured when a combined suicide car bomb and improvised explosive device attack detonated in a western Mosul neighborhood Monday.
Tuesday morning, a roadside bomb injured at least one member of the 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry.
Lieberman, who was traveling with Sen. Jon Corzine, D-N.J., met with a platoon later that day to see the Stryker in action. The Connecticut senator also visited the injured soldier at a local hospital.
The trip into Iraq was part of a larger excursion organized by Lieberman during a week the Senate was in recess. The trip was approved and paid for by the Senate. [...]
This soldier's homecoming is happy one
Link to Full Article
By Bob Hill
With two American flags in one hand; a red, white and blue welcome-home sign in her lap; and a nervous, anxious rush to her words, Ellen Eirk was sitting in Louisville International Airport waiting for her son -- her only child -- to come home from the war in Iraq.
David Hill, 28, had enlisted in the Army in April 2003. He was older than most of the enlistees, but the St. Xavier graduate had enjoyed the social life at the University of Kentucky a little too much before earning a degree at the University of North Texas.
About 18 months after joining the Army, he was with the 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade in Tall Afar, Iraq -- near Mosul and the Syrian border.
The Tall Afar area is especially dangerous; insurgents had taken over the city; most of its 250,000 residents had fled in fighting last fall; murderous car bombs and roadside killings are common. All Ellen Eirk knew was that her son was driving a Stryker -- an eight-wheeled armored vehicle -- along those streets. [...]
About a week ago -- as David was en route home -- about 200 soldiers had gathered at a Tall Afar airport out of honor and respect as the flag-draped bodies of four American soldiers killed by a bomb that detonated beneath a Stryker in Tall Afar were lifted into the sky toward home. The explosion had gone through the vehicle's bottom plate and up through the roof. David had known two of the men.
As his plane landed, family and friends moved closer to the sign that said "Security -- Screening All Gates." David's high school and college buddies -- all three in law or business -- were in dress shirts, polished shoes and ties.
Ellen Eirk -- holding an American flag -- was at the very front of the group, pushing up on her toes, peering down the long hall: "I think I see him. ... I think I see David."
A surge of other passengers -- many of them Derby Week visitors -- streamed past her toward the jazz group. For a few seconds she was lost in the flood of people. Then she bolted forward down the hall, her voice raspy with emotion: "It's David."
Mother and son -- both in tears -- hugged for a long time, then made their way arm-in-arm toward welcoming friends and family.
In 14 days, David returns to duty in Tall Afar.
Weapons seized, terror suspects detained during overnight operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 7, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation west of Tal Afar. The cache included a mortar round, eight mortar fuses, and other mortar firing parts. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldier takes positive view
Link to Full Article
By PAUL FATTIG, Mail Tribune
Not long after Sgt. Chad Woodward arrived last fall at the U.S. military compound at Mosul, Iraq, insurgents fired mortars at the base.
One round killed a major in Woodward’s unit, the Army’s 1st Stryker Brigade out of Fort Lewis, Wash.
"I don’t think he ever went outside the wire, but if it’s your time, it’s your time," said the Grants Pass resident in a telephone interview from Mosul Thursday morning.
"Outside the wire" is this war’s military parlance for venturing outside the compound.
The incident demonstrated to Woodward, 23, a 2000 graduate of Cascade Christian High School in Jacksonville, that all Americans in uniform in Iraq have the potential to be in harm’s way.
The Medford-born son of Joel and Loretta Woodward of Grants Pass, he is an intelligence analyst with the unit. He joined the Army in May 2001.
The soldier was one selected by the Defense Department to speak to the hometown media about his experiences in Iraq. The soldiers are not screened, according to Nan Clarke, a spokeswoman for the unit charged with connecting each soldier with the local media.
Woodward’s day begins at 5 a.m. and six hours of tower guard duty, followed by six to seven hours’ work in tactical operations.
"After that, I can barely stay awake through a full movie," he said of evening recreation.
Multiple operations lead to detention of 22, weapons cache seizure
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 6, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Task Force Freedom detained 22 suspected terrorists and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation near Tal Afar. The cache included a large number of improvised explosive device making materials including 200 switchboards, primers, initiation devices, and IED sealant. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during three cordon and search operations west of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raids in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Yesterday's Photo
Yesterday we posted a press release from Task Force Freedom that featured a photo taken by Michael Yon. A number of people have written wanting additional information about the incident. Mr. Yon provides all the details on his website in an entry titled Little Girl.
05/06 UPDATE: We wanted to bring this entry back to the top and let you know that Blackfive has additional information about this incident on his site. Included are an interview with the photographer, and a note from LTC Kurilla, the 1-24 INF Battalion Commander.
With the Stryker Brigade in Iraq
Link to Blog
The News Tribune
News Tribune editor/reporter Matt Misterek and photographer Peter Haley are in Iraq following the Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis. See how the Stryker Brigade is doing in Iraq with their regular reports and add your comments to the mix.
Security Forces continue to score successful operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 6, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 18 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Troops from the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes detained 15 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southeastern Mosul. All suspects are in custody.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained three individuals suspected of making car bombs during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. The 2-8th also seized a large weapons cache during a search operation southwest of Qayyarah. The cache included 22 mortar rounds, 11 rockets, and other artillery equipment. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation southeast of Mosul. The cache included an artillery round, three mortar rounds, three pounds of PE explosives, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, 37 sticks of TNT, and 200 feet of detonation cord. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
ISF not allowing terrorists rest
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 5, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained seven suspected terrorists and seized two large weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Troops from 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Suspect is in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained four individuals and seized a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation southwest of Mosul. The cache included 45 rocket propelled grenade heads, four BKC automatic rifles, six RPG launchers, 2,570 rounds of small arms ammunition, 35 RPG chargers, 15 mortar rounds, two sticks of TNT, 15 blasting caps, and one mortar tube. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache during a search operation southwest of Mosul. The cache included six mortar rounds, two machine guns, 1,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition, eight explosive charges, and other explosives. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Despite terrorist cells engaging in various acts of desperate violence Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces are continuing to apply pressure on the terrorists.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Infantryman's wife saw the photo and knew
Link to Full Article
BY ANDREW METZ, Newsday
On a day of carnage, it was an intimate image: a soldier clutching a child in his arms.
When Amy Bieger, mother of three boys, wife of an infantryman in Iraq, saw the picture on the Internet on Tuesday night, she stared at the little feet dangling in the nook of the man's arm, at the soldier's helmeted head pressed to the child's face. She stared and tears welled up.
"I said 'Oh my God, it is one of our soldiers,'" Bieger, 34, said yesterday from her home outside the Fort Lewis, Wash., Army post. "Then I stared at the [name] patch. I made out the rank and then the last four letters of the name and I knew it was my husband."
Amid an ongoing surge in violence in Iraq, Maj. Mark Bieger, the operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, emerged Monday from the scene of double bombings in Mosul with a fatally wounded girl in his arms. [...]
Amy Bieger said that as she peered at the photo Tuesday she recognized her husband's "body language and the way his arms were wrapped around her."
"He has definitely told me stories when he sees older kids playing over there, they just remind him of his boys back here," she said. "He has a huge soft heart for an infantryman."
Related Articles:
GI Dad's Torment - Newsday
Many Moved by Photo of Soldier, Iraqi Child - ABC News
Emotional Picture Of War - KOMO News
Iraq Photo Tugs At Hearts - CBS News (Includes a link to video of Amy Bieger's appearance on The Early Show)
Security Forces strike hard in wake of recent attacks
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 4, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized 14 suspected terrorists and one weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 106th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 2nd Division conducted a raid in central Mosul resulting in the detention of two individuals.
Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment discovered a cache in an area south of Mosul today. The cache consisted of 20 mortar rounds and 1000 rounds of small arms ammunition.
Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search of a taxi station being used as an insurgent meeting place in western Mosul. Two individuals were detained in this operation.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in an area near the Syrian border in Northern Iraq today. Four individuals were detained along with two AK-47s, IED initiators, small arms ammunition and Jihadist propaganda.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search on an area southeast of Mosul today. Six suspected terrorists were detained in the operation.
Security Forces continue to place pressure on terrorists in the wake of the most recent attacks against innocent civilians, Iraqi Security Forces, and Multi-National Forces.
Fort Lewis mourns two more
UPDATED: Two related articles added to the end of the entry.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Fort Lewis said farewell Tuesday to two more of its soldiers who were killed in Iraq, an inspiring young officer and a quiet tanker who was on his second tour of the country.
Mourners said Lt. William Edens, 29, was a platoon leader admired by his men. He leaves a wife, Christy, who will graduate from medical school later this month.
Sgt. Eric Morris, 31, was two months into his second trip to Iraq, after having spent 15 months there in 2003-04. His wife, Jolene, and his 6-year-old twin stepdaughters, Chyann and Chyna, held each other close in the front row at the Main Post Chapel throughout Tuesday’s memorial ceremony.
“They do not get any easier,” the Fort Lewis commanding general, Lt. Gen. James Dubik, said afterward of the post’s losses. “Every one of these represents a father that is missing, a mother, or a brother or a son.”
Edens, Morris and two soldiers from Fort Carson, Colo., were killed Thursday when an improvised bomb exploded as their Stryker armored vehicle passed by near Tal Afar. Two other soldiers were wounded.
It was the most lethal attack so far on a Stryker since the vehicle’s introduction into Iraq in December 2003. Until Thursday’s bombing, none of hundreds of insurgent attacks had ever claimed the life of more than one U.S. soldier aboard one of the wheeled armored vehicles.
Related Articles:
Fort Lewis mourns two more of its own - The Olympian
Fort Lewis honors its fallen - Seattle Times
The Road to Mosul
The following is a very lengthy article profiling the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment.
Link to Full Article
by David Axe
Qayyarah, Iraq—One night this spring, a Stryker armored vehicle carrying an American unit on patrol sits in the desert on the outskirts of Mosul, near the town of Qayyarah. It's cold. It's windy. Everybody is tired.
A soldier in the back of the Stryker—a boat-shaped vehicle with a missile launcher—is fast asleep. The driver, Captain Kyle Pennington, 26, hasn't made a peep in half an hour. Second Lieutenant Tom Burns is leading this four-vehicle patrol, part of the 25th Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Washington. (They're part of the 2-8—the Second Battalion, Eighth Field Artillery Regiment.) The Americans' Iraqi comrades huddle in the back of nearby Toyota pickups.
Burns, 22, only three weeks in country, is tinkering with the Stryker's infrared sight. He steers his sight left. He steers it right. He spots a flock of American helicopters darting on the horizon. Then he sees it: a lone pickup truck tearing down a remote road.
Firing up a radio, Burns orders two Iraqis from one pickup to hop into the back of the Stryker. He tells Pennington to catch that truck.
The Stryker roars to life and speeds down a steep hill and across the sandy wastes at more than 40 miles per hour, churning up a cloud of dust that reflects the full moon. The Iraqis in the back are grinning and shaking like honeymooners on a vibrating bed. Burns loses sight of the suspect truck.
It was probably nothing. Probably not an insurgent with a bedful of rocket-propelled grenades. Probably not a budding suicide bomber en route to some crowded marketplace in downtown Mosul. Probably nothing to disturb the hard-earned peace of this cold desert, the front door to one of the most dangerous cities in Iraq, a desert patrolled by just 300 Americans from wet, green Washington State.
Back up the hill they go. Back to their pickup go the Iraqis. Back to sleep goes the soldier in the rear.
Some time later, Sergeant Tracy Toliver spots something with glowing eyes and several legs. "It's a dog!" he says.
*For the past few months, the worst place in Iraq has been Mosul. Violent death is only part of the equation. A certain number of suicide bombings are required. But it's more than just the number of attacks times the average body count, divided by the time span.
Wherever you get a really bad feeling just walking the streets, wherever the walls of your barracks seem to curl in around you, wherever the food tastes wrong, the air seems stale, and the local fauna looks, well, apprehensive, that is the place. That is where you don't want to get deployed. That is where you don't want your helicopter dropping in for gas. If you're an American soldier on a bus somewhere—in Kuwait, maybe—and some rear-echelon type asks you where you're headed, and you say, "[Fill in the blank]," and they wince and say, "That sucks"—that's when you know.
There's a reasonable explanation for the problems in Mosul. For much of 2004, Falluja was an insurgent stronghold. In November, the U.S. military all but leveled the city. The smart insurgents hit the road, north along the main highway to Mosul, an impoverished, ethnically divided city.
They decided to stop along the way, in the Sunni bastion of Qayyarah and its surrounding towns and villages, collectively known as Q-West to Americans.
So now the stakes in Q-West are high. A key to stability in Mosul is keeping bad guys and guns out. And the key to keeping them out of Mosul is securing the highway, the Tigris River, and all the little towns and villages in Q-West. But while the 2-8 can jump-start security here, only Iraqis can drive it home.
That is just the beginning of the article...
Iraqi citizens give tips about explosives
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 3, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Iraqi Army soldiers seized two explosives caches and an improvised explosive device during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 106th Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 2nd Division were assisted by two Iraqi citizens in the seizure of an improvised explosive device in southern Mosul.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment received information from an Iraqi citizen that led to the seizure of one of the two explosives caches found during operations southeast of Mosul. The caches included six mortar rounds and 15 mortar fuses.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Michael Yon - Online Magazine
Author Michael Yon is currently embedded with the 1-24 INF ("Deuce Four") in Mosul, and is filing stories on his website. Be sure to stop by, read his entries, and subscribe to his mailing list. His most recent entry, The Battle For Mosul, is a must-read.
Thanks to Deuce Four officers for making us aware of his reporting.
Fort Lewis to salute two of its own
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER, SEATTLE P-I
Eric Wayne Morris was born in Enumclaw in the shadow of Mount Rainier 31 years ago, then moved away with his mom and sisters, eventually living for about 10 years in Troy, N.Y., where he joined the Army at 18.
William Anthony Edens was born in St. Louis 29 years ago and later attended the "Tiger Battalion" ROTC program at the University of Missouri, from which he was commissioned an Army officer in 2003.
Thursday, Sgt. Morris and 1st Lt. Edens, serving together in Iraq in the same Fort Lewis unit, were killed in Tal Afar, casualties of a wave of insurgent violence after the formation of a new Iraqi government.
Soldiers at the Army post south of Tacoma will gather at 1:30 p.m. today at the Main Post Chapel for a memorial service. [...]
Edens and Morris served in the 1st Battalion 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis. The 4,000-member brigade, developed for 21st-century warfare at Fort Lewis, is named for its modern Stryker infantry carriers.
Edens became an armor officer after graduating from the University of Missouri, according to the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune. Edens was commissioned as an Army officer in May 2003 and arrived at Fort Lewis a year later.
Morris, an armor crewman, was born in Washington state but lived for a decade with his mother in Troy. He is survived by his wife, Jolene, and two stepdaughters, Chyann and Chyna, all of Fort Lewis.
Bomb kills four Stryker soldiers
Michael Gilbert provides a good summary of recent events in Mosul & Tal Afar.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Two of the four soldiers killed in a roadside bomb blast Thursday in northwest Iraq were from Fort Lewis, officials said Monday.
The attack in Tal Afar was the second devastating hit on a Stryker in five days. On April 23, a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives up to one of the 20-ton Army vehicles in Mosul, killing one soldier and seriously injuring six others.
The attack Thursday was the most lethal on a Stryker since the vehicles arrived in Iraq in December 2003. Insurgents have employed ever larger improvised bombs against the wheeled armored troop carriers, which in most cases have proven capable of withstanding the explosions to protect soldiers riding inside, Army officials have said.
The Defense Department on Monday identified the soldiers killed as Lt. William A. Edens, 29, of Columbia, Mo., and Sgt. Eric W. Morris, 31, of Sparks, Nev., both of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment. The battalion is part of the Fort Lewis-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
Also killed were two Fort Carson, Colo., soldiers: Spc. Ricky W. Rockholt, Jr., 28, of Winston, Ore., and Pfc. Robert W. Murray, Jr., 21, of Westfield, Ind. They were assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment.
Fort Carson soldiers arrived recently to augment the 1st Brigade soldiers in northwest Iraq, a brigade spokesman, Capt. Duane Limpert, said Monday. The 1st Brigade’s soldiers have been taking the new arrivals on missions to familiarize them with the area, he said.
Two other soldiers were wounded in the attack. Limpert said he had no information about their condition; they were evacuated to military hospitals elsewhere, he said.
The attack occurred about 5 p.m. Thursday in Tal Afar, about 45 miles west of Mosul, when a bomb buried in the roadway exploded as the Stryker went by, officials said. [...]
Limpert said brigade officials were comparing the two recent Stryker bombings to determine if the enemy has developed a new tactic for defeating the vehicles.
“We’re still evaluating that ourselves,” he said. “One of them obviously was a roadside bomb, the other a suicide car bomber, so there are different circumstances. There’s nothing that would lead us to think anything was different.”
ISF lead in successful operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 3, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 15 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Monday.
Troops from the 3rd Brigade Iraqi Commandoes and 106th Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul. The units also seized 13 AK-47s in the operation. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activities at a checkpoint southwest of Tal Afar. They also seized three sniper rifles, eight hand grenades, and a blasting cap from the individuals’ vehicle. Soldiers from the 2-8th also discovered a weapons cache while conducting a search operation northwest of Tal Afar. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized 20 anti-tank mines during a search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Sgt. Duke on leave from combat in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By PHILIP WRIGHT, Staff Reporter
Time may pass quickly for a soldier fighting in Iraq, but for family back home, time grinds. That's how it's been the past seven months for Jim and Nancy Duke, of Clarkdale. Their son Kolter is assigned to a combat unit in Mosul, Iraq.
For Kolter, in spite of many days that drag their slow hours through boredom from nothing happening to worry about what will happen next, he has a sense that his time in Iraq has passed quickly. Not so for his mother.
"His six months may not have seemed long," Nancy said. "But here it did. We did a lot of praying; our church did a lot of praying."
Time began passing quickly almost as soon as Kolter and his unit hit the ground in Iraq. Within two weeks they were in a firefight, a three-hour battle that introduced Kolter to the reality of combat.
His unit had prepared for about three years for combat prior to deployment to Iraq. In a July interview before leaving Clarkdale to rejoin his unit, Kolter spoke about being ready for combat.
"We're close, and we're well trained," he said. "We're getting antsy and sick of standing by."
He said that in a firefight you realize suddenly that it's no longer training. "We had to adapt real quick."
Other things can occur quickly in a combat zone. Kolter was promoted to sergeant one month after arriving in Iraq. He is a team leader for Company A's sniper unit. His company is part of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment with the 25th Infantry Division.
Be sure to read the rest...
1LT William A. Edens
The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died April 28 in Tal Afar, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their Stryker military vehicle.
1st Lt. William A. Edens, 29, of Columbia, MO was among those killed. Edens was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Please join us in extending our deepest sympathies to his loved ones. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
UPDATE: A memorial service has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m. in Main Post Chapel, Ft. Lewis.
DoD Identifies Army Casualties - Official DoD Press Release
1LT Edens maintained a photo album in our gallery. Please take a moment to browse some of the wonderful photos he contributed during his deployment.
Stryker Brigade soldiers killed in Iraq - The News Tribune
Bomb kills four Stryker soldiers - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis to salute two of its own killed in Iraq - Seattle P-I
Bomb in Iraq killed Mehlville High grad - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
MU grad killed in combat - MU Maneater
Edens recalled as ‘best of everything’ - Columbia Daily Tribune
Fort Lewis mourns two more - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis honors its fallen - Seattle Times
SGT Eric W. Morris
The Department of Defense announced today the death of four soldiers who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. They died April 28 in Tal Afar, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near their Stryker military vehicle.
One of the soldiers killed was SGT Eric W. Morris, 31, of Sparks, Nev. Morris was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
UPDATE: A memorial service has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 3 at 1:30 p.m. in Main Post Chapel, Ft. Lewis.
DoD Identifies Army Casualties - Official DoD Press Release
Stryker Brigade soldiers killed in Iraq - The News Tribune
Soldier with roots in Troy dies in Iraq - WNYT News
Bomb kills four Stryker soldiers - The News Tribune
Family and friends mourn Sparks soldier killed in Iraq - Reno Gazette-Journal
Fort Lewis to salute two of its own killed in Iraq - Seattle P-I
Fort Lewis mourns two more - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Iraq bombing - Associated Press
Fort Lewis honors its fallen - Seattle Times
Family and friends mourn Sparks soldier killed in Iraq - Reno Gazette-Journal
No where to run for the terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 2, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Troops from the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals after being attacked with small arms fire in western Mosul Sunday. The 1-24th also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation southeast of Qayyarah Sunday. The cache included hundreds of rounds of ammunition, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, an RPG fuse, 19 grenades, a BKC automatic rifle, and anti-aircraft rounds. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Forces seize two large weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 1, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized two large weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation in northern Mosul. The cache included two automatic rifles, eight AK-47s, a sniper rifle, six grenades, four rockets, 16 rocket propelled grenades, two RPG launchers, 2 mortar rounds, and over a thousand rounds of small arms ammunition. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation southwest of Qayyarah. The cache included 611 mortar rounds and a large amount of propellant. All weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
ISF continue to take large part in successful operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (May 1, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 15 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Troops from the 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported. Troops from the 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force seized a number of weapons including nine artillery rounds and explosives while patrolling in southern Mosul Saturday. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southwestern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two operations in southern Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Forces again take lead to capture terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 30, 2005) – In a continued series of raids and cordon and search operations Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorists in northern Iraq Friday.
Troops from the 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. Troops from the 103rd Battalion, 20th Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul. Troops from the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to step forward into a more active security role in Iraq.
Officer details service in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By KEITH EDWARDS, Kennebek Journal
KENTS HILL -- While television broadcasts of U.S. soldiers in Iraq tended to focus on violent combat with insurgents, much of the work of the Maine National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion focused on building schools and security checkpoints and organizing Iraqi contractors to help rebuild the country.
Lt. Col. John Jansen, commander of some 600 soldiers who returned from duty in Iraq last month, presented Kents Hill students with a summary of troops' activities Thursday. [...]
"You're going to see some things you didn't see on the news," Jansen said before starting a slide show of 133rd soldiers and some of the work they did in northern Iraq.
"The greatest experience for many soldiers was our humanitarian projects in the Kurdish areas," he said. [...]
The hardest days in Iraq, he said, were when soldiers were killed. Three 133rd soldiers were killed in action in Iraq, and a fourth died of illness in New York while on his way home. The battalion also had 42 people injured in Iraq.
The best day in Iraq, for Jansen, was election day. He said that in the days before the election, insurgents spread the word throughout the large city of Mosul that citizens who voted would be killed. Usually an optimist, Jansen said even he didn't have many expectations that Mosul residents would vote in force.
"We sat back and watched that day and, in Mosul, 56 percent of the people came out and voted," he said. "It surprised me how emotional that was for me. It hit me, this is an amazing thing. That people who were afraid they could be killed went out and did something for the future of their country. Think about that the next time you have an opportunity to vote."
Keith Edwards -- 621-5647
Multi-National Forces detain six, seize weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained six suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on their patrol in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity after they stopped their vehicle in southern Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-24th also detained another individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-5th identified a weapons cache while conducting a search operation in southern Mosul. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Survivors Share Stories at Appreciation Luncheon
The following article profiles the organization TAPS, which Riikka Jacobsen is associated with.
Link to Article
By Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample, USA
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 28, 2005 – As a slide show of her husband and children flashed across the screen, a tearful Riikka Jacobsen, told stories of the family's happier times together.
In the photos were her husband, Army Capt. Bill Jacobsen, and their four children: Billy, 8; Sedric, 7; Yonah, 5; and Avalon, 2.
Last summer the couple took a private trip to Hawaii, where they went sightseeing and swimming. "It was just the two of us," she said. Then later, the entire family went on a weeklong visit to Disneyland. "Those were wonderful times," she added.
A few months later, the "wonderful times" turned to sadness.
Four days before Christmas, Capt. Bill Jacobsen, a strikingly handsome soldier who stood well over 6 feet tall, was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a military mess tent in Mosul, Iraq.
The blast killed 22 others, including some of the captain's soldiers. "That was one of his goals," she said, "to bring all his soldiers home. Jacobsen told her heartfelt story during an appreciation luncheon for supporters of Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which reaches out to help military spouses through the grieving process.
"Bill is my hero; he's my best friend," she said behind tears. "I don't have the words to tell you how much I miss him, how much I love him. I know that I will see him again someday, and that gives me the comfort to carry on.
"Somebody once told me when you love much, you grieve much, and I think that really describes how we feel, how much we miss him," she said of her family.
The event was held at the National Guard Memorial here April 27 and was attended by several business supporters of the program, as well as Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, an honorary member.
Sitting at the head table, Bonnie Carroll, who founded TAPS, knew all too well what Jacobsen is feeling.
She too had lost a spouse tragically. Her husband, Army Brig. Gen. Tom Carroll, was among eight soldiers that died in the crash of an Army National Guard aircraft in Alaska in November 1992.
Carroll started TAPS in 1994 to help families deal with the loss of a loved one. In 1997, the program became a Department of Veterans Affairs-affiliated program.
She said the program specializes in grief and trauma counseling and offers a peer-support network, among other resources. There are over 10,000 families in the program's database, she said.
Carroll said the program reaches out to spouses, children, parents and friends. "We are there for everyone," she added.
She said spouses who have lost a loved one need to know they are not alone in their grief and pain. "They need to have the support of someone who can truly understand what they've been through, who will speak through the tears and from the heart," she said.
For the Jacobsen family, Carroll did just that.
Jacobsen gently smiled when she told the group that shortly after her husband's death, Carroll "just showed up at my house, sat in my living room, cried with me and hugged me."
She said Carroll then returned with two more military wives who had lost husbands. "That was very, very meaningful to me," she added.
The two have been close friends ever since. "Bonnie is wonderful," Jacobsen said. "You can send her an e-mail and she'll e-mail you right back the next minute."
During her talk, Jacobsen told of her husband's love for his children. She said he loved wrestling on the floor with the children, taking them to the woods and "showing them stuff," and telling them stories.
"These were book worthy stories. I would always tell him to write a book because he was so good about telling these stories."
Jacobsen's husband also loved serving his country. "Bill truly believed in freedom and protecting this beautiful country and all the wonderful rights that we have here," she said.
That may have been part of the reason he loved his work in Iraq, she said, because he was "helping (the Iraqis) to have the opportunity to choose for themselves and have a free country just like we do."
She said her husband had a second goal for his deployment, aside from bringing all his soldiers safely home. That goal was to one day take his family on vacation in a free Iraq.
Despite her husband's death, Jacobsen said that trip is still on. Jacobsen said she hopes to one day make the journey to a free Iraq to prove that her husband's sacrifice was not in vain. "I look forward to that," she said.
After hearing Jacobsen's story, an emotional Runbar Sandi, an Iraqi businessman and strong business supporter of TAPS, came to the podium.
Sandi, whose company, the Sandi Group, provides logistical and security support for nongovernmental agencies in Iraq, came here to speak of Iraq's appreciation for American sacrifices.
After his speech, Sandi reached over to hug Jacobsen and told her that when she is ready to bring her family to a free Iraq, he will make the journey possible. "All expenses paid," he added.
Troops detain 30 in raid on Iraqi village
This is a good article outlining recent operations by the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery.
Link to Full Article
By Alex Neill, Army Times
TALL ABTAH, Iraq — Striking back at a recent surge in car bombings, soldiers with the U.S. and Iraqi armies conducted a predawn raid on this rural town, detaining 30 suspects and rooting weapons and potential bomb-making materials out of homes, animal pens and crude mud huts.
After shutting down roads in and out of the town of several thousand residents, more than 725 soldiers — 550 Iraqis and 175 Americans — poured into the dusty streets Wednesday morning in up-armored Humvees, Stryker combat vehicles and the small pickup trucks used by Iraqi forces. Apache helicopters circled the village and a pair of F-16s sliced the sky.
The 2nd Battalion of the 8th Field Artillery spearheaded the mission, acting on intelligence reports that car-bomb makers were operating out of the remote village to conduct attacks against coalition forces north in Mosul.
Insurgents carried out 10 car bomb attacks against coalition forces in the past 14 days, said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, 2-8 commander. He led the mission along with commanders of the Iraqi Army’s regional forces.
The U.S. troops made a nearly 90-minute journey to the village, which sits in the 2-8’s sprawling area of operations, over roads that were traffic free because of curfew.
Sergeant was ‘hero’ to fellow soldiers
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, News Tribune
Sgt. Anthony Davis could’ve ducked.
Instead he stood up out of the sentry hatch of his Stryker vehicle and opened fire on the driver of a car that had come barreling out of a side alley toward him and his comrades.
Army officers said Davis’ actions caused the driver – a suicide bomber – to detonate the explosives packed into his car before he could crash into the Stryker, perhaps saving the lives of the other men inside.
Davis was exposed to the full effects of the blast.
Fort Lewis gathered Wednesday to pay tribute to the 22-year-old infantryman from Long Beach, Calif., killed Saturday in Mosul, Iraq. [...]
The car bomb detonated a few feet from the Stryker and was devastating nonetheless. Six other soldiers inside the vehicle were seriously wounded, and all have either been evacuated or are on their way to stateside Army hospitals, Maj. Nicholas Mullen said. Some suffered burns. [...]
Davis is survived by his wife, Michell, and their two daughters, Ah’lania, 4, and Aniya, who was born in October, about three weeks after her father left for Iraq.
He never got the chance to see his new baby, soldiers noted Wednesday.
His family lives in Southern California.
“Warrior. Father. Hero. Husband. Soldier. Son. He was all that and more,” Cruz said. “A brother, a loyal and true friend.
“He will be dearly missed.”
Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921
mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com
Seven terrorists detained during successful joint operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 28, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained seven suspected terrorists during operation in northern Iraq today and Wednesday.
Troops from 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul Wednesday. Troops from the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from the 3-21st detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Soldiers from the 3-21st detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity after they attempted to flee from their patrol in southern Mosul Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Another major hit by ISF as they seize substantial weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 27, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 36 suspected terrorists and seized three large weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops from 10th and 12th Battalion, 4th Brigade and 109th Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 14 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a large weapons cache in Tal Afar. The cache included seven rocket propelled grenade launchers, 28 RPG rounds, 200 rounds of ammunition, nine AK-47s, two automatic rifles, 11 grenades, a pistol, and an anti-tank mine. Troops from the 102nd, 107th, and 112th Battalions, 22nd Brigade Iraq Army alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained 22 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during a cordon and search operation south of Tal Afar. The weapons seized included a BKC automatic rifle and ammunition, detonation cord, and other explosive materials. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment identified a weapons cache while on patrol south of Mosul. The cache included 19 mines, 75 RPG rounds, 75 artillery rounds, nine tank rounds, and 200 feet of detonation cord. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi Security Forces effectively fight terrorists with aid of citizens
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 27, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 17 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Iraqi Security Force troops alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. Troops from the 101st Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul Tuesday. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in southwestern Mosul Tuesday. In another operation Soldiers from the 2-14th detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar today. The cache included two rocket propelled grenade launchers, three RPG rounds, and three hand grenades. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers form 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in western Mosul Tuesday. The cache included numerous bomb casing and artillery casings. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi citizens have greatly contributed to the success of ISF and MNF operations in northern Iraq. The number of citizen tips has risen a great deal in recent months and weeks.
Lt. hits the ground running
This story of a 3/21 LT can be found in the 5/2/05 paper edition of the Army Times.
Steep learning curve, plenty of action for new platoon leader
Link to Full Article (subscription)
By Alex Neill, Army Times
MOSUL, Iraq – Here’s 2nd Lt. Garrett Hendrickson’s box score:
•IED attacks — 4.
•Bad guys captured — 8.
•Time in Iraq — 6 weeks.
The Bravo Company heavy weapons platoon commander with 3rd Brigade, 21st Infantry Regiment, is quick to give credit for the stats to his soldiers. And rightly so — they pushed their Stryker combat vehicles through the four roadside bombs. They collared the eight insurgents and they made the kill.
Just three weeks after joining up here with the 3-21, Hendrickson began leading the platoon’s nearly two dozen soldiers on missions. The B/3-21 noncommissioned officers and junior enlisted troops are a seasoned bunch. [...]
Like Hendrickson, all the platoon’s troops have been thrust into great responsibility at a young age. Hast rides in the back of the Stryker on daily missions knowing he might have to make a snap judgment on whether to shoot someone when he jumps out the back of the vehicle. Newly appointed vehicle commander Spc. Jesse Reyes is in charge of seeing that the Stryker’s systems are in good working order, and he works as a gunner while rolling. He’s 21. Spc. Tavis Hutson, 27, must steer the vehicle around roadside bombs and through a tangle of narrow roadways.
They’ve gained a ton of know-how in the six months they have been here. The run-and-gun pace of Lt. Hendrickson’s first weeks in the combat zone is allowing him to quickly catch up.
Car bomb injures 1999 Archer City graduate
Paul Bublis II was seriously injured in the same attack that took the life of SGT Davis. According to the article he is expected to recover. Our thoughts are with him and his family as he starts down the long road to recovery. Updates will be posted at the end of this entry.
Link to Full Article
By Michael Hines/Times Record News
Leisa Fudge was still wearing her light blue bathrobe Monday afternoon.
The Burkburnett resident hadn't changed clothes since 8:10 a.m. Sunday when she learned her son had been severely wounded by a bombing in Iraq.
Fashion statements just weren't on her mind.
From a phone call Sunday, she learned her son had third degree burns over much of his body. She learned a section of bone from his skull had been removed to relieve pressure building there.
She learned he would live.
She changed clothes Monday afternoon - 15 hours later - donning one of her son's T-shirts.
"I just wanted to feel closer to him," she said.
Paul Bublis II sustained severe head trauma and third-degree burns to his nose, back, arms, legs and lungs. He is expected to recover. Bublis could be taken to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., but he will likely go to a burn unit in San Antonio on Wednesday.
The West Point graduate had been in the Army for less than a year. He was lucky. The Department of Defense announced Monday that another man had died in the same attack that injured Bublis.
Sgt. Anthony J. Davis Jr., 22, of Long Beach, Calif., died when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device - a car bomb - detonated near his Stryker military vehicle. Davis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Fudge said she was told that her son's vehicle had struck an explosive and was then hit from behind by a car bomb. She said two soldiers had been killed and five others injured. Army officials would only confirm one death.
Bublis suffered the burns and a head wound. He also had shrapnel lodged into his elbow and hip. He is now in Germany and the head wound has stabilized, Fudge said a German neurologist has told her.
UPDATES:
Plainview native injured while serving in Iraq - Plainview Daily Herald
Iraqi Security Forces take lead in operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 26, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 17 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Troops from the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul today. Troops from the 20th Battalion, 8th Brigade Iraqi Army detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid north of Tal Afar Monday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Troops from the 101st Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3-21st seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation northwest of Mosul Monday. The cache included 10 rocket propelled grenades, 17 RPG fuel rods, and a case of artillery rounds. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul Monday. The cache included an artillery round, three blasting caps, and a pipe bomb. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during raids in southern and western Mosul today and Monday. Soldiers from the 3-21st detained two suspects following an improvised explosive device attack on their convoy in southern Mosul Monday. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Qayyarah today. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
SGT Anthony J. Davis Jr.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SGT Anthony J. Davis Jr., 22, of Long Beach, CA, died April 23 in Mosul, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker military vehicle. SGT Davis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers during this difficult time. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
UPDATE: SGT Davis' memorial service will be at 1330, Wednesday, April 27 at Evergreen Chapel, Ft. Lewis.
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq - Seattle PI
LB Army Sgt. killed in Iraq - Press-Telegram
Fort Lewis soldier dies in bombing - News Tribune
Army sergeant from Long Beach dies in Iraq bombing - Union-Tribune
Never met daughter - Press Telegram News
Fort Lewis pays tribute to Stryker soldier - News Tribune
Sergeant was ‘hero’ to fellow soldiers - News Tribune
Army Sgt. Anthony J. Davis Jr., 22, Long Beach; Killed in an Explosion - LA Times
Long Beach father of two killed in Iraq - The Mercury News
Long Beach father of two killed in Iraq - Associated Press
Army Sgt. Anthony J. Davis Jr., 22, Long Beach; Killed in an Explosion - LA Times
Fallen Soldier - Michael Yon
Meeting focuses on building peace, improving services
Link to Full Article
By Alex Neill, Air Force Times
FORWARD OPERATING BASE ENDURANCE, Iraq — The timeless goals of peace and prosperity were on the table as more than 200 sheikhs, mukhtars and other tribal leaders from throughout the Tigris River Valley came here yesterday to discuss local and regional security and economic conditions. [...]
Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, commander of 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery , outlined some steps that coalition forces are taking to further progress in Ninevah, which he called “the safest region in Iraq.” In earlier meetings with Army Times, Becker described a dramatic decrease in insurgent activities since the Iraqi elections in January and a corresponding increase in forging local relationships and efforts to provide services and jobs for the region. The 2-8 has been working closely with the Iraqi army, providing training and equipment and teaming with “IA” soldiers to provide security, roust out insurgents and establish local ties.
Becker updated the tribal leaders on steps to make the region safer and provide basic services. He noted that a huge shipment of equipment for Iraqi police forces had arrived, including 1,200 Glock pistols, 790 AK-47 assault rifles, 500 armored vests, and more. He said that 61 police vehicles would arrive soon and that many Iraqi police stations were slated to be built or repaired in the near future.
Becker also said that a number of projects were underway to install power lines, build roads, provide water and pay teachers. [...]
Capt. Dan Florey of the 2-8 told the tribal leaders that their assistance in quelling terrorist activities had put him, an artillery officer, “out of a job.”
Instead, he said he’s now working to create local jobs and that dozens were being created in establishing granaries, a fish pond and roads. He also said two of the most promising long-term projects including efforts to ramp up an oil-refinery’s output “tenfold,” and to restore operations to a sulphur plant.
Becker earlier said the deposit is estimated to contain some $24 billion worth of sulphur, but investors are wary right now because of uncertainty about whether the new Iraqi government will step in to regulate such businesses or allow a free-market enterprise. [...]
Becker told him that he knows the area well and that he will arrange a meeting with the local leaders, Kurdish and Arabic. That comment brought a round of applause from the tribal leaders.
Voice Over the Future
Link to Full Article
By William L. Miller
With voice communications over closed IP-based networks already being transmitted under battle conditions, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology is poised to transform military telephony.
This growing communications technology from the commercial sector, transplanted to the defense world, works more efficiently to take advantage of common infrastructures and adds advantages of share applications, ensuring that needed information is provided to all layers of end users. Its ability to scale and agile footprint work in concert with legacy applications to protect current mission-critical applications while paving a way for future evolution.
The road needed to make way for widespread VoIP is now under construction. For the military domains, the Department of Defense has adopted an architecture using IP as the networking technology for the Global Information Grid (GIG), DoD’s primary global communications network. An upgrade to GIG, known as GIG-BE (Bandwidth Expansion), will link critical DoD and intelligence capabilities around the globe.
In addition, DoD is now enhancing its current worldwide information transport system, the Defense Information System Network (DISN), emphasizing increased bandwidth. The GIG-BE will provide a high-speed transport and IP network layer reaching more than 90 key defense and intelligence sites. These will be integrated into the DISN and GIG IP network to reach hundreds of DoD locations. The DISN VoIP service will ride on this integrated, or converged, DISN transport and IP network.
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is driving VoIP within the military domains, and has a methodology in view for converging voice, video and data networks. Concurrently, the military services are involved in a series of pilot projects and initial deployments of VoIP technology in one form or another.
In addition, DISA has executed a policy for interoperability testing and information assurance accreditation to define platforms that are certified for use within the DSN network. This assures end users that solutions have been tested and will work seamlessly with military-unique features. The certified products are defined on an approved product list that DISA maintains for its end users.
DISA has initiated pilot networks to provide service to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command. For example, DISA supports Operation Iraqi Freedom with a secure VoIP pilot infrastructure. In addition, a DoD Voice over IP/Real Time Services Working Group, chaired by DISA, coordinates DoD activities in voice and video over IP. Panel members are currently laying out a DoD-wide plan focusing on architecture, critical path items, testing, schedule and funding. [...]
VoIP continues to move to the field in some notable pilot projects and has been in theatre for about two years, said network engineer John Shotwell. “When the Stryker brigades deployed, a portion of their WAN architecture was composed of VoIP. The 1st Cavalry Division also employed VoIP to integrate a portion of Command Post of the Future [CPOF],” Shotwell said, adding that the technology is currently being used in OIF with the 1st Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division and 2nd Stryker Brigade, as well as in Afghanistan with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams.
CPOF is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-based graphical user interface program allowing multiple applications, such as collaboration tools, to function from a common interface. Simultaneously, CERDEC is doing other studies to determine how programs like CPOF can transition to mobile and satellite networks.
Greg Lorenzo, program director for communications systems integration, said that three additional Army divisions will be provided with VoIP capability in 2005, including the 10th Mountain Division, the 101st Airborne and the 4th Infantry Division.
“We’re talking about an entire converged architecture,” said network engineer Dave Buleza. “Stryker was an initial and limited deployment, but these other architectures are end-to-end systems based on VoIP that are relatively seamless in their transition and implementation.”
CERDEC continues to mature the VoIP technology and prove its feasibility. A long-term schedule of deployments over at least the next decade will allow VoIP to fully proliferate within the active Army and its reserve components, Lorenzo said.
Iraqi citizens’ tips thwart terrorist attacks
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 24, 2005) – Three Joint Coordination Center hotline call-in tips provided by Iraqi citizens led to the diffusion of three improvised explosive devices in northern Iraq Saturday.
Troops from the 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force confirmed a tip that there were multiple artillery rounds in a field in southern Mosul. Explosive Ordinance Disposal team diffused the IED without incident.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment confirmed a tip that an IED had been placed near a roadway in southern Mosul, and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment confirmed a JCC call-in tip of a rocket wired as an IED inside a vehicle in northern Mosul. EOD was able to diffuse both IEDs without incident.
Detention of 24 terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 24, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 24 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Iraqi Police detained six individuals suspected of conducting an improvised explosive device attack on Iraqi Commandos while reinforcing the Commandos in central Mosul Saturday. Troops from the 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Troops from the 107th Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid northwest of Mosul Saturday. Troops from the 101st Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Saturday. Troops from the 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained one individual suspected of financing terrorists during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul Saturday. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity after they stopped their vehicle while on patrol in southwestern Mosul Saturday. In a separate operation 1-24th Soldiers detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid west of Mosul Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a mortar tube and three mortar rounds from an abandoned vehicle while on patrol in northern Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Woodlander injured in Iraq
Please read the entire entry for updates.
Link to Full Article
By SHAWBONG FOK/Democrat Staff Writer
Woodland resident Sgt. Brandon Huff has been severely injured by an explosive while serving in the Stryker Brigade in Mosul, Iraq.
Brandon was injured on Wednesday by a hidden electronic explosive that went off while his platoon was checking out a reported car bomb. He lost his left leg above his knee and had shrapnel throughout his body.
"We don't know if he stepped on a mine (or) if it went off electronically," said Don Huff, his father.
Brandon was taken to the intensive care unit in Landsguhl Medical Center near Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
Updates:
Injured sergeant being treated - Daily Democrat
Two people, both sacrificing to serve their country - Daily Democrat
Methodist Church will aid wounded soldiers - Daily Democrat
Iraqi Security Forces taking on terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 23, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorists and recovered an Iraqi citizen’s truck during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Troops from the 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
An Iraqi citizen had his truck stolen at gun point by terrorists after he refused to sell it to them in southern Mosul Friday. The incident was reported to troops from the 106th Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army who were able to recover the vehicle during a search operation. This potentially saved many lives considering the truck likely would have been used as a car bomb. No injuries to the citizen or ISF were reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on their patrol south of Qayyarah today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in central Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two operations in western Mosul Friday. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi citizen helps take massive weapons caches off the street
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 22, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered two massive weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Troops from 107th Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army working alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment discovered a massive weapons cache while conducting a raid in Al Hatr, southwest of Qayyarah. The Security Forces were tipped off by an Iraqi citizen who reported the cache to local Iraqi Police. The cache included approximately 2.5 million anti-aircraft rounds, 850 mortar rounds, 144 RPG rounds, 150 rockets, 225 pounds of TNT, 127 anti-tank mines, 75 anti-personnel mines, 300 assorted artillery, rocket and mortar initiators, 200 hand grenades, and an anti-aircraft weapon. One individual was detained in connection with the cache. Suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported. The weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment discovered a massive weapons cache during a cordon and search operation southeast of Mosul. The cache included 880 anti-tank detonators, 307 anti-tank mines, 95 artillery rounds, 1,200 grenades, 30 RPG rounds, 700 grenade fuses, 800 rounds of large caliber ammunition, and 3,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. The weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction.
These two major weapons cache seizures contribute significantly to the improving security situation in northern Iraq. ISF and MNF along with Iraqi citizens continue to aggressively pursue terrorists and their weapons in pursuit of a free and democratic Iraq. These operations are indicative of the combined efforts of the Iraqi community working with their Security Forces.
In a separate operation Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activities during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar Thursday. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi citizens stay alert, foil attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 22, 2005) – An Iraqi citizen’s tip prevents an improvised explosive device attack and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
The Iraqi citizen’s call-in tip to the Joint Coordination Center led Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment to the site of an IED in northern Mosul. Explosive Ordinance team was called in to defuse the IED. No MNF or Iraqi citizens were injured.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment injured two insurgents after they fled their vehicle at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar. The insurgents will be detained following treatment at a local hospital. The 2-14th discovered two IED initiation devices, two blasting caps, detonation cord, an AK-47, 100 rounds of Ak-47 ammunition, and a pistol inside the insurgent’s vehicle. Earlier in the day the 2-14th witnessed the two insurgents burying an IED. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
The 2-14th detained three more individuals suspected of insurgent activity during two cordon and search operations in Tal Afar. They also seized IED making equipment, two AK-47s, a grenade, and AK-47 ammunition during those operations. Soldiers from the 3-21st detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity at a checkpoint in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity while patrolling in western Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
ISF and MNF seize a number of weapons, detain 42
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a number of weapons and detained 42 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Troops from 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force received a tip from an Iraqi citizen via the Joint Coordination Center hotline of a weapons cache in western Mosul. The 22-6th detained two individuals and seized the weapons cache which included three RPG launchers, 14 RPG rounds, two sniper rifles, mortar round, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, three PKC machine guns, five assault rifles, and four hand grenades. Troops from 21st Battalion, 8th Brigade Iraqi Army detained seven individuals suspected of insurgent activity and seized a number of weapons during a cordon and search operation north of Tal Afar. The weapons cache included two RPG rounds, two RPK machine guns, an IED kit, and ammunition. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache in a vehicle while on patrol in western Mosul. The cache included 18 mines, hand grenades, and mortars. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained 27 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation north of Mosul. Soldiers from the 1-24th detained six individuals suspected of making car bombs during a raid west of Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Forces capture suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 20, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained two suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained an individual suspected of insurgent activity at a traffic control point south of Qayyarah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation east of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi citizens and ISF continue to stifle insurgency
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 20, 2005) – An Iraqi citizen’s tip led to an improvised explosive device being defused and Iraqi Security Forces seized a number of weapons and detained suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq Tuesday.
A concerned Iraqi citizen led Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment to the IED site in western Mosul. MNF were then able to defuse the IED. Troops from the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade Iraqi Commandos discovered a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul. The cache included 75 AK-47s, seven pistols, and two SKS rifles. The Iraqi Commandos also detained seven individuals suspected of insurgent activity during the operation. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
During another operation the 1-24th detained an individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Military targets illegal gas sales
Link to Full Article
By David Axe, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
QAYYARAH, Iraq -- U.S. forces are cracking down on an unexpected problem in this oil-rich country -- gasoline bootlegging.
On any day in many Iraqi cities, men with plastic containers full of gas line the roads outside gas stations, offering the same product for a much higher price but faster. Motorists pull up, hand a wad of dinars out the window, and wait as the bootlegger fills the tank using a funnel and a hose. [...]
In the town of Qayyarah, south of Mosul, recently, Capt. Ryan Gist of the 25th Infantry Division watched as motorists filled up at a dilapidated gas station.
"Before, there were a lot of bootleggers here. But we gave all their gas away for free. Now things have gotten better," he said. [...]
Spc. Harvey Blankenship, 22, checked the price of a gallon of unleaded at the Qayyarah station: 200 dinars (14 cents).
"That's not bad," he said.
The average working Iraqi earns around 2 million dinars, or $1,400, per year.
The crackdown on bootlegging and easing gas supply is also an element in fighting the insurgency in Iraq.
Gas stations with long lines are "a big target" for attacks, said Sgt. 1st Class James Kates of the 1st Infantry Division, in Baqouba, in Diyala province. He said the military closed gas stations during critical events to spare them from attacks.
Blast, Stryker patrol end with injured Iraqis
Link to Full Article (subscription)
By Alex Neill, Army Times
MOSUL, Iraq — The two suspected terrorists brought their small red car to a sudden halt when they found the 19-ton Stryker combat vehicle looming before them.
Stryker troops had spotted the car in a field along the road where an improvised explosive device had just been detonated as a convoy of Iraqi National Guard and U.S. soldiers passed by in the late afternoon of April 14.
The Stryker steered toward the car and it sped off, darting into the narrow residential streets off the highway, a key convoy road known as Main Supply Route Tampa.
The suspects’ car veered into an alley that appeared too narrow for the Stryker, so the soldiers looped around nearby streets hoping to intercept the suspects. The Stryker and the red car soon met again when the suspects, careening into an intersection, unwittingly found themselves staring head-on at the combat vehicle.
“He looked at us and his eyes got this wide and he just took off,” said Sgt. Robert Dalager, the Stryker vehicle commander. [...]
Meanwhile, three other Stryker combat vehicles were converging on the scene. All four are part of a heavy weapons platoon with the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, and had been patrolling the last 20 minutes of a hot afternoon when the IED explosion went off. [...]
Hendrickson said the next morning that the suspects’ injuries were not life threatening, though the man in the white shirt had to have his spleen removed.
“Setting off an IED is considered a threat,” Hendrickson pointed out. “If [the suspects] just would have stopped at any time, they would not have been harmed.”
He also said that the suspects, when cornered, were still considered highly dangerous based on experience.
“They try to shoot their way out all the time.”
The full article can be found in the April 25, 2005 print edition of the Army Times.
Weapons seized during successful ISF operation
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 19, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained two suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Iraqi Police discovered a cache of weapons while patrolling in Al Hadr south of Mosul today. The cache included gun powder, ammunition, and several mortar rounds. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
In a separate operation Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search in northeastern Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips to Iraqi Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi Police repel insurgent attack, MNF detain 18
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 18, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces decisively defeated an insurgent attack on a police station and Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 18 suspected insurgents in a single operation in northern Iraq today.
Nearly 50 insurgents attempted to overrun an Iraqi Police Station during an attack in Mosul. The insurgents used small arms, mortar, and RPG fire during the attack. The Iraqi Police were able to successfully repel the attack. This successful defeat of the insurgents clearly demonstrates that Iraqi Security Forces are continually growing more effective.
In a separate operation Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained 18 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
ISF capture suspected insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 17, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Saturday.
Troops from 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained three individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity at a vehicle checkpoint in western Mosul. The 1-24th also seized five AK-47s, a hand grenade, and ammunition from the vehicle. The 1-24th detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips to Iraqi Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Stringer still held for alleged insurgent activity
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 16, 2005) – A CBS stringer continues to be held in detention by Multi-National Forces following an incident in northern Iraq April 5. The stringer was detained after being released from medical care following an incident where MNF had come under attack by small arms fire and returned fire killing one insurgent and injuring the stringer. He was standing next to the armed insurgent who was killed at the time that he was injured.
Military officials detained this individual and are conducting an investigation into his previous activities as well as his alleged support of anti-Iraqi insurgency activities.
The stinger tested positive for explosive residue. Multi-National Forces continue to investigate potential collaboration between the stringer and terrorists, and allegations the stringer had knowledge of future terrorist attacks.
ISF continue pressing for security in the north
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 16, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 27 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Troops from 101st Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army detained seven individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation northwest of Mosul today. Troops from 106th Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army detained seven individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid south of Mosul Friday. Troops from 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in southeastern Mosul today. All suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals while patrolling south of Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of detonating two improvised explosive devices on their patrol in western Mosul Friday. The 2-14th detained another two individuals after their patrol was hit by a car bomb south of Tal Afar Friday. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
U.S. troops, insurgents wield pens as well as swords
Link to Full Article
By Edward Harris, Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq — It’s just spray-painted graffiti, but the writing on the wall gets the attention of U.S. troops: “Warning to all policemen: You will be killed.” Soldiers then storm into the compound, demanding the owners erase the death threat against the Americans’ Iraqi allies.
“If I come back tomorrow and it’s still there, I’ll fix it myself, and you won’t like it,” Capt. Blake Lackey says sternly. “I’ll tear the wall down.”
It’s all part of a war of words in Iraq, where U.S. troops patrolling the northern city of Mosul constantly inspect handbills and graffiti on sun-scorched walls, searching for insurgent messages that they counter with their own psychological operations — or “psy-ops.”
Both sides are wielding the pen alongside the sword in hopes of winning converts among Mosul’s more than 2 million, ethnically varied people — a goal American commanders say is key in an unconventional battle where every street is a front line and public spaces double as militants’ mission-planning centers.
“In an insurgency, (the fighters) rely on anonymity. They swim in the population, which only needs to be neutral,” says Col. Robert B. Brown, of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, whose troops operate in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Largely calm after the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion, Mosul saw a spike in violence beginning last November, with insurgent attacks running at about 90 per week around the Jan. 30 elections. While still violent, Mosul has calmed somewhat in recent weeks and officers say they want to maintain what they describe as momentum against insurgents. [...]
In Mosul, soldiers say the insurgent graffiti and handbills are, effectively, the militants’ own force multiplier.
“It sends a message that the terrorists are harbored or supported in the area,” says Lackey, 30, of Manassas, Va. He adds that he doesn’t actually knock down walls, but will efface insurgent scrawlings if owners don’t.
“I personally think they’re responsible for their neighborhood. The outside of their wall is still their wall. You can infer that what’s on the outside of the wall is what’s believed inside the house.”
Inside, the civilian population is often stuck. Mutsam Ubade, 35, tells Lackey he will erase the graffiti, but he worries about the response from insurgents.
“The fighters will think I’m with the coalition forces and I’ll probably be killed,” he states flatly. “But I have my orders, so I have to do it.”
Soldiers happy with separate campaign medals
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox and Alex Neill, Army Times
CAMP DIAMONDBACK, MOSUL, Iraq – Separate campaign medals suit Sgt. Justin Senf just fine. “When you’re wearing Class As, people look at that and see where you’ve been and what you’ve done,” said Senf, 23, as he waited for a flight that was to take him out of the war zone and home to Fort Lewis, Wash., for two weeks’ R&R.
The Defense Department’s one-size-fits-all Global War on Terrorism Medal didn’t cut it for most soldiers. Politicians who picked up on their disapproval applied political pressure to create separate campaign honors.
Senf, a Victoria, Texas, native and mortars squad leader with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion of the 5th Infantry Regiment, has seen a fair share of combat since he went into Iraq in October as part of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT).
He has seen enough action during dismounted patrols and other operations with the Stryker brigade, including the intense firefight that broke out in Fallujah shortly after the unit arrived, to earn the Combat Infantryman Badge. Now the air-assault qualified soldier will have an Iraq campaign medal to add to his rack. [...]
The GWOT medals, which were established March 12, 2003, includes an expeditionary version for overseas service and a non-“service” version for action within the United States connected to the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
But while a lot of soldiers favor separate campaign medals, others – including First Sgt. Tom Walsh, an MP with the 59th Military Police Company – simply doesn’t care..
“I’ll wear whatever they tell me to wear,” said the 17-year Army veteran. And, told that he can’t add stars to signify multiple tours, he just shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
Iraq's northern capital stalked by suicide bombers
Link to Full Article
By Patrick Cockburn, The Independent
Anybody who believes Iraq has turned the corner and violence is diminishing should pay a visit to its northern capital, though they must be extremely careful when doing so. A suicide bomber detonated explosives in his car outside an army post in Mosul yesterday, creating a cloud of smoke and dust that hovered over the city.
Across the country, insurgents opened a new offensive with at least 18 people being killed by suicide bombs in Baghdad.
I was in a car a few hundred yards away when the bomb in Mosul went off. I was being driven by a Kurdish soldier who had disguised himself as a civilian by sitting on his pistol and wearing a long brown Arab robe over his uniform. Another soldier, concealing his machine gun, sat in the back, dressed in a tracksuit.
We were trying to reach the centre of Mosul to meet the deputy governor, Khasro Goran. We had driven from the Kurdish province of Arbil with four uniformed soldiers - all Kurds from the 1st Battalion of the Iraqi National Guard - to protect us. There was no trouble on the road between the two cities. But when we reached an army post on the outskirts of Mosul the soldiers looked apprehensive. Lt-ColYassin, commander of the base, said: "If I send you further into the city in a convoy with three vehicles and men in uniform, you are likely to be a target for suicide bombers." [...]
Mr Goran says that, while he disagreed with General Petraeus, a critical mistake was the US replacement of the 21,000 strong 101st Airborne by the much smaller Stryker Brigade. He thinks there are now only 5,000 to 6,000 US troops in Nineveh.
For now, Mr Goran and Mr Pire are probably right in thinking insurgency is on the retreat. Intelligence has improved. Television confessions of captured resistance fighters, often doubling as criminals, have damaged the insurgents.
But the government has a faltering grip on Mosul. There is simmering ethnic conflict between Kurds and Arabs. "About 520 Kurds have been killed of whom 400 were civilians - often just because they were wearing Kurdish clothes," says Mr Pire. The war is far from over.
Local soldier upgraded to stable condition
CENTRE HALL -- Army Spc. Christopher Swales has been upgraded from critical to stable condition at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, according to patient information available from the hospital.
Swales, 29, was injured in late March when Iraqi insurgents attacked members of the 25th Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade during routine vehicle inspections.
U.S. forces rebuild ragged local police
Link to Full Article
By David Axe, WASHINGTON TIMES
QAYYARAH, Iraq - U.S. forces in the area around the northern city of Mosul are rebuilding the local police in the wake of a complete collapse of native forces last year.
"It all happened in two weeks," said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker.
Col. Becker commands the 2nd Battalion of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment, part of the 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis in Washington state.
Since October, the 2nd Battalion has patrolled the dusty approaches to Mosul, an area known to U.S. soldiers as Q-West after its most important town, Qayyarah. [...]
The insurgents' flight from Fallujah to Mosul coincided with Ramadan, the Muslim religious month of fasting, which last year inspired anti-American violence countrywide.
The result was bloodshed in Q-West late last year as the insurgency's center of gravity shifted north.
Police stations were attacked. Iraqi army bases were struck. Iraqi police and soldiers deserted by the thousands.
"I went from 2,000 police to 50," Col. Becker said, adding that there was a similar exodus in the Iraqi army. "Let me tell you, there were some sleepless nights."
After six months of intensive effort by the 2nd Battalion and other coalition forces, Iraqi forces in the area are back up to strength.
Officers say there are three battalions of 500 Iraqis each manning checkpoints and outposts in Q-West.
And hundreds of Iraqi police are operating out of new stations in Qayyarah and surrounding towns.
In Mosul, a Battle 'Beyond Ruthless'
This article is well worth the effort to register for access to the Post online.
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq -- From inside a vacant building, Sgt. 1st Class Domingo Ruiz watched through a rifle scope as three cars stopped on the other side of the road. A man carrying a machine gun got out and began to transfer weapons into the trunk of one of the cars.
"Take him down," Ruiz told a sniper.
The sniper fired his powerful M-14 rifle and the man's head exploded, several American soldiers recalled. As he fell, more soldiers opened fire, killing at least one other insurgent. After the ambush, the Americans scooped up a piece of skull and took it back to their base as evidence of the successful mission.
The March 12 attack -- swift and brutally violent -- bore the hallmarks of operations that have made Ruiz, 39, a former Brooklyn gang member, renowned among U.S. troops in Mosul and, in many ways, a symbol of the optimism that has pervaded the military since Iraq's Jan. 30 elections. [...]
Before the March 12 ambush, Ruiz set up an observation post in a remote house, telling his skeptical platoon, "This is where they'll come." The insurgents in the three cars had attacked a convoy of Iraqi soldiers, then gathered in front of the house to consolidate their weapons -- all the time unaware they were being watched by Ruiz and his men.
In the fury of the ambush, the three cars managed to drive off. In addition to the man who was killed instantly, the Americans concluded that at least one other insurgent was killed and carried off because an abandoned vehicle discovered nearby contained "a lot of blood and brain and skull matter," Born said.
Born said he thought the ambush likely had "a huge impact on [the insurgents'] morale. Getting ambushed like that -- they're usually the guys doing the ambushing." [...]
This exerpt does not do justice to the article. Follow the link for the full story.
The story has been republished in the Seattle Times.
PFC Rosendahl Update
Bobby Sr. (MSgt Rosendahl) has been posting updates on the condition of his son, PFC Rosendahl, in the comments section of a previous entry. The following is the most recent update I received via email. Bobby Jr. can certainly use our continued prayers and well wishes.
Bobby was to have surgery today. Skin grafts for sure, possibly the amputation of his left leg from just below the knee. It appears that the damage to his shattered right knee is so bad that they will eventually have to take his right leg as well.
Capt Siebold,
I hope your superior has put you in for the Silver Star and the men you command for Bronze Stars (or higher) for your actions on March 11th.. I am proud to know you. Thank you again for being instrumental in helping to save my son's life.
MSgt Rosendahl
Laptop-Triggered Mines Heading to Iraq
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL P. REGAN, Associated Press
NEW YORK -- U.S. troops in Iraq will soon be able to lace their defensive perimeters with a high-tech, multi-pronged version of one of the most effective weapons in their enemy's playbook: the remote-controlled bomb.
By June, soldiers in the Army's Stryker Brigade, which operates mainly in and around the northern city of Mosul, will be able to pick out an individual anti-personnel munition from a minefield of hundreds and explode it by pushing a computer's touch screen from many yards away.
The system, known as Matrix, is part of the Army's emerging arsenal of "smart" land mines that military officials say are meant to do away with the accidental deaths and maimings caused by their not-so-smart brethren. [...]
When Army officials saw what could be done with the Matrix system, they said, "This is good enough for right now. Let's get it fielded," Alliant's chief executive Daniel Murphy said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts in February.
He said the initial order is "not in excess of $10 million, I don't believe," but added: "I think they're both (Matrix and Spider) going to be deep programs over the long haul."
Iraq Insurgent Push in North Waning
Link to Full Article
By EDWARD HARRIS, Associated Press Writer
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) - The command-center call crackles out of a radioman's set, sending U.S. soldiers racing for their Humvees: A suspected roadside bomb concealed in a green sandbag is in the streets of Iraq's main northern city and three cars filled with gunmen are circling nearby.
The troops speed to the site with guns trained on Mosul's traffic - a typical day's work for U.S. soldiers battling militants who have launched what officers call a northern front far from Iraq's restive, central Sunni Triangle.
Mosul - a city 225 miles northwest of Baghdad that's an ethnic patchwork of Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Christians and other communities - was largely calm early last year after offering little resistance during the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion.
But in November, militants ran police out of town and unleashed a wave of pre-election bombings and attacks U.S. officers now say they're quelling with the help of Iraqi security forces.
``Were (the insurgents) always here? Yes. They were just waiting for their opportunity in Mosul, which was a quiet place for them to hide,'' says Col. Robert B. Brown, who is helping lead the fight in Nineveh province, which includes Mosul. ``In November, the north became a main effort for the enemy.'' [...]
Since November, U.S. forces have killed at least 350 militants in the province, including 50 foreigners from Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, says Brown, 45, of Fort Lewis, Wash., where his 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division unit is based.
Brown says attacks have dropped in recent weeks because the populace is coming around against the insurgents, with tips to security forces running at about 250 a week.
``The public is off the fence,'' he says. ``They're now on the side of the new Iraqi government and the coalition forces. And that's because of the elections.
``Does that mean the insurgents will roll over and give up? No way. They're ruthless.''
Still, he says, soldiers have the northern insurgency ``on the ropes.''
Brown says his troops face perhaps 500 hard-core fighters and thousands of part-time militants across the province - supported by Islamic radicals in neighboring Syria and Iran.
Citizen tips continue to make a positive impact
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 11, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) safely disposed of an improvised explosive device in southwestern Mosul today.
Insurgent activity has taken a marked hit by the valuable information provided to Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces by Iraqi citizens. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment disposed of a buried IED which had wires leading to a pile of dirt.
Recent months have shown an exponential increase in citizen-provided information on anti-Iraqi insurgency. The people of Iraq continue to exhibit active support for their new government by providing information to stop these terrorist activities.
Innocent Iraqis again wounded during insurgent attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 10, 2005) – An Iraqi citizen was injured when a suicide car bomber detonated near a Multi-National Force convoy in western Mosul today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment were patrolling in Mosul when their convoy was attacked injuring an innocent Iraqi citizen. Insurgents have continually targeted and disregarded the safety of innocent civilians during their attacks. Anti-Iraqi Insurgents have killed four and injured 37 Iraqi citizens in northern Mosul during eight attacks in the last eight days alone.
Multi-National Forces detain insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 10, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 13 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity in central Mosul. The individuals were taken into MNF custody for questioning.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in southeastern Mosul to apprehend individuals suspected of insurgent activity. A search of the area resulted in the confiscation of one pistol and explosives making material, and the apprehension of nine individuals.
Citizen tips continue to make a positive impact
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 9, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained three suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq Friday.
Insurgent activity has taken a marked hit by the valuable information provided to Multi-National and Iraqi Security Forces by Iraqi citizens. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three known insurgents in areas southeast of Mosul thanks to tips and positive identification from an Iraqi citizen. Two of the individuals were detained by MNF and the third was turned over to Iraqi Police.
Military detaining Iraqi reporter
Link to Full Article
UPI, Washington Times
Washington, DC, Apr. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. forces have detained an Iraqi man carrying CBS News credentials who was injured Tuesday in a firefight in Mosul.
According to U.S. Central Command, the man was standing next to an armed insurgent when soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment Stryker Brigade Combat Team, came under attack. The soldiers fired back, killing the shooter and injuring the Iraqi.
On Tuesday, Central Command said it regretted hurting the reporter who was caught up in a "complex and volatile situation." However, Friday, Central Command said an investigation has suggested the wounded Iraqi may have a history of supporting insurgents. [...]
CBS News has not yet confirmed the man is on their payroll. A spokeswoman said Friday the company is looking into the incident.
Iraqi citizen tips lead to weapons cache seizures
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 8, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized four large weapons caches with the help of Iraqi citizens during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24 Infantry Regiment seized two large weapons caches while conducting a raid in western Mosul thanks to an Iraqi citizen’s tip. The caches included 41 artillery rounds, five Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers, 70 RPG rounds, five machine guns, a sniper rifle, four AK-47’s, seven grenades, over 4000 rounds of small arms ammunition, 25 blasting caps, 5 lbs of plastic explosives, six mortar rounds and two rolls of copper wiring for explosives. The unit also detained the suspected owner of the weapon caches. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized two large weapons caches while conducting raids in and near southwestern Mosul. One of the caches seized was as a result of an Iraqi citizen’s tip. The caches included one AK-47, two machine guns, two anti-aircraft guns with 650 rounds of ammunition, four machine gun barrels, four RPG launchers, three rockets, seven mortar rounds, 22 RPG rounds, three anti-personnel mines, 6 lbs. of plastic explosives, 40 lbs. of black powder, 12,000 rounds of small arms ammunition, 44 grenades, 30 artillery fuse igniters, shotgun ammunition and one car bomb. The 1-5th also detained an individual suspected of connection with the weapons cache. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Multi-National Forces detain insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 8, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two known insurgents in northern Mosul and two individuals carrying a case of small arms ammunition and a large sum of cash in an area northwest of Mosul.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a raid to apprehend a known insurgent. The individual is now in MNF custody.
Innocent Iraqis again wounded during insurgent attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 8, 2005) – A suicide bomber detonated a bomb near a Multi-National Force convoy resulting in 13 Iraqi citizens being injured in northern Iraq Thursday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were patrolling in Tal Afar when the convoy was attacked. The Iraqi citizens were transported to a local hospital for treatment. No MNF injuries were reported during the attack.
Insurgents have continually targeted and disregarded the safety of innocent civilians during their attacks. Insurgents have killed two and injured 29 Iraqi citizens during six attacks in the last six days alone.
Transformation of Logistics
The following article regarding the transformation of military logistics was written and submitted by officers with the 25th Brigade Support Battalion, which is part of the 1st Brigade (SBCT), 25th Infantry Division.
We have another article from them that we will be publishing in the near future.
"The Transformation of Military Logistics from Supply-Point Based to Distribution Based Logistics at the Brigade Level"
Captain Trenton J. Conner
Commander, Company A (Distribution)
25th Brigade Support Battalion
1st Brigade (SBCT), 25th Infantry Division
Abstract
This paper is a comparative analysis on the efficacy differences of a supply based logistics system and that of a distribution based logistics system as it relates to logistics support at the Brigade level. This study compares the differences in structure, logistics flow, and management systems of the Headquarters and Supply Company of a Light Forward Support Battalion and the Distribution Company of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT). Highlighted are the benefits of centralized management of transportation assets and the use of digital enablers to increase situational awareness of logistics systems and data by the SBCT. The SBCT has demonstrated in training and in Operation Iraqi Freedom that the move to a distribution based logistics system Army-wide should be at the forefront of the total Army Transformation.
INTRODUCTION
Over the course of the last decade, the military and especially the Army, has looked at ways to improve its logistics system and ensure continued success on the battlefield. One of the directions the Army has moved is to go from a supply based system to a distribution based logistics system. One of the conduits for testing this system has been using the development of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) to see if distribution based logistics will work at the tactical level. This paper covers many of the lessons learned from these tests over the past two years and in practice in two rotations of SBCTs through Operation Iraqi Freedom.
RELATED LITERATURE
Since the end of the Cold War and the defeat of Saddam Hussein’s Army in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, the United States Army has looked to find ways to transform itself into a more rapidly deployable and mobile force in order to deal more effectively with the asymmetric threats facing the country in the form of an ever increasing number of terrorists organizations (IBCT O & O, 2000). However, in order for the Army to transform the way it executes combat operations, the Army had to change the way its logistics operations were structured. “There will never be a revolution in military affairs until there is a revolution in military logistics,” said then Army Chief of Staff, GEN Dennis J. Reimer in a 1999 article published in the Army Logistician. The Revolution in Military Logistics started in the mid-1990’s and is continuing to this day.
The Revolution in Military Logistics represents the transformation of the Army logistics system to a distribution-based logistics (DBL) system. DBL is a seamless logistics system that is integrated and synchronized to meet demand at the time of need. The RML is composed of five basic components:
- A reduction in the demand that results from more supportable and reliable weapon systems.
- More accurate and timely visibility of demands.
- Quicker and more responsive processes.
- Increased support from afar.
- A reduction of the sustainment footprint on the battlefield.
(FM 4-20, 2003)
In Army of Excellence Units (AOE) or Legacy Forces, the unit tasked to provide supply support to maneuver brigades is the Supply Company within a Forward Support Battalion (FSB). The Supply Company within light forces, those forces that move primarily by foot or helicopter, is the Headquarters and Supply Company. It is called this because the battalion headquarters and the Supply Platoon are organic to the company. This company provides supply point distribution of food, personal equipment, packaged POL, fuel, barrier materials, and ammunition and operates a Supply Support Activity or “warehouse” (FM 63-20, 1990). The Forward Maintenance Company provides repair parts supply support with the operation of a separate Supply Support Activity. Supplies are physically distributed from these separate supply points by transportation assets located within the Support Platoons of each of the maneuver battalions within the Brigade.
In 1999, Army Chief of Staff, GEN Eric J. Shinseki called for the Transformation of the Army. He called for the creation of an Interim Force that would lead the transformation effort and bridge the gap between Legacy Forces and the Future Force. This Interim Force eventually became known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) because it was built around a new combat vehicle called the Stryker. The Stryker is a multi-variant vehicle that primarily performs the mission of moving infantry soldiers rapidly throughout varying terrain and provides supporting fires to dismounted soldiers. The support battalion created within the SBCT is the Brigade Support Battalion (BSB) and is composed of three companies: the Distribution Company, the Forward Maintenance Company, and the Brigade Support Medical Company (FM 4-93.7, 2001). The remainder of this paper will look at the differences between the AOE Headquarters and Supply Company and the Distribution Company in relation to the overall RML and the key differences in organizational structure, the channels of requisition and physical distribution, and the differences in logistics management systems.
The transformation the Army is currently going through is leading to the creation of the Future Force. This Future Force is composed of self-sustaining Units of Action, which are modular units capable of conducting operations throughout the spectrum of warfare. According to the current Chief of Staff of the Army, GEN Peter J. Schoomaker, and his Army Campaign Plan these, units will be capable of conducting independent action as part of both Joint and Expeditionary operations (AUSA, 2004). The “self-sustaining” piece of Unit of Action capabilities is where distribution based logistics will provide feasible solutions to complex logistics requirements.
METHODOLOGY
This paper is a comparative analysis between the logistics systems of an Army of Excellence Light Brigade with supporting Headquarters and Supply Company and that of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team with its Distribution Company. It will attempt to determine efficacy differences in supporting Warfighters conducting combat operations. The criteria being used to compare the two types of units are three fold:
- Organizational Structure and Capabilities
- The Channels of Requisition and Physical Distribution
- Logistics Management Systems
The comparative tools used to complete the analysis exist in doctrine, collections of historical data, and lessons learned throughout the conduct of Combat Training Center Rotations and recent deployments to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
FINDINGS
Organizational structure
The mission of the Headquarters and Supply Company (HSC) is to provide multi-class supply support to a light infantry brigade. It provides all classes of supply through its operation of a Supply Support Activity (SSA), minus repair parts (IX) and medical supplies (VIII). These two supply capabilities rest within the Maintenance Company, who operates a separate SSA, and the Medical Company, whose logistics system is completely different than the other two and falls outside the scope of this discussion (SPO, 2004). Supplies are distributed via supply point distribution at various locations within a Brigade Support Area. Each of these supply points are specific to one commodity and are normally laid out in unit piles when appropriate. The customer units are required to come to each of these supply points to draw their required supplies upon notification of their availability.
The Battalion Field Trains and Company Combat Trains, units outside the support battalion, accomplish the physical distribution of supplies because the HSC has no direct support transportation assets. The Field Trains are typically located in their command post within the Brigade Support Area and is composed of a Support Platoon that has limited transportation assets. These trucks move from supply point to supply point and draw their battalion’s supply requirements and then muster to form a logistics convoy. These logistics convoys move from the Field Trains Command Post forward (in a linear fight) to the Combat Trains Command Post. The Combat Trains Command Post is composed of three separate company level transportation assets usually only one or two 2 ½ ton trucks each. Each supported battalion’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company Commander, an Infantry Officer, manages the Field Trains Command Post and the battalion’s logistics officer, also an Infantry Officer, manages the Combat Trains Command Post.
This design causes three separate units to provide supply support to the brigade and creates a multitude of supply points that must be managed as separate entities by logistics managers within the support battalion. Also by design, there are three separate organizations involved with the physical distribution of one unit’s supplies within the brigade area, two of which are not logistics units. This creates longer lead times for units requiring support.
With Army Transformation came the advent of the Brigade Support Battalion and a completely new type of Quartermaster Company called the Distribution Company. The creation of this company called for the elimination of field trains moving almost all brigade transportation assets within its control; Stryker companies did retain two 5-ton cargo trucks for internal lift and had the added benefit of MHE crane assemblies mounted on the back. The Distribution Company provides for the physical distribution of all supplies, minus medical, to the SBCT. The company’s Supply Platoon operates a multi-class Forward Distribution Point, formerly Supply Support Activity, and the SBCT’s Ammunition Transfer and Holding Point. The Supply Platoon is responsible for the receipt and cross docking of supplies. The Transportation Platoon, with its 20 Load-Handling System trucks and standardized Container Roll-off Platforms, provides the physical distribution of these supplies to battalion and sometimes company areas. The Fuel and Water Platoon provides the receipt and retail issue of bulk fuel and water to battalion areas. All of these activities eliminate the need for maneuver units to come to the Brigade Support Area to draw supplies.
With this major shift in logistics capabilities to the support battalion, specifically the Distribution Company, maneuver units no longer need to focus as much attention to their logistics needs and are able to focus more on their primary mission of conducting combat operations. This shift of capabilities also leads to reduced inventory costs and shorter lead times as proven by the reduction of over $200,000 in inventory costs by the 1/25th Stryker Brigade Combat Team in August 2004. The Distribution Company is the sole provider of the entire Brigade’s supply and distribution needs and by design is less complicated to manage.
Logistics flow-Requisition and Distribution
One of the key drivers of lead time or in Army speak “Customer Wait Time (CWT)” is the time it takes for a unit’s supply requisition to be processed and transmitted to higher sources of supply. The other key driver of CWT is the amount of time it takes for that requisition to be fulfilled and delivered to the customer. This section looks at the efficacy differences in these two drivers of CWT in the Legacy Brigade and the SBCT.
In a Legacy Brigade, requisitions for supplies are submitted by company supply personnel via disks from their User Level Logistics Systems or manual forms to their supporting Supply Support Activity, pending the type item of supply required. These disks or forms must travel throughout the brigade area by currier and pass through the multiple nodes described earlier (FM 63-20, 1990). The SSA clerk processes requisitions either electronically or manually once they arrive at the Supply Support Activity (SSA). The computer system (SARSS 1) then determines whether or not the SSA can fulfill this requisition from on-hand stocks or if it must be passed to a higher source of supply, whether it be a reinforcing divisional or non-divisional supply company or all the way up to a theater or national level asset. This is one method of requisition.
The other method of requisition is the compilation of a brigade-level logistics status report or LOGSTAT. The LOGSTAT reports the current supply posture of the brigade and the future requirements for the next three days, and is a compilation of battalion-level LOGSTATs derived from three to four company-level logistics status reports. The Brigade LOGSTAT report is submitted to a Divisional Material Management Center, who in turn, directs the supporting Forward Support Battalion to issue the requirements at the time of need by issuing a Material Release Order. Usually, this Brigade LOGSTAT is courtesy copied to the Forward Support Battalion so they can prepare to issue the available items to their customers.
Both of these methods take anywhere from 24-48 hours to accomplish depending on the type of operations the brigade is conducting. There are many potential problems with the first method. Paper and diskettes are subject to loss, damage, and destruction in field environments. Requisitions may have to be repeated multiple times until successfully inputted into the Supply Support Activity’s computer system. Another factor leading to increases in the CWT is that requisitions are for single line items. That is each unit must order one particular type of item in varying quantities at a time. The orders are then compiled in SARSS 1 and submitted to higher sources of supply as a single requisition. Supply based logistics does provide for greater amounts of stocks to be on hand and increases the availability of commonly requested items.
The SBCT requisition systems leverages new technologies to overcome the cumbersome methods just discussed. Technologies such as Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below (FBCB2), tactical internets, and Movement Tracking Systems (MTS) allow for the real-time collecting and passing of supply requirements from the user all the way up to the brigade level and the ability to track the movements of supplies across the battlefield (FM 4-93.7, 2001). Although the Army has yet to field updated supply computer systems, supply personnel can post data from their User Level Logistics Systems on the tactical internet allowing personnel from the Forward Distribution Point to download data files into SARSS 1. LOGSTAT reports are compiled and transmitted to logistics planners via FBCB2 and requisitions are continuously sent up through the supply chain.
The SBCT achieves several benefits from its unique Distribution Base Logistics system. First, it operates using configured loads (CLs). Configured Loads are commodity and unit specific pre-configured pallets of supplies designed to fit onto the Container Roll-off Platforms. These CLs provide units a known quantity of supplies based on the size of the unit and known consumption data. Configured loads are either depot packed or configured by higher sources of supply and shipped to the Distribution Company for delivery to customers. This allows for minimal handling at the FDP, increases velocity through the supply chain, and reduces inventory costs. The use of digital enablers increases the reliability of supply data and the use of MTS allows in-transit visibility of unit supplies. The drawbacks to these systems are that personnel must receive additional training in the use of these systems and they are limited to the signal architecture of the brigade.
In regards to the physical distribution process, both supply base and distribution based systems are similar in concept. The key difference between the two is the flexibility gained by the centralization of assets within the Distribution Company. In a legacy force, the respective battalion headquarters controls the transportation assets found in its Support Platoon. These units are tasked as they see fit and are synchronized with that battalion’s operations but not the Brigade’s overall logistics plan. Consequently, Support Platoons may be tasked to conduct separate operations, such as security or other force protection activities, when supplies are ready for pick up at the Supply Support Activity. In the SBCT, almost all transportation assets are part of the Distribution Company and their operations are synchronized with the SBCT’s operations. This allows the logistics managers to flex assets as priorities change and also ensures the protection of critical support assets. Normally, each battalion receives supplies on an every two or three-day basis based on consumption data. If an emergency situation develops, the Distribution Company can quickly react to meet the need. The Distribution Company demonstrated its unique flexibility during 1/25th SBCT’s Certification Exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center by positioning direct support assets forward to assist battalion logistics managers in the transport of supplies, leveraging non-committed transportation assets against downstream requirements (CALL, 2004). Also, as reported by the supporting Corps Material Management Center in October 2004, the Distribution Company of the 1/25th Stryker Brigade reduced Customer Wait Times by an average of four days within the first month of combat operations in Iraq. Contributing to this decrease was the effective use of materials handling capabilities and streamlining of receiving and cross-docking processes.
Management Systems
One of the most revolutionary transformations that have taken place within the SBCT is the streamlining of logistics management functions within the brigade area. The creation of the Support Operations/Distribution Management Center (SPO/DMC) has led to focused, flexible, and tailored distribution based logistics support for the SBCT (FM 4-93.7, 2001). The material management and movement control functions found within Legacy Force divisions is now at the brigade level leading to increased efficiencies in synchronization and demand management.
In Legacy divisions, supply management and transportation requirements are managed separately. The Material Management Center is responsible for compiling each brigade’s requirements and demand histories and ensuring the right stocks are on-hand to meet these demands. The required movements of these supplies are then tasked to transportation units and these movements fall under a separate office called the Movement Control Office (SPO, 2004). At the brigade level, once supplies are on-hand at the various supply points, the customer unit is notified and it is the responsibility of the customer to conduct a separate movement to the Brigade Support Area to pick them up and deliver to the final customer. In this supply chain there are multiple nodes managed by multiple people. These nodes also fall under the supervision of multiple units with their own priorities and needs. Many times these priorities compete against each other and cause friction between units. This method of acquiring and moving supplies through the battle space requires meticulous coordination to meet the demands of customers.
In the SBCT, the material management and movement control functions are combined. Battalion-level logistics managers forecast their requirements and provide them directly to the SPO/DMC. The SPO/DMC then synchronizes the delivery of supplies and produces a Distribution Matrix and provides this to the Distribution Company Commander (MTP, 2002). The Distribution Matrix is a living document and requires updates every 24-48 hours depending on changes to brigade operations. The Distribution Matrix is also provided to the Brigade Logistics Manager (S4) so that it is synchronized with brigade operations. The Distribution Company executes these missions and reports completion to the SPO via FBCB2 and MTS allows the SPO to maintain in-transit visibility.
CONCLUSION
As the Army continues to revolutionize the way it supports the warfighter, there are many valuable lessons to be learned from the SBCT. Distribution Based Logistics has proven to be a leaner, more effective way to supply the force. Throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, two SBCTs have proven that even at the end of a long supply chain, austere though efficient distribution companies can meet the multiple needs of its customers by leveraging digital enablers and synchronizing the use of available assets. Maneuver commanders have gained understanding that supplies do not have to be physically present all the time to be received when they are needed. The pipeline has become the Army’s warehouse leading to decreases in inventory levels and taxpayer costs.
Where are we headed? Over the next several years as Units of Action, new modular-based brigade-size organizations, are organized and replace existing brigades, the Army will continue to expand its digital capability. There are projects underway to replace the aging User Level Logistics Systems and other supporting Standard Army Management Information Systems. These new systems will link the aforementioned technologies and provide warfighters and logistics managers alike with the most up to date logistics information and provide real-time asset visibility. Also, digital enablers will be fielded to all units and not just those at the forefront of testing and experimentation. The SBCT has proven to be the bridge between the Legacy Force and the Future Force and as even more data is collected as the next four SBCTs complete the Transformation process, more lessons will be learned and integrated into the Future Force.
References
Association of the United States Army (2004). Army, Green Book 2004-2005.
Center of Army Lessons Learned (2004). Initial Impressions Report, JRTC 04-05 SBCT 2.
Combined Arms Support Command (2004). ALM 69-6932-HB-G, Support Operations Handbook, Version G.
Headquarters Department of the Army (2001). FM 4-93.7, Combat Service Support to the IBCT.
Headquarters Department of the Army (2003). FM 4-20, Quartermaster Principals.
Headquarters Department of the Army (1990). FM 63-20, Forward Support Battalion.
Headquarters Department of the Army (2002). Mission Training Plan, Distribution Company, Brigade Support Battalion, Interim Brigade Combat Team.
Headquarters Department of the Army (2000). The Interim Brigade Combat Team, Organizational and Operational Concept.
Security Forces beat insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed three insurgents and detained five suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Wednesday.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment killed two insurgents after they fired weapons at the unit from their vehicle in Tal Afar Wednesday. The 2-14th had attempted to stop the vehicle before the engagement began. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed one insurgent and detained another after their patrol was attacked with small arms fire from a drive-by shooting in western Mosul Wednesday. The 1-24th detained another individual suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in western Mosul today. The unit also detained a suspicious individual while on patrol in western Mosul Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operations.
Troops from 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
No let up on insurgents in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized two large weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Troops from 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army discovered a weapons cache during a search operation southeast of Mosul. The cache included a mortar tube, machine gun ammunition, 64 M-6 fuses, detonation cord, and other explosives. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment were following an insurgent vehicle in western Mosul when the passengers fled. The 1-24th pursued detaining one insurgent and killing the other when he attempted to pull a grenade. They searched the vehicle and discovered a cache of weapons including a rocket propelled grenade launcher, three RPG rounds, an AK-47, AK-47 ammunition, and other insurgent materials. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
ISF and MNF discovered a total of four weapons caches during operations Wednesday and had a large number of weapons turned in by an Iraqi citizen. Their aggressive effects continue to pressure those who threaten the safety and security of Iraqi citizens.
U.S. court upholds extending enlistments
Oregon National Guardsman calls it illegal 'backdoor draft'
Link to Full Article
By PAUL SHUKOVSKY, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
A federal appeals court backed the military yesterday in keeping thousands of men and women in uniform and often in combat even though their enlistments are supposed to be over.
The ruling, which came from a three-judge panel shortly after a morning hearing, focused on an Oregon National Guardsman from Pasco who will now soon be on his way overseas.
But it also is a victory for the Bush administration, which has used extending enlistments -- known as "stop loss" -- at a time when the military is being stretched to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and when military recruiting is falling short of goals.
The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel is also a defeat for thousands of soldiers who in the last four years found themselves serving when they thought they would be civilians. In one large Washington National Guard group that just got back from Iraq, for example, the enlistments of about 10 percent of the soldiers were extended by stop loss.
Mark and Michelle Bryant are among those dealt a defeat yesterday. Mark Bryant, a sergeant with a Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade, was supposed to be out of the Army in September. But the Army stop-lossed him and sent him in October to Iraq, where he serves in Mosul. [...]
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, about 50,000 soldiers have been subjected to stop loss, according to Lt. Col Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman. Currently, 14,000 soldiers are affected by stop loss. And 412 members of the 4,200-member Washington National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team, which recently returned from a year in Iraq, had their enlistments involuntarily extended.
It's a policy predicated on the fact that "the nation is at war and we are stop-lossing units deploying to a combat theater to ensure they train, deploy, fight and redeploy as a team," said Hilferty. "Sudden and last-minute personnel changes hurt unit readiness and cohesion."
The government's attorney, H. Thomas Bryon III, warned the judges yesterday not to tread upon the province of the president as commander in chief.
"The terms of an enlistment document certainly cannot circumscribe the authority of the president, derived from the Constitution and federal statutes, to take necessary actions to conduct the nation's military policy. Thus, courts have recognized that a federal statute authorizing mobilization of reservists trumps a contrary interpretation of an enlistment document."
Presiding U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Tallman pointedly questioned Santiago attorney Goldberg on that point.
"Who mans the watch when the president declares a national emergency based on terrorist attacks?" Tallman asked. "Isn't it the intent behind the statute that we have sufficiently ready forces to mobilize?"
Said Goldberg: "The president's authority is predicated on the authority that Congress has given him."
Tallman responded: "And his authority as commander in chief to protect and defend the country."
One of Santiago's lawyers, Lisa Jaskol, said yesterday that the ruling would be appealed. [...]
Handoff to Local Forces Being Tested in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq -- The two dozen Iraqi soldiers marched in formation into downtown Mosul, streets emptying in their path. The men trained their rifles on potential bomb threats: a donkey-drawn vegetable cart, a blue Opel sedan, a man with a bulge beneath his tattered gray coat.
Less than a month ago, U.S. forces patrolled these dangerous streets. But on this humid morning there were only the Iraqis and a lone U.S. adviser, Marine Staff Sgt. Lafayette Waters, 32, of Kinston, N.C., who blended unobtrusively into the patrol.
This is Area of Operations Iraq, slightly more than two square miles in the heart of Iraq's third-largest city. It is also at the center of the U.S. military's strategy to hand off counterinsurgency operations to Iraqi security forces and ultimately draw down the number of American troops.
Since Iraq's Jan. 30 parliamentary elections, that process has accelerated much more rapidly than U.S. commanders have previously acknowledged. Although AO Iraq is one of just two sectors currently under Iraqi control (the other is the area around Baghdad's Haifa Street), two senior U.S. officers said the Iraqis' zone of responsibility would soon expand and eventually include all of Nineveh province, including Mosul and Tall Afar, another volatile city, possibly within a year.
The officers cautioned that the rough timetable for the northern province's handover could be affected by several factors, including the potency of the insurgency and the preparedness of specific units, and U.S. commanders have declined to provide a schedule for shifting responsibility to Iraqi forces throughout the country. But the process in Mosul, where in November insurgents overpowered an 8,000-man Iraqi police force and several National Guard units, demonstrates how fast the transition is happening.
Col. Robert B. Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), which conducts combat operations throughout northern Iraq, predicted the transition would come "over the next six months to a year . . . until pretty soon they've got the whole area and we do nothing but respond" to emergencies.
The ambitious strategy is being questioned by some U.S. military advisers who work closely with the Iraqi forces. They say that although the Iraqis are progressing, they are being rushed into battle before they are ready in an effort to speed the withdrawal of American forces.
"It's all about perception, to convince the American public that everything is going as planned and we're right on schedule to be out of here," said one adviser, Army Staff Sgt. Craig E. Patrick, 40, a reservist from Rock Island, Ill. "I mean, they can [mislead] the American people, but they can't [mislead] us. These guys are not ready."
Waters, who has lived with the 23rd Iraqi Battalion's 1st Company since Jan. 15, said that the Iraqi soldiers "have a lot of heart and are making progress" but that "we need to slow it down and do it right. The worst thing that could happen is to have to come back in and fix the problem."
That was page one of a three page article.
UPDATE: MSNBC has a version of the story you don't need to register for.
SSG Tava'e Memorial
A memorial for SSG Ioasa Tava'e will be held Thursday, April 7th at the Main Post Chapel, Ft. Lewis. If anyone knows the time of the service could you please leave that information in the comments section?
UPDATE: 10:30 AM is the scheduled time.
Iraqi citizen turns over weapons, MNF discover cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 6, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a large number of weapons with the aid of an Iraqi citizen during operations in northern Iraq today.
An Iraqi citizen turned over a large number of weapons to Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment south of Mosul. The weapons turned in included a mortar system, 12 shotgun shells, 500 rounds of small arms ammunition, a roll of detonation cord, mortar rounds, and mortar fuses.
Elsewhere, Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a number of weapons from an insurgent vehicle following a chase in Tal Afar. The 2-14th followed the vehicle which was believed to have been connected to an earlier improvised explosive device attack on MNF. The insurgents fled the vehicle. The 2-14th discovered a cache inside the vehicle that included three AK-47s, hundreds of rounds of small arms ammunition, three grenades, and a pistol. All weapons and ammunition were confiscated by MNF for future destruction.
MNF block off IED site, seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 6, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a number of weapons following the discovery of an improvised explosive device in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment spotted an IED placed on the roadside while on patrol in southern Mosul. After the IED was defused Iraqi Intervention Force troops operating with 1-5th discovered a cache in the same area. The cache included 10 artillery rounds, two mines, 33 mortar fuses, half a stick of C4, two sticks of plastic explosives, and other IED detonation devices. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. No ISF or MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
ISF and MNF pursue insurgents, thwart possible attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 6, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Troops from 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. Troops from 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Troops from the 106th Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army discovered a weapons cache in southern Mosul during a search operation Tuesday. The cache included three artillery rounds and three hand grenades. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment engaged insurgents attempting to emplace a car bomb while patrolling in eastern Mosul Tuesday. The insurgents fled and 3-21st discovered a large number of explosives in the vehicle including mortar rounds, PE-4 plastic explosives, and blasting caps. All weapons were confiscated for future destruction. No ISF or MNF injuries were reported during the operations.
Jailed Saddam to watch as new president elected
Fragments of news from around Iraq. There is a brief mention of injuries to 1/25 SBCT soldiers.
Link to Full Article
By Traci Carl, Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Ousted dictator Saddam Hussein was expected to watch from his Baghdad jail cell as Iraq's newly elected Parliament chose a new president today, the next step in building Iraq's first democratically elected government in 50 years, Iraqi officials said yesterday.
Also yesterday, the U.S. military said four service members were killed Monday and yesterday in one of its biggest losses in recent weeks. As of Monday, at least 1,536 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. [...]
In Mosul, a car bomb injured five U.S. soldiers and damaged a Stryker troop transport vehicle, Capt. Mark Walter said.
After that incident, soldiers accidentally shot a CBS News freelance cameraman in the hip, he said. CBS and the U.S. military said the camera was mistaken for a weapon. CBS said the cameraman was expected to recover.
Soldiers also shot and killed a man waving an assault rifle, the U.S. military said. [...]
Large Blast Hits Bus Carrying Iraqi Soldiers
Three Killed, at Least 44 Wounded in Group Returning to Tall Afar After Carrying Home Monthly Pay
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
TALL AFAR, Iraq, April 5 -- A huge bomb exploded near a bus filled with Iraqi soldiers returning from leave Tuesday, killing at least three and wounding at least 44 in an attack that showed how even a payroll issue in Iraq can turn deadly. [...]
The Iraqi soldiers were en route to a U.S. base here from the city of Sinjar, where they had dropped off their monthly pay. Because Iraq's banking system cannot accommodate direct deposits, recruits are given a week's leave each month to carry their money home -- a system that has created chronic security problems and hampered the U.S. military's efforts to develop Iraq's new army. [...]
For three hours Tuesday night, a tableau at once bleak and inspiring unfolded in the shadows near an aid station at Forward Operating Base Sykes. American soldiers working in teams used stretchers or their own shoulders to move the bloodied Iraqis between the intensive care unit and medevac helicopters that ferried at least 20 of them to a U.S. combat support hospital in Mosul, about 35 miles to the east.
Shortly after the attack on the Iraqis, another roadside bomb exploded in Tall Afar near a convoy of Stryker attack vehicles carrying soldiers from the U.S. Army's 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment (Stryker Brigade Combat Team). Two soldiers were wounded, an officer from the unit said.
The 2nd Squadron's soldiers have been training hundreds of Iraqi army recruits since September, reflecting the priority U.S. commanders put on development of Iraqi security forces as a step toward withdrawing American troops from Iraq.
Capt. Kevin Beagle, 33, of Sidney, Mont., who serves as liaison officer to an Iraqi battalion, said approximately 20 percent of the Iraqi soldiers rotate home at different times each month because of the pay issue. [...]
Lt. Col. Mark Davis, the 2nd Squadron's commander, said at least three Iraqi soldiers had been killed and 44 wounded. Brad Younggren, the squadron surgeon, said six or seven seriously wounded soldiers arrived in the first group of casualties brought to the aid station, followed by 45 more.
One insurgent killed, reporter injured during attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed one insurgent and injured a reporter during an incident in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment engaged and killed one insurgent at the site of an earlier suicide bombing in northeastern Mosul. The insurgent was waving an AK-47 and inciting a crowd of civilians. During the engagement an individual that appeared to have a weapon who was standing near the insurgent was shot and injured. This individual turned out to be a reporter who was pointing a video camera. He was taken to a military hospital for treatment with minor wounds, and is expected to recover.
Regretfully the reporter was injured during the complex and volatile situation. The incident is under further investigation.
MNF kill seven insurgents, prevent attacks
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed seven insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations to block insurgent attacks in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment engaged and killed two insurgents attempting to emplace an improvised explosive device while on patrol in northeastern Mosul. The IED was detonated; however no MNF or Iraqi citizens were injured in the incident.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed five insurgents during two separate engagements in western Mosul. The 1-24th spotted an insurgent attempting to plant a car bomb. The insurgent was shot and killed when while trying to flee the area. The 1-24th discovered a hang gun on the insurgent and discovered explosives and detonators inside the insurgent’s vehicle. The 1-24th killed four insurgents who pulled weapons out after being stopped at a checkpoint. The 1-24th also discovered a number of weapons inside the vehicle including two sniper rifles, three AK-47s, a rocket propelled grenade launcher and round, two grenades, three pistols, and mortar fuses. No MNF injuries were reported during the operations.
Security Forces continue round up of insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 5, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 24 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Troops from 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained six individuals suspected of insurgent activity during raid operations in central Mosul today. Troops from 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Iraqi Security Force troops detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Multi-National Force Soldiers detained 13 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during raids in northern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in southwestern Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
SSG Ioasa F. Tava'e, Jr.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Ioasa F. Tava'e, Jr., 29, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, died April 2, in Mosul, Iraq, when his unit was attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire. Tava'e was assigned to the Army’s 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends SSG Tava'e leaves behind. We will add any additional articles to this entry.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Announcement
Fort Lewis soldier dies in Mosul attack - News Tribune
A memorial for SSG Tava'e will be held April 7th at Ft. Lewis.
Fort Lewis Honors 2 Fallen Soldiers - KOMO 4 News
Saluting Sgt Tava'e - Samoa Observer
Army says it's fixing Stryker
Link to Full Article
MATTHEW COX, Army Times
SPRINGFIELD, Va. -- The Army's newest combat vehicle, the Stryker, is already being redesigned because of soldiers' complaints about its safety and performance, military officials said.
Several key systems are being redesigned to give future Strykers better mobility, increased protection and greater killing power, officials said.
But many of the changes won't be in place until late 2006 or spring 2007.
The changes stem from soldiers' complaints outlined in a report from the Center for Army Lessons Learned, which focused on the performance of the Army's first Stryker brigade during its maiden combat tour in Iraq.
By 2007, according to the report, Stryker brigades will be able to shoot on the move with greater accuracy day and night. They'll also have armored shields protecting vulnerable hatches and an improved tire inflation system that can better handle the vehicle's weight in combat.
Army officials in the Stryker program said the improvements were in the works long before the report was completed in December 2004, a couple of months after 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, had come home to Fort Lewis, from its yearlong tour.
The Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, released the report to the public Thursday.
"There wasn't a single surprise in there. In every case, they are being worked," said Steven Campbell, Stryker systems coordinator for the assistant Army secretary for acquisitions, logistics and technology.
Eric Miller, senior defense investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, said the report's findings show the Army should have fully tested the Stryker before sending it to a combat zone. Stryker brigades are meant to serve as the model for the Army's effort to create a lighter, more agile force.
The Army has deployed two of the seven Stryker brigades it plans to field by the summer of 2008. With each brigade taking with it more than 300 vehicles, those seven brigades will cost the Army $7.6 billion.
Soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have praised the vehicle during several interviews with the Army Times in Iraq, describing it as the only vehicle they would want to take into combat.
The article continues...
Opinions on Attire Not Quite Uniform
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq -- Famished and sleep-deprived after a 48-hour combat mission, Spec. Rusty "Doc" Mauney shed his heavy body armor and headed for the chow hall. He was near the door when a booming voice halted him.
"Where's your headgear, soldier?" said the sergeant major.
Mauney stammered that he had been out on a mission all night and hadn't brought along his cap.
"You're not coming in here," snapped the sergeant, according to Mauney. "Just because you're in a combat zone doesn't mean you can blow off Army regulations."
A change in command last month at the forward operating base, or FOB, that serves as headquarters for U.S. forces in northern Iraq has dramatically altered the military culture here. A corps of disciplinarians that has come to be known to soldiers as the "Nine Disciples of FOB Courage" has launched a crackdown on inappropriately tucked-in shirts, improper use of sunglasses and even swearing. [...]
In some ways, the renewed attention to uniform standards is a measure of the Stryker Brigade's progress, particularly in Mosul, where attacks have plummeted since the elections.
"Every once in a while you gotta reel it in and say, 'Let's get back to reality,' " said Command Sgt. Maj. Ricky Pring, who enforces military regulations for the 11th ACR. "And I think that's what happened when we showed up. It was kind of like, 'Okay, everything has slowed down, and let's look at ourselves. What can we do better?' "
Pring described the Stryker Brigade as "the best unit I've ever seen" but was unapologetic, saying, "Discipline makes our Army stronger than any other army on the planet.
"I've been in the Army 27 years. A happy soldier is a bitching soldier."
Wounded Centre Hall soldier to return home from Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Lara Brenckle
STATE COLLEGE -- A wounded soldier from Centre Hall was scheduled to be back on American soil Sunday night, days after his actions in Iraq reportedly saved the lives of several of his comrades.
Army Spc. Christopher Swales, 29, the was in critical but stable condition Sunday afternoon, hours before he was scheduled to fly from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Swales was on patrol outside the northern city of Mosul with fellow members of the 25th Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade on Wednesday when they were attacked by insurgents.
The soldiers had been conducting a routine a check of a taxi when insurgents jumped out of the vehicle and began firing. During the battle, the taxi, which military officials think was rigged with explosives, blew up.
The soldiers returned fire, and Swales sustained severe wounds to his leg during the exchange, according to his mother, Gayle. However, the 1995 Penns Valley Area High School graduate was able to return fire, reportedly saving several U.S. lives.
The Iraqi insurgents, Gayle Swales was told by military officials, were killed, as was one U.S. soldier, Sgt. Kenneth L. Ridgley.
Christopher Swales' efforts, his mother was told, will earn him some type of military commendation for bravery.
Let's hope for a speedy and full recovery.
ISF & MNF continue to rack up operational successes
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 4, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 16 and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Troops from 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained seven individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. Troops from the 19th Battalion, 8th Brigade Iraqi Army detained three individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation west of Tal Afar Sunday. Troops from 20th Battalion, 8th Brigade Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity and seized a number of weapons during a cordon and search operation near Tal Afar Sunday. The weapons seized included two machine guns, 70 mortar charges, and 10,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. All suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in southern Mosul today. The 1-5th also discovered a weapons cache that included four artillery rounds during a separate search operation south of Mosul Sunday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF take lead on operations to suppress insurgency
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 3, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 24 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Troops from 103rd Battalion, 20th Brigade Iraqi Army detained ten individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation east of Mosul Saturday. Troops from 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Troops from 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during following a lead given by an Iraqi citizen during a cordon and seach operation in western Mosul Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips to Iraqi Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
SGT Kenneth L. Ridgley
According to news reports, Ft. Lewis has identified the Task Force Freedom soldier killed on Wednesday as SGT Kenneth L. Ridgley. Ridgley was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers during this difficult time. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Steilacoom soldier dies in Mosul - The News Tribune
Stryker medic dies after Iraqi insurgents attack - Seattle P-I
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Announcement
Friends remember fallen soldier - Olney Daily Mail
Olney, Ill., native and father of one dies in Iraq ambush - Th Courier Press
Steilacoom relatives mourn soldier - Seattle Times
Illinois-born soldier dies in Mosul - Associated Press
Funeral today for soldier killed in Iraq - WQAD-TV
Slain Olney soldier's courage extolled: Comrade says Sgt. Ridgley saved men from enemy fire - Herald & Review
Service honors Ridgley - Olney Daily Mail
Strykers not only obstacle for troops
Link to Full Article
CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
Challenges faced in Iraq by soldiers of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade went beyond their namesake vehicles.
A classified report that was leaked and made public Thursday notes design flaws and other problems with the eight-wheeled, 19-ton vehicles. It also provides a glimpse into the struggles of a unit pushed to its limits while securing a foreign land populated by millions.
During its yearlong deployment primarily in northern Iraq, the unit scrambled to find interpreters and managed reconstruction contracts worth millions of dollars without formal financial training.
It labored to move cargo across its 14,600-square-mile area of responsibility in support vehicles with armor dubbed "woefully inadequate" by the report. The armor has been improved since the brigade first entered Iraq.
Despite the hardships, the brigade and "the ever-present can-do attitude of its soldiers allowed the unit to be successful during the brigade's operation in Mosul, Iraq," the report said.
The brigade's former commander, Col. Michael Rounds, has said his unit performed "phenomenally well."
The 3,600 members of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, returned to Fort Lewis in November after a year in Iraq. The unit lost 20 soldiers during its deployment.
Citizens continue to impact crime in northern Iraq
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 2, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered a weapons cache yesterday in Mosul.
In a separate operation after a tip from a local national, Soldiers of the 3-21 IN discovered a cache including 11 crates of 14.5mm rounds. Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 21st Infantry Regiment discovered a weapons cache in western Mosul to include 25 60mm mortar rounds, 1,300 14.5mm rounds, 145mm barrel, two AK-47’s and seven magazines.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips to Iraqi Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
34 terror suspects detained in Mosul
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 2, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces detained 34 suspected insurgents operations Friday.
Members of 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army along with Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery conducted a cordon and search in northern Mosul resulting in the detainment of 24 individuals suspected of terrorist activities. Multi-National Forces (MNF) detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activities during a raid south of Mosul. Soldiers of the 1st 1-5 IN detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activities during a raid in eastern Mosul. Soldiers of the 1-5 IN also detained one individual during a cordon and search south of Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Relentless Security Forces, aided by citizens, are staying the course
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (April 1, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations Thursday and today.
Iraqi citizens’ tips produced two weapons cache finds in Mosul. Troops of the 106th Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army seized six artillery rounds west of Mosul Thursday after a citizen had approached them to inform them of the location of the cache. A Joint Coordination Center call-in tip led MNF Explosives Ordinance team to a weapons cache in central Mosul Thursday. The cache included hundreds of rounds of small arms ammunition, three rocket propelled grenade rounds, and two bayonets. All weapons and ammunition were seized for future destruction.
Troops from 107th Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army and Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity following a tip given by Iraqi Police in Tal Afar Thursday. MNF Soldiers detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid west of Mosul today. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals during cordon and search operations in Mosul today and Thursday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity at a checkpoint in western Mosul Thursday. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Multiple military operations lead to detention of 26 suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 31, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained a total of 26 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Wednesday.
Troops from the 101st Battalion, 21st Brigade Iraqi Army detained a total of ten individuals suspected of insurgent activity during two operations in Mosul Wednesday. The 101st detained five of the individuals during a cordon and search and detained another five at a traffic checkpoint. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Policemen and Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar today. The suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Force Soldiers detained ten individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid southwest of Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained a total of five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during two cordon and search operations south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Forces thwart insurgent attacks
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 31, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed one insurgent and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed one insurgent after being attacked by AIF during a patrol in northern Mosul. The 3-21st then searched the insurgent’s vehicle and found hand grenades and a sniper rifle. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction, no MNF injuries were reported during the incident.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment discovered a possible improvised explosive device while on patrol in southern Mosul. The possible IED consisted of seven rocket propelled grenade rounds, ten hand grenades, and three artillery rounds. The 1-5th also detained an individual suspected of having placed the IED. Explosives ordnance team was called to defuse and destroy the weapons. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Tips from locals sought in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By David Axe, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
CAMP ENDURANCE, Iraq — U.S. and Iraqi army officers in the critical region around the contested northern city of Mosul are pleading — with some success — for information from local leaders on insurgents and terrorists operating in the area.
"We need your help," Brig. Gen. Ali Malooh, commander of the Iraqi army's 102nd Battalion, said in Arabic to more than 200 tribal sheiks and religious leaders gathered Saturday at this U.S. base near the town of Qayyarah, a few miles south of Mosul. [...]
Although the Iraqi army and elements of the Washington state-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, have managed to prevent major attacks locally since the Jan. 30 elections, their success depends on residents' cooperation, said Capt. Mike Yea, 29, from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment.
His unit has been deployed at Camp Endurance since August.
"We rely heavily on town leaders to find out about terrorist activities," Capt. Yea said, adding that his unit has had particular success acting upon local tips in As Shura, a town that recently had a reputation as an insurgent haven.
Now, U.S. forces at As Shura get as many as six tips per night, said 1st Sgt. Darren Kinder, 40, from the Delta Company, 52nd Infantry.
Sgt. Kinder's unit, attached to the 2nd Battalion, maintains round-the-clock presence at an outpost downtown.
"Some tips pay off, some don't," Sgt. Kinder said. "We've asked the local populace to step up, and they've been responding fairly well." [...]
Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, commander of U.S. forces here, said some projects already are under way.
"I promised that as security improved, we would focus on improving quality of life in the villages."
Col. Becker said his troops recently have overseen water projects, installation of new power lines and the addition of four large generators to the area's inadequate power grid.
He said six more generators will follow.
Electricity is high on locals' wish lists. "We need help, especially with electricity," Sheik Khamis Hayawi Asadiyah of Al Hadra said through a translator.
To make improvements to the electrical grid possible, Sheik Asadiyah said, his tribe will "find [insurgents] and get rid of them."
Family, friends couldn't be prouder of Mike Tucker
Link to Full Article
By WENDY MITCHELL, Ledger Independent
SPANAWAY, Wash. -- For Bracken County native Mike Tucker, two weeks of rest and relaxation from his assignment in Iraq needs to be followed with two more weeks to recover from R&R.
April 1, Tucker will board a plane and return to the U.S. Army 1st Battalion 25th Infantry Division in Iraq. [...]
Tucker is looking forward to his assignment in Iraq.
"We're using the newest military vehicle they have, the Stryker eight-wheel drive truck. The tires adjust to sand by deflating at the touch of a button, for more traction, and re-inflating the same way," said Tucker, who recalled using a similar technique to maneuver the hills and roads of Bracken County in winter.
"We probably invented it; the military perfected it," he laughed.
Tucker expects to be back to this area to visit his father in December and hopes for better luck getting home for the holidays.
"I missed getting in for our 10th wedding anniversary by 12 hours," Tucker said. "But, I'll take 12 hours late over not at all."
Car bomb in western Baghdad kills one; attackers fire on Shiite pilgrims
The article contains news about attacks in Mosul and Tal Afar.
Link to Full Article
USA Today, Associated Press
BAGHDAD (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on a military checkpoint in northern Mosul, killing six Iraqis on Wednesday, while attackers in the south ambushed a group of Shiite pilgrims heading to a major religious festival — the latest sign of violence targeting the gathering that draws some 1.5 million people.
In Mosul, four insurgents jumped out of a car near the checkpoint and began shooting, killing six Iraqis and wounding eight others before being shot dead by return fire, police official Ahmed Mohamed Khalaf Al-Jibori said. U.S. military officials said they did not immediately have information on the attack. [...]
Also Wednesday, gunmen attacked one of the leading Kurdish party buildings, injuring two guards in Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad. An attacker was killed by return fire, said Abdul Al-Ghani Botani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
Iraqi police reported the arrest of a leading member of the feared militant group Ansar al-Sunnah Army. Police captured Mohammed Abed, also known as Mohammed al-Hawijy, during a late Tuesday raid near Hawija, 150 miles north of Baghdad, said Col. Sarhad Qader.
In the northern city of Tal Afar, the U.S. military said, soldiers attacked an insurgent vehicle Tuesday, killing one militant and injuring another. Numerous weapons were found, the military said. [...]
The story continues with other news from around Iraq.
Two insurgents killed, a number of weapons seized during military operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 30, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed two insurgents, detained ten suspected insurgents, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Tuesday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed one insurgent with small arms fire and detained two suspected insurgents during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment killed one insurgent during a small arms engagement in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3-21st seized a large weapons cache and detained three individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation west of Mosul. The cache included three AK-47s, a machine gun, 1,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition, and mortar firing parts. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Troops from 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid north of Mosul. Iraqi Police detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity while patrolling south of Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Insurgents take another defeat at the hands of MNF
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 30, 2005) – Multi-National Forces 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed one insurgent, injured another, and seized a number of weapons during an operation in northern Iraq Tuesday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment engaged a known insurgent vehicle with small arms fire killing one insurgent and injuring another in Tal Afar. The 2-14th also seized a number of weapons found in the vehicle to include a machine gun, two AK-47s, two hand grenades, and six rocket propelled grenade rounds. The injured insurgent was taken to a hospital and will be detained after being treated. No MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
Forces recognise the importance of expanding protection measures
Link to Abstract
By Scott R Gourley, Jane's International Defence Review
In concert with the continuing threats of roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suicide drivers, and occasional rocket and mortar attacks, the Mosul mess hall suicide bombing on 21 December 2004, which killed more than 12 US military personnel, was a reminder of the critical importance of broad-spectrum force-protection measures for land-based forces.
The sobering aftermath of that attack witnessed a range of expanded force-protection measures among US forces, from the application of body armour to the accelerated fielding of new defensive weapon systems.
An example of the latter instance can be found exactly one month after the mess hall attack, when joint-venture partners Alliant Techsystems and Textron Systems announced that they had been notified of US Army plans to accelerate fielding of the Matrix remote munitions control system.
Developed for the Project Manager Close Combat Systems and the US Army Armaments, Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC), Matrix is described as a portable, battery-operated munitions control system that allows soldiers to identify an appropriate target and select a proper defensive attack from a remote location.
Twenty-five Matrix systems are slated for delivery to US forces in Iraq by June 2005 for initial fielding with the army's 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (the army's 'second' Stryker Brigade Combat Team).
Beyond sandbags
As evidenced by continuing threats around the world, some of the key lessons learned in recent military operations involve the need to protect forward operating bases and other fixed sites.
While sandbags and concertina wire retain their critical roles as initial force-protection measures, the growing frequency of military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) presents planners with unique challenges, resulting in a variety of solutions.
US operations in Iraq provide several examples. In the initial aftermath of combat operations, units used any available materials to implement some level of force protection. These materials ranged from Iraqi concertina/barbed wire to earthen berms and rubble.
As arteries were reopened and services re-established in Baghdad, these early measures were soon supplemented by designs such as 55 gal drums filled with rocks and supporting eight-foot fence pickets. Another US unit used a 300 m line of disabled cars before replacing those with storm water piping 6 m long and 1.5 m in diameter.
The full version of this article is accessible through Jane's subscription services.
Military operations continue to weaken insurgency
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 29, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed one insurgent and detained ten suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were engaged by small arms and rocket propelled grenades by insurgents while performing a search operation to seize weapons in Tal Afar Monday. The 2-14th returned fire killing one insurgent. The seized two mortar tubes and ammunition during the search. No MNF injuries were reported during the engagement.
Troops of the 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a search operation south of Mosul Monday. Soldiers from the 2-14th detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity while patrolling in Tal Afar Monday. All Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Weapons removal continues as key to security improvements
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered a large cache during operation in northern Iraq Monday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. The cache included two rocket propelled grenade launchers, seven RPG rounds, 100 rounds of ammunition, and artillery charges. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi citizen’s assistance has been and continues to be crucial in continuing the trend of removing weapons and improving security.
Improvised explosives becoming more common in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Albert Eisele, The Hill
Mosul, Iraq -- They're one of the worst nightmares for American military personnel or anyone traveling with them on the dangerous roads of Iraq, even if you're surrounded by tons of armor plate and moving at high speed.
They're called IED's, military speak for Improvised Explosive Devices, and they're the devil's own invention.
These fearsome homemade weapons are responsible for many of the more than 1,700 deaths and 15,000 plus casualties suffered by U.S. and coalition forces since the invasion of Iraq two years ago this month. And they're getting more deadly and numerous.
"They've gone up exponentially in number and they're getting more powerful all the time," said Lt. Col. Michael Kurella, whose 24th Infantry Regiment's First Battalion patrols the western half of this northern Iraq city that has the highest number of attacks by insurgents of any city in Iraq.
Col. Kurella was among some 50 Army officers who briefed Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf region, and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) on the military situation in Ninevah province on Easter Sunday at a coalition base near this city of two million, the third largest in Iraq.
Afterwards, the tall, handsome West Point graduate from Elk River, Minn., explained the challenge these devilish devices present to his 800-man unit.
When his battalion arrived in Iraq last October from Fort Lewis, Wash., it didn't find a single IED while patrolling the streets of Mosul. But in November, it found three, followed by 15 in December, 50 in January, and 134 in February. One of his soldiers was killed when one of his unit's heavily armored Stryker vehicles was destroyed, and many more have been injured.
"We're still getting plenty of detonations, it's almost constant," said Col. Kurella, whose battalion has already earned 182 Purple Heart medals, given to those injured in combat.
Sgt. Loren Kirk, a member of the 25th Infantry Division's First Brigade Stryker combat team, described the constant danger posed by the IEDs.
"We go all over Mosul and everybody gets hit, even in the nice neighborhoods," he said. "We can go a week without getting hit. It just depends on where we are. We drive side-by-side with cars on the street. They tend to give us a wide berth, and because of VBEDS [Vehicle-based Explosive Devices], we try to keep them at least 50 yards away."
Major weapons find attributed to citizen’s tip
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 28, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a large number of weapons after an Iraqi citizen informed them of the location of a very large weapons cache in northern Iraq Sunday.
The cache was seized by Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment south of Mosul. The cache included 120 mortar rounds, over 325 pounds of explosives, over 7,200 rounds of ammunition, a mortar tube, seven grenades, 50 anti-personnel mines, two rockets, 100 mortar fuses, two rocket propelled grenade rounds, and over 300 various weapon fuses . The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts between Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces and concerned citizens who provide tips for Security Forces have resulted in a trend toward improved security. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
MNF detain key insurgents
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 28, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained ten suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of conducting attacks on Security Forces and ordering the assassination of Gen. Waleed Kashmoula during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Troops Making Progress, if Slowly
Observations on Iraqi troops by 1-25 SBCT soldiers.
Link to Full Article
By Monte Morin, LA Times
The soldiers seen as their country's future lack equipment, training and unity. But the U.S. says they have helped curb insurgent strikes.
Screaming and shouting filled the air. Four soldiers were wounded. Then the insurgents opened fire.
Unable to escape the ambush, Iraqi troops began shooting wildly in all directions, including straight up. As the shooting continued, American soldiers and an Iraqi translator screamed at them to stop, but they ignored the calls. The barrels of the Iraqis' weapons glowed bright white with heat.
"I didn't think they had that much ammunition," a U.S. soldier said.
In the tense moments that followed, American troops shook their heads and rolled their eyes as they waited for the firing to end. "Wait until they stop shooting before we get out and pick up the wounded," a U.S. sergeant advised.
The U.S. military's hopes for saying farewell to Iraq are riding on home-grown troops who are so prone to firing in error or panic that they aren't allowed in American armored vehicles. [...]
But officers with the U.S. 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker combat team, the main coalition force in Mosul, say Iraqi soldiers are still in the "not-ready-for-prime-time phase." Iraqi commanders themselves complain that they lack adequate equipment and control over their troops.
Sniper rifles, rocket- propelled grenades, mortars and better machine guns are badly needed, they say. Also, Iraqi soldiers are frustrated by their reliance on unarmored vehicles. The army's primary combat transport is a two-wheel-drive Nissan pickup. "We need good vehicles, the same as the Humvees," Shakir said.
Yet the greater challenge is making soldiers out of the men who join the armed forces and building institutions to raise the level of discipline and leadership. [...]
Another challenge for U.S. advisors has been grooming leaders from within the Iraqi ranks. Though advisors may recognize leadership potential in a recruit, the soldier's ethnic background and tribal roots could prevent him from commanding the respect of his fellows.
"You have to make a distinction between those who you would like to lead and those who the Iraqis will follow," a U.S. commander said.
Rickard emphasizes that progress is being made on all fronts. "They are improving. A lot of people don't know that, but they're getting better," he said.
Like the Iraqi army itself, Gen. Shakir is in the halting throes of the transition from old to new. Polish is being applied, but many areas remain rough. Procedures and standards are being adopted, but there's still plenty of do-it-yourself soldiering. The armed clash of world views rages, but in many ways it is a family feud.
Eager to downplay ethnic divisions within the ranks, Shakir says his men include Shiites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds. He yells at an aide to produce a young Kurdish soldier. "Go get what's-his-name!" he says in Arabic.
Though he lacks the corporate bearing of many U.S. commanders, Shakir knows that he understands the insurgents in a way the Americans never will. For this reason, the U.S. exit strategy rests heavily on men like him.
"The terrorists have good officers and staff, and we know this. We have captured many of them," Shakir says. "One was a lieutenant colonel in the special forces who was my friend in the old army…. When he saw me, he couldn't believe his eyes. I said, 'Why are you working for the terrorists? Why are you killing the national guard and the police?' "
Shakir sighed.
"He said he didn't know. He said he was sorry."
Successful Security Force operations continue to stifle insurgency
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 27, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained a total of 18 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Troops from 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Multi-National Force Soldiers detained 11 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid south of Al Quayyarah today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar today. Saturday MNF Soldiers detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid south of Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Ice cubes a special treat for Iraq veteran
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By DAVE RANK, GM Today
Justin Reichert chews an ice cube from his glass of soda. Heck, he enjoys having ice in his drink, period.
Amidst a two-week leave from his duties in Iraq, Specialist Promotable Reichert (he’s on a short list to be made a sergeant) says it’s the little things he missed the most during his six months in the Middle East.
"Like driving the car, ice cubes. I always will chew ice. The stupidest little things are what you miss. It’s just nice seeing the flag again. You don’t see many American flags out there," he said.
A former West Bend resident, Reichert, 24, with his wife Brandi and 8-month-old son Braeden, are spending the week visiting with his mother Cheryl Reichert in Jackson. Friday, the family is off to visit Reichert’s in-laws in Virginia, he said.
A week later, he’ll be returning to his unit, the 1st Stryker Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, based near Mosul, in northern Iraq. He expects to remain in Iraq anywhere from another six to 12 months. [...]
"When you’re there, you think of home and when you’re home you think of there," he said, especially what his companions back in Iraq are facing. "You wonder how they’re doing."
"I am so very proud of him," Cheryl Reichert said. "It was real hard having him go the first time. So it will be even twice as hard when he goes back a second time."
There are times when she watches the news from Iraq hoping to see her son on the screen for just a moment or two. Cheryl shakes her head. "Haven’t seen him yet."
Then there are times, when she can’t watch the news out of Iraq at all, she said.
Justin and Brandi have been married for two years after meeting on base at Ft. Lewis, Wash., where they both had been stationed. Brandi was in the Army for three years, leaving the service last June, she said.
"I was awfully happy to see him," she said of her husband, "and now he has to get ready to go. I’m ready for Justin to come home and to go back to Washington where we can be our own happy little family in our own house again."
Justin said he plans to make a career out of the Army.
"I’d like to become a warrant officer and learn to fly helicopters instead of jumping out of them," he said.
Security Forces seize a large number of weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 25, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized three large weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache during a search operation in Tal Afar. The cache included 37 mortar rounds, 50 mortar fuses, a rocket propelled grenade round, RPG parts, and a blasting cap. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment discovered another weapons cache in Tal Afar while conducting a search operation. The cache included 40 mortar rounds and 50 mortar fuses. Both caches were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a number of weapons from a vehicle during a search operation in western Mosul. The weapons seized included an RPG, four RPG rounds, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Security Forces thwart insurgent operations, seize a number of weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 25, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a number of weapons, killed four insurgents, injured another, and detained one during operations in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed four insurgents while they attempted to ambush Iraqi Security Force and MNF elements in northern Mosul. The 3-21st also seized a number of weapons located in the insurgent’s vehicles, including two Ak-47s, an automatic rifle, two hand grenades, rocket propelled grenade parts, and ammunition. No MNF injuries were reported during the incident.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a number of weapons following an engagement with insurgents in Tal Afar. The 2-14th returned fire on an insurgent vehicle following an attack and inured one insurgent. They detained another insurgent in the vehicle and found a number of weapons that included a rocket propelled grenade launcher, three rifles, and a number of rounds of ammunition. The weapons were seized for future destruction, no MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment discovered a large weapons cache during a search operation in southwestern Mosul. The cache included RPG rounds, a sniper rifle, an automatic rifle, two AK-47s, hand grenades, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were seized for future destruction.
Effective coordinated operations cause trend towards improved security
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 25, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 21 suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and yesterday.
Multi-National Force Soldiers detained ten individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul today. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul today. The 3-21st also killed one insurgent during the operation. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity during a raid in western Mosul yesterday. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Troops from 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity thanks to a tip from an Iraqi citizen during cordon and search operations in western Mosul yesterday. Troops from 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army and Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul today. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Local soldier awarded the Purple Heart
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By Wendy Geist, Gazette-Times reporter
Unlike generations of soldiers who fought before him, Sgt. Jeff Bojanowski of Corvallis has no trouble openly discussing the injuries that led him to be awarded the Purple Heart.
"I will tell anybody and anyone that wants to listen," Bojanowski said, though he admits his military friends have teased him for his willingness to talk to reporters.
Bojanowski, a sergeant in the Army's 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, was awarded the Purple Heart on March 11 in a ceremony at Fort Lewis, Wash. The medal is presented to members of the armed forces who have been wounded or killed in action during combat.
On Christmas night, Bojanowski's cavalry scout platoon was headed out of the Marez Army base in Mosul, Iraq, for a routine reconnaissance and surveillance mission when the Stryker vehicle that Bojanowski was riding in was hit by a car bomb.
The bomb exploded on the front right side of the vehicle, and shrapnel struck Bojanowski's body, entering his arm above the triceps and through the bridge of his nose, landing in his left sinus cavity. He also received a nearly 3-inch-long cut to his neck. He was the only member of his platoon injured in the incident. [...]
About receiving the Purple Heart, Shrank said, "It's an award that means a lot, and one I'd never want to give out. It's something you never want to have happen. He's done a tremendous job. Every one of the guys (ever awarded the Purple Heart) paid a price. … It's something he's earned, all right."
Bojanowski is a 1994 graduate of Corvallis High School, a husband and father of two. He joined the Army in 1998 after working at Fred Meyer since high school and had been in Iraq since October when he was wounded.
His parents, Randy and Michele Bojanowski, have two sons in the war. Jeff's older brother, Scott Bojanowski, a staff sergeant in the Army's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, is also stationed in Iraq.
"There have been a couple of times when we've been really worried," Randy Bojanowski said. "I'm not terribly troubled by having him over there, but would rather have him here."
Coaches on two varying fields of valor share support
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By Bob Reinert, Army News Service
FORT LEWIS, Wash.(Army News Service, March 24, 2005) — They are in different arenas now, separated by thousands of miles, yet they draw strength from one another.
Mike Krzyzewski coaches the Duke University men’s basketball team, and this past week he was in the thick of the NCAA tournament, trying to lead the second-ranked Blue Devils to another national championship.
At the same time in Mosul, Iraq, Col. Bob Brown was experiencing his own brand of “March Madness.” Brown also was leading men in uniform – the Lancers of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. He, too, was trying to accomplish a mission.
To motivate his team, Krzyzewski reminds the Blue Deveils of the sacrifices made by members of Brown’s Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis.
“I tell our team to be happy in your moment,” Krzyzewski said. “To think about what these people are doing for our country is amazing.
“I am so proud of what Bob Brown and our troops are doing. It absolutely keeps everything in perspective about how lucky we are.”
The admiration travels in both directions. As they face their own, more dangerous “moment,” his troops benefit from lessons Brown learned from Krzyzewski a quarter-century ago at the U.S. Military Academy, where Krzyzewksi coached Brown for three years, from 1977 to 1980.
“Team building is the number one lesson,” Brown said. “The strength of the SBCT is our teamwork with our great assets and marvelous Soldiers. Loyalty, discipline, pride, and the value of hard work are several other things learned from Coach K.”
Brown remembered that Krzyzewksi always demanded a full effort from his players.
“He … never accepted excuses about the tough military training or 23 credit hours a semester — he had been through West Point, as well,” Brown said. “One time, he benched me for not playing tough defense.
“He put me in in the second half and I stole the ball three times and dunked each time. We won the game — his motivational technique worked great.”
Krzyzewski moved on to Duke before Brown’s senior year, when the Black Knights struggled to a 7-19 record. Brown was a co-captain who averaged 19 points per game.
“We had a rough season without him,” said Brown, who was a 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard. “I was averaging 23 points a game as a senior 14 games into the season, and then I tore my patellar tendon in a game against Niagara University, and my playing days were over.”
Of course, Krzyzewski’s story is much more widely known than Brown’s. In 25 years at Duke, he has won three national championships, more than 700 games, and 12 national coach-of-the-year awards. He has a sterling reputation, on and off the court.
Brown graduated from West Point in 1981 after scoring 1,282 career points for the Black Knights. He embarked on his Army career and rose to his current rank of colonel and his position as commander of the 1st Bde., 25th Inf. Div.
Basketball no longer bound them together, but Krzyzewski and Brown never lost track of one another. Brown gave Krzyzewksi an American flag that had flown atop his Stryker vehicle during a patrol in Mosul. Brown still has a copy of the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling, which Krzyzewski gave him at West Point.
“I have always admired how it talks about being a humble leader,” said Brown, adding that it “reminds me of my father and Coach K.”
Krzyzewski and Brown’s relationship came under the media spotlight at Christmas because of the coach’s generosity.
According to published reports, when it appeared that thousands of Christmas gifts for Brown’s Soldiers in Iraq might go undelivered, Krzyzewski wrote a check for $10,000 to pay for postage, arranged for 2,000 phone cards to be sent with them, and spearheaded a fundraising effort that netted another $20,000 to assist Soldiers and their families.
“Success has not changed him one bit,” Brown said. “And he does tons of things for people that nobody ever hears about.”
In return, Brown’s brigade sent each Duke player an American flag patch and a photo of the Soldier who had worn it on election day in Iraq.
Brown said that election day was “a great victory for freedom. We thought (the flags) would be a great symbol of victory for the Duke players. Coach K agreed, and he read the team the letter I wrote them about teamwork, and they are wearing the flags.”
Krzyzewski told the New York Times that Brown would one day be his third former player to become a general.
“He’s going to be, when it’s all said and done, one of the great Americans,” Krzyzewski told the Times of Brown. “I’m as sure of that as I was of Grant Hill being a great player and Christian Laettner and Jason Williams. Bob’s got it.”
Brown thinks just as highly of Krzyzewski.
“Coach K is truly a great man,” Brown said. “I feel very blessed to have played for such a great man and learned so much from him.”
And what of the largesse Krzyzewski has shown thousands of Stryker Brigade Soldiers in Iraq?
“Whatever Bob has said we at Duke have done for those Soldiers in Iraq,” said Krzyzewski, “they have done so much more for us.”
(Editor’s note: Bob Reinert writes for the Northwest Guardian newspaper at Fort Lewis, Wash.)
A Lesson in Acceptance
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By Christian Davenport, Washington Post
Teacher Grapples With Bookish Soldier's Path to Maturity
They met through Springbrook High School's Catholic Club when Thomas Doerflinger was a sophomore. During one of the club's first meetings, the students got into a rambling discussion about the meaning of time, and Thomas Tobin, a popular English teacher who was the club's faculty adviser, wasn't quite sure in which direction to steer it.
For most of the talk, Thomas had been quiet and detached, as if he were in his own world, and Tobin was beginning to wonder whether he was following along. Then, during a lull, Thomas volunteered St. Augustine's thoughts on the matter -- that God sees all of time in a single moment -- and Tobin recalls thinking, "Wow, you have that on the tip of your fingers at 16?" [...]
At home from the military while on leave, he talked proudly about the futuristic Stryker armored vehicles his unit trained with. And if he was afraid to go to war, he masked it well. Meanwhile, friends were amazed at his changed appearance. He looked much more fit, stood tall and filled into his broad shoulders.
In many ways, though, he was still the same Thomas, still a contradiction, so thoughtful and yet so endearingly absent-minded. While based at Fort Lewis in Washington state, he stayed in touch with Tobin. But he never could remember the time difference between the coasts, and his late-night phone calls often woke up his former teacher. One of the first letters he received in Iraq was from a collection agency, saying he owed for some overdue movie rentals.
Even as he prepared for combat, there were indications that Thomas was not a solider at heart. He told his family that if he died in war, he did not want to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery or in uniform. Eternity, he told his mother, belonged to him, not the Army.
After he was killed by small-arms fire in Mosul in November at age 20, he was buried in a suit that belonged to a friend. Thomas had outgrown his old clothes.
Relentless Security Forces continue to impact insurgency
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 24, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained a total of 13 suspected insurgents and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq yesterday and today.
Iraqi Security Force troops and Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment also detained five individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation near Tal Afar yesterday. They also seized rifles and pistols from the individuals detained. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
PFC Rosendahl Update
The following is an email and photo we received from Bobby W. Rosendahl following his trip to Walter Reed to visit his son, PFC Bobby T. Rosendahl. Bobby was seriously injured in an attack last week. We're glad to hear PFC Rosendahl is improving - he and his family will remain in our thoughts and prayers.
I just returned to Texas from Walter Reed late last night. The IED did catastrophic physical damage, but he's going to pull through. The picture is of my son and myself, PFC Bobby T. Rosendahl and MSgt Bobby W. Rosendahl. You have my permission to post this on your site if you want to.
Sincerely,
B.W. Rosendahl
Casualties Of War: Meet Sgt. Mike Buyas
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By Anna Song, KATU News
Washington, D.C. - Going into war, Sgt. Mike Buyas often thought about whether he would be willing to die for his country, but what he did not really consider is what it would be like to live with a sacrifice for the rest of his life.
Buyas lost both of his legs while in Iraq and now must come to terms with a different type of life than he might have imagined for himself.
"My ultimate goal is to put pants on and go out to a public place and just walk regular," he says from the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Buyas lost his legs just before Christmas, 10 miles south of Mosul, Iraq.
"We were getting mortared every day," he recalls. "Boom, boom, everywhere around us, AK-47s coming in, people shooting rockets at us and stuff."
As if there were a bubble around their Stryker vehicle, the soldiers incredibly never got hit.
That is, until they came across a roadside bomb. [...]
Buyas now has a quiet acceptance of his new reality, which he holds onto by keeping in mind that the outcome could have been much worse.
"If you look around here, there's always someone worse, so I'm actually very fortunate because I have two good arms and my head still works," he says. "Now I've joined the amputees. It's a very expensive club to join. It costs you an arm or a leg."
Destructive weapons, destructive people unable to escape Iraqi coalition
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 22, 2005) – Iraq Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 20 suspected insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq yesterday and today.
Troops from 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army and Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained ten individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of insurgent activity during multiple operations in Mosul yesterday. During a search the 1-24th also discovered a weapons cache. The cache included three rocket propelled grenade launchers, four RPG rounds, two RPK automatic weapons, two AK-47s, an artillery round, and a hand grenade. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity at a checkpoint in southeastern Mosul yesterday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
The Joint Coordination Center reported a call in tip from an Iraqi citizen about a possible car bomb located in western Mosul. Military officials are attributing a large part of the rise in successful operations to the increased rate of call in tips like these.
Iraqi citizen’s tip leads to discovery of large weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 22, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) located three weapons caches thanks to an Iraqi citizen’s tip in northern Iraq yesterday.
Iraqi Security Force troops and Soldiers form 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment located the caches southeast of Mosul. The caches included 12 mortar rounds, 20 rockets, 11 hand grenades, two RPK automatic weapons, a machine gun, other various mortar parts, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and seven rocket propelled grenade launchers. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
These weapons cache discoveries run the total to five in three days by Security Forces in northern Iraq. Commanders on the ground attribute the success of ISF and MNF operations to the increase in information being provided by Iraqi citizens about insurgent activity, the increase in effectiveness of ISF, and the increase in their operations.
Militants' latest tactic: the drive-by shooting
By Monte Morin
MOSUL, Iraq — Army hatch gunner Brandon Jones may have missed the man who fired potshots at his head, but the sergeant managed to destroy something else: the insurgent's car.
As U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled guerrillas for control of the northern city of Mosul in recent weeks, the insurgents have been putting their wheels to work.
Instead of packing their vehicles with explosives and detonating them in suicidal attacks, insurgents are more likely to fire on troops as they speed past their patrols and combat outposts.
Soldiers say the insurgents seem to favor Opels, because they have a reputation for being fast. Cars are also becoming insurgents' preferred hiding place for weapons.
"What's happening is, they realize we're finding the weapons they try to bury and hide in warehouses," said Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, commander of the Army unit responsible for Mosul's crowded west side.
"What they're doing now is hiding all of their weapons in cars," Kurilla said. "That way they can keep it moving around and out of sight."
Sometimes U.S. soldiers pursue the drive-by shooters in 21-ton Stryker armored vehicles, jumping curbs and barreling down rutted dirt roads.
Such was the case recently when Jones, 23, of Santa Rosa, Calif., and the rest of his platoon were fired at by suspected insurgents in at least two vehicles.
The subsequent chase, through narrow streets, ended in a shootout, with the U.S. fire igniting a blaze in one of the cars.
The flames touched off a chain reaction, detonating rocket-propelled grenades and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the trunk. [...]
Iraqi citizens killed by suicide bomber
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 18, 2005) – An Insurgent killed two Iraqi citizens and injured another nine during a suicide bomb attack in northern Iraq yesterday.
Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were patrolling in western Mosul when their convoy was hit by a car bomb. The suicide bomber detonated along side a Stryker vehicle, injuring six U.S. Soldiers. The blast also killed two innocent Iraqi citizens and injured another nine. The injured citizens were taken to a local hospital for treatment. The U.S. injuries were not classified as serious; five of the six were able to return to duty following treatment.
Security operations continue to net gains in Mosul area
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 18, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 22 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops from 22nd Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Intervention Force detained 15 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a raid southeast of Mosul. Multi-National Force Soldiers also detained eight individuals suspected of insurgent activity during another raid south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Troops from 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade Iraqi Army detained three individuals after they were attacked by insurgents during a cordon and search operation southeast of Mosul. Troops from 104th Battalion, 23rd Brigade Iraqi Army also detained an individual suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Life After War
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By ANGIE LEVENTIS; The News Tribune
Civilian contractor deals with post-traumatic transitions A Lacey man injured in the mess hall bombing in Iraq is home recuperating. He is one of thousands of contractors who straddle the private sector and the military, providing support for the war.
Scott Connely thought the worst was behind him as he sat down to eat his last meal in Iraq at the ill-fated dining hall in Mosul on Dec. 21.
It was just six hours before he was scheduled to go home, and all the 34-year-old civilian contractor could think about was spending Christmas with his wife and two children in Lacey.
Just 45 feet behind him, a suicide bomber detonated the blast that killed 22, including six Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers. Dozens more were injured.
He heard the explosion and hit the ground, thinking at first it was mortars. He crawled through the smoky, bloody dining hall and soldiers carried him to safety.
Connely missed Christmas with his family. But now, back home and recuperating from a leg injury caused by two pieces of shrapnel, he says he’s happy to be alive and with them once again. [...]
While he’s glad to be home and safe with his family, the transition has been difficult. He feels bad that he can’t help more with the kids and running the house, and she has to do all the driving. His rehabilitation is rigorous, with three physical therapy sessions a week and various medical appointments. He’s been more depressed and sometimes suffers post-traumatic stress symptoms.
They were recently eating dinner at a restaurant when a balloon popped nearby. For a second, he was back in that dining hall in Iraq.
Connely said he feels his civilian work and sacrifice are appreciated. On the military medical evacuation flight back to Fort Lewis, he was thanked by the pilot. Then a soldier on the plane took a patch off his uniform and gave it to Connely.
“That really means a lot,” he said.
Soldier says most Iraqis in Mosul 'grateful we are there'
Link to Full Article (subscription)
By Kevin Graman, The Spokesman Review
Stryker Brigade platoon leader recounts battles, bombings and the big election
After the decisive and devastating response by U.S. forces in January to Sunni resistance in Fallujah, it was widely speculated that Mosul would become the next center of the Iraqi insurgency.
Iraq's third largest city, 248 miles north of Baghdad, already had seen its share of fighting. In December, a suicide bombing in the dining hall of nearby Forward Operating Base Marez had killed 22 people in the worst single attack on U.S. forces in the war.
"I remember hearing that Mosul was the next Fallujah and thinking, yeah, it already is," said 1st Lt. Sean Keneally of Spokane Valley, a member of the Stryker Brigade now patrolling the city. "But our presence there was too strong for (insurgents) to gain a foothold."
Keneally, a platoon leader with the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, Wash., is home on two weeks' leave. He spoke Wednesday about Mosul, the dining hall explosion and his role in securing a polling place for Iraqi elections in January. [...]
The Stryker Brigade in Mosul also is waging a constant battle for Iraqi hearts and minds, Keneally said.
He estimates that 10 percent of the people "hate us and shoot at us." Another 20 percent believe U.S. forces have "worn out our welcome" and wish we would go home. The remaining 70 percent are "grateful we are there."
Keneally believes being there is the right thing to do and that the weapons-of-mass-destruction rationale the Bush administration used before the invasion has been blown way out of proportion. Two years later, no stockpiles of illegal weapons have been found in Iraq.
"There are terrorists there," Keneally said. "If they weren't fighting us there, they would be fighting us here. I'd rather be fighting them there."
Keneally, 25, a West Point graduate, is the son of Robert and Louise Keneally of Veradale. He is engaged to be married to Kim St. John of West Palm Beach, Fla., upon his return from Iraq in November.
Assistant's return from Iraq boosts Ohio's morale
Link to Full Article
By Tom Weir, USA TODAY
NASHVILLE — Ohio assistant basketball coach Kevin Kuwik says he "probably woke up some terrorists" with his celebration when the Bobcats beat Detroit on a buzzer-beating shot in February.
That's not entirely hyperbole. At the time he wasn't Coach Kuwik, but Capt. Kuwik, an Army engineer in Mosul, Iraq, listening to his team's game on the Internet.
Kuwik still has six months to serve but is back on U.S. soil for Ohio's first-round game Friday against Florida because another soldier was willing to trade his 15-day leave time with Kuwik.
When Kuwik found out that kindness from Sgt. Hank Stone would allow him to return March 6, in time for the Mid-American Conference tournament, "I was on cloud nine for the rest of that week." [...]
In Iraq, Kuwik has been living in a 7-by-20-foot "aluminum box." Ohio games typically begin at 3 a.m. Iraq time, and Kuwik has missed Internet broadcasts of only two games since leaving for Kuwait in late December. He went to Mosul in early January.
As a member of the 113th Battalion that's attached to the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, much of his duty involves delivering equipment and setting up operations. For safety, most of that work is done during the night, when Mosul is under curfew.
"Every time you drive out of the post, it's an adrenaline rush," Kuwik says. "The most dangerous thing over there is when you're relaxed and complacent. That's when they get you."
Kuwik has been keeping a diary on Ohio's Web site (www.ohiobobcats.com). He reports the Tigris River that flows through Mosul "stinks," describes the Stryker armored vehicle he drives and offers details of camp life and security measures for the Iraqi election.
Kuwik naturally regrets missing the season and says it would have been easy to be "negative and bitter" when he was called up.
But, he adds, "Whatever life throws at me after this year, I think I can handle it."
Reservists’ families to join celebration of 442nd
Link to Full Article
By Gregg K. Kakesako, Honolulu Star Bulletin
More than 60 people who have a family member serving in Iraq with the Army Reserve's 100th Battalion will be honored Sunday at a banquet marking the 62nd anniversary of the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Among those attending will be Allen and Adele Hoe, parents of 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe, who was killed in Iraq on Jan. 22 by a sniper. Hoe was the leader of 2nd Platoon of Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry. The unit is part of the 1st Stryker Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division and is stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash. Hoe also was a member of the 100th Battalion while simultaneously enrolled in the University of Hawaii's Army ROTC program.
His brother, Spc. Nakoa Hoe, is a member of the 100th Battalion who, as the sole surviving brother, has been given a waiver from combat duty by Army.
The 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, one of three combat brigades assigned to the 29th Brigade Combat Team, is the only infantry unit in the Army Reserve and still carries the colors of the 100th Battalion. [...]
Also attending the banquet will be retired Brig. Gen. Ray Gandy, former commander of the 9th Regional Readiness Command, whose son, 1st Lt. Colin Gandy, is in Iraq with the 100th Battalion.
As part of his keynote address. Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, state adjutant general, will include videos and photographs of island reservists and Army National Guard soldiers serving in Iraq.
Other speakers at the luncheon, which will begin at 10 a.m. at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel, will be Gov. Linda Lingle, Mayor Mufi Hannemann, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka and U.S. Rep. Ed Case.
The banquet follows a memorial service at 8:45 a.m. Saturday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Feature speakers will be William Paty, civilian aide to the secretary of the Army, and retired Vice Adm. Robert Kihune.
Army Ranger takes tours of war in stride
A soldier's story. Thanks to twoums for finding it.
Link to Full Article
By By EMILY MORRIS, The Daily Sentinel
A quiet guy, Brian Wilson did not think to tell his dad and stepmom he was recovering from a shrapnel wound.
Only two weeks later, during a telephone conversation did he mention in passing that he was being nominated for the Bronze Star and will receive a Purple Heart for an incident when a grenade was thrown in his direction and Wilson tried to “engage the bad guy.”
A good-looking young man with blond hair and clear blue eyes, the 23-year-old Wilson looks like he just graduated from college, but the Army Ranger is home in Grand Junction for part of his 15-day leave before he returns to fight insurgents in Iraq.
Wilson entered the military with a goal of becoming a Ranger after he graduated from a Los Angeles high school in 2000. He said he attended Grand Junction High School for two years before moving to California.
Wilson had expected to be discharged from the Army last July, but a week before the big day he was informed he was another of the military’s many “stop-losses,” and probably won’t be discharged until December.
Instead of going to college, Wilson went with the 25th Infantry Division to Iraq in October. He had already completed two tours in Afghanistan, three months and then five months in the eastern part of the country, in a combat zone near the Pakistani border, with the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.
He wears a bracelet on his wrist, engraved with the names of two fellow soldiers who won’t be returning home, Jay Blessing and former National Football League star Patrick Tillman. [...]
When soldiers enter a home they can tell who is friendly by the picture hanging over the mantelpiece, he said. A picture of the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a “good guy” Shiite, is a good sign.
Wilson’s father, John, reminded him to talk about the guns.
“Oh yeah,” he said. “We ask everyone if they have a gun. They always say no, but everyone keeps the gun in a cabinet next to the television.”
Wilson said the homes seem barren to him. The only furniture is an entertainment center with blankets that are unfolded during the night for makeshift beds. There are no domesticated animals and few decorations.
“You hear prayer all the time. It’s supposed to be five times a day, but I swear it’s every two hours,” he said. Wilson has never seen the inside of a mosque, because rules of engagement forbid the foreign soldiers to enter the houses of worship, he said.
Wilson laughs when talking about the Iraqi Army, calling them his buddies.
“Ours is really bad,” he said of the Tel-far unit. “They keep getting disbanded because of corruption.”
Wilson won’t comment on his political views, but he said now that soldiers are in Iraq, to leave would be a mistake.
“At first I wasn’t sure why I was there. But during the (Iraq) elections, a good percentage risked their lives to go vote. It was inspiring,” he said.
Before election day, Wilson said the unit set up a tank and a 100-foot protective barrier because of the possibility of suicide bombers.
“There were shooters on the hillside who kept harassing us. We kept on dealing with them over and over,” he said.
Wilson said the shooters started aiming for the voters, and an hour into the process the soldiers removed the barrier and told people to use their vehicle as cover.
Wilson said he doesn’t think about dying.
But his father does.
“We pray for Brian daily, whenever we think of him,” John said.
Security Forces seize weapons and cash, detain suspects
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) confiscated a number of weapons and currency, and detained five suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq yesterday.
Troops from 104th Battalion Iraqi Army seized a large weapons cache that had been found by two Iraqi citizens northwest of Mosul. The cache included over 1,300 rounds of ammunition, two anti-aircraft weapons, and a machine gun. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of insurgent activity and confiscated a large sum of U.S. and Iraqi money during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Iraqi Army troops also detained two individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Commanders on the ground attribute the rise in insurgent detainments and weapons cache finds to the increase in information being provided by Iraqi citizens about insurgent activity, the increase in effectiveness of ISF, and the increase in their operations.
Security Forces taking out insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed six insurgents, injured another four, detained another, and confiscated a number of weapons in northern Iraq yesterday.
Troops from 101st Battalion Iraqi Army shot and killed four insurgents and seized weapons during cordon and search operations in Mosul. The weapons seized included three AK-47s, two rocket propelled grenades, five RPG launchers, five fragmentary grenades, a sniper rifle, and five mortar rounds. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment shot and killed one insurgent and injured another during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul. The 1-5th also detained another suspected insurgent during the operation. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment shot and killed one insurgent and injured another three while on patrol in northern Mosul. A number of weapons and munitions were confiscated and destroyed during the MNF operations.
SSG Donald D. Griffith Jr.
Family members have confirmed that SSG Donald D. Griffith Jr., 29, of Mechanicsville, Iowa, died March 11th as a result of hostile action in Tal Afar, Iraq. SSG Griffith was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), Ft. Lewis WA.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of SSG Griffith.
We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Iowan dies in effort to save Iraq unit - DesMoines Register
Fort Lewis soldier dies in bombing - Associated Press
Another Eastern Iowa Soldier Dies in Iraq - KCRG-TV Cedar Rapids
Eastern Iowa family mourns loss of son, brother in Iraq - Radio Iowa
Another Soldier Dies in Iraq - KWWL-TV
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Announcement
He left for war and returns a real hero - Seattle P-I
Rumbling tribute - DesMoines Register
Sgt. Griffith Remembered - KCRG-TV Cedar Rapids
Insurgents launch another attack from mosque
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were attacked by insurgents from a mosque while patrolling in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment were hit with an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Tal Afar. The 2-14th was then hit with small arms fire from insurgents positioned in a nearby mosque. They returned fire on the insurgents. Five Soldiers were injured by the IED blast. The injured were transported to a combat hospital.
Insurgents have continually used mosques as places to stage battles with Iraqi Security Forces and MNF. Iraqi officials have stated that insurgents using holy sites as a place to launch attacks will not be safe.
In Mosul, Insurgents Have Become Road Warriors
A subscription to the LA Times web site is required, but this article makes it worth the effort. It contains first person reports of combat action in the 1/24 Battalion SBCT. Registration is not required to read the article here.
Link to Full Article
By Monte Morin, LA Times
U.S. troops find cars are mobile weapons caches as well as the means for drive-by shootings.
MOSUL, Iraq — Army hatch gunner Brandon Jones may have missed the man who fired potshots at his head Saturday, but the sergeant managed to destroy a dangerous tool: the insurgent's car.
As U.S. and Iraqi forces have battled guerrillas for control of the northern city of Mosul in recent weeks, the insurgents have been putting their wheels to work.
Instead of packing their vehicles with explosives and detonating them in suicidal attacks, insurgents are more likely to fire on troops as they speed past their patrols and combat outposts.
Soldiers say the insurgents seem to favor Opels, because they have a reputation for being fast. Cars are also becoming insurgents' preferred hiding place for weapons.
"What's happening is, they realize we're finding the weapons they try to bury and hide in warehouses," said Lt. Col. Michael E. Kurilla, commander of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division, the Army unit responsible for Mosul's crowded west side.
"What they're doing now is hiding all of their weapons in cars," Kurilla said. "That way they can keep it moving around and out of sight."
Sometimes U.S. soldiers pursue the drive-by shooters in 21-ton Stryker armored vehicles, jumping curbs and barreling down rutted dirt roads.
Such was the case Saturday, when Jones, 23, of Santa Rosa, and the rest of Bravo Company, 2nd Platoon, were fired at by suspected insurgents in at least two vehicles. [...]
"Usually you get shot at and never see who's doing it," Jones said. "Either that or we get hit by [homemade bombs] and stuff that you can't react to. This was different."
Even though they didn't find or kill the insurgents, Jones said he and his fellow soldiers had made a point.
"We got a couple of their cars," Jones said. "Maybe that will keep them off the street for a while."
Five insurgents killed, a number of weapons seized by Security Forces
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed a total of five insurgents and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops from 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade Iraqi Army were patrolling in eastern Mosul when they were hit with small arms fire. The 24-6th returned fire killing two insurgents. The 24-6th seized a mortar tube following the engagement.
Troops from the 24th Battalion Iraqi Intervention Force were patrolling in eastern Mosul when they were attacked by insurgents in a drive-by shooting. IIF and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment returned fire disabling the vehicle and killing one insurgent. The 24th IIF and 3-21st discovered a mortar tube, two mortar rounds, a sniper rifle, and a rocket propelled grenade launcher and round in the vehicle. The weapons were seized for future destruction.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment stopped a vehicle at a checkpoint in western Mosul, when the passengers fled the vehicle. One of the passengers pulled out a pistol and began firing at 1-24th Soldiers. They returned fire killing the insurgent. No MNF injuries were reported in the incident.
ISF operations stifling insurgency
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained a total of 11 suspected insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today.
Troops with the 3rd and 4th Company, 23rd Battalion Iraqi Intervention Force detained seven individuals suspected of making improvised explosive devices during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Troops from the 1-24th Iraqi Intervention Forces and Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. The 1-24th IIF and 3-21st also confiscated a number of explosives components at the location where the individuals were detained. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Security Forces uncover large weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered three large weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers from the 1-24th discovered a weapons cache while on patrol in western Mosul. The cache was found in two known insurgent vehicles, it included RPG launchers and rounds, sniper rifles, machine guns, hundreds of rounds of machine gun ammunition, pistols, and various improvised explosive device equipment. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction
Multi-National Force Soldiers also discovered two caches during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar. The caches included several mortar rounds, a mortar tube, an RPG trigger and warhead, and several artillery primers and fuses. Weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction.
Insurgents take big hit from Security Force operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained a total of 19 suspected insurgents and confiscated a number of weapons and munitions during operations in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of insurgent activity during cordon and search operations in southwestern Mosul. One of the individuals also led 1-24th Soldiers to locate and seize a number of insurgent weapons. The 1-24th seized over 90 mortar fuses, several hundred rounds of ammunition, mortar systems, several mortar rounds, a rocket propelled grenade launcher, RPG rounds, and 100 feet of detonation cord. During a raid in western Mosul 1-24th Soldiers detained four more individuals suspected of insurgent activity. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon and search operation in Mosul. Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three more suspected insurgents while patrolling in Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Anti-Iraqi Insurgency disregard for citizens continues
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Anti-Iraqi insurgents exercise no restraint in their disregard for the lives and well being of citizens. Their unabated reckless actions in Iraq have led to several wounded or dead civilians.
An adult male and two young children were injured after hitting an explosive devise at an unknown location yesterday. The three civilians were taken to the Forward Operating Base Courage Aid Station and then later the son was evacuated to Al Jumuri while the father and daughter were evacuated to the Combat Support Hospital.
Insurgents have continued to wreak havoc with various types’ of reckless tactics. The Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have not relented on a mission focused on removing bad actors and their weapons from the streets of Iraq.
ISF and MNF continue to put pressure on Insurgents
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 individuals and confiscated weapons in northern Iraq Mar.11 and Mar. 12.
Iraqi Security Forces along with Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activities in eastern Mosul. Two of the individuals are suspected of being Ansar Al Sunna members. ISF along with Soldiers of the 3-21 IN detained three individuals who are suspected of conducting kidnappings in eastern Mosul, and also detained an individual responsible for placing bombs and other terrorist activities in eastern Mosul.
ISF along with Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained a mortar cell leader and his son while conducting a raid in western Mosul, and confiscated uniforms, chemical suits and an AK-47.
ISF along with Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 14th Cavalry found a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenades, launchers and other items in western Mosul. All suspects are in custody with no ISF or Multi-National Force injuries reported.
Ceremony honors wounded soldiers
Link to Full Article
By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
A dozen Stryker brigade soldiers were awarded Purple Heart medals Friday in a ceremony at Fort Lewis.
The 12 from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division were all wounded in Iraq in October, November and December and are recuperating as outpatients at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Soldiers awarded the medal were:
• Master Sgt. David Camacho of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment.
• 1st Sgt. Gerardo Avila-Rodriguez of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment.
• Sgt. 1st Class James Grove, Staff Sgt. Thomas Kirkwood and Sgt. Chauncey Sprengler of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
• Sgt. Richard Hanson, Spc. Alex Cassell and Pvt. Kenneth Perdue of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.
• Lt. Pat Evans and Sgt. Jeffrey Bojanowski of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
• Staff Sgt. Armando Mejia and Spc. Damon Gossett of the 25th Brigade Support Battalion.
Camacho, Kirkwood, Gossett and Evans were wounded in the Dec. 21 suicide bombing at the Forward Operating Base Marez mess hall, which killed 22 people, including 14 U.S. service members and four U.S. contractors. Six of the dead were soldiers from Fort Lewis.
Avila-Rodriguez and Bojanowski were wounded by roadside bombs on Dec. 19, as was Hanson, wounded Nov. 23, and Mejia and Cassell, who were wounded Oct. 29.
Sprengler was shot while on patrol Dec. 9, as were Grove and Perdue, on Dec. 4.[...]
Security Forces uncover weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (March 11, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered a weapons cache in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment uncovered a weapons and ammunition cache during a search operation in western Mosul. The cache included over 600 rounds of ammunition and five grenades. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for further destruction.
Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue operations to protect the rights of Iraqi citizens to live free of fear and intimidation from terrorists. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Fort Lewis honors soldier, Scout leader
BRENT CHAMPACO; The News Tribune
The legacy left by Army Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio may be seen most clearly through the eyes of the youths he influenced most.
Friends and family knew the Fort Lewis soldier killed March 4 in Iraq as a loving husband and father. Fellow soldiers referred to him simply as “Solo.”
But to those in the post’s Boy Scout Troop 62, Solorio was a role model who coached them through a 50-mile hike near Chehalis last year. The 32-year-old from Dallas was a fixture at their weekly meetings and a father figure to boys whose parents are fighting overseas.
“He would just bring everybody’s spirits up,” said 14-year-old Scout Cisco Paulino. “I’ll miss him a lot.”
Cisco joined about 300 other Scouts, soldiers, friends and family who paid tribute to Solorio during a tearful memorial service Thursday at Fort Lewis’ Evergreen Chapel. Solorio died when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle in Mosul. His unit was under attack by enemy forces using small firearms, according to military officials.
Solorio was part of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – the second Fort Lewis Stryker brigade to go to Iraq. It has lost 21 soldiers since deploying in October.[...]
Duke's already No. 1 for this officer
This basketball story has been reported before, but this article includes some new information about COL Brown and 1/25 SBCT operations in Mosul.
Link to Full Article
By Bob Cohn, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Some people love Duke basketball; others hate it. But there is no doubt how some fans half a world away in Iraq feel about the Blue Devils.
"Six thousand guys had Christmas because of Coach K," Col. Bob Brown said of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Krzyzewski's first head coaching job was at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and Col. Brown was one of his better players as a junior during the 1979-80 season. That was Krzyzewski's last season before going to Duke, but they have remained close -- a relationship first reported by the New York Times. Col. Brown today commands 6,000 troops of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division in Mosul, Iraq. [...]
As the New York Times reported, Krzyzewski keeps on his desk a folded flag that Col. Brown flew on one of his combat vehicles. Col. Brown also sent 20 of the patches worn by his unit, also known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The Duke players will wear them during the NCAA tournament. [...]
His brigade, which includes infantry and armor, is a "combat fighting element," Col. Brown said, adding, "We are not a support element. Every day, we go out and fight the terrorists."
Col. Brown said his brigade averages about 10 captures a day and also works with Iraqi officials, helping train soldiers and rebuild the infrastructure.
"We do a lot of humanitarian work," he said.
The Stryker Brigade helped ensure that the recent elections were held without any major problems. Col. Brown called it an unqualified success even though, he said, "there's a lot of evil out there."
He has seen a lot of terrible things in Iraq and has survived some harrowing experiences. One of his best company commanders, he said, was killed by a suicide bomber recently. Col. Brown, standing 30 feet away, was unhurt.
Recently, while riding in an armored vehicle, Col. Brown noticed a suspicious car parked by the side of a road and immediately told his men to get down. Seconds later, the car exploded.
"They told me that was a good call," he said.
47 Killed in Suicide Attack on Mosul Mosque
The article concludes with a brief quote from a 1/25 SBCT commander.
Link to Full Article
By Ashraf Khalil and Monte Morin, LA Times
MOSUL, Iraq — A suicide bomber killed at least 47 people here today after setting off his device amid a crowded Shiite funeral.
The explosion tore through mourners crowded in a large tent outside the Two Sadr Martyrs mosque in Mosul's Tameem neighborhood about 5:30 p.m.
Images broadcast on Arabic television showed a chaotic scene of mourners. Bodies were dragged away, and large bloodstains appeared on the muddy ground outside a wide canvas tent containing rows of plastic chairs. [...]
"This wasn't expected, but it wasn't entirely unexpected either," said Capt. Duane Limpert of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team. "You can have success after success after success against the insurgency, but it only takes one terrorist success to make a very big deal.
"They only need to get it right just once."
Soldiers to receive Purple Hearts at Fort Lewis
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- Twelve members of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team who were wounded in action in Iraq will receive Purple Heart medals in a ceremony Friday at Fort Lewis, army officials said.
The medals will be presented at the American Lake Club to the following:
-Master Sgt, David Camacho, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery
-1st. Sgt. Gerardo AVILA-Rodriguez, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment
-Sgt. 1st Class James Grove, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment
-Staff Sgt. James Grove, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment
-Sgt. Chauncey Sprengler, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment
-Sgt. Richard Hanson, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment
-Spc. Alex Cassell, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment
-Pvt. Kenneth Purdue, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment
-1st Lt. Pat Evans, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment
-Sgt. Jeffrey Bojanowski, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment
-Staff Sgt. Armando Mejia, 25th Brigade Support Battalion
-Spc. Damon Gossett, 25th Brigade Support Battalion
All the soldiers are being treated as out patients at Madigan Army Medical Center.
A soldier's story: Iraqi elections a high point
Link to Full Article
BY STEVE GRAZIER, Journal Staff Writer
Army 1st Lt. Garrett Berry, of Cortez, has been deployed to Tal-Afar, Iraq, located east of Mosul, since October 2004. This week he was able to correspond from his base with the Journal via e-mail about the recent Iraqi elections and his thoughts on the overall mission of the war.
Berry, 25, is an executive officer for the C/2-14 CAV, a reconnaissance surveillance and target acquisition squadron. His primary duty is to act as second in command, but he also helps patrol the Iraq-Syrian border. In addition, the lieutenant maintains his commander's property and commands dismounted troops.
"I only want people to understand that we are here for the (Iraqi) people," Berry explained. "They want the U.S. to stay, and the general public greets us with open arms. Our cause is our freedom and theirs."
More than 26 million people are estimated to live in Iraq - most of them in cities within the eastern half of the country.
Approximately 8.46 million votes were cast Jan. 30. And close to 58 percent of Iraq's registered voters turned out for the elections, despite violence that killed more than 40 people.
Election day in Iraq was crazy, said Berry, who added that spirits were high among his fellow troops during the much anticipated vote.
"Moral is high... the elections put a face on our job," he said. "When you see men and women, young and old, braving gunfire (even getting wounded) you have a tendency to realize why you're here."
U.S. Checkpoints Raise Ire in Iraq
This long article concludes with an account of the incident that occurred on 1/18/05 in Tal Afar. There is a related story in the Christian Science Monitor.
Link to Full Article
By JOHN F. BURNS, New York Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 6 - When an Italian journalist was driven up Baghdad's airport road toward an American military checkpoint on Friday night, she was driving into a situation fraught with hazards thousands of Iraqis face every day.
The journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, 56, ran into fierce American gunfire that left her with a shrapnel wound to her shoulder and killed the Italian intelligence agent sitting beside her in the rear seat. She had been released only 35 minutes earlier by Iraqi kidnappers who had held her hostage for a month, and the car carrying them to the airport was driving in pitch dark.
But the conditions for the journey, up a road that is considered the most dangerous in Iraq, were broadly the same as those facing all civilian drivers approaching American checkpoints or convoys. American soldiers operate under rules of engagement that give them authority to open fire whenever they have reason to believe that they or others in their unit may be at risk of suicide bombings or other insurgent attacks. [...]
Many Iraqi drivers complain that they know of no clear rules for dealing with American convoys. Reporters have listened as American officers brief armored-vehicle drivers before leaving United States bases on procedures for keeping civilian vehicles well back. Generally, the machine-gunner in the last Humvee is instructed to raise a clenched fist - a military gesture meaning "stay back" that few Iraqis understand - then to wave both arms, and throw water bottles or anything else available. Only then, the officers say, is the gunner authorized to open fire, first at the engine block, then at the driver.
One of the starkest incidents in recent weeks occurred on the evening of Jan. 18 in the town of Tal Afar, a trouble spot west of the city of Mosul, where a platoon from the 25th Infantry Division was on a foot patrol. Chris Hondros, a photographer for Getty Images, an American photo agency, said that soldiers of the Apache company were walking in near darkness toward an intersection along a deserted commercial street when they saw the headlights of a sedan turning into the street about 100 yards ahead.
An officer ordered the troops over their headsets to halt the vehicle, and all raised weapons. One soldier fired a three-shot burst into the air, but the car kept coming, Mr. Hondros said, and then half a dozen troops fired at least 50 rounds, until the car was peppered with bullets and rolled gently to a stop against a curb.
"I could hear sobbing and crying coming from t he car, children's voices," Mr. Hondros said.
Next he said, one of the rear doors opened, and six children, four girls and two boys, one only 8 years old, tumbled into the street. They were splattered with blood.
Mr. Hondros, whose photographs of the incident were published around the world, said that the parents of four of the children lay dead in the front seat. Their bodies were riddled with bullets, and the man's skull had smashed.
Back at a base in Tal Afar, the soldiers and Mr. Hondros filled out forms with their observations on the incident. The company commander told the soldiers that there would be an investigation, but that they had followed the rules of engagement and that they should tell the truth, Mr. Hondros said. "I'll stick up for you," the captain told the soldiers, Mr. Hondros recalled. He said the platoon involved in the incident had been engaged in an intense firefight with insurgents in Tal Afar two days before the incident. "It was a jangling experience," he said.
SSG Juan M. Solorio
The DoD has announced the death of a Soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Juan M. Solorio, 32, of Dallas, Texas, died March 4 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle as his unit was being attacked by enemy forces using small arms fire. Solorio was assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, WA.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of SSG Solorio. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official Press Release
Dallas soldier killed in Iraq loved adventure - Associated Press
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Mosul attack - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldier dies in Iraq violence - The Olympian
Texas Soldier Killed By Homemade Bomb In Iraq - KWTX News
Stryker Brigade soldier killed in Iraq - KGBT News
'I just want to survive and go home with all my body parts'
Link to Full Article
By Rory Carroll, The Guardian
Fears of soldiers on patrol in Mosul as US military death toll in Iraq tops 1,500
The city was quiet but the soldiers sitting and swaying inside the Stryker were animated by their favourite debate: was it better to be five metres or 20 metres from an explosion?
The front gunner belonged to the 20-metre school, figuring the greater distance reduced your chances of losing limbs to the blast. The two rear gunners scoffed and said that would increase the odds of being hit by shrapnel, which fanned upwards and outwards.
Five months of patrolling Mosul had furnished evidence for both views and the discussion was as well-worn as the Stryker's tyres.
Sergeant David Phillips, 23, sighed and patted his flak jacket. "I just want to stay alive and go home with all my body parts." He spoke for 150,000 American soldiers in Iraq.
Yesterday the number of US military deaths since the March 2003 invasion crept over 1,500.
There was no official acknowledgment of the milestone, just curt statements that three soldiers had died in two separate attacks on Wednesday. "Names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin." The figure includes accidents. [...]
The men of Bravo company, an infantry unit which rides in the armoured Stryker vehicles of 321 Battalion in Mosul, did not care that since George Bush's re-election the artificial limbs and flag-draped coffins of US troops have faded in political significance. For them, it was personal.
"I don't tell my mom or my wife that we drive up and down streets getting blown up every day. They'd just worry all the time. I tell them we sit in the base and do the odd mission," said Sgt Nathan Purdy, who is 23. [...]
Lieutenant Colonel Mike Gibler said his battalion's main objective was rebuilding the Iraqi security forces which "imploded" last November after insurgents overran Mosul's police stations.
The Iraqi army was improving thanks to joint operations and would soon take half of the responsibility of securing the city. Asked about the police force he rolled his eyes, but speculated that there was enough progress for US forces to leave within three years. His desk had tomes on Islam and a "Don't mess with Texas" sticker.
Enlisted men were less sure about progress, complaining they were always on the defensive and waiting to be attacked by insurgents. "They fight like bitches, pop a few shots, then hide," said Sgt Ramirez Flores. [...]
Drive-by shootings have wounded several in the unit but the big fear is roadside bombs which according to the Pentagon accounted for 56% of all US battle deaths in the first two months of this year. They are hidden in rubbish bags, animal carcasses, holes, rubble, cars and carts, turning every object into a potential killer.
A suicide car bomber rammed and immolated one of the battalion's Strykers but all the occupants survived, prompting reverence for the eight-wheel, 23-tonne monsters.
A tip about weapons caches this week led to a midnight mission to dig up a lawn. It yielded nothing.
"***** gardeners - what are we doing here?" asked one private. "And tomorrow we're giving out candy to kids again," replied his friend. "We didn't train for this."
For one soldier, a reprieve from war
Link to Full Article
By James Fisher, Daily Times
2-week leaves give service members quality family time, home cooking
DELMAR -- Jason Reed was dressed in a desert-fatigue uniform, but his only duties Wednesday involved entertaining his children. The 29-year-old Army infantryman, on a two-week-long leave from service in Iraq, was home with his wife and family, and clearly enjoying it.
The tense missions he'd faced for months, clearing improvised bombs from Iraq's cluttered roadways, were now in the back of his mind.
"I wrote my lieutenant and kind of rubbed it in that I was home," Reed said, sitting on a couch in his family's home. His wife, Vanessa, joined him while daughter Abagail, 3, and son, Joseph, 2, crawled out of a play tent and around their parents' legs.
Reed, a former police officer with Pocomoke City and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore police, had served in the armed forces in the 1990s as a teenager. Middle-aged by Army standards, he re-enlisted in 2003, training for months in Washington state. He was sent to Iraq in October with the First Brigade, 24th Infantry Division Stryker Unit's Charlie Company.
In December, Reed said, he was on his way to a dining hall when an explosion inside it killed 24 soldiers and wounded dozens more. Had a commanding officer not held him up at a checkpoint for a few minutes, Reed believes he would have been inside the tent himself. [...]
On Feb. 26, when her husband flew home, Vanessa went to the airport to greet him.
"I talked my way into meeting him at the gate," she said, laughing. His parents cared for Joseph and Abagail the first weekend Reed was home, giving the couple some time to themselves.
Reed said he plans to relax in his downtime, taking a trip to Thrasher's Fries in Ocean City and getting long-sought home cooking. Favorite meal: Lasagna.
"His chow hall's no longer in existence, so I'm going to cook him good food," Vanessa said.
Email From the Front
Included below is an email sent by 1LT Fassieux to his family, which describes a recent trip outside the city of Mosul. The scene he describes is similar to those seen in our Smiles From Iraq album.
We conducted a couple patrols today....we drove through some predominantly Kurdish areas, and it was amazing to see the people. We get so wrapped up in the city dealing with the bad guys, we lose focus of the silent majority who reside just on the outskirts of town, in mud huts, beautifully colorful dresses, and smiles that stretch ear to ear. As we drove our vehicles along the dusty roads, never intended for anything over the weight of a horse-drawn cart, children came out of their homes to wave, some to beg for chocolate, "mista, mista.." as they pointed to their tongues...young women, who too young to be bound by custom, but old enough to show interest, smiled and winked at us from the confines of the homes. Soccer, a sport not bound by class or culture, was being played by the boys of the neighborhoods on makeshift soccer fields of dirt and kerosene tanks for goals. The presence of a bloated ferrell dog carcass punctuated the harsh reality of this place.
Death as a part of life. I tossed candy to the children to shy or afraid of the men in the vehicles....disregarding the hordes now following us. We are truly a site to behold in their eyes. Huge men, hidden beneath layers of armor and equipment used to enforce their inherent right of life and humanity that they cannot enforce for themselves. It is these experiences that re-energize our choice to be part of something greater than ourselves.
To fight not for an agenda, but for an ideal that is slowly being awoken in these people; self-determination. Providing them the opportunities to define who they will be, what they will do, and where they will take themselves.
1LT Phillip Fassieux
Charlie Co., 3/21 (Gimlets)
1/25 Stryker Brigade Combat Team
Stryker Brigade Will Protect Bases With Remote-Controlled Mines
Link to Full Article
by Michael Peck
The Army Stryker brigade now fighting in Iraq will be first in line to receive a new radio-frequency kit that allows soldiers to detonate mines from several kilometers away.
The technology, called “Matrix,” essentially turns old-fashioned mines into standoff munitions. It was developed by the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal, in New Jersey, to meet growing base-security needs in Iraq. “Matrix allows them to cover their flanks and protect their base of operations with fewer soldiers,” said Maj. Joe Hitt, the project lead.
Matrix consists of three components: a touch-screen laptop, a radio transmitter and a munitions-control assembly that attaches to a Claymore antipersonnel mine. When detonated, the Claymore spits out steel balls out in a fan-shaped pattern, with a lethal radius of about 50 meters.
While Hitt declined to specify the exact range of the radio signal, he noted that, “Matrix allows hundreds of Claymores and non-lethal Claymores to be controlled by a single laptop at extended ranges. By touch-screen command, the operator can initiate any combination of effects at standoff ranges instantaneously.
Tactics for using Matrix were developed by the Army Engineering School. The devices will primarily be used for fixed-site security at forward operating bases. “Layers of non-lethal followed by layers of lethal is one example,” said Hitt. The Stryker brigade will get 25 systems by May, he added.
The Army says "Ave Atque Valle"
Major George Schneider, USAF, Retired, attended the memorial service yesterday at Ft. Lewis. He shares his thoughts and photos in this moving entry.
Related Entries: In Memoriam, the Wreath and it's Heraldry, In Memoriam, continued from Mosul, Iraq, In Memoriam, a poem for Adam, In Memoriam: Sgt. Adam J. Plumondore, USA
Arranging memorial services is duty that never gets easier
Link to Full Article
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
FORT LEWIS — Master Sgt. Cheryl Kirk's cellphone wakes her late at night. These calls bring bad news as she learns of yet another soldier's death from the Iraq-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
"When my cellphone rings, my heart stops," said Kirk, who has remained behind at Fort Lewis as the top enlisted officer in a 1st Brigade support unit of some 300 soldiers.
Here at the base in recent months, Kirk has been responsible for arranging the memorial services for brigade soldiers who die in Iraq. She has developed a checklist to remind herself of the numerous details, from arranging for a bugler to figuring out who will offer tributes. Those tasks are becoming increasingly familiar; the brigade has lost 19 soldiers since deploying to Iraq in October.
The 38-year-old had planned to retire after sustaining a training injury that prevented her from being deployed to Iraq along with the rest of the brigade.
But she was asked to put off retirement to join the brigade's Fort Lewis support unit, and "I didn't want to say no."
Early on, much of Kirk's job involved logistics support for the brigade. But as fighting intensified, the casualties mounted. Her job also expanded to include providing support for the wounded men and women sent back to Fort Lewis.
That job earns her an early notice of the deaths, and with the time difference between Washington and Iraq, the phone calls often come well past midnight. So she makes sure she takes her cellphone to bed at home in Yelm.
Related Article: Hard-hit Ft. Lewis mourns 3 of its own - The Seattle Times
Hard-hit Ft. Lewis mourns 3 of its own
Link to Full Article
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
FORT LEWIS — Aaron Moore and his buddy Sgt. Adam Plumondore saw plenty of combat as they patrolled the streets of Mosul, which now rank among the most violent in Iraq. But they shied away from talking about death. Only once, Moore recalled, did they touch on it. They pledged that if either one should perish, the survivor would not cry or join in a sad memorial.
"I'm sorry, Adam. I broke that promise," Moore said yesterday in a tear-choked tribute to the 22-year-old Plumondore, who died Feb. 16 in a car-bomb explosion.
Plumondore was one of three soldiers from the Army's 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division who fell last week to enemy fire:
• Sgt. Frank Hernandez, 21, of Phoenix, who gave up a university golf scholarship to enlist in the Army and died on a Feb. 17 patrol.
• Spc. Clinton Gertson, a 6-foot-4 Texan known as "Big Country," who survived wounds suffered in a Dec. 22 mess-hall bombing only to fall to enemy fire on Feb. 19. He was 26.
Plumondore, Hernandez and Gertson were remembered yesterday in tributes, prayers, a rifle salute and taps. For this brigade, these memorials now unfold with wrenching frequency. [...]
On his last Stryker vehicle mission, Plumondore volunteered to go in place of another solider and then took one of the most dangerous positions that exposed him to enemy fire — behind a mounted gun.
The Texan, Gertson, was another sniper, who Kurilla said performed heroically in a Nov. 11 firefight with 60 insurgents, which left 25 of them confirmed dead. "He always had a cool, calm Texas manner about him — he wasn't cocky — but crisp and clean," said 1st Lt. Daniel Kearney.
Though injured by shrapnel in the December mess-hall bombing, Gertson focused his energy on helping more gravely wounded soldiers that day.
Hernandez, who left behind a wife and young son, had already done one tour of duty in Iraq with another unit that was engaged in the 2003 invasion of the country. The combat experience he gained made him a valued and respected comrade as the 1st Brigade arrived in Mosul last fall — full of soldiers who had yet to face enemy fire.
Hernandez accepted the hardships of a second tour of duty. But he did dream of life after the Army, hoping one day to join the FBI.
Related Article: Arranging memorial services is duty that never gets easier - The Seattle Times
Fort Lewis pays tribute to three ‘men of renown’
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By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Tributes to the three most recent Fort Lewis soldiers to fall in Iraq reminded Army chaplain Daniel Petsch of a passage in the Book of Genesis about giants who roamed the earth.
The men, remembered together at a memorial service Thursday, were “three modern day giants,” Petsch observed. “Mighty men. Men of renown.”
The post paused to honor the memory of Sgt. Adam Plumondore, 24; Sgt. Frank Hernandez, 21; and Spc. Clinton Gertson, 26, all killed last week in northern Iraq.
They were with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which has lost 20 soldiers since it arrived in Iraq in October.
Speakers on Thursday described outsized personalities who distinguished themselves as friends and comrades as well as by their prowess as soldiers. [...]
The article continues with summaries of the remarks delivered at the memorial service. Follow the link to the full article to read these very moving tributes.
A day of celebration
The 276th Engineer Battalion supported the 3-2 and 1-25 Stryker Brigades.
Link to Full Article
BY MATTHEW LAKIN, BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
RICHLANDS – Sgt. Kyle Wright walks with a cane now.
"I bought it as a souvenir," he said. "I never thought I’d have to use it."
The former coal miner brought home another souvenir from his service with the 276th Engineer Battalion – a limp in his right leg from the December suicide bombing that sent him flying across a chow hall tent in Mosul, Iraq, and killed a man sitting beside him.
Wright still dreams about the bombing every night. But it didn’t keep him from smiling Thursday as he sat beside his wife, Patricia.
"I don’t regret any of it," he said. "I regret the friends we lost. But I’m glad we were over there. There were a lot of people we helped.
"But anytime you do something, you pay a price for it." [...]
While in Iraq, the soldiers helped build a training center in Mosul for the Iraqi national guard, complete with obstacle courses and a rifle range. They strung barbed wire, paved roads, built watch towers, guarded bridges and helped chase down rebels.
The company’s soldiers won eight Purple Hearts and saw more combat missions – 379 – than any other in the battalion.
"When the infantry went out on a mission that need engineer support, we went," Dunn said. "My guys climbed right inside the Stryker (armored fighting vehicles) with them."
Some of the men suffered serious injuries – the worst when Spc. Dean Schwartz lost a leg during a grenade attack. But the company never lost a single soldier.
"It was just luck," Dunn said. "We take care of each other."
The soldiers got used to daily mortar attacks and the sound of the guns.
"We had a joke – a day without mortars is like a day without sunshine," Wright said. "I compared it to working in the coal mines. Rocks fall every day. You just try not to be there when they fall."
The company’s closest call came Dec. 21, when a suicide bomber slipped inside a chow hall tent at lunchtime. The blast shredded the tent and killed more than 20 people, including Sgt. Nicholas Mason and Sgt. David Ruhren, two National Guardsmen from Northern Virginia attached to B Company. [...]
After the speeches, local supporters presented each soldier with a bag of donated gifts – including a vacation for each family to the place of their choice.
"This is for all of your sacrifices – yours and your families’," said Renee Morris, leader of the unit’s family support group.
Spc. Shawn Eldridge of Big Stone Gap and his wife, Ginger, haven’t decided where they’ll go yet.
"We’re going to take a little break and rest first," he said. "But we’re thinking about somewhere on the West Coast."
Under federal law, the men have 90 days to relax and spend time with their families before returning to their jobs.
Some might return sooner. Others plan to make the most of the time together.
Most think they’ll settle back into civilian life by the end – even if it means calling to mind things they’d rather forget.
"It’s just something in life you’ve got to face," Wright said. "You can’t overcome it by running away from it. I’m just glad to be home."
Krzyzewski Helped an Officer Become a Leader
The following is a great article about the relationship between COL Brown, commander of 1/25 SBCT, and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Link to Full Article
By Pete Thamel
When he hit the shot that beat Fordham in 1979, the former Army forward Bob Brown remembers, there was a sobering scene amid the postgame euphoria in the locker room.
As he was taking off his sneakers at his locker after the 71-70 victory, Brown looked up to see his coach, Mike Krzyzewski, glaring down at him.
"How about playing some defense now?" Brown recalls Krzyzewski asking him with a scowl.
Twenty-six years later, Col. Bob Brown let out a hearty chuckle as he recalled the game in a telephone interview earlier this month from Mosul, Iraq.
Brown is in charge of 8,000 troops in the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team. And as he leads his troops in Iraq, Brown said, he uses the tenets of leadership and teamwork that Krzyzewski helped instill at West Point.
"It was that type of discipline that he demanded," Brown said. "Even if you hit a game-winning shot."
Back in Durham, N.C., Krzyzewski is teaching the same lessons to his current team, No. 7 Duke, which plays St. John's at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
In a telephone interview Monday, Krzyzewski let out a laugh at Brown's recollection.
"As a defender of freedom right now, I'm glad that the Army has changed him," Krzyzewski said of Brown's defensive shortcomings.
What has not changed is the strong relationship between Krzyzewski and Brown, who played three seasons under Krzyzewski at West Point in the late 1970's.
On his game-day desk at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Krzyzewski keeps a flag that Brown sent him folded military style - in a triangle. The flag went out on patrols in Brown's Stryker armored vehicle. In his office in Iraq, Brown has a copy of the Rudyard Kipling poem "If" that Krzyzewski gave him as a plebe at Army.
The two keep in touch by e-mail and telephone. Krzyzewski said the magnitude of Brown's job helped him keep perspective in the throes of the season, where games are given labels like "must win" and "life or death."
Brown, meanwhile, has used Duke basketball as an occasional escape, waking up before dawn to watch a game or getting a lift from a phone call or note from Krzyzewski.
"Those sorts of moments just really, really mean so much to him," Brown's wife, Patti, said in a telephone interview from Fort Lewis, Wash. "When he gets a 'Hang in there' or 'We're behind you.' Those things mean a whole lot to him."
The biggest boost came on Christmas Eve, when about 5,000 gifts and stockings full of phone cards, compact discs and candy arrived in Mosul courtesy of Krzyzewski.
Memorial Service at Ft. Lewis
Sergeant Adam Plumondore, Sergeant Frank B. Hernandez, and Specialist Clinton R. Gertson will be honored at a memorial service to be held in the Evergreen Chapel on Ft. Lewis at 10:30 AM on Thursday, February 24, 2005.
Because Fort Lewis is a closed installation, all visitors require a visitors pass to enter the Fort. Information on obtaining a pass can be found at this URL.
Students remember soldiers on Valentine's Day
Link to Full Article
By Lady Hereford, Palm Beach Post
On a day when many were thinking roses and candy, students at Starlight Cove Elementary School were thinking patriotism and sacrifice.
At 1 p.m. on Valentine's Day, the student body covered the blacktop behind the suburban Lantana school in a sea of red, white and blue shirts. During a ceremony titled "Home Grown Heroes," students and teachers made a video greeting card for U.S. Army troops stationed in Iraq.
The ceremony ended with the children waving flags and singing God Bless the U.S.A.
The recipients of the video — members of Charlie Company, Stryker Brigade, part of the 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment of the 25th Infantry Division — were there in spirit. About 40 students each wore a name tag bearing the name of each soldier in the platoon.
At one point in the ceremony, each student read aloud the name on his or her tag. When it was 6-year-old Ahleah Yeck's turn, she stood bravely in front of her peers and read the name of the soldier she represented: Pfc. Spencer.
Afterward, she felt relieved. "I felt scared, kind of," she said.
The school adopted the soldiers after they were deployed in October, and students have mailed them letters and packages. Some of the letters the students received in return are on display in the school's front lobby. [...]
Last week's ceremony was yet another way they were able to show their support. "I think this was something they will remember for the rest of their lives," she [Susan St. John] said.
AN ENDURING FRIENDSHIP
A profile of COL Robert Brown
Link to Full Article
By Jim Young, News & Record
The player keeps by his side a copy of the Rudyard Kipling poem, "If," that his coach gave him a quarter-century ago.
The coach carries in his briefcase a small medallion, signifying his player's latest, most important, team.
The player keeps track of how his coach is doing by searching for bits and scraps of sports news wherever he can find it.
The coach follows his player's progress by making CNN a part of his daily routine.
It has been 25 years since Mike Krzyzewski and Col. Bob Brown shared the same bench on Army basketball teams from 1977 to 1980. Krzyzewski was a first-time head coach then, and Brown was a 6-foot-5 forward and a gifted scorer. But even now, as Krzyzewski guides his Duke Blue Devils toward another NCAA tournament and Brown commands 8,000 soldiers in northern Iraq, they still are inextricably linked -- the coach and the player. Only these days the inspiration flows both ways, from player to coach and back -- through e-mails, an occasional phone call and daily thoughts and prayers.
"You use analogies in sports like, 'This is life-and-death,' or 'This is a must-win,' or 'We're going to war,' " Krzyzewski said. "All those things, they don't really mean that. What Bob and his men and women are doing mean that."
Yet Brown, while facing the daily challenges of battling insurgents and coordinating the movements of troops spread from Mosul to Tall Afar to Qayyarah, often thinks of Krzyzewski when he needs guidance.
"West Point is the best leadership school in the world," Brown said. "But I learned more on the basketball court about leadership at West Point than anywhere else." [...]
Brown and his troops also witnessed the widespread popularity of Krzyzewski and Duke basketball several years ago, during a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. The Duke basketball program sent over hundreds of Duke basketball T-shirts that Brown and his soldiers gave to children while on patrol.
"They went from not talking to us, to chirping like birds and telling us everything that was going on," Brown said.
'He's got it'
Still, it is the famous coach who does much of the gushing these days, over how far his former player -- the one Krzyzewski once benched for lackadaisical defense -- has come.
He speaks of Brown's future stardom and of the four stars he will one day see on the shoulders of Brown's uniform.
"He's going to be, when all is said and done, one of the great Americans," Krzyzewski said. "I'm as sure of that as I was Grant Hill being a great player, and Christian Laettner and Jason Williams. Bob's got it. He's got it."
Which is why, every few days, the coach gathers his current players in the locker room and tries to convey to them just how special one of his very first players has become.
"I think (Brown) is an inspiration to Coach," said Duke forward Lee Melchionni. "Then, Coach passes that on to us. He's an inspiration to us."
Deuce Four Fallen Warriors
LTC Kurilla, commander of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, forwarded the following comments he will make during a memorial service for SGT Plumondore and SPC Gertson on Tuesday, February 22nd in Mosul, Iraq. As he said, "I share with you my comments only in the hope that it shows people a small glimpse of what incredibly wonderful soldiers, friends, heroes they both were." Thank you for sharing.
Gen Bergner, COL Brown, SGTs Major, friends of Deuce Four, and most importantly the men of Deuce Four. Thank you for coming today to honor two of the finest warriors that I have had the privilege and honor to serve beside.
GEN William T. Sherman stated that War is Hell. My friends, he was right. It affects all those in its all consuming grasp. It affects us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually – it does not differentiate between civilian or soldier. No one wishes for war – to do so is sheer madness. GEN Macarthur said it best -- The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
To the men of Deuce Four we now honor our 7th warrior to die defending the freedom of a people we neither know nor completely understand. But such action is truly the nobility of our profession – We sacrifice all for a people that do not fully understand the extent of our sacrifice. A people that had never tasted the sweet waters of freedom until 30 Jan of this year. And it is because of your valiant actions, the valiant actions of heroes like SGT Adam Plumondore and SPC Clint Gertson.
I would like to tell you about what kind of men they were as I remembered them – for these were extraordinary men that accomplished extraordinary things.
Clint Gertson was the first man I met from Deuce Four three weeks before I took command of the Battalion. I was visiting Deuce Four in Feb 2004 conducting live fires at Yakima Training Center. I approached the support by fire position and this 6’4” square jawed PFC stood up and greeted me with that big Texas smile and asked me if I wanted a clinic on how to shoot; he subsequently proceeded to hit a man sized target at 500m. I immediately knew that I would love this battalion and that if the rest of the soldiers were half as impressive as he was, I would have the best battalion in the Army.
Gerty became a main stay of motivation for me. If one ever needed to know why it is a privilege and honor to command the sons and daughters of America they only needed to meet Clint Gertson.
I remember 11 Nov like it was yesterday. What started as a raid to kill or capture an HVT turned into a 6 hour firefight with 60 insurgents, leaving 25 confirmed enemy dead and estimates of up to 40 killed. This was only because of men like Clint Gertson. We were taking significant small arms, RPG and mortar fire when we moved to the top of a building to get better fields of fire. As we arrived at the top of the building, I heard the distinctive bark of the .50 Cal sniper rifle from the corner and looked over to see Gerty in all his glory. Gerty and the sniper crew were killing RPG gunners as they moved between buildings in an attempt to reposition on Apache company. At one point he turned around and gave that big Texas smile and turned back to administering death to the enemy.
I also remember one month later when Gerty missed a shot on an enemy mortar team only 300m from his hide site (I think it was closer to 250m) – I teased him that he needed more range time but he quickly reminded me that at least it scared the shit out of the enemy to drop the mortar tube and we did capture it. Good point Gerty.
Clint Gertson was the kind of man that made you proud to say that you served with him.
SGT Adam Plumondore was also such a man. An extraordinary leader that did extraordinary things. I had the privilege to observe the actions of SGT Plumondore on a daily basis – and stand back in awe and wonder.
Plum was a walking uniform violation – but strangely, that is one of the things I loved about this man. I do not think a day would go by where I did not tell him to roll down his sleeves, buckle his chin strap, or trim up his Delta Force mustache. Sure enough, he would make the correction and in the thick of a fire fight there would be Plum with sleeves up, chin strap unbuckled, a big smile on his face and a weapon that never missed – unless he was firing 40mm from his M203 which he often reminded me was an area weapon.
I remember 3 Dec like it was yesterday. 60-70 enemy had set up a 2km ambush along Route Tampa and the Recon platoon and TAC found itself running a 2km gauntlet of 15 IEDs, over 30 RPGs, hand grenades and significant machinegun and AK47 fire. 6 soldiers were wounded including SPC Moore who was blown from the hatch of his Stryker that was now running on 8 flat tires – without missing a beat SGT Plumondore immediately jumped up and manned the MK19 and suppressed and killed enemy positions allowing the platoon to get casualties to the CSH and then launch a Battalion counter attack that killed 22 enemy.
I remember 11 Dec like it was yesterday. As we were beginning to exfil from destroying a weapons cache a suicide car bomb slammed into the side of Hunter 1. The entire vehicle was in flames, 6 soldiers were wounded. The enemy then engaged with mortars, RPGs, and machinegun fire from 3 directions. Without even thinking twice, SGT Plumondore jumped from his vehicle with fire extinguishers in his hands and his weapon slung on his back. Without hesitation he began to put out the Stryker on fire and assist in the evacuation of the wounded from the Stryker. The fire out, Plum then turned his attention to the enemy and began to engage them with precision fires. Because of his actions, Plum saved soldiers lives and the Stryker did not burn to the ground – in fact his determined face was back in the gunner’s hatch of his vehicle engaging an enemy RPG team that tried to ambush the platoon during exfil – complete with sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
How do you honor such heroes as Clint Gertson and Adam Plumondore? You honor them by telling the stories of their friendship, camaraderie, and fierce bravery. You honor them by continuing to fight to protect the man on your left and right who would lay down his life so that others might live. You honor them by continuing in this noble endeavor providing freedom to a people we do not know or understand the sacrifices that are made – but that is what makes America the greatest nation on earth.
We will miss them both terribly, but I know that our Deuce Four snipers, Gerty and Plum, are looking down from Heaven continuing to look out for us – that voice you hear in your head is Gerty calling the winds, Plum ensuring you have the correct distance, and both always reminding you to always look for the positive in life.
On this day, we ask almighty God to grant us patience and steadfast resolve in all that is to come. May God Bless Deuce Four, 1st Brigade, and may God Bless America.
MICHAEL E. KURILLA
LTC, IN
CDR, 1-24 IN REGT (SBCT)
SPC Clinton R. Gertson
The Department of Defense has announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Clinton R. Gertson, 26, of Houston, Texas, died 19 Feb. in Mosul, Iraq, from injuries sustained from enemy forces small arms fire. SPC Gertson was assigned to 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find below.
Houston-area soldier killed in Iraq - Denton Record Chronicle
LTC Kurilla's Tribute - From the Deuce Four memorial service held in Mosul.
Fort Lewis soldier killed by Iraqi sniper - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq - Seatttle PI
Soldier gave life for cause - Houston Chronicle, includes a video clip.
Memorial to be held at Ft. Lewis - KGW News
Funeral will be Tuesday for Gresham soldier - The Oregonian
Hard-hit Ft. Lewis mourns 3 of its own - Seattle Times
Fort Lewis pays tribute to three ‘men of renown’ - The News Tribune
Military Families Shed Tears Of Joy, Pain - KOMO News, includes video clip
SPC Clinton Gertson Tribute - From elc.net. Includes a video tribute, and information regarding a memorial fund.
Four Stryker troops died in war last month - Seattle P-I
Small community with big hearts joins to honor fallen hero - KHOU News, includes video clip.
SGT Frank B. Hernandez
The Department of Defense has announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SGT Frank B. Hernandez, 21, of Phoenix, AZ, died Feb. 17 in Tal Afar, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. SGT Hernandez was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Fort Lewis, WA.
We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones.
Phoenix soldier killed in Iraq - The Arizona Republic
Fort Lewis soldier killed in explosion - The Olympian
Stryker soldier dies in bombing - The News Tribune
Arizonan Killed in Iraq - Includes a video clip from KPHO News
Extended forecast: Rainy weather and foggy memories - Arizona Republic
Arizona soldier remembered for wanting to protect country - Associated Press
Phoenix GI killed serving 2nd tour in Iraq - Associated Press
Ariz. Army Sgt. Killed in Second Tour in Iraq - Albuquerque Journal
Memorial to be held at Ft. Lewis - KGW News
Hard-hit Ft. Lewis mourns 3 of its own - Seattle Times
Fort Lewis pays tribute to three ‘men of renown’ - The News Tribune
Military Families Shed Tears Of Joy, Pain - KOMO News, includes video clip
Four Stryker troops died in war last month - Seattle P-I
22 dead in eight Iraq suicide bombings
This brief article contains a photograph of soldiers of the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment
Link to Full Article
By TODD PITMAN, ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Eight suicide bombings in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq killed at least 22 people and injured 70 as Shiite Muslim worshippers around the country celebrated their holiest day of the year. [...]
SGT Adam J. Plumondore
The Department of Defense has announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SGT Adam J. Plumondore, 22, of Gresham, OR, died February 16 in Mosul, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. SGT Plumondore was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, WA.
We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones.
Gresham soldier killed in Iraq bombing - KGW.com
Gresham Soldier Dies In Mosul Car Bombing - KATU.com
Flags half-staff Friday for Gresham soldier - Bend.com
‘Gentle giant’ from Fort Lewis killed in Iraq - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldier killed - The Olympian
Gresham soldier dies in Iraq - The Oregonian
LTC Kurilla's Tribute - From the Deuce Four memorial service held in Mosul.
Plumondore Tributes - Posted by Rivrdog
Memorial to be held at Ft. Lewis - KGW News
Funeral will be Tuesday for Gresham soldier - The Oregonian
Hard-hit Ft. Lewis mourns 3 of its own - Seattle Times
Fort Lewis pays tribute to three ‘men of renown’ - The News Tribune
Military Families Shed Tears Of Joy, Pain - KOMO News, includes video clip
Four Stryker troops died in war last month - Seattle P-I
Big crowd honors a big man - The Oregonian
In Memoriam: Sgt. Plumondore is Home - Rivrdog attended the funeral, and provides this report, including photos.
A soldier, a hero and so much more - The Oregonian
Fatal U.S. military accidents up in Iraq
There is no Stryker Brigade information in the article, but soldiers of the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment are shown in a photograph taken yesterday.
Link to Full Article
By ROBERT BURNS, AP
WASHINGTON -- U.S. troops in Iraq have suffered a rash of fatal vehicle accidents and other non-combat deaths in recent weeks, even as the number killed in insurgent attacks has declined.
Although details of recent accidents have not been made public, some officials believe the jump in their number can be explained in part by turbulence from the troop rotation that is now approaching its peak, with tens of thousands of troops arriving and like numbers going home. [...]
Iraqi citizens prevent attacks on Coalition Forces
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 15, 2005) – Iraqi citizens helped prevent attacks on Coalition Forces on two separate occasions in northern Iraq today.
An Iraqi citizen called the Joint Coordination Center hotline to inform them of insurgents operating in the Palestine neighborhood in Mosul. Acting on this information Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment shot at a vehicle attempting to drive past their checkpoint killing three insurgents and wounding another. The vehicle contained anti-tank mines, hand grenades, blasting caps, AK-47s, and ammunition. In a related incident Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment received small arms fire from a vehicle in southeastern Mosul. The 2-325th returned fire killing two insurgents and wounding another two. The vehicle contained pistols, AK-47s, multiple rocket propelled grenades, and a RPG launcher. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. The wounded insurgents were taken to the hospital, after which they will be detained. No MNF injuries were reported.
Another Iraqi citizen approached a military gate at a base in northern Mosul to inform Soldiers there of an improvised explosive device placed near the University neighborhood. Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were able to secure the area until the IED was diffused. No MNF injuries were reported.
These types of courageous acts demonstrate the commitment of Iraqi citizens to ensuring a safe and peaceful Iraq. Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces encourage citizens of Iraq to continue to cooperate with security forces and turn in weapons and equipment.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to work together with Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Insurgents continue mosque violations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 15, 2005) – In yet another instance of disregard for the sanctity of Islamic holy places insurgents launched an attack on Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) in northern Iraq today.
In what has become an all too frequent occurrence Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment were patrolling in southeastern Mosul when they were attacked by insurgents firing from a mosque. No MNF injuries were reported.
Firing from the mosque clearly is a violation of the law of war. Iraqi authorities have stated that those insurgents using a religious center as their headquarters or as a place to attack Iraqi Security Forces or Multi-National Forces will not be safe.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to work together with Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
With honor
Link to Full Article (with photographs)
News Tribune
In the photo to the left, Army Staff Sgt. Joseph Robeson, right, of Fort Lewis’ 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, salutes Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla after receiving a Purple Heart medal Monday in Mosul, Iraq. Purple Hearts were awarded to 25 soldiers in the battalion Monday, for a total of 86 since they arrived in Mosul last October. Robeson was wounded in an insurgent truck bomb attack on an outpost in December. [...]
US troops, insurgents clash in Mosul
(Mosul, Iraq-AP, Feb. 12, 2005 1:35 PM) _ Fierce fighting has raged between American troops and insurgents in the Iraqi city of Mosul.
The US military says the fighting began when US troops responding to a mortar strike on a base were hit by rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades from a mosque.
A US tank and a Stryker armored vehicle have been severely damaged, and several cars and parts of buildings were left burning.
There were no American casualties but nine insurgents were killed. [...]
Another AP news report of this day's fighting.
Rumsfeld visits injured local soldier
Link to Full Article
By Lewis Griswold, The Fresno Bee
VISALIA — A soldier from Visalia wounded in Iraq got a surprise visit at his bedside Friday by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, thrilling his parents back home.
Army Sgt. Sean Ferguson, 22, was shot in the trigger finger by a sniper Thursday while on patrol in Mosul, said his father, Darryl Ferguson, a Tulare County Superior Court judge. The soldier was treated for the injury and was recovering at an Army surgical hospital there.
Rumsfeld, paying a surprise trip to Iraq, made the hospital his first stop. He chatted with Ferguson, who has now received two Purple Hearts, and gave him a commemorative coin with the defense secretary's seal.
"I sure want to wish you well," Rumsfeld told Ferguson as television cameras rolled. "I appreciate your service to your country." [...]
Sean Ferguson earned one of those Purple Hearts on Thursday, when a sniper's shot "broke the index-finger bone of his right hand," his father said. Ferguson, an assistant team leader, and others in his reconnaissance unit were searching for a sniper who had shot a soldier the day before.
"He heard the pop [of the enemy rifle], and he thinks he saw the bullet go in because he was looking at his hand and his hand just exploded. It was bleeding really bad. They bandaged him, but they were in a fight and couldn't leave."
His son was holding his rifle in firing position at the time, so the bullet "was only inches from his head."
The injury damaged muscle and nerves, Ferguson said, but "he can move all of his fingers."
Sean Ferguson was to be flown today to Germany for surgery then come home to Visalia in a week or so for two months of rest before returning to his unit, the Army's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.
"He's upset he has to come home," Ferguson said. "He's pretty gung-ho." He wants to join a Reserve Officers' Training Corps program and make a career of the military.
Sean Ferguson has now had three close calls in Iraq. On Dec. 11, a car bomb went off near the Stryker troop carrier Ferguson was in, sending shrapnel into his face. He received a Purple Heart. The second time, in early January, a bomb went off 15 feet away, but he and others escaped. [...]
Car Bomb Kills 17 Outside Iraqi Hospital
Only the photograph and the caption contain news of Stryker Brigade action.
Link to Full Article
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq Feb 12, 2005 — A car bomb exploded in front of a hospital in a mostly Shiite town south of Baghdad Saturday, killing 17 people and wounding 21 others, officials said, a day after 23 people were killed in two attacks aimed at the Shiite community.
A police captain who refused to give his name said Saturday's blast occurred in front of the main hospital in Musayyib, 35 miles south of the capital, in a religiously mixed area that has been the scene of frequent attacks by Sunni Muslim insurgents. [...]
Attacks against Iraq's security forces have risen steadily following the Jan. 30 national elections. Insurgents have vowed to intensify their attacks against the Iraqi forces at a time when the United States is trying to give those forces more security responsibility.
A more complete version of this story can be found here.
Defense Secretary Rumsfeld visits Mosul
UPDATE: Photos added below.
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 11, 2005) – United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld made a surprise visit to Coalition troops in northern Iraq today. Rumsfeld visited with troops, gave out awards, and visited local Iraqi leaders while in Mosul.
Rumsfeld’s first stop on his unexpected visit was to the military hospital at Mosul Air Field. Rumsfeld visited with members of the 228th Combat Support Hospital and a recently wounded Soldier. Sgt. Sean Ferguson of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment got a visit from Secretary Rumsfeld one day after he was shot in the hand. When asked by Rumsfeld what he could do for him, Sgt. Ferguson replied he wanted to make sure he could stay in Iraq and return to duty with his squad upon recovery.
Following his visit at the hospital Rumsfeld handed out awards to Iraqi, U.S., and Albanian troops for their meritorious service during the Iraqi elections. Rumsfeld congratulated each of the troops personally and spoke about the importance of freedom to the Iraqis. He also highlighted the need for Iraqi Security Forces to continue to take the lead on security measures in their country so that they can maintain their newly found freedom.
Rumsfeld’s final stop was to the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul. There he met with local Iraqi leaders and discussed the success of the election as well as the upcoming challenges the local government faces.
Both Iraqi leader and U.S. troops described Rumsfeld’s visit as a huge boost for morale.
Click on the following photos to view a full-size version.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visits with Sgt. Sean Ferguson, now a two-time Purple Heart recipient, at the military hospital in Mosul. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. John Franzen)
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld addresses troops at a ceremony honoring Iraqi, U.S., and Algerian troops for their service during the Iraqi elections. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. John Franzen)
Iraqi citizens killed during insurgent attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 11, 2005) – An insurgent attack on Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed two Iraqi civilians in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment killed one insurgent, injured another, and detained 18 during a cordon and search operation following the attack. The 2-14th also confiscated numerous rifles, hand guns, ammunition, and extremist propaganda.
Insurgents continue to disregard their fellow citizens, as Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces continue to perform operations to ensure the safety of Iraqi citizens. Since the beginning of the year ISF and MNF have detained many insurgents and confiscated numerous weapons.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to work together with Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Coalition troops celebrate success of elections
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 11, 2005) – Iraqi Regular Army and US Soldiers participated in a post election ceremony in northern Iraq yesterday.
As the first several notes of the Iraqi National Anthem began to play, everyone in attendance of the 102nd Iraqi Army Battalion’s Post Election Ceremony knew that they were witnessing an important event in the unit’s history. The Ceremony took place at the 102nd HQ at Qayyarah West Airfield on February 10th.
During the Ceremony Soldiers of the 102nd took a minute of silence to honor fallen IA Soldiers. After the minute of silence ended the fallen Soldiers were also remembered with a gun salute. Both Iraqi and US Soldiers participated in the Ceremony. The color guard displayed the national flags of each country, and both battalions’ guidons.
Lt. Col. Bradley A. Becker, commander of 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, and Brig. Gen. Ali Malooh, commander of the 102nd, addressed the Soldiers. “The people of the Tigris River Valley looked to the Iraqi Army on January 30th for security. The terrorists claimed that successful elections wouldn’t occur. You proved to the world, and the Iraqi People. That you are in control of their safety and security,” said Lt. Col. Becker.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to work together with Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Rumsfeld tours Iraq
Rumsfeld made a stop in Mosul and visited one of the soldiers wounded in the sniper attack.
Link to Full Article
By John J. Lumpkin, Associated Press
[...] Rumsfeld's first stop in Iraq Friday morning was a combat surgical hospital in Mosul in northern Iraq, where he spoke briefly with Sgt. Sean Ferguson, a California native with the 25th Infantry Division who was recovering from a gunshot wound in his hand. He had been hit by a sniper the day before; for it, he received his second Purple Heart.
He also gave the Army Commendation Medal to a group of American and Iraqi soldiers during a ceremony.
He then met with Duraid Kashmoula, governor of Niveneh province, and quizzed him and other Iraqi officials on the elections there.
Related Articles:
Rumsfeld visit highlights rebuilding of Iraq’s army - Financial Times
Operation Valentine's Day
Mike Murtha, a former 172nd SBCT soldier, wanted to let us know about a special offer from his current employer, Macromedia. The company is donating web conferencing services to the soldiers of 1-25 SBCT and their loved ones during Valentine’s week. You will be able to communicate real-time over the internet using your home computer or those provided at the Rear Detachment internet cafe. You’ll be able to see and talk with each other, share pictures and chat. Provided below is a message Mike posted on the forum with all the details.
What is the duration of this event?
This event will run from 14FEB05 until 22FEB05.
How will this work?
Macromedia will use their servers located in San Francisco, CA, to host up to 24 virtual web rooms using our Macromedia Breeze Live web conferencing software. Each web room has the ability to display audio, video, chat and to upload photographs. No additional software is required by participants.
Link to Operation Valentine’s Day Information Webpage
www.macromedia.com/software/breeze/special/valentines/
This page is intended as a one stop source for soldiers and family members to find out about Operation Valentine’s Day. It also has directions, examples, FAQs, and practice rooms.
How long will each meeting be?
It is our hope to support all 3,800 members of the 1-25 SBCT and loved ones that wish to use this service. If all soldiers utilize this event then each meeting can last approximately 15 minutes.
How will the scheduling take place?
The Signal leadership of 1-25 SBCT will divide rooms and time allocations for scheduling. We will be advising the stateside folks that the soldier and their sweetheart will determine a time that works best, and the soldier will communicate that time slot to their Communications Chief or Battalion S6, who will then assign the virtual conference room URL to the solider.
Where will the meetings be held?
For deployed members of the 1-25: The battalion communications personnel will convey this to their unit.
For stateside family members
If they have a computer, microphone and webcam, their meeting can take place from the comfort of their home. It is highly recommended that a high speed cable or DSL connection is used for meetings. Macromedia will provide a checklist of equipment and software needed, and instructions on how to set up their system.
Alternatively, if the you don’t have an appropriate computer setup available, you can go to the Rear Detachment internet cafe at Ft. Lewis, where a high speed connection and all hardware required is available for use.
Cost/Intent
$0. Our intent is to provide back to the troops and loved ones that we are so proud and thankful for! We have developed a strong relationship with SBCT 3 and feel like this is a way we can give back to SBCT 2!
Hero honored in Willow Creek
This article reports on the progress of Amanda Mohon, who was injured in the mess hall attack.
Link to Full Article
By Mike Morrow The Times-Standard
WILLOW CREEK -- Amanda Mohon got a hero's welcome Saturday -- from a room full of heroes.
Mohon, the 19-year-old from Willow Creek who was injured in a Dec. 21 suicide bombing attack on a dining compound in Mosul, Iraq, laughed, listened and shared some stories during a celebration in her honor at the Veterans of Foreign Wars building in Willow Creek.
It was all, she said, "a little embarrassing," but it "was the least we could do for one of our own," one member of VFW Post 9561 told her.
Mohon returned from Iraq three weeks ago and will be leaving Feb. 13 for Fort Sam Houston and the Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio and additional treatments.
A solider in the 25th Infantry Division, Mohon suffered second-degree burns on her face, third-degree burns on her hands, and a large shrapnel wound on her thigh. She received a Purple Heart earlier during a ceremony in Texas.
"Everything is going very well," she said. "I've got more (treatments) and then I'll be off to Fort Lewis, Wash. As much as I love being home, I can't wait to get back with my unit."
Pausing, she said, "I'd go right back to Iraq if I could. Those people in my unit are my second family. I want to hang out with them again. They're family, and I miss them."
However, Mohon said she'd "be scared to go back ... but I know it's not going to happen."
SGT Stephen R. Sherman
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SGT Stephen R. Sherman, 27, from Neptune, NJ., died February 3rd in Mosul, Iraq, from wounds sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. SGT Sherman was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) Fort Lewis, WA.
We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and loved ones.
DoD Announcement
Blast kills soldier from Neptune - The Star-Ledger
NEPTUNE SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ - Asbury Park Press
Soldier who grew up in N.J. killed in Iraq - Newsday.com
U.O. Graduate Killed In Iraq - KVAL TV
Stryker soldier killed by roadside bomb - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Bombing kills Fort Lewis soldier in Iraq - The News Tribune
Stryker soldier had survived December mess-tent attack - The Associated Press
Slain soldier had hope vote might curtail violence - Asbury Park Press
'He was a hero to me' - TimesCommunity.com
Son of city teacher a casualty of war in Iraq - Atlanticville
Flags fly at half staff for slain soldier from Neptune - Newsday
Mourners recall fallen soldier's zest for life - The Star-Ledger
Bidding a soldier farewell - Asbury Park Press
A Young Adventurer's Final Journey - Washington Post
"He was a hero . . . long before" he died - Asbury Park Press
Sky weeps for a son of Great Falls - Times Community
A final farewell for a local hero - The Coast Star
Four Stryker troops died in war last month - Seattle P-I
A mother reflects on son's sacrifice - Asbury Park Press
U.S. soldier killed in Mosul; Iraqi contractor gunned down
Link to Full Article
Associated Press, USA Today
BAGHDAD (AP) — A U.S. soldier was killed in Iraq's turbulent northern city of Mosul, and an Iraqi contractor working with the American military was gunned down in a drive-by shooting Friday west of the Iraqi capital, U.S. and Iraqi reports said.
[...] A U.S. military Stryker combat vehicle rolled over several anti-tank mines in the city of Mosul on Thursday, killing an American soldier and injuring another.
Fighting in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, has been heavy in the past three months, since rebels launched an uprising there that drove off nearly all of the city's Iraqi police force.
West of the capital on Friday, an Iraqi contractor was gunned down by assailants who pulled up next to his car on the dangerous desert highway running out to Baghdad International Airport.
The man was in charge of a road construction project inside the airport complex that was contracted by the American military, said Iraqi police Lt. Akram al-Zoubaie.
The news article does not have any additional information on the SBCT casualty.
Army's newest soldier has nerves of steel
Link to Full Article
By ROD ALLEE, NorthJersey.com
It's little, lethal and a lifesaver for American soldiers.
Officials at Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township - the Army's Grand Central Station for munitions - on Thursday demonstrated their new SWORDS system for remotely firing ordinary combat weapons. The system is mounted atop a Talon robotic "tank" that weighs but 170 pounds and looks like a Tonka toy minus the shiny plastic.
It is, said an associate director for technology at Picatinny after the demonstration, "the national first step to introduce a remotely fired weapons system."
SWORDS - Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detection System - represents a marriage of America's rich technological resources and the needs of the country's soldiers in the field. In practice, it will allow American troops, controlling the Talon robot with a computer, to remain safe and concealed and still kill enemy combatants even at great distance. [...]
SWORDS has not yet been used in combat in Iraq, said Anthony J. Sebasto, an associate director for technology and business development at Picatinny. He said it has spawned lots of interest in the Army, including from the renowned Stryker force, which tested it recently, but that so far no commander in Iraq has asked for it to be deployed there.
That is expected to happen, and probably soon, because SWORDS is seen as particularly effective in urban fighting situations and for sentry duty around military compounds. "The urban fight and perimeter security ... are where the presence of the enemy is unknown or the capability of the enemy is unknown," Sebasto said.
The system, he added, could be ready for use in Iraq in 60 days, including training time for operators. [...]
Talon was developed by Foster-Miller Inc. in Waltham, Mass., in 1992. The Navy had sought out Foster-Miller to design a robotic platform to use underwater, clearing mines near shore in anticipation of an amphibious landing. In that role, Talon was attached to a surfboard with antenna and controlled by wireless computer signals from a ship, according to Robert Quinn, a Foster-Miller representative on hand Thursday.
"It moved from the sea to land," Quinn said, adding that Talon was adapted for land assignment in Afghanistan when U.S. soldiers sought a weapon allowing them to safely inspect and clear the entrances to caves where Taliban soldiers hid. From there, Quinn said, "All we had to do was to try to keep up" with soldiers' suggestions for other uses.
One soldier told Quinn he understood Talon's combat role: "It is our invisibility cloak."
Talon also was used for 48 straight days to search for victims after the World Trade Center destruction of Sept. 11, 2001. Quinn indicated that given its underwater pedigree, Talon was ideal for such work because it could be hosed down and sent back to work without downtime or environmental danger.
He estimated that developing the Talon robot and expanding its uses has so far cost about $10 million - a drop in the bucket of U.S. military spending.
There are, at present, only a few Talon/SWORDS robots at Picatinny. Sebasto said each cost about $200,000, but that, in production, the cost would drop to around $150,000 each.
Besides Foster-Miller's development of Talon, a San Francisco company, Precision Remotes, put together the weapons platform.
Thursday's demonstration was at Picatinny's Major Marie Rossi-Cayton Armament Technology Center. Rossi-Cayton, an Oradell native, was the first American woman combat commander to fly into battle during the first Gulf War. At 32, she died one day after the cease-fire in that war when her Chinook helicopter hit an unlighted microwave tower in Saudi Arabia.
Vengeful insurgents ramp up Iraq attacks
Report of a Stryker Combat Vehicle being struck by an anti-tank mine, but no report on casualties.
Link to Full Article
By JASON KEYSER, Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Insurgents struck back with a vengeance following a post-election lull, killing at least 26 Iraqis and two Marines in new attacks, and the first partial election results, released today, showed the Shiite cleric-endorsed ticket running strong as expected.
The partial results came from 1.6 million votes counted so far in Baghdad and five others of Iraq's 18 provinces. The United Iraqi Alliance, which is backed by the country's most influential Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, had 1.1 million votes, and the list led by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's list was second with more than 360,500 votes.
The figures showed the alliance leading over Allawi in all six provinces but were too small to indicate a national trend. The results came from 25 percent of the votes cast in Baghdad and partial counts from five Shiite-dominated provinces, where the Alliance had been expected to do well. [...]
Insurgents had eased up on attacks following the elections, when American and Iraqi forces imposed sweeping security measures. But starting Wednesday night, guerrillas launched a string of dramatic attacks.
In the deadliest incident, insurgents stopped a minibus south of Kirkuk, ordered army recruits off the vehicle and gunned down 12 of them, said Maj. Gen. Anwar Mohammed Amin. Two soldiers were allowed to go free, ordered by the rebels to warn others against joining Iraq's U.S.-backed security forces, he said. [...]
Elsewhere, gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying Iraqi contractors today to jobs at a U.S. military base in Baqouba north of the capital, killing two people, officials said.
A suicide car bomber struck a foreign convoy escorted by military Humvees on Baghdad's dangerous airport road today, destroying several vehicles and damaging a house, Iraqi police said. Helicopters were seen evacuating some casualties, witnesses said. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military.
Insurgents ambushed another convoy in the area, killing five Iraqi policemen and an Iraqi National Guard major, police said.
Also, the bodies of two slain men wearing blood-soaked clothes were found in the western insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. A handwritten note tucked into the shirt of one of the men claimed the two were Iraqi National Guardsmen.
Car bombs also targeted a house used by U.S. military snipers in Qaim, near the Syrian border, a U.S. convoy in Mosul and British troops in the southern city of Basra. Two soldiers were wounded in the Mosul blast. Scattered clashes erupted between U.S. troops and insurgents in Mosul throughout the day, and an anti-tank mine struck a U.S. Stryker armored vehicle, but there was no word on casualties. [...]
The article continues with election news.
Multi-National Forces detain seven
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 3, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained six individuals in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained three insurgents suspected of terrorist activities in Al Huriyah. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 21st Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search which led to the detainment of two insurgents suspected of terrorist activities. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals for curfew violation. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Force and Multi-National Force operations in the Ninewa Province and the Mosul area resulted in a safe election day during which thousands of Iraqi citizens exercised their right to vote, influenced their future, and proved the insurgents to be in the minority. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 404 individuals and confiscated numerous weapons and munitions.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Troops unable to be treated for skin disease in Iraq will be seen by doctors in U.S.
Link to Full Article
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
ARLINGTON, Va. — U.S.-based military doctors are bracing for a wave of servicemembers returning from Iraq this spring whose treatment for a skin disease has been delayed by the dangerous security situation there.
The soldiers who may be infected with cutaneous leishmaniasis are mostly from the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, the Army’s “Stryker Brigade,” according to Dr. Alan McGill, infectious disease specialist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md.
“We’ve heard rumors of a couple hundred cases in the Stryker Brigade,” McGill said Friday.
But travel in Iraq is so perilous for U.S. troops that health care staff there are choosing to let suspected cases of the disease go, rather than risk a trip to the large medical facilities for diagnosis, said McGill, the U.S. military’s leading leishmaniasis expert. [...]
Human cases of leishmaniasis mostly fall into one of two categories: cutaneous, which causes skin lesions that vary from the size of a pencil head to larger than the bottom of a soda can; and visceral, a far more serious variation which leaves no external marks, instead attacking the internal organs.
Untreated visceral leishmaniasis can be fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
But sores from cutaneous leishmaniasis “heal on their own, [although] this can take months or even years … and leave ugly scars,” according to CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant.
U.S. military doctors diagnosed about 750 cases of leishmaniasis among troops who participated in the first rotations of Operations Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, McGill said.
Of those, only four cases of visceral leishmaniasis have been diagnosed, two from Iraq, and two from Afghanistan, he said.
Military physicians are expecting fewer cases among troops deployed in the second rotations of OIF and OEF, because most troops now stay in screened, air-conditioned facilities — one of the CDC’s primary recommendations for avoiding infection.
To date, WRAIR has received confirmed reports of about 20 cases of leishmaniasis from OIF2 and OEF2 troops, all of which are cutaneous, McGill said.
Nevertheless, “we think that we’ll see a delayed bubble of cases in March and April,” when second rotation troops begin coming home in large numbers, McGill said. “If we see 100 cases that need [treatment], I would not be surprised.”
Iraqi soldiers start to take over combat outposts
This article contains a quote from a 1-24 commander.
Link to Full Article
AFP, Turkish Press.com
MOSUL, Iraq, Feb 2 (AFP) - Iraqi soldiers started Wednesday to take over combat outposts held by US soldiers in the restive northern city of Mosul under a plan to raise the visibility of Iraqi forces following the elections.
Soldiers from the 24th Battalion, 6th Brigade of the so-called Iraqi Intervention Force were seen moving into a bullet-riddled and partly destroyed outpost on Baghdad street in the New Mosul neighbourhood of western Mosul. [...]
The Iraqi soldiers, part of 2,500-strong contingent sent from Baghdad to help secure Sunday's elections, are likely to occupy outposts throughout Mosul until local police are strong enough to take over, according to Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kurilla of the 1st Battalion, 24th US Infantry Regiment.
"They will bridge the gap until a police force is built up in the city," he said.
The soldiers will also move into a police station turned combat outpost and several posts which had been occupied by US troops since late November, after the local police force unraveled in the face of attacks by insurgents.
Although Iraqi soldiers were taking on more responsibilities after the elections, Kurilla said US forces would still offer back-up.
"We are going to see a much more active Iraqi force, but it is not going to be sink or swim, they will still be assisted by coalition forces," said Kurilla.
MNF detain four and confiscate weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (February 2, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four individuals in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment detained four insurgents suspected of terrorist activities. 2-325 also confiscated weapons and uniforms. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coalition Security Force operations in the Ninewa Province and the Mosul area resulted in a safe election day during which thousands of Iraqi citizens exercised their right to vote and influenced their future. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 397 individuals and confiscated numerous weapons and munitions.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent minority activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Task Force Freedom
The past few days press releases from Multi-National Forces in Northern Iraq have been sent by Task Force Freedom, rather than Task Force Olympia. While I haven't seen an official statement regarding a transfer of authority, we can assume that a new command element is, or will be shortly, in control of coalition forces in that part of the country. Consequently, we added a new category, and all future news from the Mosul region that is not Stryker Brigade related will go there. As a reminder, all coalition forces (Active, Reserve, National Guard, Air Force, Marines etc.) in the area are part of this Task Force - the Stryker Brigade is one of many units operating under the command of Task Force Freedom.
Mission accomplished
Link to Full Article
BY JERRY DAVICH, North West Times
This region's 113th Engineer Battalion served its "defining moment" during Sunday's historic elections in Iraq, according to local soldiers based in Mosul.
For three straight days, soldiers with the 400-strong Indiana Army National Guard battalion worked hand in hand with the 24th Infantry Stryker Brigade to beef up security at polling sites and remove abandoned cars from roads -- with no injuries reported.
"This battalion was at the forefront of history for the Iraqi people and their country," said 1st Sgt. Leo Marshall, of Hobart, writing via e-mail from Mosul. [...]
"It says a tremendous amount with the high percentage of voters who turned out," said Amy Petri of Michigan City, whose husband, Staff Sgt. Tom Petri Jr., is with the battalion's Alpha Company.
"There are days when I, like everyone else, question if our presence there is justified. But our soldiers did an awesome job to make the Iraqis feel safe enough to take the first steps toward democracy."
The 113th has companies from Valparaiso, LaPorte and Gary, as well as members from the 376th Engineer Company in Hammond. Its soldiers will be serving overseas through most of this year.
Heightened Iraq security enables high voter turnout
(Army News Service Press Release)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 31, 2005) — Despite several attacks on polling sites Jan. 30, Iraqis voted in large numbers and stood up to terrorist threats.
U.S. and Coalition Soldiers stepped up presence patrols around Iraq for the election and were on hand to back up Iraqi security forces. The direct security of the poll sites, however, was left primarily to the Iraqi police and military forces.
In one instance, Iraqis proved their determination to vote when a polling site in western Baghdad received small-arms fire at approximately 8 a.m. The Iraqi Army went to the location, returned fire and detained one insurgent. The Iraqi citizens continued to vote at the site.
At the same time in the Babil region near Baghdad, an improvised explosive device detonated inside a primary school which was a polling site. Damage to the school included a hole in the wall and shrapnel, but there were no casualties. The polling workers moved to a nearby site to continue their work.
Coalition security force operations in the Ninewa Province and the Mosul area of northern Iraq resulted in a safe election day for thousands of Iraqi voters there, reported officials from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, also known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
SBCT Soldiers detained five suspected insurgents in northern Iraq on election day.
Two of the suspects were detained near a polling site in western Mosul by troops of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment. The detainees were suspected of planning attacks on voters, officials said.
Other Stryker Brigade Soldiers from 2-14 Cavalry detained three individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activities south of Mosul. The suspects were taken into custody with no injuries to Multi-National Forces.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers of the Iraqi Army’s 1st Brigade, 1st Mechanized Division rumbled through the streets of central Baghdad this weekend and took up defensive positions around election polling sites.
Activated late last year, this brigade is the first armor unit formed in the newly reconstituted Iraqi army.
“The unit has been training since November,” said United States Marine Corps Lt. Col. David Flynn, the senior military adviser to the brigade. “It became combat operational in January while serving with 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment.”
During that time the unit was used to help in palm grove clearing and traffic control operations in the 2-7 Cav. sector.
Being the only armor unit in the Iraqi Army, the Soldiers have been training specifically for their role in the elections, Flynn said.
“They understand the importance of it,” he added. “They know that this is the first real test they’re taking for the independence of their country.”
As part of their training ,the brigade performed numerous gunnery exercises at Butler range in eastern Iraq
“The gunners were very accurate to about 1,800 meters,” Flynn said.
The vehicles used by the brigade are Soviet-built T-55 tanks and armored personnel carriers that came from a unit of the old Iraqi Army that served on the border with Iran.
“The vehicles sat up on the Iranian border for a couple of years,” Flynn said. “They were then refurbished by a civilian contractor and given back to the Iraqi army.”
(Editor’s note: Information compiled from three news releases by units in Iraq.)
'We Didn't Get Hit With Anything'
Link to Full Article
By Louise Roug, LA Times
MOSUL, Iraq — On a last-minute vote drive Sunday in northwest Mosul, Army Lt. Brock Hershberger approached a man wearing an olive-colored suit and brown leather shoes. "Have you voted yet?" Hershberger asked through a translator. The man responded that he'd heard the lines were long.
Of the problems that U.S. and Iraqi forces anticipated during the run-up to election day in this insurgent stronghold, long lines to cast ballots were not at the top of the list. "He won't have to wait more than 15 minutes," Hershberger said. "Tell him, in America we wait four hours to vote." [...]
"It was tentative at first, but by midday and afternoon, people were coming out in droves," said Army Maj. David Spencer, intelligence officer with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
A little before the polls opened at 7 a.m., a group of paratroopers from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division heard the sound of several explosions near their outpost in northwest Mosul.
"That was our polling site," one soldier said.
But the nearby voting station at a school was left unscathed, and by 7:30 the first two voters had cast their ballots.
Throughout the day, soldiers monitored the turnout by radio, with reports coming in every half an hour. The trickle of voters was turning into a stream. [...]
"From where we were, to where we got, I think we really pulled off a successful run," said Spencer, the intelligence officer, referring to November and December, when Mosul's police force deserted stations throughout the city and the entire election staff quit.
Trying to get out the vote in Mosul, a city with a mixed population of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, Hershberger and his soldiers patrolled throughout the afternoon, driving by men playing cards in the street and a woman cooking in little pots. Young children took over the roads, playing soccer amid heaps of trash.
"I don't know where their parents are," remarked one of the soldiers. "Maybe they're voting." [...]
Capt. J.T. Eldridge surveyed one polling station as soldiers began packing up barrier material and concertina wire.
The day had ended — for his soldiers, peacefully. He was looking ahead. In a few days, his outpost would be dismantled, and his soldiers would move to the Marez military base outside the city.
Since leaving Baghdad a month ago, he had bathed only once. Now that election day was over, the future held the promise of something more tangible than democracy for Eldridge: hot water.
"I'm going to have a shower," he said, looking quite content.
Happy homecoming for Pittston soldier
Link to Full Article
By Heidi E. Ruckno, Citizens' Voice
A Pittston soldier on a two-week leave from his service in Iraq was shocked to see so many loved ones waiting for him Sunday at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
"Oh my God," said U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Lavelle with a smile as he walked into the terminal.
Lavelle, 22, is an intelligence officer stationed in Mosul. He is based out of Fort Lewis in Washington State.
"It feels great. I can't even explain how good it feels right now," Lavelle said.
Lavelle looks forward to catching up on his sleep and cheering for the Philadelphia Eagles as they take on the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. He also plans to visit his sister Patricia at College Misericordia. [...]
Lavelle's family has worried since the moment the young man shipped out. But their anxiety has increased tremendously since a suicide bomber attacked the Mosul base where he's stationed.
The explosion in the mess hall took place just days before Christmas, killing 15 American soldiers and five civilians. Among the dead was Freeland native Paul Karpowich.
"It was hard to be a parent that night," Burden said.
Both she and Kelly were on edge until they heard from Lavelle, who could not get in touch with them for two days.
Lavelle was more interested in looking forward than backward, as he did not want to talk about his experiences that day.
Aside from several family get-togethers, there is at least one other event Lavelle will be in town for - the birth of his twin cousins.
His aunt, Megan Kelly, is scheduled to give birth to a boy and a girl on Tuesday.
Despite Troops' Pleas, Fear Keeps Many Away From the Polls
Reporter Steve Fainaru spent election day with C Company, 3-21 INF.
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 30 -- Around 10 a.m. Sunday, U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Phil Fassieux resolved to address the anemic voter turnout in southeast Mosul. He grabbed a clipboard inside his Stryker attack vehicle and quickly jotted down several entreaties that he wanted an Iraqi interpreter to make from the gunner's hatch:
"Secure your future!"
"Come vote today!"
"Show your strength and courage!"
"Today is the beginning of a New Iraq!"
"Come vote for your leaders!"
Fassieux handed a bullhorn to the interpreter, who was known as "Mario" and wore a black ski mask to hide his identity from insurgents. The bullhorn was broken, however. And within the 36-square-mile sector patrolled by Fassieux and C Company, 3rd Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment, most voters stayed home all day.
The large turnout seen in many parts of Iraq -- and in many parts of Mosul -- did not materialize in the southeast quadrant of the city. A month-long campaign of violence by insurgents in the Sunni Muslim neighborhoods of al-Whada and Palestine proved effective. At 10 a.m., three hours after the polls opened, site No. 31, one of 40 in Mosul, had not had a voter except for 15 Iraqi soldiers who were protecting it. A cluster of men stood within 25 feet of the entrance, saying they were too frightened to go in.
The low numbers made for a dramatically different day for the soldiers of C Company. Instead of protecting voters on the periphery of the polling sites, as occurred in most areas, the company's platoons spent much of the day on raids in which they would burst into homes in search of insurgents, only to wind up urging the occupants to vote. [...]
But soldiers said they were not disappointed by the low turnout in neighborhoods where they are frequently attacked. Rather, they said they were pleased that casualties were kept low -- the one reported death in Mosul came when an Iraqi soldier accidentally fired his weapon at a polling site -- after weeks of concern that the northern Iraqi city would be a magnet for insurgent violence during the election.
"I got to participate in history," said 2nd Lt. Jason Shick, of Grand Rapids, Mich., as night fell on a workday that was already 14 hours old and had no end in sight. "I'm pretty happy right now."
Two of C Company's platoons were hit by roadside bombs and one was the target of a rocket-propelled grenade, but no one from the unit was injured. Election workers at two of the four polling sites patrolled by C Company reported mortar fire; one of those two was attacked with automatic-weapons fire. At site No. 34, Iraqi security forces went to a nearby mosque to broadcast a message to the neighborhood over the loudspeakers: "Come and vote. We are the new Iraqi army. We will protect you. You have nothing to fear."
UPDATE: Non-registration version of the article from MSNBC.com.
Thirteen detained on eve of election
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 30, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) continued operations to ensure security for the elections, detaining 13 individuals in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment were patrolling southeast of Mosul when their unit was hit by a roadside bomb. The 1-5th pursued anti-Iraqi insurgents fleeing from the scene. The soldiers caught and detained nine individuals suspected of being involved with the attack. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Local Iraqi Government officials have said the Ninewa Province and the Mosul area are becoming safer with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 354 individuals and confiscated numerous weapons and munitions. The increased operations have helped ensure the safety of Iraqi citizens wishing to vote.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Forces Intensify Preparations For Iraq Vote
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 28 -- The U.S. military moved Iraqi security forces and voting materials to polling sites throughout Iraq, ramping up preparations for Sunday's parliamentary elections in the face of insurgent violence that left five American soldiers and 10 Iraqis dead on Friday.
The round-the-clock activity amounted to a nationwide logistical offensive, with U.S. troops enforcing "no roll" bans on vehicular traffic, helping to seal national and provincial borders, and providing concrete barriers, coiled razor wire and guidance on security at polling sites.
The massive effort, dubbed Operation Founding Fathers, has not resolved widespread uncertainty about the elections, and in some ways has intensified it. In Baghdad, two roadside bombs killed four American soldiers, and small-arms fire killed another. The capital grew deserted under a blanket of security. U.S. tanks appeared in the streets, and Apache attack helicopters and combat jets flew overhead in a pre-election show of force.
In the northern city of Mosul, insurgents spread graffiti -- some of it on walls at polling sites -- threatening to behead voters, and they sprayed gunfire at Iraqi security forces protecting polling stations. At one site, Arab and Kurdish security forces who were supposed to be working together were not talking. [...]
In Mosul, a tour of six polling sites in the southeast quadrant revealed a broad spectrum of preparedness. At one elementary school, Iraqi security forces had laid out shiny new concertina wire at both ends of a courtyard and used it to line a path to the building where voting would occur. Inside, two rooms had been cleaned and equipped with cardboard voting booths, two pens to mark ballots already in place. Plastic ballot boxes and even new boxes of Kleenex had been neatly set on tables for election workers. Soldiers had set up machine-gun nests on top of the building and across the street.
At another school, Kurdish soldiers with the Iraqi Intervention Force and Arab soldiers with the Iraqi army were in separate buildings, feuding while election materials and concertina wire sat untouched. A lieutenant with the Iraqi Intervention Force complained to Lt. Col. Michael Gibler, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which has operational responsibility over the area, that the Iraqi soldiers had refused to provide identification upon arrival at the site. Many of the soldiers are former members of the Iraqi National Guard, which was believed to have been infiltrated by the insurgents.
American Forces in Iraq Brace for Their 'Day of Reckoning'
Quotes from a number of 1-24 INF soldiers are included in the following article.
Link to Full Article
By THOM SHANKER
[...] For an American military that already has lost more than 1,000 lives to hostile action in Iraq, guaranteeing the election on Sunday offers the clearest, most precise mission since President Bush commanded the military to drive straight for Baghdad almost two years ago. Since then, American forces have executed a complex set of orders to battle home-grown insurgents and shadowy attackers, help rebuild Iraq's economy and train a new army, all incremental projects that will continue beyond the 12-month tour of any soldier here.
"That's why, for us, the day of reckoning is Jan. 30," said Maj. Michael Lawrence, executive officer of the First Battalion, 24th Infantry, based at Mosul. "We think we're being successful. We also know we can't let one day define the entire effort. But this is our mission now."
Soldiers on point do not debate evidence on Saddam Hussein's program of unconventional weapons. They do not argue exit strategies or disengagement. And the question of whether enough troops are committed to Iraq is answered by looking to their immediate left and right. They pass the Skittles and PowerBars, load their weapons and just want to get through the patrol, election day, their tour in Iraq, and then go home.
"It's a funny thing: They don't want us here, and we don't want to be here," said First Sgt. Robert Wright of Company A, First Battalion, 24th Infantry. He is one of those small-unit leaders who is so sharp at guiding soldiers into urban combat that he has picked up the nickname Jedi.
"We know it's important to get these people back on their feet," he said.
Company A knows most directly about loss from this unconventional war, where even Iraqis who work among them may be their enemies, or an enemy may be wearing a uniform stolen from one who works among them. The commander, Capt. Bill Jacobsen, was one of the 22 killed when a bomb struck a mess tent in Forward Operating Base Marez last month in Mosul.
Capt. Jeffrey Van Antwerp was thrust into command. "We didn't lose a step," he said. "We got up and moved out." This week he moved his men onto a square beneath a mosque in Mosul where mortars were launched five minutes earlier.
Seven men were rounded up as possible witnesses to the mortar attack. Captain Van Antwerp quizzed each, in a tough way. But after shouting questions at the seventh - he wore a T-shirt with the "Friends" television show logo - Captain Van Antwerp relented. He let them go, but only after telling them to vote.
"We have to get the information about the insurgency," he said. "But we don't want to create more sympathizers for the anti-Iraqi forces."
In the fight against those insurgents, by late Friday, Colonel Milley's efforts for the Baghdad police general had helped bring in 80 percent of the requested AK-47's.
"Victory is won one inch at a time," he said.
Another citizen’s tip leads to defusing of bomb
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were able to defuse a roadside bomb following a tip received through the Joint Coordination Center in northern Iraq yesterday.
The tip came from an Iraqi citizen who had called the Joint Coordination Center to inform them of the bomb planted in northeastern Mosul. Only four days ago another tip in the same area resulted in a roadside bomb being defused. These types of courageous acts demonstrate the commitment of Iraqi citizens to ensuring a safe and peaceful Iraq.
Multi-National Forces encourage citizens of Iraq to cooperate with security forces and turn in military weapons and equipment.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
More insurgents taken off the streets, helping election security
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 29, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) continued operations to ensure security for the elections, detaining ten individuals in northern Iraq today.
Multi-National Force soldiers detained eight individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activity while conducting a raid south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Iraqi Intervention Forces detained two individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activity while conducting cordon and search operations in the Saliy Al Noor Mosque in southeastern Mosul. The IIF also confiscated weapons from the individuals. Suspects are in custody with no IIF injuries reported.
Military officials have said the Mosul area is becoming safer with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 341 individuals and confiscated numerous weapons and munitions. The operations will continue to increase as elections near to ensure the safety of Iraqi citizens wishing to vote.
Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to work together with leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Six more insurgents detained by MNF in northern Iraq
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) continued operations to ensure security for the elections, detaining six individuals in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment were patrolling in Tal Afar when their unit was shot at by anti-Iraqi insurgents. The 2-14th tracked down and detained six individuals suspected to be involved in the attack. They also confiscated weapons and documents. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Military officials have said the Ninewa Province and the Mosul area are becoming safer with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 341 individuals and confiscated numerous weapons and munitions. The operations will continue to increase as elections near to ensure the safety of Iraqi citizens wishing to vote.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to help build and maintain a prosperous and democratic nation. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Workers smuggled into polling stations
HUNDREDS of Iraqi election workers along with voting material were transported overnight by US soldiers to polling sites around Mosul amid intense security measures in the northern city.
With the milestone vote only hours away, the election workers were all given about two hours of training and promised the equivalent of $US500 ($645) for their effort.
Umm Alaa, 40, is the only woman inside a huge tented gym and recreation facility at a US base swarming with nearly 500 rowdy male election workers, most of them flown in early today, hours before from Baghdad or southern Shiite areas.[...]
Preparations for elections only got underway in Nineveh province, which includes Mosul, one week ago. Voter registration never happened here because of the security threats.
The province's number of eligible voters is estimated at about one million, according to Khalid al-Kazar, the electoral commission's representative here.
Umm Alaa and a dozen of her colleagues along with eight carton boxes packed with ballots are boarded into Stryker combat vehicles belonging to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
Most say they are motivated to do this by their patriotic duty, the orders of Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani to take part in the elections and their dire economic and living conditions.
"Let's break the back of the terrorists by putting the ballot in the box," says Ali Dakhil, 39, from Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City.
The group is let down outside the Al-Fadhila girls school in the Al-Mansur working class neighbourhood on the city's west side.
They were escorted by US soldiers through concrete barricades and barbed wire ringing the building and handed over to Iraqi soldiers on the inside.
The soldiers are part of a contingent of more than 4000 army special force members and commandos sent from Baghdad to help secure the elections in Mosul.[...]
On Campaign Trail, a Single Shot
Steve Fainaru has written a front page article profiling 2nd Platoon, C Company, 3rd Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment on the fateful day 1LT Hoe was killed. While difficult to read, this is one of the longest (5 online pages), most detailed articles about the 1/25 SBCT I've seen. The Washington Post site requires registration to view the article, but it's well worth it.
Link to Full Article
By Steve Fainaru, Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq -- The 21-ton Stryker attack vehicles pulled into the neighborhood of al-Whada just after noon. Their rear ramps dropped simultaneously, disgorging dozens of American infantrymen into the cold rain.
The soldiers had multiple tasks on this day. In addition to hunting insurgents and searching houses, they were to help get out the vote for Sunday's national elections. For the next three hours, soldiers armed with assault rifles and election fliers moved warily through al-Whada's muddy streets, trying to get Iraqis to embrace democracy.
The inherent danger of the mission was driven home at 3:30 p.m. A single shot rang out, and 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, 27, the popular leader of the 2nd Platoon, C Company, 3rd Battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment, fell dead in the street.
"Treat him! Treat him!" screamed Staff Sgt. Steve Siglock, one of his closest friends. The shot that killed Hoe on Saturday was followed within seconds by a blizzard of gunfire aimed at his exposed platoon. It was already too late for Hoe, but his men stepped directly into the gunfire in a desperate attempt to save him while fending off the unseen insurgents.
On the campaign trail in Iraq, U.S. troops are almost alone. Violence has kept away the election monitors, international peacekeepers and nongovernmental organizations that normally perform the basic tasks of electioneering in nascent democracies. With not even the candidates out on the streets, the role of getting out the vote has fallen to thousands of infantrymen like Hoe, soldiers who are menaced by the possibility of instant death.
"The one thing people got to understand here is you got to have two faces" in Iraq, said Sgt. 1st Class Corey Myers, who was Hoe's platoon sergeant. "One as a friend -- as a helper -- and one as a soldier. And you got to be able to switch faces in a second."
The elections, more than any previous event, highlight how dramatically the U.S. military's role has changed since the March 2003 invasion. In this increasingly complex environment, infantrymen are called upon not only to fight a deadly insurgency but also to perform civil affairs missions and "information ops" normally the province of noncombat military units and nongovernmental organizations.
After a day of handing out election fliers in the driving rain, Hoe was cut down while escorting members of a military intelligence team to a medical clinic. The team wanted to know why the clinic had turned down free medical supplies.
"This is the mission at hand," said Lt. Col. Michael Gibler, the 3rd Battalion commander. The Army had lost one of its "future leaders," he said, adding: "I don't think I'm any more bitter about losing a young man for a CA [civil affairs] mission, or an election mission. The bottom line is we have to get it done. And the sooner we can get it done, we can all go home."
Hoe, a lanky Honolulu native, had taken command of the 41-man 2nd Platoon last April -- two months before he was married and five months before his battalion, which is based at Fort Lewis, Wash., deployed to Iraq. The command was the fulfillment of a dream for Hoe, who after several years as an enlisted soldier enrolled at the University of Hawaii so he could return as a commissioned infantry officer.
"We have a saying in the infantry: You have tab wearers and you have tab bearers," said Staff Sgt. Hank Moreno, 35, of Tempe, Ariz. "Lieutenant Hoe was a tab bearer. He was part of it, he was a part of us. He didn't just wear it."
That was page one.
UPDATE: Here's a version from MSNBC that does not require registration.
Black Hole Mosul, Iraq
Link to Full Article
Oakland Raiders Football
The Oakland Raiders are proud to support United States service men and women stationed in Iraq and around the world. When you are a member of the U.S. military stationed overseas, a care package from mom, a letter from your sweetheart, or even the ability to take in a football game on television become tremendously significant.
When the Raiders played at Kansas City on Christmas day, the Stryker Brigade Combat Team turned Mosul, Iraq into their version of the Black Hole.
These soldiers were able to watch the Raiders on television and were featured during CBS' broadcast of the game. After being contacted by the Raiders, The Stryker Brigade Combat Team sent a photo of themselves watching the game to the Raiders organization.
In turn, The Oakland Raiders prepared a package of Raiders gear and sent it to the soldiers in Mosul. The package, which included ballcaps, sweatshirts and jackets, arrived last week and The Stryker Brigade Combat Team was thrilled.
"You really made a bunch of Raiders fans' day," Master Sergeant Michael Farino wrote via e-mail. "You guys are great!"
Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask said, "It is our honor and our privilege to send this small token of our appreciation for what they do on behalf of our country. We thank them for their service, their commitment, and their bravery."
Hero to Hero
The following is an article about the Hero to Hero project and the recovery of Larry Kaibetoney, who was seriously injured in the mess hall explosion. Thanks to Dawn for the link.
Link to Full Article
by Shanon Burke, The Herald
Sometimes the reasons for a project are stationed far away — in Iraq — and organizers can hear stories told through e-mails, phone calls and letters.
On Jan. 15, however, Hero to Hero organizers and Central Pierce firefighters got to hear a first-hand account of life in Iraq, and be reminded of the importance of the part they play.
Larry Kaibetoney, a survivor of the Dec. 21 mess tent bombing in Iraq, stopped by the Central Pierce Fire Station as medics and firefighters were writing messages of hope and support on fire department shirts and gear they were donating to the Hero to Hero program.
A standing ovation and rounds of applause greeted Kaibetoney as he walked through the door, aided by a cane and his wife, Chani.
He thanked the department and organizers for inviting him, and readily started talking when asked to share his story.
Kaibetoney said the day of the bombing began normally.
“It was just another average day,” Kaibetoney said. “I got off guard duty and went to the chow hall.”
He said soldiers wear full body armor — Kevlar protection with ceramic plates on their chest and back — while on guard duty, and he had decided to not take his off while eating.
“Yeah, it’s too much work to take it off,” he said he remembered saying.
He was inside getting ready to eat when the blast occurred.
“Then there was this huge explosion,” Kaibetoney said. “A huge flash of light.”
Be sure to read the rest...
Spanning the gulf
Link to Full Article
By Steve Walsh, Post-Tribune
Heavy rains give need for Engineers’ mobile bridge-building equipment.
The rainy season poses a threat to American troops stationed in Mosul. Steady rain over the last 72 hours has turned some of the makeshift desert roads into rivers of mud. Soldiers with the Indiana National Guard 113th Engineer Battalion have had to find ways to fix some of the worst problems before some of the routes in outlying areas become impassable.
“They are just filled with water and mud and there is really no hard surface to grab a hold of,” said Lt. John Lubbe, one of the engineers traveling the route into an Iraqi National Guard outpost in the southern-most part of Mosul.
The unit is equipped with bridges that armored vehicles launch. They are a set of 30-foot-long wedges, held on top of a tank chaise and set into place with a heavy hydraulic arm. [...]
But after a few days of rain, the officers with the Stryker units have been asking if they could find even more than the three bridges they brought with them.
On this day, the place where the road was washing out was relatively safe.
To get there, soldiers had to pass through one of the most dangerous sections of Mosul, where U.S. forces have been attacked on an almost daily basis.
The armored bridges are slower than the high-speed Strykers and slowed the Strykers’ passage through the city.
The engineers left after dark and arrived without incident, accompanied by Strykers. [...]
The equivalent of a few blocks from the small outpost, porch lights are on. Someone watched the Americans from a roof top and then ducked. What sounded like a mortar exploded in the distance, to the north. The area around the first bridge was still mired in mud. The first Stryker got stuck, trying to drive onto the two steel ramps.
Soldiers used the nose of the tank to push some more rocks and dirt around the base. [...]
The night air remains cold in Mosul, especially for soldiers covered in thick, wet mud. The washed-out roads had been something of a surprise for the U.S. troops, who had gotten at least halfway through the rainy season without major incidents.
Lubbe said the worst is probably over. “I don’t think it will get much worse. We’re in the middle, toward the end of the rainy season and when it’s done raining, it’s going to get hot and it’s going to get dry,” he said.
1LT Nainoa K. Hoe
Family members have confirmed that 1LT Nainoa Hoe was the soldier killed in Mosul on Saturday. 1LT Hoe was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1/25 SBCT. According to his wife Emily, a memorial service will be held this Wednesday at the Main Chapel, Ft. Lewis at 1:30 PM. If you cannot attend, she asks that you light a candle in his honor. You can view photos of 1LT Hoe in Emily's album.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to Emily, their families, and the many friends and comrades he leaves behind. We will add any articles we find to this entry.
UPDATE 1/25: The time and location of the memorial at Ft. Lewis have changed again - see above.
Soldier with Oregon ties dies in Iraq - KGW.com
Soldier with Oregon ties killed in Iraq - The Associated Press (non-subscription version)
Husband of Oregonian killed in Iraq - Associated Press
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD Announcement
Kamehameha Schools Grad Killed in Iraq - KHNL News
Soldier from Hawai'i killed on Iraq patrol - Honolulu Advertiser
Fort Lewis soldier shot dead in Iraq - The News Tribune
Hoe is 2nd UH Army ROTC grad killed - Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Hawaii soldier is killed in Mosul - Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Fort Lewis Stryker Soldier Killed In Iraq Honored - KOMO TV (includes video clip)
Fallen isle soldier honored - Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Kid brother eulogizes fallen soldier - The Associated Press
On Campaign Trail, a Single Shot - Washington Post (Very lengthy account of that fateful Saturday)
Services are planned for 2 isle servicemen - Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Hoe service set for Monday - Honolulu Advertiser
Loss inspires love for troops - Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Veteran mourns son slain in battle - Honolulu Advertiser
Funeral for a fallen warrior - Honolulu Advertiser
A modern-day warrior is laid to rest - Photo gallery from the Honolulu Advertiser
Memorial Day Tribute - Strykernews.com
Vietnam vet finds nurse by chance who held his dying son in Iraq - WTVM-TV
Father of slain soldier stunned by meeting with son's nurse - The Associated Press
Salute to 1Lt. Hoe - Blog-Ah
Iraqis' safe sign created in region
Link to Full Article
By MELISSA WESTPHAL, Rockford Register Star
MACHESNEY PARK -- Signs made in the Rock River Valley will let Iraqis know their polling places are safe as they vote next week during national elections.
The iridescent signs were printed by Interstate Graphics Inc., a nearly 20-year-old printing company in Machesney Park owned by John Norwood Sr. and his sons, John and Jim. [...]
Government officials sent a specific electronic file design that they wanted on the signs. There are 2,000 prints of each on neon pink, yellow, lime-green and red vinyl. The vinyl is coated with a pressure-sensitive adhesive.
The background design looks like a red wavy leaf outlined in yellow. In the middle of each picture is a yellow lightening bolt. On each, there is two lines for military officials to sign their names or initials.
To his surprise, John Norwood Sr. received a call from Belvidere resident Elaine Huska this week after she saw the signs on TV. The Norwoods didn't know much about the sign's design, but Huska told them the illustration is the symbol for the 25th Infantry Division (Light) from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
The division is nicknamed the "Tropic Lighting," and has fought in every major conflict since World War II. The taro leaf pictured is native to Hawaii, and the red and gold colors are those of the late Hawaiian monarchy, according to the division's Web site.
Huska's son, 25-year-old Sgt. Kenneth O'Dell Jr., is a member of the division. He enlisted during high school and was wounded in September after an explosion in Iraq.
Seeing the signs reminded Huska of her son and gave her renewed hope in the army's efforts.
"I recognized it immediately and said, 'That's Kenny's insignia,'" Huska said. "I told him this is what you were fighting for. It's amazing. He really believes in what they're doing over there."
U.S. Crackdown Is Timed to Upcoming Elections
Link to Full Article
By Louise Roug and Patrick J. McDonnell, LA Times
MOSUL, Iraq-- U.S. forces have been mounting aggressive raids, patrols and other operations to crack down on insurgents in Sunni Muslim enclaves throughout northern and central Iraq in advance of next weekend's scheduled national elections.
Hundreds of suspected insurgents have been arrested, and large caches of arms have been seized as U.S. forces have targeted alleged bombmakers and other elements of the armed rebellion.
The large-scale roundups have contributed to a surge in prisoners in Abu Ghraib and other U.S. lockups, where almost 8,000 detainees are being held -- a new high.
The crackdown has been designed to foil major strikes that could disrupt Iraq's watershed vote, slated for Jan. 30.
"We want to eliminate as many of these guys as possible to stabilize things for the election," said Capt. Sean Kuehl, assistant intelligence officer for the 2nd battalion, 5th Marine regiment, 1st Marine Division, which is based in the restive city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
Nowhere are the results of the crackdown more dramatic than in this northern city of almost 2 million, which was on the brink of complete lawlessness a month ago. Once a model city of the U.S. occupation, Mosul has since become a breeding ground of the insurgency. [...]
In the past month, U.S. troop strength in Mosul has been increased by one-third; the Iraqi military presence has been doubled. The combined U.S. and Iraqi forces have implemented a forceful policy of "boots on the ground" -- more raids, more foot patrols, enhanced policing of the city -- that has reduced attacks dramatically. Some 300 suspected militants have been arrested this month here. Many others have been killed.
"We're dismantling a lot of them," said Col. Robert Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
Among those arrested recently are 11 Iraqi insurgents suspected of involvement in the beheadings of abductees, Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib said this weekend.
New Mexico Soldier Featured On Cover Of Time
RIO RANCHO, N.M. -- A 22-year-old Rio Rancho man is featured on the cover of this week's special edition of Time magazine.
The image of Pfc. Christopher Lujan gives a human face to the preparations for the upcoming Iraqi elections. The photo was taken last week while Lujan was on foot patrol in the streets of Mosul.
Lujan's parents got the news that their son's photo will grace grocery store racks and newsstands Monday. But that's only a bonus to better news.
When Lujan's commander called his father with the good news, he also said the young man is to return to the states next month.
Lujan initially told his family he likely wouldn't be back until April.
Iraq's New Cops, Under Fire
The following story from Time Magazine was filed from Tall Afar, which is an area covered by the 1/25 SBCT.
Link to Full Article
By CHARLES CRAIN/TALL 'AFAR
The police officers of Tall 'Afar, a city of 250,000 on the road from Mosul to the Syrian border, don ski masks or cover their faces with kaffiyehs before heading out on patrol. With them are members of the U.S. Army's Alpha 1-5 Company. The troops plan to hand out leaflets to residents of the town and ask them about the upcoming election. A dozen out of about 20 Iraqi police officers have shown up for the late-afternoon patrol, but Captain T.J. Siebold, commander of Alpha 1-5, stresses the upside. "It's baby steps with these guys," Siebold says. "The fact that they had that many willing to go out is a positive step."
If the U.S. ever hopes to withdraw honorably from Iraq, it needs to succeed in its attempt to train Iraqis to fight the insurgency. In Tall 'Afar, that effort is still more a hope than a strategy. Last fall the city's police force numbered in the hundreds, until insurgents closed down almost all the local police stations. The police run their operations from a station located in a hilltop castle in the center of town. Captain Amjad Hashem Taki says that 400 officers have quit or joined the insurgency. The Americans, he says, still bear "about 90%" of the security burden. Some of the soldiers in Alpha 1-5 say their presence is the only reason that the police force hasn't dissolved completely. "They've got a bigger set of cojones when we're around," says Staff Sergeant Korey Staley, an 11-year Army veteran. "If we weren't up here, they'd be scattered to the four winds right now."
To build up the Iraqis' confidence and demonstrate effective tactics, the Americans set out on a joint patrol of the city. The streets are mostly empty, with small crowds gathering at a distance. The troops loop around a cemetery full of old tombstones. One of the translators points to the houses overlooking the graveyard, saying they belong to former Baathists.
As the patrol turns onto a deserted thoroughfare, the silence is broken by a short burst of Kalashnikov fire. The U.S. soldiers immediately return heavy fire and spring into action. A detachment of evenly spaced soldiers moves down the alley in the direction of the shooting. Soon Kalashnikov fire and four rocket-propelled grenades (RPG), coming from insurgent positions in nearby alleyways and rooftops, rain down on the troops.
Killings in Mosul have taken a huge toll
Link to Full Article
BY TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Newspapers
MOSUL, Iraq - (KRT) - The bodies turn up at night. Pulled from the trunks of cars, throats slit and dropped off in a cemetery. Or shot in the back of the head and dumped in the middle of the road.
There's no official tally, but interviews with U.S. Army officers and soldiers in Mosul indicate that hundreds of the corpses - calling cards of the insurgency - have turned up during the past several months. [...]
Lt. Col. Todd McCaffrey sees the mess hall every day, looming behind concrete walls down the road from his office. He remembers stepping past the door, the bright flash and then the screams and the blood.
Now, McCaffrey often wonders how history will judge the U.S. mission in Iraq.
"There's a sense of `I'm not going to quit now because we've invested American blood,'" said McCaffrey, whose 25th Infantry Division battalion patrols an area on the edge of Mosul.
But, he added, "You look at our history: We don't have much glowing success with combating insurgencies." [...]
In the graveyard, McCaffrey walked over with his translator to speak with an Iraqi woman whose family lives as squatters in a nearby ramshackle house.
The woman, who wouldn't give her name, told McCaffrey that her children are more scared of his soldiers than of insurgents.
"We hope things will get better," he said.
"Allah Karim," she responded: God is generous.
A few moments later, there was a low roar. Down the road, a thick column of smoke with a ring on top shot up in the sky. A car bomb targeting a U.S. convoy had blown up prematurely.
McCaffrey shook his head.
"It's tough to measure," he said. "It's tough to know if you're having success out here."
Another insurgent attack from mosque leads to detention of one
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Striker Combat Team) were fired upon by anti-Iraqi insurgents from a mosque in northern Iraq.
Iraqi Intervention Forces and soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment were patrolling in eastern Mosul when their convoy came under attack by anti-Iraqi insurgents firing from the Al Sabrine Mosque. The IIF conducted a cordon and search of the mosque. They detained one individual, and found and confiscated weapons. The suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Firing from the mosque clearly is a violation of the law of war. Iraqi authorities have stated that those insurgents using a religious center as their headquarters or as a place to attack Iraqi Security Forces or Multi-National Forces will not be safe.
Multi-National Forces continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Three insurgents killed by Multi-National Forces
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 21, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) shot and killed three anti-Iraqi insurgents during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment responded to reports of anti-Iraqi insurgents attacking an Iraqi Police vehicle in eastern Mosul. The soldiers of the 3-21st shot and killed the three insurgents. MNF and Iraqi Police reported no injuries.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Army's most modern high-tech forces discover hard lesson
Link to Full Article
BY TOM LASSETER, Knight Ridder Newspapers
MOSUL, Iraq - (KRT) - When the soldiers of the U.S. Army's Stryker Brigade rolled into the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last year on their new, 38,000-pound machines that look like tanks on wheels, they were coming to an oasis of relative calm amid a spreading insurgency.
Eleven months later, Mosul has become one of the most violent places in Iraq, and some U.S. soldiers there say that's partly because there aren't enough American troops to fight the insurgency.
The rising violence, they say, has taught them a hard lesson: It's often best to fight insurgents the old-fashioned way, with boots on the ground rather than the latest high-tech equipment. [...]
The Stryker brigades are the vanguard of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's vision of a new Army, one transformed into smaller, more agile units with high-tech equipment that can go anywhere, anytime. The brigades' heavily armored vehicles can reach 70 mph, carry advanced computer systems and heavy firepower, and absorb blasts from roadside bombs or rocket-propelled grenades, which can destroy a Humvee or even a Bradley Fighting Vehicle. [...]
Visiting the town of Hammam al Alil, south of the city, Lt. Col. Todd McCaffrey said the area had become a "planning, bedroom community for terrorist cells "that coordinate attacks in Mosul.
McCaffrey, a 41-year-old from Hudson, Ohio, stationed a company of men in the town, headquartered in an old agricultural college, to re-establish the American military presence there.
"We spend a lot of time trying to separate the populace from the insurgency," said McCaffrey, who's with a unit of the 25th Infantry Division that deployed to Iraq in late September. "Obviously, when you go from the 20,000 that the 101st had to 5,000, there's a clear change." [...]
"You win this thing with boots on the ground, not by throwing more vehicles at the place," said 1st Lt. Ed Mikkelsen of the Stryker Brigade.
Capt. Steve Szilvassy, a 33-year-old from West Paterson, N.J., nodded in agreement.
"When you don't have enough soldiers, it's a hard thing to do," he said. "We went from a division to a brigade here."
Asked if they thought the intense fighting in Mosul was the result of insurgents leaving Fallujah, a rebel stronghold that the U.S. military retook in November, the two young officers said they thought that was a factor, but not nearly as important as having too few men.
After his conversation with Szilvassy, Mikkelsen and his platoon drove to the town of al Mawali, a few miles west of Mosul. Mikkelsen, a 29-year-old from Vancouver, Wash., was recording the locations of schools, mosques and local leaders because records of them had been lost. [...]
For more information on the U.S. Army's Stryker Brigade, you can go to:
http://www.lewis.army.mil/1bde-sbct/
www.army.mil/features/strykeroe
www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/brigade-ibct.htm
Three insurgents die in attack on MNF
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 20, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed three anti-Iraqi insurgents in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment were patrolling in northern Mosul when their convoy was attacked by anti-Iraqi insurgents. The insurgents were in a moving vehicle when they began firing on the patrol. The 3-21st returned firing killing three insurgents. The soldiers confiscated four rifles from the vehicle following the attack. No MNF injuries were reported.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Strykers patrol Mosul streets
Link to Full Article
By Steve Walsh, Post-Tribune staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — The area around Mosul remains dangerous in the weeks leading up to the election.
Overnight, another beheaded body was found near one of the traffic circles.
Archbishop Basile Georges Casmoussa, an Iraqi and a leader of the Syrian Catholic Church, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church, was released Tuesday.
He had been abducted outside his home Monday, not too far from where the Strykers with the 73rd Engineering Battalion patrolled, just before dawn Tuesday.
The Strykers, from Fort Lewis Wash., are one of the units supporting the Indiana National Guard 113th Engineering Battalion. In the morning they patrolled through Mosul, crossing the Tigris. The city is under a curfew that lifts at 6 each morning.
By that time, the Strykers pass a not-yet-open gas station where a long line of cars has formed, wrapped around the block, two rows deep.
As the unit crosses the river, Sgt. Devardy Arnold points to the stadium for the Iraqi Olympic soccer team.
There are still some faded signs and pictures of players and children on the walls in the adjoining neighborhood.
It is a vestige that shows Mosul was a relatively tranquil place, after the initial fighting ended.
“It’s hard to fix a country when people take the wiring out of the lamp posts to use in their homes. It’s hard for me to understand that. It hurts their own people,” said Arnold as the crew moves through the city.
MNF capture five suspected insurgents
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 19, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five individuals during operations in northern Iraq today. Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activities while conducting cordon and search operations in Mosul. The 1-24th also confiscated weapons. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained two individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activities while conducting cordon and search operations in Arkat. Upon detention the soldiers also found and confiscated weapons and propaganda material. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Military officials have said although the Mosul area is not completely safe, with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents the situation is becoming safer. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 189 individuals and have removed hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition from the street.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Multi-National Forces detain four
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 19, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four individuals during operations in northern Iraq yesterday. Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activities while conducting a raid in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Military officials have said although the Mosul area is not completely safe, with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents the situation is becoming safer. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 184 individuals.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Two Iraqi civilians killed after trying to drive through military patrol
UPDATE: Related article added below.
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 19, 2005) – Two Iraqi civilians were killed when the vehicle they were driving tried to speed through a Multi-National Force patrol yesterday in northern Iraq. Soldiers of the 2nd Squadron 14th Calvary Regiment tried to halt the vehicle in Tal Afar. The soldiers used hand signals and shot to disable the vehicle before shooting at the vehicle and killing the driver and the front seat passenger. There were six uninjured children in the rear seats of the vehicle.
Military Officials extend their condolences for this unfortunate incident.
Due to the threat car bombs present to Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces, and the people of Iraq, military must take appropriate action against possible threats. Since January 1 at least five moving car bombs have detonated on ISF and MNF patrols and checkpoints.
Multi-National Forces have previously warned civilians to obey all signals given by military troops and all signs directing them how to react to checkpoints.
Related Articles:
A shooting after nightfall - NY Newsday. Getty photographer Chris Hondros was on the scene.
SGT Nathaniel T. Swindell
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SGT Nathaniel T. Swindell, 24, of Bronx, NY, died Jan. 15 in Mosul, Iraq, from a non-combat related injury. SGT Swindell was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Bronx GI killed in Iraq - NY Newsday
Misfire kills proud Bronx G.I. - NY Daily News
Fallen team leader slain by accident - News Tribune
Funerals set for soldiers killed in Iraq - Newsday
Bronx soldier buried - Newsday
Slain Bx. soldier 'perfect' hubby - NY Daily News
U.S. Will Shift From Fighting to Training
One 1/25 SBCT commander is quoted in the following story.
Link to Full Article (Registration required)
By Mark Mazzetti, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. military commanders increasingly believe that American troops will never entirely defeat Iraqi insurgents and now plan to reduce offensive operations and focus on training Iraqi security forces.
Under the plan, expected to be launched after the nation's Jan. 30 parliamentary election, up to half of the U.S. troops in Iraq eventually could be enlisted to train police officers, national guard troops and other forces, said a senior military official in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity. [...]
Mass defections of Iraqi troops are still frequent. In the northern city of Mosul, the 4th Brigade of the Iraqi national guard has lost 50% of its personnel, according to a U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad.
In November, thousands of police officers in Mosul fled after insurgents overran their stations. That force has yet to be reconstituted.
"In terms of [training] police, it's definitely an uphill battle," said Army Lt. Col. Emmett Schaill of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division in Mosul.
The focus on training after the election, Schaill said, is meant to bolster Iraqis for an eventual transfer of authority. "It's a transition to empower them," he said.
MNF find weapons cache following attack
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 17, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered a weapons and munitions cache in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment while conducting cordon and search operations southwest of Mosul discovered a cache of weapons and munitions including rocket launchers, rifles, pistols, grenades, mortar rounds, and ammunition. The search was done following an attack on the 1-5th. No MNF injuries were reported during operations.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Voter Lists Are Prepared in Another Step Toward Polls
A Mosul news round-up and one photograph of a 1/25 soldier.
Link to Full Article
By JAMES GLANZ, NY Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 16 - Lists containing the names of millions of registered Iraqi voters have been printed and are on their way to election officials here, bringing the country a step closer to the national balloting on Jan. 30, the chief United Nations election official, Carlos Valenzuela, said Sunday.
The lists are still not final: they will be posted at hundreds of district offices around the country. There, people whose names are missing can petition to be included, and the validity of names on the list can be challenged - for example, because a registered voter is dead or has moved away. [...]
American military forces continued a series of raids in the restive northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk, uncovering several weapons caches and bomb materials, and detaining suspected insurgents, the military said. In one case, soldiers found more than 1,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and 55 gallons of diesel fuel, common materials for making explosives, the military said. [...]
Mr. Valenzuela insisted that reports of mass resignations of election officials in Mosul and in Anbar Province, where Falluja and Ramadi are located, were inaccurate.
"That is just not true," he said. "It has not happened."
Still, he said, the violence is likely to keep some Iraqis who would otherwise vote from doing so. [...]
Whether the people will be able to get to the stations is another question, because the government intends to put in place strict travel restrictions in order to hamper the movement of insurgents on election day.
MNF confiscate weapons and capture 11
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 16, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) confiscated weapons and ammunition, and detained 11 individuals during operations in northern Iraq yesterday.
MNF soldiers conducted a search in eastern Mosul detaining five individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activities. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
MNF soldiers confiscated weapons and detained three individuals suspected of firing on MNF soldiers in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 24 Infantry Regiment conducted a search in western Mosul. Soldiers confiscated weapons and detained two individuals suspected of firing on MNF. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 21st Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in eastern Mosul capturing one individual suspected of being an anti-Iraqi Insurgent cell leader. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Military officials have said although the Mosul area is not completely safe, but with each seizure and removal of dangerous weapons and detention of anti-Iraqi insurgents the situations is becoming safer. Since January 5 Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces have detained 132 individuals.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
MSG Brian A. Mack
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
MSG Brian A. Mack, 36, of Phoenix, Ariz., died Jan. 13 in Mosul, Iraq, when his military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device. MSG Mack was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Stryker soldier remembered as ‘leader,’ ‘friend’ - The News Tribune
Phoenix Army sergeant dies in Iraq - The Arizona Republic
Fort Lewis memorial service for Phoenix man - KOLD News
Sergeant forsook safety to be with his troops - The News Tribune
Stryker Brigade Concept Proves Itself in Ninewa
Link to Full Article
By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Servic
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 15, 2005 – The Stryker Brigade is well-designed for the decentralized war against insurgents the coalition is waging in Iraq, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia, during an American Forces Press Service interview today.
With 14 months of combat experience under its belt now, the Stryker Brigade concept has proven itself. The brigade in Mosul now – the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division -- is using its flexible capabilities to hunt down insurgents and terrorists intimidating Iraqis who want a free and democratic country.
The brigade has substantially more infantry than a typical brigade, and uses technology to leverage the infantry when they dismount. The brigade also has more intelligence capabilities – including an unmanned aerial vehicle capability – and more internal options for firepower.
The Stryker vehicle itself has received glowing reports. The mission-capable rate dipped below 90 percent only once in the last year, and that was during the equipment hand-off from one brigade to another.
The wheeled vehicle also can move faster and farther than the typical infantry brigade. The smooth-riding vehicle also allows troops to arrive at a fight rested. "It doesn't shake the crew like a typical Bradley (fighting vehicle) does," Ham said.
The brigade demonstrated that capability many times in 2004. Strykers moved from Mosul to Kut and Najaf in April. They arrived ready for the fight. "We often launch strikes that go over 100 kilometers into the desert," Ham said. "That's tough to do in a Bradley.
"But it's important to remember that it's not an 'either-or' proposition," he continued. "There is a definite place for Bradleys and main battle tanks. We have tanks in Mosul right now, and I'm here to tell you that the insurgents don't like them."
Steelers game brings home closer to their fans at war
Link to Full Article
By Robert Dvorchak, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jeff Mehl will be wearing battle dress utilities, body armor, desert combat boots and Kevlar helmet today while his Army unit conducts such missions as raiding houses, searching for weapons or doing a security patrol near Mosul, Iraq.
But off-duty tonight, Mehl will don his Jerome Bettis jersey or Big Ben T-shirt and wave his Terrible Towel while parked in front of a big screen TV to watch the Steelers take on the Jets.
"No matter how tired I am after a hard day's work, if there is any way to watch the Steelers, I do," said Mehl, a staff sergeant and communications supervisor in the First Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division.
"It's a definite morale booster as service members can take a break from the realities of combat, if only for a little while," he added. "I can't tell you what it means to guys to take their minds off things and have something that brings a piece of home over here."
Watching a Steelers playoff game with family and friends is an act taken for granted at home. But for soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen deployed in and around Iraq or on duty anywhere around the world, it's a welcome slice of home.
£1,000 a day for coverage of war
Insights on the work of an embedded photographer with the Stryker Brigade.
Link to Full Article
Belfast Telegraph
Daredevil TV cameraman Johnny Saunderson, who has worked in the most troubled spots in the world, is due to fly back to Iraq next week.
Johnny (50), who lives in Lisburn, will be part of an ABC crew bringing the latest pictures from the Middle East into our sitting rooms. [...]
His most recent sortie was before Christmas when he was embedded with the Americans in Iraq on a "search and destroy" mission, riding the streets of Mosul in a Stryker armoured personnel carrier acting as bait to lure out insurgents.
"Whenever they have contact, the Americans just wipe them out every time.
"That is one of the other things about covering a war: make sure you are on the side that wins," grins Johnny. [...]
Iraqi boy helps lead troops to diffusion of roadside bomb
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 12, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) were able to defuse a roadside bomb after an Iraqi boy provided them with information about the bomb in northern Iraq January 10.
Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment were on patrol in Mosul when an Iraqi child informed them of a roadside bomb in the area. The tip led to the diffusion and destruction of the bomb. No injuries were reported and the child was compensated for his service.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi soldiers attacked by insurgents firing from mosque
I'm fairly certain this was the attack that many of you likely saw on NBC News yesterday. The video is available at the MSNBC website.
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 11, 2005) – Soldiers of the Iraqi National Guard and Multi-National forces came under attack while on a mission to deliver much needed supplies to a school in northern Iraq yesterday.
Soldiers of the 106th ING and 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment came under attack during delivery of heaters and supplies to a school in Al Monsur. The troops were hit by a roadside bomb, and then were shot at by anti-Iraqi insurgents firing from the Saddam Mosque. Three ING soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in the attack. The driver of the truck that was hit by the roadside bomb was killed, and according to a civilian reporter at the scene was the father of 10. The wounded were taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Firing from the mosque clearly is a violation of the laws of war. Iraqi authorities have stated that those insurgents using a religious center as their headquarters or as a place to attack Iraqi Security Forces or Multi-National Forces will not be safe.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to work together with leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information on the attack on the ING soldiers in Mosul should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
A city divided
Link to Full Article
BY JEREMY REDMON, Richmond Times-Dispatch
TALL 'AFAR, Iraq -- This city has two mayors divided by a deadly insurgency.
One works with the terrorists, U.S. military officials say. The other cooperates with American soldiers.
Most of Tall 'Afar's police officers quit out of fear of the insurgents, he said. Seventy-two poll workers have also quit, prompting the mayor to support a postponement of the Jan. 30 elections for an Iraqi National Assembly. [...]
An estimated 300 insurgents had dug into fighting positions in the city. Tall 'Afar was so dangerous that commercial convoys avoided it.
"Tall 'Afar had grown into the wild, wild west," said Lt. Col. Ed Morgan, commander of the 276th.
Later in September, Virginia National Guardsmen from Morgan's unit helped seal off the city and hunt for insurgents. About 100 terrorists were killed and more than 50 captured in the operation, military officials said.
Tall 'Afar, however, remains deadly. Insurgents attack U.S. soldiers here with roadside bombs and rocket-propelled grenades.
Morgan attended a memorial ceremony Saturday for a private from the 14th Calvary Regiment. The soldier was killed in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Tall 'Afar last Tuesday. At the ceremony, soldiers saluted the private's blue Stetson as it rested atop his rifle. [...]
Several boys asked Morgan's interpreter when the soldiers were coming back.
"Tomorrow?" they asked.
The interpreter, Mekmouk Tahar, responded, "I don't think so."
A gunshot rang out somewhere nearby as the troops climbed into their Stryker assault vehicles. Seemingly unfazed, the boys followed the Virginians up to their Stryker.
"Ciao!" Spc. Lynn Martin of Mechanicsville told them.
"Bye!" said Sgt. Kendall Driver of Lakeside.
The drawbridgelike door to the Stryker swung shut. And the convoy headed back to base.
Insurgents Kill Senior Official in Iraqi Police
Link to Full Article
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and KHALID AL-ANSARY, NY Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 10 - Insurgents killed the deputy police chief of Baghdad and his son on Monday morning and later detonated an unusually powerful roadside bomb that destroyed a heavily armored American military vehicle, killing two American soldiers and wounding four in the latest of a string of daylight attacks.
The assassination was the second killing of a senior Baghdad official in six days and came less than three weeks before the national elections that the insurgents have vowed to disrupt.
The police official, Brigadier Amer Naief, and his son, also a policeman, were killed by gunmen at about 7:30 a.m. as the two left their home in the Dora neighborhood of southern Baghdad, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. The militant group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the killings in an Internet posting. [...]
For the second time in four days, insurgents used a huge roadside bomb to destroy a Bradley fighting vehicle, one of the American military's most heavily armored troop carriers, as it was patrolling in southwest Baghdad. On Jan. 6, a bomb in northwest Baghdad killed seven soldiers inside a Bradley. [...]
A similar bomb exploded on a roadside in Mosul on Monday, killing three Iraqi National Guard troops. [...]
American military commanders in insurgent hotbeds like Ramadi and Mosul have said in interviews that they have seen attackers use increasingly powerful and sophisticated explosive devices against humvees and armored vehicles. The devices have used elaborate timing sequences and, in some cases, specially shaped explosive charges designed to more easily pierce armor plating.
In Mosul, for example, American commanders were stunned early last month when a patrol of Stryker armored vehicles found itself in a mile-long ambush where insurgents had spaced at least 10 artillery shells about 150 to 200 yards apart, detonating them in a measured pattern as troops passed. The armored Strykers suffered little damage, but commanders on the scene said humvees or lesser-armored vehicles would have been far more vulnerable.
In an even bolder attack at the end of the month, insurgents attacked soldiers from the same unit, the First Battalion, 24th Infantry, with a complicated truck bomb designed to defeat barriers the troops had placed in front of an outpost in western Mosul. The truck had extra-large tires and a raised chassis, and was packed with 1,500 pounds of explosives, but the soldiers had recently installed larger barriers. The detonation created a hole 15 feet long, 8 feet wide and 5 feet deep. [...]
Medic earns combat badge
Link to Full Article
JEREMIAH STETTLER, THE SAGINAW NEWS
Neither bullets nor fear had time to hit a Saginaw native as his armored vehicle came under fire in the streets of Mosul, Iraq.
Spc. Michael Wachowicz, a U.S. Army medic, received the Combat Medical Badge this month for weathering an attack in which small-arms fire peppered his Stryker vehicle.
Wachowicz, 23, said the attack left little time for panic.
"You are so hyped up and caught up in the moment that all you can think of is getting out of there," Wachowicz told his wife. "It's a life-or-death situation."
Wachowicz's unit returned to camp intact.
The Arthur Hill High School graduate joined fellow medics in the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division in receiving the Combat Medical Badge -- an award given to medical personnel involved in ground combat while serving with the infantry.
Wachowicz joined the Army in October 2002 to pursue a medical career. He hopes to become an operating room technician.
Today, he is serving a one-year tour in Iraq as a medic. His wife and three young children are stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash.
Carrying God's Word in a war zone
Thanks to Pat for sending the following article from her local paper.
Link to Full Article
By DEAN BAKER, Columbian staff writer
It's a long trek from a job managing delivery routes for The Columbian to carrying religious services to troops in the mountains of Iraq, but that's where Army Capt. Edward Willis has gone.
Willis, 41, a 1981 Hudson's Bay High School graduate and a U.S. Army chaplain, spent Christmas ministering to troops at a Muslim shrine on a mountaintop outpost near Sinjar, Iraq. He flew in by helicopter along with a Christmas meal for the troops.
Willis narrowly missed being in the mess tent in Mosul on Dec. 22 when a suicide bomber killed 22 people: 14 U.S. soldiers (six of them based at Fort Lewis), four U.S. civilian contractors, three Iraqi security men and an unidentified non-American. Sixty-nine people were wounded, including 44 soldiers.
One of the wounded was a 1999 graduate of Camas High School, Army Spc. Don Larson, 24, who suffered burns and is recovering at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. His parents, Jim and Marsha Larson, live in Chehalis.
Luckily, Willis flew to other parts of Iraq that day, ministering to troops.
"He had been in Mosul for the first month he was there, and the tent that was bombed was his dining tent," said his wife, Leanne, 34. "He was away at the time of the bombing at Tal Afar."
While Willis is at war, Leanne and the couple's three children celebrated Christmas and New Year's at the home of his parents, Ed and Mardelle Willis of Vancouver. They also celebrated the 7th birthday of the couple's oldest child, Lindsey. Leanne, Lindsey and the little girl's two brothers, Thomas, 3, and Connor, 18 months, returned Tuesday to their home, a duplex at Fort Lewis.
MNF detain 14, confiscate weapons
(TFO Press Rlease)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 10, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 14 people wanted for anti-Iraqi activity and confiscated numerous weapons and munitions during operations in northern Iraq.
While conducting cordon and search operations the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained nine people wanted for anti-Iraqi activity early this morning in Mosul. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained five people wanted for anti-Iraqi activity during cordon and search operations in a village south of Mosul yesterday. During a search of the residence soldiers discovered two rifles, mortar charges, and bomb making equipment. The weapons and munitions were confiscated for future destruction. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Multi-National Forces detain 9 in Mosul
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 9, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine people wanted for anti-Iraqi activity and collected a variety of weapons and intelligence items during operations yesterday in northern Iraq.
A concerned Iraqi citizen came to Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment and provided information that led to the detention of six individuals suspected of anti-Iraqi activity in southwest Mosul. During a search of the suspect’s residence, a cache of weapons and intelligence items were discovered that included numerous AK-47s, computers, disks, and a large sum of money. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals wanted for planning and conducting attacks against MNF bases during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Stryker team successfully defeats anti-Iraqi insurgents
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 9, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) killed one and injured another anti-Iraqi insurgent following an attack on their convoy.
The soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment were hit by a roadside bomb while convoying in northern Mosul yesterday. Following the blast the convoy, soldiers received fire from insurgents nearby. Soldiers quickly maneuvered and engaged the insurgents, killing one and injuring another. 1-24th soldiers reported no injuries during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ING and MNF thwart car bomb attempt
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 8, 2005) – Based on intelligence provided by an Iraqi Citizen, Iraqi National Guard soldiers and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) foiled a car bomb attempt and found a large cache of weapons and munitions today during operations in Mosul.
Based on a tip the soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment were conducting a cordon and search in Mosul when they discovered a truck wired with explosives. The truck contained 15 artillery rounds, four fuel containers, and a large propane tank. They were able to disarm the vehicle before it was used to harm innocent people.
While searching the area the 1-24th and Iraqi National Guardsmen found a large cache of weapons and munitions which included 93 mines, 88 artillery rounds, 5 rocket propelled grenade launchers, 34 RPG rounds, 17 grenades, 1000 feet of detonation cord, eight AK-47s, over 10,000 rounds of ammunition and roadside bomb-making components. Soldiers secured the cache for its future destruction.
Soldiers detained six individuals with suspected ties to the vehicle bomb and weapons cache. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during the entire operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Pvt. Cory R. Depew
The DoD has identified PVT Cory R. Depew as the Task Force Olympia soldier killed on January 4th in Tal Afar. Depew was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends he leaves behind.
We will add any subsequent articles regarding PVT Depew to this entry.
DoD Identifies Army Casualty - Official DoD announcement
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Mosul - Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Beech Grove man dies in Iraq attack - Indianapolis Star
Hoosier Soldier Killed in Iraq - WISH TV
Mom of Slain Soldier Angered by War Critics - WISH TV
Family honors young soldier killed in Iraq - Indianapolis Star
Fallen Stryker soldier leaves behind son - The News Tribune
Beech Grove serviceman killed in Iraq is laid to rest - Indianapolis Star
A soldier comes home - The Southside Times
A very nice memorial, including a biography and photos, has been established at the Making Everlasting Moments website.
Show of force helps to decrease insurgent activity in Tal Afar
Link to Full Article (Full text provided below)
Story and photos by Spc. Blair Larson
MOSUL, Iraq- Sometimes all it takes to deter a terrorist is the presence of Multinational Forces in the area. Soldiers from Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) are using this idea to quell the insurgency in Tal Afar, Iraq, a city of approximately 300,000, located 50 kilometers west of Mosul.
Tal Afar was once the site of major terrorist operations. As recently as September, when terrorist activity caused residents to flee the city, insurgents used this small city at the base of the mountains as a center for their activities.
When Soldiers from the 2-14 arrived in November, they were determined to stabilize the security situation in Tal Afar. By increasing the number of patrols and missions in the city, they hope to send a message to the terrorists and also to the people of Tal Afar.
“Our presence gives a face to the U.S. forces here, and by being out in the streets, we have seen a decrease in terrorist activity,” said Capt. Keith Walters, Troop B commander.
At important strategic sites throughout the city, the cavalry Soldiers have been conducting fixed-site security missions to reinforce the security provided by the Iraqi Police and the Iraqi National Guard. From their positions, the Soldiers can overwatch the city, searching for terrorists setting out explosives or mortar tubes.
Increased vehicle patrols within the city have also served to disrupt terrorist operations. Convoys of Stryker vehicles can be seen in every part of the city during the day and night.
Mortar fire has also been an important operational asset for the Cavalry’s mission. By directing mortar fire on the edge of the city, Soldiers can send a show-of-force message to the insurgents without risking injury to the residents of the Tal Afar.
“Our mortar fire acts as a show of force to let the terrorists know that, if we want to, we can reach out and touch them,” said 1st Lt. Michael Gretz, the fire support officer for Troop B.
The Soldiers also hope to gain more support from the people of Tal Afar. Their presence in the city gives the residents a feeling of better security. They hope that feeling will translate into courage and bring more people to serve in the police force and the Iraqi National Guard.
“If they see us doing this for their country, they may be more willing to come out and do the same,” said Staff Sgt. Terry Holmes of Troop B.
The police and residents of the city are slowly beginning to show more cooperation with Multi-National Forces. The local police have proven helpful because they are familiar with the neighborhoods and are a credible presence with the people who live in the city. The Soldiers are also receiving more intelligence reports and tips from residents, which lead to arrests of important terrorist leaders and confiscation of weapons caches.
“We want to work together,” said one police captain who has helped U.S. forces in detaining insurgents in the city.
While victory may not come quickly in their campaign to win over the city of Tal Afar, the security situation is slowly improving. The Soldiers believe that, with time, the Iraqi police and the Iraqi National Guard will take a greater role in securing Tal Afar as Multi-National Forces fade into the shadows.
Capt. Keith Walters (left), Commander of Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Staff Sgt. Jason Hasby (right), also of Troop B, watch over the city of Tal Afar, Iraq, with the help of Iraqi policemen.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Blair Larson)
Soldiers from mortar platoon, Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) set up a mortar tube near a police station in Tal Afar, Iraq. The Soldiers are firing mortars outside the city as a show of force, taking care not to damage buildings or injure residents.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Blair Larson)
Civil Affairs missions help win the fight in the Tal Afar area
Link to Article (Full text provided below)
Story and photos by Spc. Blair Larson
TAL AFAR, Iraq- Soldiers of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) are using backpacks, new schools and water projects to win the cooperation of the people in Tal Afar, Iraq, and the surrounding villages.
In an effort to encourage the Iraqi people to cooperate with local authorities by turning in terrorists and weapons caches, the Soldiers are working to bring better communications, water, power and schools to the area.
The 2-14 Soldiers are focusing first on the outlying villages that have been supportive of U.S. and Iraqi forces. Many of these small, rural villages were neglected while Saddam Hussein was in power and are in need of basic facilities.
The Soldiers believe that by helping these “model towns,” villages that were once supportive of terrorists will cooperate in return for projects that will assist their communities.
“These model towns will set an example for the rest - if you support the Multi-National Forces, Iraqi Security Forces and the Iraqi government, your village will receive more projects,” said Capt. Keith Walters, commander of Troop B, 2-14 CAV.
During a recent visit to Tal Banat and Tal Kasa, two villages outside Tal Afar, the cavalry Soldiers brought hundreds of backpacks for the children while a civil affairs team met with local leaders to determine what projects would most benefit the local residents.
One of the biggest concerns for the residents of Tal Kasa is education. Rural schools were neglected and left in disrepair by the old regime, leaving many adults in the area concerned about their children receiving an education.
“They look to us as a chance for their children to advance,” said Sgt. Paul LaPointe, a civil affairs sergeant with the 448th Civil Affairs Battalion who is attached to the 2-14.
For the cavalry Soldiers who accompany civil affairs teams on these missions, it is a welcome change from their daily patrols and raids in the city. The Soldiers are learning the important balance between offensive operations and civil affairs operations.
“Civil affairs projects help the maneuver units because the residents are often more willing to cooperate with Multi-National Forces after we have helped them,” said LaPointe.
This balance in operations effectively helps to flush out insurgents while letting the local, friendly residents know that Multinational Forces are in Iraq to help.
“While we take an active approach by pursuing insurgents, it’s important that we also pay attention to the preventative approach that civil affairs provides,” said Walters.
Staff Sgt. Donald Griffith, of Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) unloads backpacks from a Stryker vehicle in the village of Tal Kasa, Iraq.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Blair Larson)
Spc. Darren McCrae (right) of Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Capt. Keith Walters (left), Troop B commander, hand out backpacks to schoolchildren in the village of Tal Banat December 8.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Blair Larson)
Car bomb attack leads to the capture of 30 terrorists
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 6, 2005) – Iraqi National Guard soldiers and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) worked together to capture terrorists responsible for carrying out a car bomb attack on an ING checkpoint Wednesday.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery responded and pursued a vehicle leaving the scene of the attack southwest of Mosul. Multi-National Forces detained 13 individuals and returned to offer medical aid to three wounded Iraqi guardsmen.
Following the car bomb, ING soldiers conducted a cordon and search operation in a village adjacent to the checkpoint. Iraqi guardsmen detained another 23 suspects and also located two large caliber mortar rounds.
All of the detainees remain in custody.
Soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment also detained one individual Thursday after a roadside bomb detonated ahead of their convoy. The explosion occurred in Al Sinaa neighborhood of eastern Mosul. The insurgents attempted to flee after they saw the Stryker element approach. The squad captured one individual while two others fled on foot. The detainee remains in custody and no Soldiers were injured.
Iraqi Security Forces continue to work together with members of the Multi-National Forces and with the leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information about terrorists or criminals should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi child gives cache of equipment to MNF
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 6, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) collected a large cache of military equipment after a child approached Soldiers and turned it in.
An Iraqi child came to Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Calvary Regiment and turned in a bag of military equipment during their patrol in southern Mosul. The child approached the Soldiers and handed the items to them. After the Soldiers inspected the equipment, they rewarded the boy for his patriotic work.
Multi-National Forces encourages citizens of Iraq to cooperate with their security forces and turn in military weapons and equipment. Citizens that cooperate could be rewarded for their efforts.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Child’s tip leads Multi-National Soldiers to a large weapons cache, truck bomb
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 4, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) discovered a large cache of weapons and munitions based on a child’s tip during operations Monday in northern Iraq.
An Iraqi child led Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment to a large cache of weapons in an abandoned building during a patrol in western Mosul that consisted of 30 60mm mortars, 21 rocket propelled grenade rounds, dynamite, various roadside bombs and components, five RPG launchers, over 100 mortar fuses, grenades, ammunition and intelligence documents.
Soldiers also discovered a stolen fuel truck in the configuration stages of a truck bomb. The discovery of the truck bomb possibly saved the lives of hundreds of people.
An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed both the truck and munitions with no injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Two arrested for inciting anti-Iraqi violence
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 4, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained two people wanted for preaching anti-Iraqi rhetoric during operations Monday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two people including an Imam wanted for preaching anti-Iraqi rhetoric and inciting violence in southeast Mosul. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during operations.
The Interim Iraqi Government and the Ninevah Provincial Governor has made it clear that any anyone using their position of authority to incite violence or Jihad against the Iraqi government, Iraqi Security Forces or MNF will be subject to arrest and detention.
1/25 SBCT Soldiers earn combat patches in Iraq
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 4, 2005) – In the few short months they have been in Iraq, the Soldiers of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) have already proven their mettle in combat, earning the right to wear the 25th ID’s “Tropic Lightning” patch on their right shoulder.
Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, Commanding General of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) and of Combined Joint Task Force – 76 in Afghanistan, traveled to Iraq for the combat patch award ceremonies December 30.
Accompanying Brigade Commander Col. Robert Brown and Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas Adams, Olson visited four forward operating bases throughout the Task Force Olympia area of operations and addressed every unit that is part of the 1/25 SBCT.
“It’s an honor and a privilege for me to meet the Soldiers who are making the sacrifice to help bring democracy and peace to the people of Iraq,” Olson said. “You are doing an excellent job and I am proud of each and every one of you.”
The tradition of wearing the patch insignia on the right shoulder to denote service in a combat zone originated during World War I. The Combat Infantryman Badge and the Combat Medic Badge, which is awarded to medics assigned to infantry units, were also presented during the ceremonies. Olson also pinned Purple Hearts on several soldiers who were wounded in action since the brigade deployed to Iraq in October.
Local soldiers arrive in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By Adam Lynn, The News Tribune
Washington state National Guardsmen arrived in Mosul, Iraq, Monday to reinforce Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade soldiers working to secure the northern city before parliamentary elections scheduled for later this month.
Elements of the 81st Brigade Combat Team were sent to Mosul along with soldiers from the 82nd Airborne and other Stryker units to bolster Task Force Olympia, which is comprised of nearly 5,000 Fort Lewis-based soldiers. A group of Iraqi commandos also was dispatched to the city, the U.S. military reported. [...]
The 1-303rd’s scout and mortar platoons are attached to Task Force Tacoma, a combat group that before being sent to Mosul operated from Logistical Support Area Anaconda near Balad, Iraq. Task Force Tacoma also includes two California National Guard units attached to the 81st Brigade Combat Team. The task force is commanded by Lt. Col. Thomas Heslin of DuPont.
Mom wishes for respect, safe return for son at war
Link to Full Article
By VICTORIA STEIK, Peninsula Clarion
Woman plans to start support group for parents of soldiers
In the midst of friends and co-workers at a recent holiday party, Pam Musgrove smiled and seemed to be enjoying the celebration. She cracked a joke or two and kept the conversation light, but she didn't laugh as much as usual and the faint worry lines on her forehead betrayed the fact that her mind wasn't really on the festivities. Her thoughts were on the other side of the world with her 20-year-old son, Army Spc. Tommy Alley, serving with the Stryker Brigade 1st Battalion 25th Infantry Regiment stationed in Mosul, Iraq.
Musgrove would like to start a support group for parents of soldiers to give them the chance to talk to other parents. She also is planning to join the VFW Women's Auxiliary in Soldotna. [...]
Musgrove, true to her coping method of not watching newscasts, did not know about a recent attack on the soldiers' mess tent in Mosul until late afternoon on the day after the attack. She spent two agonizing days trying to reach Tommy through the Red Cross and other sources.
Finally, she received a call from Tommy. He was out on patrol when the attack took place.
"I'm thankful to all the people who were praying for Tommy's safety," Musgrove said. "Now we must pray for the families of those who were hurt or lost."
Going strong after blast
Link to Full Article
By Moises Saman, Newsday
Newsday photographer Moises Saman was traveling with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, Thursday morning when the convoy came under attack. This is his account.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAREZ, MOSUL, Iraq - The mission that morning seemed routine.
A team of U.S. Army Stryker fighting vehicles, each packed with soldiers, left this base to patrol the scene of a battle that occurred the day before and to assess building and road damage. I was riding inside the second vehicle as we sped down "Tampa," the American nickname for a dangerous stretch of road that divides Mosul from east to west. We were heading for the western section.
Suddenly, we heard a boom. The vehicle shook violently, stirring up a cloud of fine brown dust inside the Stryker. [...]
Later, we stopped and found damage to some tires and an antenna. Shrapnel had nicked the armor. If you're going to be hit by explosives, a Stryker is the place to be.
A comrade is killed in suicide attack despite soldiers’ creative barricade at outpost in Mosul
This appears to be the same article that was posted last night. Today, it has a new title.
Link to Full Article
BY DIONNE SEARCEY, Newsday
MOSUL, Iraq - Spc. Michael Kreuser was curled at the bottom of his sleeping bag Wednesday afternoon inside a tan apartment building the U.S. Army had converted into a combat outpost when an enormous blast shook him awake.
Sandbags fell on top of the young medic, and he struggled to get up. Unable to see through the fog of plaster dust filling the room, he patted the floor, found his medical kit and one boot that he pulled on and raced to a third-floor balcony, where he heard screaming.
Pfc. Oscar Sanchez was on the ground, hit by shrapnel and bleeding. Kreuser, his stocking foot now soaked with Sanchez's blood, and another soldier dragged the private into the hall, cut open his shirt and tried to revive him.
"We weren't going to let him go easy," said Kreuser, a lanky 22-year-old from West Bend, Wis. [...]
Multi-National Forces detain two
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (January 3, 2005) –Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained two people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations Sunday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in western Mosul and detained two members of an insurgent cell in Mosul. The suspects are in custody undergoing questioning with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
On Patrol in Mosul: Combat outpost Tampa
This blog contains several photo galleries and news posted by Newsday staff. Be sure to check the links to "recent updates".
Link to Full Article
Photographs by Moises Saman. Stories by Dionne Searcey
Soldier Killed in Afghanistan; Iraq Operations Continue
Link to Full Article
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2005 -- A U.S. soldier and an Afghan citizen were killed early this morning near Shindand Airfield in Afghanistan's Herat province during an exchange of gunfire while coalition forces were searching a compound. [...]
Iraqi security forces decisively defeated another attack by anti-Iraqi insurgents who tried to seize a police station in southeast Mosul on Jan. 1.
The station came under RPG fire during a coordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the station, officials said. The Iraqi police successfully repelled the attack, the fifth attack on the station this week. Each attack has resulted in defeat for the insurgents and a victory for the Iraqi security forces. Since Nov. 10, insurgents have tried but failed 12 times to overrun Mosul police stations, officials said.
Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), detained 14 people Jan. 1 for suspected insurgent activities in northern Iraq. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Calvary Regiment, conducted a cordon- and-search operation in Tal Afar and detained eight people suspected of planning and conducting insurgent activities.
A cordon-and-search operation by soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, near the village of Dinij resulted in four suspected insurgents being detained.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, conducted a cordon-and- search operation in Nadeech village and detained two people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against multinational forces.
Inside a suicide bombing
Link to Full Article
BY DIONNE SEARCEY, STAFF CORRESPONDENT
MOSUL, Iraq -- Spc. Michael Kreuser was curled at the bottom of his sleeping bag Wednesday afternoon inside a tan apartment building the U.S. Army had converted into a combat outpost when an enormous blast shook him awake.
Sandbags fell on top of the young medic, and he struggled to get up. Unable to see through the fog of plaster dust filling the room, he patted the floor, found his medical kit and one boot that he pulled on and raced to a third-floor balcony, where he heard screaming.
Private 1st Class Oscar Sanchez was on the ground, hit by shrapnel and bleeding. Kreuser, his stocking foot now soaked with Sanchez's blood, and another soldier dragged the private into the hall, cut open his shirt and tried to revive him.
"We weren't going to let him go easy," said Kreuser, a lanky 22-year-old from West Bend, Wis.
But moments later, Sanchez died, the sole victim of a sophisticated attack by a suicide bomber. The 19-year-old soldier from Modesto, Calif., had been on guard duty, standing on a chair to get a better view as he aimed his automatic rifle at anything suspicious, when a black-clad insurgent drove a truck loaded with 1,500 pounds of explosives into concrete barricades roughly underneath the balcony. [...]
This article contains a full description of the attack and the counter-attack by Deuce Four soldiers. Grim, but informative reading.
Wired to the front lines
Link to Full Article
By LEVI PULKKINEN; Skagit Valley Herald
A mother stays connected with her son in Iraq via the Internet
A year ago, Travis Carpenter welcomed 2004 in a darkened Burlington movie theater, watching "Lord of the Rings - Return of the King" with his mother and celebrating his 26th birthday.
They'd already seen the Tolkien epic three times, but, Karen Carpenter said, it was what her son wanted to do for his birthday.
"We were like the only people in the whole show," she said.
On Saturday, U.S. Army Spc. Travis Carpenter turned 27 in Mosul, Iraq, connected to his mother and two young sons through the Internet. In Mosul, he had a front-row seat to the Dec. 22 suicide bombing that killed six other Fort Lewis soldiers attached, like Carpenter, to Task Force Olympia. [...]
By fall 2004, it had been made clear to Carpenter that his unit, the 25th Brigade Support Battalion of the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade, would be the Stryker Combat Team to replace one of the mechanized units already in Mosul. [...]
The company Carpenter has been assigned to, the "Wagonmasters," keeps the Stryker combat units supplied with everything from "beans to bullets," according to the Olympia Observer, an Army newspaper covering Task Force Olympia. To do so, soldiers in Company A must acquire, organize and deliver all types of supplies available to the units, including replacement parts, water, fuel, medical supplies and the soldiers' mail.
In an Oct. 20 e-mail to his mother, Carpenter wrote that he's "just tired of all this" and wanted to be back with his "boyz," not pulling another year in the Army.
The Internet has been Carpenter's primary connection home during his deployment.
Although uncomfortable around computers, Karen Carpenter has learned to instant message and e-mail her son. She even updated an online role-playing game her son plans to play with other soldiers when he comes home on 20-days leave later this month.
In his e-mails, Carpenter tells his mother he's out of harm's way. She said she doesn't believe him.
"I think that if he was, he wouldn't tell me," Karen Carpenter said.
Any illusions of her son's safety vanished Dec. 22, when, in an apparent suicide attack, insurgents detonated a bomb at the Task Force Olympia base near Mosul. The attack killed 22 Americans and Iraqis and wounded 69 more.
"I was just frantic," Karen Carpenter said.
Two days passed before she heard from her son. He'd been sitting outside the mess tent when the bomb exploded inside.
"There was nothing, just people eating and clicking spoons," she said. "Then ‘bam!'"
Carpenter was thrown six or seven feet by the blast. When he landed, he wrenched his knee badly but suffered no permanent harm. Like most of the soldiers near the explosion, he lost his hearing for several hours. [...]
U.S. general visits embattled troops
Link to Full Article
BY DIONNE SEARCEY; STAFF CORRESPONDENT
CAMP DIAMONDBACK, Iraq -- Gen. George W. Casey, commander of the Multinational Forces in Iraq, sat down to lunch with soldiers in Mosul Friday during a quick New Year's Eve visit that was part therapy session and part pep talk, according to soldiers who sat with him.
Casey explained to a table of about a dozen Army troops the importance of Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections and offered words of comfort to some of the soldiers who were inside a dining tent having lunch at nearby Camp Marez on Dec. 21 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives, killing 22 people and wounding dozens.
Sgt. Scott Fees, a member of the First Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, said Casey asked him to describe what he witnessed that day. He told of the bravery of soldiers who helped the wounded and the fear that paralyzed others. Two of Fees' comrades were killed in the attack.
"He explained to us that he knows it hurts, but that we don't have a chance to reflect," said Fees, 24, of Des Moines. "He told us not to get down because the Iraqi people need boosting up and they need to know we're here for them." [...]
PFC Oscar Sanchez
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. PFC Oscar Sanchez, 19, from Modesto, CA, died Dec. 29 in Mosul, Iraq, when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device struck his observation post. Sanchez was assigned to 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
GI in Iraq, 19, killed by car bomb. Infantryman in Mosul was valley town's 2nd fatality - San Francisco Chronicle
Stryker soldier a casualty at 19 - News Tribune
Modesto loses another hero - Modesto Bee
Modesto teen killed in Iraq - Modesto Bee
Fort Lewis soldier killed at Mosul was from California - Associated Press
Fort Lewis soldier killed before first anniversary - The Olympian
Soldier from Modesto Killed by Suicide Bomber in Iraq - News 10, Modesto
Service Friday for Pfc. Oscar Sanchez - KESQ News
Army offered hope to soldier killed in Iraq - The Modesto Bee
Army soldier's services begin on Monday - Modesto Bee
He gave his life to save his buddies - News Tribune
Fort Lewis hero remembered in memorial service - The Associated Press
Modesto Soldier Laid To Rest - KCRA TV
Mourning the Fallen - Modesto Bee
Modesto Bids Farewell to Soldier Killed in Iraq - KXTV News
Honoring his memory - Modesto Bee
Guerrillas carry out coordinated assault
This version of the story is getting such wide distribution, that we decided to give it a separate entry. You can read more in our previous entry.
Link to Full Article
By Slobodan Lekic, Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) Insurgents tried to ram a truck with a ton of explosives into a U.S. military post in the northern city of Mosul on Thursday then ambushed reinforcements in a huge gunbattle in which 25 fighters and one American soldier were killed. Warplanes fired missiles and strafed gunmen during the fight.
The assault on the outpost, which U.S. soldiers finally repulsed, appeared to be better coordinated than past attacks, with guerrillas apparently pulling out their strongest assaults in an effort to derail Jan. 30 elections, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings said.
''The terrorists are growing more desperate in their attempts to derail the elections and they're trying to put it all on the line and give it all they can,'' Hastings said. [...]
Wednesday' clashes began when a truck approached the base and American troops opened fire. The truck, laden with 1,000 pounds of explosives, blew up just outside, Hastings said.
Reinforcements came under fire by guerrillas using automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades and moving in squads of between 10 and 12. A heavily armored Stryker vehicle that had left the outpost moments before the truck bomb came across seven roadside bombs that had been laid out for its return, Hastings said. The bombs were detonated safely.
The Americans then called in strikes by F-18 and F-16 fighter jets, which launched three Maverick missiles and conducted several strafing runs against the insurgents. The result was 25 insurgents and one American soldier killed. Twenty Americans were wounded, but 17 returned to duty within hours. [...]
More related news stories are posted below.
US Soldier, 25 Rebels Killed in Mosul Battle - Reuters
4 get Purple Hearts at BAMC
This is an update to the previous article.
Link to Full Article
Sheila Hotchkin; San Antonio Express-News
A week after a suicide bomber targeted a crowded mess tent in northern Iraq, four soldiers wounded in the attack received Purple Hearts at Brooke Army Medical Center on Wednesday.
The soldiers sat in wheelchairs onstage in the medical center auditorium as U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison pinned the medals on T-shirts and shook bandaged hands.
"One of the young men actually had surgery this morning," she said. "But he wanted to get that Purple Heart."
Purple Hearts were awarded to Spc. Donald Bergren, 27, of Watertown, Wis.; Spc. Donald Larson, 24, of Vancouver, Wash.; Pfc. Amanda Mohon, 19, of Willow Creek, Calif.; and Sgt. Christian Steele, 27, of Gary, Ind.
The four are being treated for burns, shrapnel wounds and other injuries. All are members of the 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade, based at Fort Lewis, Wash. [...]
The Purple Heart is the world's oldest military decoration still in use, and the first for the common American soldier, according to the Military Order of the Purple Heart. [...]
Related news stories.
Gary soldier awarded Purple Heart - Post-Tribune
U.S. shoots back at insurgents
Link to Full Article
BY DIONNE SEARCEY; Newsday
MOSUL, Iraq -- Suicide bombers rammed a dump truck packed with 1,500 pounds of explosives into a combat outpost Wednesday and then slammed a car loaded with bombs into an Army patrol on its way to respond to the first attack.
Fifteen U.S. soldiers were injured, military officials said.
Within minutes of the afternoon attack, U.S. troops retaliated. Three F-18 fighter jets zoomed overhead, dropping Maverick missiles and firing on suspects in a western neighborhood of Mosul where for weeks insurgents have been trying to wreak havoc on U.S. and Iraqi forces with rocket-propelled grenades, gunfire and booby-trapped cars.
The planes dived in and out of a thick, black mushroom cloud that hung on the horizon of Camp Marez, the site of a dining hall suicide bombing on Dec. 21 that killed 22 people and wounded dozens. [...]
Wednesday's battle started when a militant drove the truck filled with explosives into concrete barricades surrounding the military outpost, a small four-story building. The blast put a hole in the barricades, which had recently been shored up, said Col. Erik Kurilla, commander of the 1st Brigade, 24th Infantry Regiment. Fighters then barraged the outpost with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, he said.
Kurilla responded with his team of Stryker armored vehicles. As the group neared the combat outpost, another bomb-filled vehicle rammed into one of the Strykers rumbling down the road.
"It was a complex attack," Kurilla said. "There were some incredibly heroic actions by our men."
Kurilla and other commanders have been expecting violence to escalate with upcoming elections at the end of January. Mosul has been the site of increasing insurgent activity, and intelligence officials suspect ringleaders moved their operations here after the Marines attacked their former stronghold in Fallujah.
Officers said the last time they recalled jets dropping bombs on Mosul was early last month, when insurgents overran several police stations, killing Iraqi policemen and scaring off most of the rest of the force. [...]
Four wounded at Mosul receive purple hearts at BAMC
Link to Full Article
By Sheila Hotchkin; Express-News
A week after a suicide bomber targeted a crowded mess tent in northern Iraq, four soldiers injured in the attack received Purple Hearts at Brooke Army Medical Center today. [...]
The four are being treated for burns, shrapnel wounds and other injuries. All are members of the 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade, based at Fort Lewis, Wash.
They are Spc. Donald Bergren, 27, of Watertown, Wis.; Spc. Donald Larson, 24, of Vancouver, Wash.; Pfc. Amanda Mohon, 19, of Willow Creek, Calif.; and Sgt. Christian Steele, 27, of Gary, Ind.
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE; Associated Press
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- Hundreds of friends and relatives of six Stryker brigade soldiers killed in the bombing of a dining tent at Mosul, Iraq, gathered Wednesday to remember the fallen as heroes.
“We grieve the loss of six soldiers, six brothers in arms,” Army Maj. Timothy Gauthier said as the memorial service began.
Among those attending were Gov. Gary Locke and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Each soldier was to be honored by two tributes -- one from a commander, one from a fellow soldier -- before a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps” at Fort Lewis’ Soldiers Field House.
The six, all members of the Stryker Brigade, died when a suicide bomber, apparently dressed in an Iraqi military uniform, walked into a mess tent in Mosul around noontime on Dec. 21. It was the deadliest attack so far at a U.S. military base in Iraq, claiming 22 lives, including 14 American soldiers and several civilians.
Additional news links regarding the memorial.
Fort Lewis honors six slain soldiers - The Olympian
'We Grieve The Loss Of 6 Soldiers, 6 Brothers In Arms' - KOMO TV
Sobs and Silence at Memorial for Soldiers at Washington Base - New York Times
Memorial honors six killed in bombing - News Tribune
Fort Lewis pays tribute to six of its own - Seattle P-I
Honoring fallen comrades - Seattle Times
A day of sadness, pride - The Olympian
Hundreds remember Soldiers killed in Mosul - Army News Service
ISF defeat insurgent attacks, MNF detains 18
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 29, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces decisively defeated three separate attacks by anti-Iraqi insurgents as they attempted to seize two police stations while Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 18 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during other operations Tuesday in northern Iraq.
Two Iraqi Police stations came under attack by rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire during a coordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the stations in west and southeast Mosul. The Iraqi Police successfully repelled the first two attacks on the stations denying insurgents access. After regrouping, insurgents attempted to overrun the southeast station once again but police decisively defeated their attempts. This is the seventh, eighth and ninth time since November 10 where insurgents have tried but failed to overrun police stations. Since November 10, no police stations have fallen into the hands of insurgent fighters.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search operation in western Mosul and detained 15 people wanted for planning and conducting anti-Iraqi activities. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
A concerned citizen came to 1-24 soldiers during their patrol in southwest Mosul and reported that three individuals purchased electronic components common in roadside bomb manufacturing. When Soldiers spotted the individuals they began to flee. Soldiers quickly maneuvered detaining the three suspects for further questioning. 1-24 reported no injuries during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Explosion Rocks Northwest Baghdad - Additional information on these attacks and 1/25 involvement
Dear Soldier
This compilation of messages to the troops was published on Christmas Day by The News Tribune. Even though it's a couple days late we thought it was worth sharing.
For many people, the holidays are a time for friends and family. But what about those whose duty calls them to faraway places? New friends – comrades in arms – fill some of the holes, but many remain. The News Tribune invited readers to put their warm wishes into words in the form of letters to our soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly 200 of you responded, and we thank you.
Memorial Planned For Stryker Soldiers
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- Fort Lewis plans a memorial service Wednesday for the six Stryker brigade soldiers who were among the 22 killed in the Mosul mess tent bombing.
The ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. in Soldier's Field House.
The six are William W. Jacobsen Junior, Julian S. Melo, Darren D. VanKomen, Robert S. Johnson, Jonathan Castro and Lionel Ayro.
CPT William W. Jacobsen Jr.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of CPT William W. Jacobsen Jr., 31, of Charlotte, NC, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. CPT Jacobsen died December 21 in Mosul, Iraq, when his dining facility was attacked.
At least 6 Fort Lewis soldiers are among Mosul dead -Seattle Times
Capt. William W. Jacobsen Jr.: Captain had a strong belief in democracy - Seattle P-I
Grieving Kin Hail Troops Killed in Mosul - Washington Post, Associated Press
Military: Charlotte man among those killed in Mosul attack - Charlotte Observer, Associated Press
Duty's final call - The Olympian
SSG Holcomb shares stories from the time he served with CPT Jacobsen.
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul - Strykernews.com
'Born Soldier' laid to rest - News 14 Charlotte
A Faith in Quiet Diplomacy, Giving Respect, to the End - New York Times
BYU graduate died in Mosul massacre - Salt Lake Tribune
Iraq war veteran honored at memorial - Daily Herald
Survivors Share Stories at Appreciation Luncheon - AFIS
SSG Julian S. Melo
The Department of Defense announced today the death of SSG Julian S. Melo, 47, of Brooklyn, NY, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. SSG Melo died December 21 in Mosul, Iraq, when his dining facility was attacked.
Soldier with Brooklyn ties killed in Iraq - Newsday
Dies fighting tyrants - New York Daily News
At least 6 Fort Lewis soldiers are among Mosul dead -Seattle Times
Grieving Kin Hail Troops Killed in Mosul - Washington Post, Associated Press
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul - Strykernews.com
Staff Sgt. Julian S. Melo: He left Panama and fell in love with New York City - Seattle P-I
SSG Darren D. VanKomen
The Department of Defense announced today the death of SSG Darren D. VanKomen, 33, of Bluefield, W.VA, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. SSG VanKomen died December 21 in Mosul, Iraq, when his dining facility was attacked.
The issue is not if, but how they will be honored - Charleston Daily Mail
At least 6 Fort Lewis soldiers are among Mosul dead -Seattle Times
Grieving Kin Hail Troops Killed in Mosul - Washington Post, Associated Press
Idaho Sergeant Killed In Iraq Attack - KBCI TV News, Associate Press
Duty's Final Call - The Olympian
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul - Strykernews.com
SSG Robert S. Johnson
The Department of Defense announced today the death of SSG Robert S. Johnson, 23, of Castro Valley, CA, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. SSG Johnson died December 21 in Mosul, Iraq, when his dining facility was attacked.
At least 6 Fort Lewis soldiers are among Mosul dead - Seattle Times
Seaside resident killed in Mosul bombing - SFGate.com
Staff Sgt. Robert S. Johnson: A serious soldier, he wanted to go to Iraq - Seattle P-I
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul - Strykernews.com
Service set for Seaside soldier killed in Iraq - Monterey Herald
HONORING A FALLEN SOLDIER - Monterey Herald
Impact of a soldier's funeral - Monterey Herald
Castro Valley father mourns for son killed in Mosul - InsideBayArea.com
Dad outraged over son's Iraq death - SFGate.com
Farewell, comrade - Monterey Herald
SPC Jonathan Castro
The Department of Defense announced today the death of SPC Jonathan Castro, 21, of Corona, CA, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to the 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. SPC Castro died December 21 in Mosul, Iraq, when his dining facility was attacked.
At least 6 Fort Lewis soldiers are among Mosul dead -Seattle Times
SoCal soldier from Corona had big heart, lofty goals - Mercury News, Associated Press
Spc. Jonathan Castro: U.S. should 'bring them all home,' his mom says - Seattle P-I
CPT Kevin R. Golinghorst's comments from the memorial held in Mosul on 12/27.
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul - Strykernews.com
For Some, a Loss in Iraq Turns Into Antiwar Activism - Washington Post
PFC Lionel Ayro
The Department of Defense announced today the death of PFC Lionel Ayro, 22, of Jeanerette, LA, who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was assigned to the 73rd Engineer Company, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA. PFC Ayro died December 21 in Mosul, Iraq, when his dining facility was attacked.
At least 6 Fort Lewis soldiers are among Mosul dead -Seattle Times
Pfc. Lionel Ayro: 'He was everything a mother would want' - Seattle P-I
Family of Lionel Ayro Speaks About His Death - KLFY TV
CPT Kevin R. Golinghorst's comments from the memorial held in Mosul on 12/27.
Lionel Ayro Funeral Arrangements - KLFY TV
Memorial for six Fort Lewis soldiers killed in Mosul - Strykernews.com
Pfc. Lionel Ayro laid to rest in Jeanerette - The Daily Advertiser
Town near Fort Lewis worries, waits
Link to Full Article
By PAIGE PARKER
DuPONT, Wash. -- When Melinda Williams saw a uniformed man drive by her home Thursday, she had to wonder if he'd come to notify a neighbor that a family member had been killed in Iraq.
These are the kind of worries that have become routine in this town just off Fort Lewis, especially in the days since a suicide bomber killed 22, most of them Americans, in a mess tent Tuesday near Mosul.
The Department of Defense has not released the names of the dead, but it is widely expected in DuPont that many will have ties to Fort Lewis, home to the Stryker Brigade serving in Mosul. At least 31 Fort Lewis soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the war began last year. [...]
Military wives share the most painful stories with each other. Their lives are stitched closely together, Bovard said. They care for one another's children, rake one another's leaves and make one another's meals.
Carla Daniel's husband is an officer serving in Baghdad. She traveled to Atlanta with her children this week so she could spend Christmas with family.
But that meant she was away from the other military wives when the mess tent exploded, and she said in an interview by phone that she now wants to return to DuPont.
Bovard's husband is back from Iraq now, so when she saw news of the Mosul attack she knew it couldn't be him.
But still, she says, the casualty reports are "sickening. I don't think the general public understands that. I prefer to focus on the ones that didn't die."
Family of Mosul victims notified
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CHRISTIAN HILL; THE OLYMPIAN
The Army has notified all the family members of those killed in this week's deadly attack near Mosul, a Fort Lewis spokeswoman said Thursday. The Pentagon is scheduled to release their names today, she said.
The spokeswoman, Tammy Reed, had no further information, including how many soldiers from Fort Lewis were killed in the attack.
NBC News, citing a Pentagon source, reported Thursday afternoon that eight Fort Lewis soldiers were killed in the attack.
Investigators now believe the explosion Tuesday was the work of a suicide bomber who entered the mess tent at Forward Operating Base Marez.
Reed said the Army has notified most, if not all, of the family members of service members wounded in the attack. That number stands at 76. [...]
Saturday night vigil
Operation Support Our Troops, which has sent thousands of items to soldiers, plans a candlelight vigil at 7 on Christmas night to honor those killed in the attack in Mosul. The vigil will be on the Interstate 5 overpass linking Camp Murray and Fort Lewis (Exit 122). For more information, visit www.osot.org.
Mosul attack haunts troops
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BY DIONNE SEARCEY, STAFF CORRESPONDENT, Newsday
CAMP MAREZ, Iraq -- Soldiers patrolled the mostly empty streets of Mosul with caution Thursday, shoring up security at combat outposts, checking on their Iraqi National Guard allies stationed throughout town and arresting two locals who carried suspicious belongings - all with scant mention of the horror that struck this week just four days before Christmas.
But in the quiet moments, when troops stopped to smoke a cigarette or paused from their paperwork, the apparent suicide bombing that killed at least 21 other people at an on-base dining hall weighed on them. Some can't seem to shut their eyes without reliving the gruesome scene. Some don't want to discuss it at all and some can't quit talking about it. Sgt. 1st Class Creed McCaslin was waiting for the hearing in his left ear to return, an after-effect of the massive boom. He credits the salad bar he ducked behind with saving his life. [...]
And the leader of the 1-24 said he has taken pains to remind his troops that the Iraqi people are not the enemy. "I think the world of our Iraqi National Guard battalion," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, who heads a Stryker unit.
His good relations with the Iraqi troops was evident throughout the day as he visited vacant police stations in western Mosul that the Iraqi National Guard was helping to man since the local police fled when insurgents attacked last month. Kurilla restocked their food and water supply, shook their hands and praised their work, and generally tried to boost morale.
Throughout the day, Kurilla led soldiers through the quiet streets, stomping through a hilly dump where insurgents are known to stash weapons and checking on soldiers holding down the once swanky, but now barren, Mosul Hotel. At one intersection they picked up the bodies of two unknown Iraqis, dead from unknown causes, and delivered them to the morgue. [...]
Follow the link for the full article to read more.
Mosul injured at Landstuhl expected to recover
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By Katharine A. Schmidt; Associated Press
LANDSTUHL, Germany — U.S. military doctors worked through the night stabilizing soldiers and civilians wounded in a deadly insurgent attack on a base in northern Iraq, the hospital commander said Thursday, adding that all are expected to recover.
A total of 35 people wounded in Tuesday’s attack on a U.S. military base’s dining facility in Mosul are being treated at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in southern Germany, and 17 are intensive care, said Army Col. Dr. Rhonda Cornum. [...]
In the past two days, the hospital has received 93 patients, including the 35 from the Mosul tent attack, Cornum said.
“We’ve been working around the clock,” said Landstuhl spokeswoman Marie Shaw.
With Christmas near, extra doctors working on lighter holiday schedules have been put on standby, told that they need to be able to report to the hospital within two hours if needed. So far, the regular staff has been able to cope with the workload, Shaw said.
The hospital has already sent two patients to the United States and was sending five more Thursday for further treatment at Brooks Army Medical Center in Texas and Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, Shaw said.
On Patrol in Mosul: The 1-24th Infantry Stryker Brigade
This web site from Newsday.com includes a 14 picture slide show of the 1-24
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By Newsday reporter Dionne Searcey and photographer Moises Saman
Wednesday, December 23, 2004
On Thursday, soldiers at Camp Marez in Mosul were still feeling the sting of the loss of 22 soldiers, civilians and Iraqis and the wounding of 72 others when a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a dining hall in this northern city.
They tried to go about their business, though, patrolling the relatively quiet streets. Photographer Moises Saman and I road along with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment and the unit commander, Col. Erik Kurilla as he surveyed combat outposts and Iraqi police stations. Abandoned when insurgents attacked in November and now occupied by only small units of Iraqi National Guard members.
Inside the heavily armored and cramped Stryker no one spoke about the tragedies. Those conversations were saved for times of quiet reflection back at camp. [...]
The Iraqi interpreter accompanying the troops was overcome with anger as he paged through the man's address book, containing contact numbers for Syrians and others he thought could be tied to the insurgency.
He gave the man two quick kicks in the rear, and soldiers took the suspect away. Everyone returned to Camp Marez, which like most camps in Iraq, is awash in candy, baby wipes and sticks of deodorant from well-meaning schoolchildren and family members who wrongly assume soldiers don't have access to these kinds of things.
Mortars have struck here before, near the dining hall even. One landed on a road in the camp yesterday. It was a dud.
Mosul attack evidence insurgents' intel better
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By John Diamond, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The implications of the audacious suicide attack in the center of a heavily guarded U.S. military base in Mosul go beyond a failure of base security.
The attack is the latest evidence that Iraqi insurgents have better intelligence about U.S. forces than U.S. forces have on the insurgents.
"The message that the attack on the base sends to average Iraqis is that if the Americans can't protect their own soldiers on their own bases, how are they going to protect you," said Andrew Krepinevich, a military analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. [...]
The hard months of fighting this fall have replaced the optimistic forecasting with a grim sense of reality at the Pentagon.
"Looking for a peaceful Iraq after the elections would be a mistake," Rumsfeld said. "I think our expectations level ought to be realistic about that."
Rumsfeld still talks about a peaceful, democratic and prosperous Iraq. But Wednesday he warned of the consequences of failure. "We can not allow those who chop off people's heads to take control," he said.
Tightest Security Has Holes
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By Mark Mazzetti and Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times
After the attack on a mess tent near Mosul, the military looks at its protective measures. Iraqis working at bases come under scrutiny.
BAGHDAD — To protect U.S. troops where they eat and sleep, commanders have put up a cordon of concrete barriers, concertina wire and staggered guard posts at U.S. military bases throughout Iraq.
Yet Tuesday's brazen attack at Forward Operating Base Marez near Mosul proved that these measures were insufficient to prevent Iraqi insurgents from striking U.S. troops at a place and time of their choosing.
U.S. military officials will be taking a hard look not only at base security but also at the vetting procedures that allow thousands of Iraqis — soldiers and civilians — onto U.S. facilities. [...]
At Forward Operating Base Marez, where 22 people died in Tuesday's attack, all civilians — including those employed on the base — must pass through at least four checkpoints and searches, the first two controlled by Iraqi security forces and the last two by U.S. soldiers, Iraqi workers said. [...]
After investigators in Mosul determined that the attack probably was the work of a suicide bomber, military officers in Tikrit, where the Army's 1st Infantry Division is based, banned all backpacks from the division's mess halls.
"Whenever we have an incident like this, we want to review our own procedures," said Lt. Col. William Russell, the 1st Infantry Division's force protection officer.
The Mosul attack has heightened tensions between Americans and Iraqis on some bases.
Dining on pizza Wednesday in a nearly empty mess hall on the base in Tikrit, Army Spc. Ernesto Chapa and Spc. Daniel Dominowski said they were concerned about the local workers allowed on base.
"Not all Iraqis are bad guys, but some of them are," said Chapa, adding that he would prefer to have no locals working on the base. "Having cheap labor isn't worth endangering people's lives, especially when we can do the jobs ourselves."
Dominowski said, "Even though they're escorted, it's definitely something I worry about. I don't think they can do background checks on everybody."
Medic ignores own wounds, tends to others among carnage
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Bill Nemitz; Portland (Maine) Press Herald
MOSUL, Iraq — A feature on senior soldiers in the latest AARP Bulletin shows Maj. John "Doc" Nelson, in full uniform at Forward Operating Base Marez, beneath the headline "What Are You Doing in the War, Grandpa?"
Here's what:
Just after noon Tuesday, ignoring the four pieces of shrapnel lodged in his back and neck, the chief medical officer for the Maine Army National Guard's 133rd Engineer Battalion saved an untold number of lives.
Then he collapsed.
"It knocked me for a loop," said Nelson, 51, who was sitting about 15 feet from the explosion that ripped through the base's huge dining hall — killing 22 people and wounding 64.
"It was smoky. It was dark. I picked myself up and looked around and didn't see anything moving," Nelson said. "And I thought, 'Oh (expletive), I've got my work cut out for me now.' "
Stretched out across his bunk yesterday, his right arm out of its sling but still pressed gingerly against his chest, Nelson relived the horror that began as a normal lunch and ended in the worst MASCAL — military shorthand for mass casualty — that even he could imagine.
"My MASCAL plan for an attack on the DFAC (dining facility) during a peak meal hour assumed 24 dead," Nelson said.
His projection, tragically, was only off by two. [...]
For months, Nelson has drilled his squad of eight medics — and, by extension, the entire battalion — on the need to be ready for a catastrophe just like this.
He brought them to the dining facility repeatedly and ordered them to install litters here, first-aid bags there and run through what they'd do if a bomb hit. At times, some of the younger medics would roll their eyes at the often irascible senior officer and wonder, sometimes aloud, if all of this wasn't a tad melodramatic.
Did watching Nelson in action change her opinion of the 51-year-old major?
"It greatly did," said Spc. Angel Waters. "I realize now he was trying to prepare us for the worst-case scenario — and then the worst-case scenario happened."
Waters, 25, of Gorham, Maine, rushed from the 133rd's medical-aid station to the dining hall the moment the first call came in. She saw Nelson doing what they'd all trained so hard to do, and followed his lead.
"There were so many people who needed help," Waters said. With tears in her eyes, she added, "And there were other people who were so bad they didn't need help anymore."
Iraq bombing represents security breach
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By MATT KELLEY; ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON -- The suspected suicide attack inside an Army mess hall in Iraq represents a breach of the most basic principles of military security and points to significant weaknesses in the screening of Iraqis who are allowed onto the base, experts say.
"This is an incredible occurrence, that someone could have come in undetected with some kind of bomb," said Mitch Mitchell, a retired Army officer who helps design security training for the military. "It blows my mind that force protection on the base is that poor." [...]
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, defended the security plans put in place by the U.S. commander in northern Iraq, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham.
"We have had a suicide bomber apparently strap something to his body and go into a dining hall. We know how difficult this is, to prevent people bent on suicide and stopping them," Myers said Wednesday at a Pentagon news conference. "This was the insurgents that did this. So it's not General Ham that attacked his dining hall."
Military officials initially said a 122 mm rocket was the likely cause. Myers would not comment on specific evidence in the ongoing investigation of the attack, but said, "If it was a rocket, you'd find remnants of the rocket. If it were an improvised explosive device you would find remnants of the improvised explosive device."
Like Myers, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld defended U.S. troop security in Iraq, saying it was "an enormous challenge to provide force protection."
"They have to be right 100 percent of the time," he said, standing at Myers' side. "An attacker only has to be right occasionally." [...]
Follow the link to the full article to read more.
U.S. re-examines security at Iraq bases
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By BASSEM MROUE; ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The U.S. military was re-examining security measures at bases across Iraq on Thursday, a day after saying an attack that killed 22 people at a camp near Mosul was likely carried out by a suicide bomber who may have had inside information.
The explosion on Monday at the tightly guarded U.S. base raised questions about how the attacker infiltrated the compound, which is surrounded by blast walls and barbed wire and watched by U.S. troops who search every person going in and check his identity. [...]
In the immediate aftermath of Saddam Hussein's ouster in April 2003, U.S. commanders cited Mosul - with a population of 1.2 million some 220 miles north of Baghdad - as a success story. But armed opposition has mounted, especially since last month's successful U.S.-led operation to retake the insurgent-held town of Fallujah.
Many insurgents apparently moved to Mosul, where guerrillas launched a coordinated surprise attack in November against police stations. The municipal police force, estimated at over 6,000 officers, disintegrated; despite the success of U.S. troops a few days later in re-establishing control, only part of the police force has returned to work.
Colin Powell transcript
US Secretary of State Colin Powell was a guest at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon on Tuesday. Here is the US State Department's transcript of his remarks as posted by the Christian Science Monitor.
For 'ghost riders,' Mosul attack a stark reminder of Strykers' mortality
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By Matthew Dolan; Baltimore Sun
Armored brigades proved worth in Iraq, officers say
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- Iraqis called them "ghost riders."
The Army's new Stryker brigades earned the nickname in Iraq this year because of their speed, unusual quietness in arrival and ability to survive insurgent attacks.
Unlike Humvee drivers who often plow through bomb-infested convoy routes without stopping, soldiers driving eight-wheel armored combat vehicles known as Strykers boast that they engage their enemies when the enemies appear. But the lunchtime bombing Tuesday at a military mess tent in Mosul that killed 22, including brigade members, came as a stark reminder of how mortal the "ghost riders" always were.
"An attack at a dining facility is going to target everyone there, whether you're a tank crew driver or a Stryker driver or a soldier working in supply," said Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for Fort Lewis, home of the nation's two active Stryker brigades. "You don't have the same kind of protection." [...]
Though the vehicles have sustained heavy damage at times, Costello said he is unaware of any fatalities from direct enemy fire against a Stryker.
Advocates argue that the program has already proved its worth.
"They effectively used speed and situational understanding," Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said in a speech in October. "The speed and agility of the Strykers has earned the 3rd of the 2nd a nickname among many Iraqis. ... They were known as the 'Ghost Riders,' because the Stryker vehicles arrived and deployed their infantrymen with little noise and with little warning."
One Stryker battalion moved hundreds of miles south from Mosul within two days to fill a greater need.
"That's operational agility with strategic impact," Cody said.
Little time for mourning
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BY JEREMY REDMON; Richmond Times-Dispatch
Troops must deal with loss while keeping an eye open for dangers
MOSUL, Iraq - Spc. Sean Crippen stewed in the cramped belly of a high-tech Stryker assault vehicle guarding a bridge over the Tigris River.
Bundled up tight against the early morning cold of northern Iraq, Crippen kept thinking about the close friend he lost in a surprise attack just hours before.
"I want to take care of who did this to him," the Lancaster County, Va., resident said calmly yesterday.
Crippen knew, however, that revenge was out of the question. He had to stay focused. He was on a mission with the Richmond-based 276th Engineer Battalion. [...]
Listening intently to Crippen, Capt. Kevin Golinghorst sat in the soft glow of the three computer monitors of the submarine-like Stryker. Golinghorst lost two men from the Washington state-based 73rd Engineer Company he commands. Seven from his unit were wounded by the blast, which sprayed BB-size pellets across the chow hall.
Before they left their base for the bridge around 3 a.m., Golinghorst spoke to Crippen and more than a dozen other men from the 276th and 73rd about the friends they had lost. As they stood in the darkness, Golinghorst said they would take over the bridge and make it safe in honor of their dead comrades.
"Everything we will be doing is in honor of them," Golinghorst, 31, said later. "We have to give it all day by day for them." [...]
"Danger. Enemy in area," his Stryker announced several times throughout the morning in a warm female voice.
It was unclear who the enemies were. But Golinghorst and his men tracked several civilians parking their cars near the bridge and acting suspiciously.
The sun started to rise. And then Boom! Boom! Two 60 mm mortar rounds landed somewhere near the bridge. No one was hurt. Golinghorst and his men were under attack again.
The News Of The Deadly Attack In Mosul Hits Home For A Caldwell Grandmother
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By Michelle Krish; KBCI - TV, Boise
MERIDIAN - Pearl Kreps is a sales manager at Comfort Suites, but work is the last thing on her mind. Her eyes are glued to the TV, her fingers remain on her keyboard and her cell phone stands guard at her side. "So, we're hoping to hear from him real soon," said Kreps.
She's anxiously waiting to hear from her 21-year-old grandson, Army Specialist Casey Kreps. He's in Mosul and has not contacted his family since Tuesday's deadly attack. Pearl says the silence is unnerving. "When they started mentioning that groups from Fort Lewis were in there that's when I started to really get nervous," said Kreps.
Casey is a Nampa native and serves with the elite stryker brigade out of Fort Lewis. In Iraq, he's on the frontline. "He's been shy so we're surprised he's in the group that he's in but it is really making a man out of him," said Kreps.
Follow the link for the full story.
Mosul attack hits home in Kitsap
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By Susie L. Oh
Local families wait to hear from loved ones.
Worry, tempered by optimism, was on the mind of two Kitsap families with loved ones in Mosul, Iraq, after Tuesday's deadly attacks on a military mess tent there.
Chuck Bolz and Denise Climer, whose son and husband, respectively, are stationed in Mosul, hadn't heard from their family members by Tuesday evening, but both felt relatively confident they were OK.
"Because of our faith in God and the prayers surrounding him I feel he's safe," said Bolz, of Port Orchard.
According to reports, 22 died in the attack and 66 were wounded. The dead included 20 Americans — 15 service members and five civilian contractors — and 2 Iraqi soldiers, The Associated Press reported. Their names have not been released. [...]
Climer said she and her husband don't usually discuss what could happen to him when he deploys, but this last time he told her he made some precautionary arrangements. When she talks to him on the phone twice a month, she can hear mortars exploding in the background and often their connection is cut. But she doesn't believe in complaining about her situation.
"He wanted to be there, he chose it," she said. "When you're a soldier, that's your job."
Huddling in cyberspace
Link to Full Article
New York Daily News
Soldiers, kin keep in touch via Net as the war rages on
If Vietnam was the TV war, then Iraq is the Internet war, with millions of messages and photos flashing from the battlefield and from home.
Yesterday, they included a message posted by the aunt of a soldier at Forward Operating Base Marez hours after an explosion tore through the mess tent there.
"From: Aunt Sally (Tue Dec 21 16:13:41 2004)
"I've been worrying about you ESPECIALLY today. I keep telling myself that you're happy, and I know you're doing a good job. I just hope that you're OK and that soon your job there will be done and you can come back safe & sound. We love you and we're VERY proud of you!"
The message is addressed to Sgt. David Rozmarin, whose picture appears in the photo gallery of the Stryker Brigade News, a Web site associated with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. The Nov. 2 photo shows Rozmarin standing with his right hand upraised near two of the Stryker armored vehicles that give the unit its nickname.
"SGT David Rozmarin swears his Oath of Enlistment," reads the caption. "Location: FOB Marez, Mosul, Iraq."
A Dec. 11 posting is apparently from Rozmarin's mother.
"I'm proud of you, Dave! Take care & be safe! Love, Mom."
Strykers are the Army's most modern armored vehicle, the very opposite of the infamous unarmored Humvees. This offered scant comfort yesterday to the loved ones of Stryker soldiers such as those who posted a photo of themselves with their vehicle at FOB Marez. An accompanying message posted by one of the soldiers on Monday reads:
"As soon as I get more [photos] I will make sure to post them so you all can see your soldier is doing good. God Bless everyone."
Follow the full article link to read the rest of the story.
Fort Lewis braces for bad news
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By MIKE BARBER; Seattle Post-Intelligencer
FORT LEWIS -- A pall seemed to descend, like the gray, drizzling rain, over this Army post, home to 6,700 soldiers deployed to Iraq, as the wait began yesterday to identify those killed and wounded in the most deadly attack of the war for U.S. troops.
"It doesn't hurt any more or less than any other time of the year," Lt. Col. Bill Costello, the post's spokesman, said yesterday of the Christmastime attack on a tent full of troops and civilian workers eating lunch in Mosul, which is temporary home to thousands of Fort Lewis soldiers.
Fifteen U.S. soldiers, five civilian employees working for Defense Department contractor Halliburton and two Iraqi soldiers were killed, according to Capt. Brian Lucas, a military spokesman. At least 66 were wounded.
From Mosul, soldiers cognizant of their families' worries who escaped or were not involved in the attack on Forward Operating Base Mazer rushed to telephones and laptops to reassure loved ones and calm fears.
Word of the horrific explosion quickly saturated a bulletin board on a Stryker brigade news site, www.strykernews.com, with calls for prayers, listings of Bible verses and offers of support from brigade family members and their friends. [...]
Almost 11,000 troops based in Washington are in Iraq. Fort Lewis has 6,700 there. The Stryker brigade (1st Brigade, 25th Division) accounts for 4,500 of them, and a few smaller units account for the rest.
About 4,000 men and women with the Washington National Guard's 81st Armor Brigade also are in Iraq.
ISF foil insurgent attack, MNF detain five
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 19, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces decisively defeated another attack by anti-Iraqi insurgents as they attempted to seize a police station while Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained five people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during other operations Friday in northern Iraq.
An Iraqi Police station came under attack by indirect and small arms fire in during a coordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the station in central Mosul. The Iraqi Police successfully repelled the attack denying insurgents access to the station. This is the sixth time since November 10 where insurgents have tried but failed to overrun police stations.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in western Mosul and detained three suspected members of a roadside bomb-making cell. All three are in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two people during checkpoint operations south of Mosul when they discovered two pistols and ski masks in the vehicle.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
MNF detain eight, foil roadside bomb attack
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 18, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities and foiled a roadside bomb attack during operations Friday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in Sinjar and detained four people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against MNF. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces conducted a cordon and search in eastern Mosul and detained four people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment foiled a roadside bomb attack when they noticed a suspicious bag with protruding wires lying near the road in southern Mosul. The U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team destroyed the device with no injuries reported.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Send a holiday note to troops overseas
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THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Thousands of servicemen and -women from the South Sound will be spending the holidays at war.
To help our troops feel a little closer to home, we are encouraging readers to e-mail Christmas greetings to them via The News Tribune.
We’ll forward your messages to the 81st Brigade Combat Team, the Stryker Brigade and other units for distribution to the troops, and we’ll share some of them with our readers on Christmas Day.
Even if you don’t know someone from our area now serving in Iraq, you’re encouraged to send a message. Just keep your greetings to a maximum of 150 words.
To send your holiday greetings to South Sound soldiers overseas, e-mail them to us at newstips@thenewstribune.com.
ISF and MNF detain 17
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 17, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 17 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations Thursday in northern Iraq.
The Iraqi National Guard and Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a joint cordon and search operation in Tal Afar and detained 14 people wanted for planning and conducting attacks against MNF and ISF. The suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in western Mosul and detained three people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF foil two insurgent attacks, MNF detain 10
(TFO Press Release}
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 15, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces defeated two attacks in Mosul by anti-Iraqi insurgents as they attempted to seize two police stations while Multi-National Forces detained 10 people in other operations wanted for anti-Iraqi activities Tuesday in northern Iraq.
Two Iraqi Police stations came under attack with small arms fire during a coordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the stations in western and eastern Mosul. The Iraqi Police and soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard successfully repelled the attacks preventing a reoccurrence of the events of November 10 when many police stations were abandoned and later looted. This is the third and fourth time since November 10 where insurgents have tried but failed to take police stations proving that the Iraqi Security forces are growing stronger each day.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in southeast Mosul and detained nine people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against MNF and ISF. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a cordon and search just west of Tal Afar and detained one person wanted for anti-Iraqi activities. During a search of the residence several weapons and a large amount of ammunition were confiscated. MNF reported no injuries during the operation.
Soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard foiled a roadside bomb attack when they noticed suspicious wires protruding from a barrier near a checkpoint in Tal Afar. After further investigation, the wires led to two 122mm rounds which an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team destroyed in place.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
MNF detain 12, collect weapons
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 14, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities and discovered a large amount of weapons and munitions during operations Monday in northern Iraq.
A concerned citizen came to Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment and provided information that led to the detention of six individuals with suspected terrorist links in the village of Haj Ali. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in Tal Afar and detained six people suspected of planning and conducting roadside bomb attacks against MNF and ISF. During a search of the residence Soldiers discovered a cache of weapons that consisted of AK-47s, one 120mm mortar tube with bipod, mortar fuses and a large amount of ammunition ranging from 5.56mm to 23mm. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
'Long way to go' before Iraqis take over security
This is a long article. TFO and 1/25 commanders speak out.
Link to Full Article
By Tom Squitieri,, USA TODAY and C. Mark Brinkley, Army Times
MUWAQQAR, Jordan — It's the first day on the firing range for the 1,144 cadets in Iraqi police cadet class No. 11.
A couple dozen cadets are lined up at the outdoor firing range. A command comes over the loudspeaker to draw pistols and prepare to fire. The recruits draw, but instead of pointing their weapons at the paper targets about 40 feet in front of them, many carelessly allow their gun barrels to drift toward other students or instructors. Few are paying attention. Some are looking around. Others are talking to fellow cadets, paying little heed to their loaded firearms.
Frustrated foreign instructors rush over to restore order. They remind the cadets how to stand, how to hold a pistol, why they must aim downrange. The command to fire is given. Bullets whistle through the air. Many miss the targets. The students struggle to reload their U.S.-issued pistols. [...]
"This is our meal ticket out of Iraq," says Army Capt. Matthew McGrew, 29, of Elkin, N.C., who trains an Iraqi national guard unit in the volatile northern city of Mosul. "Getting these guys trained and ready is our exit strategy. This is the only thing I can affect. I can't affect politics or economics. But we can help do this." [...]
"Some battalions are ready to operate on their own," says Lt. Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the U.S. 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment. "This battalion still requires sort of a stiffening backbone." [...]
You wouldn't know they are heroes by looking at them. The 106th Battalion's newest recruits are a motley crew, men of all shapes and sizes recently enlisted to fill the void. "Our youngest kid is about 14, and they go all the way up to 60," says a non-commissioned officer handling training in Mosul. "At least they have the courage to stand up and try."
The new recruits are eager, if far from perfect. Some are overweight, some are clearly old, but all race to the armory when it's time to issue AK-47 rifles.
The decisive factor in whether a unit will fight or flee is its commanders, U.S. officers say.
"When they have strong leadership, they do just fine," says Army Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of multinational forces around Mosul. "When they have weak leadership, as we saw in the police force here in Mosul, they don't do well."
Col. Knight says a strong Iraqi force is crucial for elections. "It has to be Iraqi security forces and Iraqi police officers that are visible, in and around the polling places, on the streets."
On Monday, U.S. forces held a ceremony to recognize the 106th for standing fast in the face of an enemy assault. The U.S. officers took care to honor its leadership, including Maj. Alaa al-Aldeen, a 29-year-old Kurdish officer with a steely handshake and military bearing that oozes confidence.
He says he motivates his men by describing what will happen to them if the insurgents win.
"You see them win, and ... after that they come to kill your family," al-Aldeen says.
Stryker troops find weapons cache, car bomb
This article provides a bit more detail about an operation previously outlined in this TFO press release.
Link to Full Article (Photo included)
By Spc. Aaron Ritter
MOSUL, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 13, 2004) – Soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) located and destroyed a large weapons cache Dec. 7 in Mosul.
Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, known as “Deuce Four,” discovered the cache during a search of a scrap yard in the western Mosul neighborhood of Uhud.
“We figured that the anti-Iraqi forces had a rocket-propelled grenade cache,” said Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, battalion commander.
But what the Soldiers of Deuce Four found far exceeded their expectations. They uncovered a fully functional white truck with the hand painted words “police” on the side. Seventeen large caliber mortar rounds rested in the truck bed and exposed wires led Soldiers to believe terrorists planned to use the truck as a deceptive car bomb in the future.
Soldiers also confiscated 34 large caliber mortar rounds, several spools of wire, two RPG rounds with eight booster rockets, 66 empty 60mm mortar cases and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Many of the rounds were hidden in tubing or under metal siding.
“Additionally, we found a shelter with Jihad books, notes about munitions locations, tons of anti-Multi-National Forces propaganda, 250,000 dinars and electronic switches,” Kurilla said.
As Soldiers received small arms fire, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responded to the scene and reduced the munitions. While departing, the Soldiers again came under attack, this time with RPG fire from a nearby mosque, but escaped uninjured.
Kurilla said the search was in response to previous insurgent activities in the neighborhood, primarily attacks Dec. 3, as well as his battalion’s desire to address the concerns of the community.
On Dec 3, insurgents attempted to ambush a Deuce Four patrol along a two-kilometer stretch of roadway in the neighborhood. The ambush consisted of 8-10 roadside bombs and an estimated 70 insurgent fighters armed with RPGs, AK-47s and machine guns.
In response to that attack just two hours later, Deuce Four, together with Iraqi Security Forces, responded in force with a coordinated attack against identified insurgent positions. The intent of the joint operation was to execute a large-scale offensive attack that would restrict the freedom of movement for insurgent fighters and clear the pockets of resistance.
Iraqi security forces cleared a mosque used by insurgents to attack the Soldiers. While clearing the mosque, they discovered a large cache of weapons consisting of RPG rounds, anti-tank grenades and machine guns. The combined efforts of the security forces’ operation eliminated more than two dozen insurgents.
Kurilla and the Soldiers of Deuce Four often return to the site of previous attacks to get a feel for the attitude of the people in the neighborhood.
“The commander likes to revisit the places where terrorists have engaged our forces to get the local populace’s view of the situation,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Bowman, the battalion reconnaissance platoon sergeant. “We’re here not only to defeat the insurgents, but also to try to win the hearts and minds of the citizens who have to live with both terrorists and Multi-National Forces each day.”
Bowman said the support of the local citizens is important because they are a key source of information about what is going on in their neighborhoods, whether it is good, bad or indifferent. By sharing information with the Multi-National Forces and Iraqi security forces, they can help provide a safer environment for all citizens and minimize the amount of disruption to their lives.
“Every little bit we can find and get off the streets is that much better for us and it hurts the terrorists from all angles,” Bowman said. “Anything we can find to keep innocent civilians and security forces from being injured is a big win in our book.”
MNF detain two roadside bomb manufacturers
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 13, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained two people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities and discovered a large a cache of weapons and munitions during operations Sunday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in southern Mosul and detained one person suspected of manufacturing roadside bombs. During a search of the residence, Soldiers discovered roadside bomb components such as batteries and wires. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in Tal Afar and detained one person for anti-Iraqi activities. During a search of the residence, Soldiers discovered a cache of roadside bomb-making materials consisting of plastic explosives, dynamite, rocket propelled grenade rounds, anti-tank mines, detonation cord, blasting caps and timed and remote initiating devices. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF & MNF foil separate attacks, detain six
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 12, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces decisively defeated separate attacks in Mosul by anti-Iraqi insurgents as they attempted to seize a police station and attack an MNF convoy yesterday. In addition, MNF Soldiers detained six people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities and destroyed a large cache of weapons and munitions.
The Iraqi Police Academy came under attack during a coordinated effort by insurgent fighters to overrun the academy in southern Mosul. The Iraqi Police at the academy successfully repelled the attack preventing a reoccurrence of the events of November 10 when many police stations were abandoned and later looted. This is the second time since November 10 where insurgents have tried but failed to take police stations.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment destroyed a large cache of weapons during a patrol in western Mosul that consisted of several roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenades and ammunition. During the destruction of the cache, insurgents attempted to ambush the Stryker patrol when a suicide car bomber drove his vehicle into a Stryker killing himself instantly. Approximately 20 insurgents then opened fire on the convoy of Soldiers using RPGs, small arms fire and indirect fire. Soldiers quickly responded with light and heavy weaponry which included close air-support dropping a 500 lb. bomb on the enemy. Soldiers killed an estimated 10 insurgents The car bomb only slightly damaged the Stryker vehicle and seven U.S. Soldiers injured were all returned to duty. The Stryker vehicle self-recovered to a nearby MNF base demonstrating once again the survivability of the Army’s newest infantry troop carrier.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in southeast Mosul and detained six people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against Iraqi civilians working with MNF. The suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center’s new telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Troops, Insurgents Battle Across Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Scott Wilson; Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Dec. 12 -- U.S. soldiers engaged insurgents Sunday in two major Iraqi cities and in the violent western region where the rebels continue to fight from their former stronghold of Fallujah and surrounding towns.
Eight Marines were killed and at least seven U.S. soldiers were injured in the fighting, which involved airstrikes and close combat on the ground. U.S. military officials estimated that at least 10 insurgents were killed.
The day of sporadic battles, from the northern city of Mosul to Baghdad, began with a rush-hour attack on a patrol of U.S.-trained Iraqi National Guardsmen along Haifa Street in the capital. U.S. military officials said the guardsmen, who have performed inconsistently in combat in much of the country, fought back with rifles and grenades. [...]
In Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, U.S. military officials reported that American troops and Iraqi National Guardsmen helped stave off an insurgent attack on a police station. Insurgents overran at least six stations there last month and drove off much of the police force.
The fighting in Mosul, an ethnically mixed city of more than 1 million people, has been especially fierce in the Arab half of the city west of the Tigris River. On Sunday, U.S. troops who were destroying a weapons cache found in that part of the city came under a coordinated attack that injured at least seven soldiers.
U.S. officials said the soldiers were traveling in a Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle, when a suicide bomber detonated his car next to it. About 20 insurgents then opened fire with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
US forces pursue the old enemy in new Iraqi hot spot
This is a very interesting article from the British press that highlights the Deuce Four battalion. There are several quotes from brigade soldiers.
Link to Full Article
By Jack Fairweather in Mosul; Telegraph (Unitied Kingdom)
There is a body zipped up in a bag lying by the side of the street. Behind it is a lorry with its windscreen dotted with bullet holes.
The man was shot by B company, Deuce-4 battalion, as they were ambushed uncovering explosives by the side of the road on the western fringe of Mosul.
The soldiers think he was just a lorry driver but they are not sure. One shouts that he can see Iraqis running for cover. Somewhere between the nearby houses shots ring out. The ambushers are still out there. [...]
The US military now has a 5,000-strong force in Mosul, the largest since the war. The military says its aim is to prepare the city for elections next month by re-creating confidence in civic leadership but much of its time is spent countering the daily assaults of the insurgents.
"We know that elections are our ticket out of here," one senior officer said. "But first we've got to bring security to the area." US officers are confident, despite the increased insurgency, that they can do this in time.
"To break this insurgency what we need is intelligence and to get that we need to win the trust of the Iraqi people," said Lt Col Eric Kurilla, commander of the 8,000-strong Deuce-4 battalion, which bears the brunt of the attacks in the Sunni Yarmuk district of western Mosul.
Col Kurilla embodies the American fight against the insurgency and its inherent contradictions: brilliant in attack but unable to persuade the local people that the US presence and elections will make their lives better.
He is a bear of a man, loved by his soldiers. He spends most of his day touring the battle zone "looking for a fight", as he puts it, the tried and trusted method for weeding out insurgents.
Visiting B company a few hours after it was ambushed, he walked eagerly around the pitted streets asking residents if they knew where the insurgents were. [...]
It didn't take long to find caches of artillery shells, sniper bullets and rocket-propelled grenades hidden among broken masonry and old scrap along the side of the road. From a distance a crowd of residents watched. "Now that's a goddam complicit population," fumed Col Kurilla.
"I know they're scared to act against the insurgents." Most of Col Kurilla's men were boarding the Strykers when the suicide bomber struck, ramming the slowly closing ramp door of one of the vehicles. A fireball sucked up air, and a body part landed on the ground. Soldiers raced over to the vehicle.
Sgt Shannon Kay, who had managed to fire three shots at the vehicle as it approached, had blood pouring down one side of his face.
He climbed into the rear shooting hatch of one of the Strykers, as a mortar landed 30 metres away. "You should get down, you're hurt," said the officer in charge.
Sgt James Kay leant back into the vehicle. "I'm going to finish this thing," he said.
Weather wages own war
Link to Full Article
By C. Mark Brinkley, Times staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — For commanders in war, fighting the enemy can sometimes be only half the battle. Weather can be just as challenging. Consider Mosul. Once a relatively quiet city, it is now a key battleground.
Insurgents launched coordinated attacks on police stations last month, driving thousands of officers away. Since then, insurgents have been targeting individuals cooperating with Americans or the Iraqi government, assassinating them and leaving their bodies in public places as a warning.
As commanders planned counteroffensives they encountered a force as unpredictable as the enemy: the weather.
“November was just crazy here,” said Air Force 1st Lt. Noel Keene, 25, a military weather forecaster from Seaford, Del.
Daily temperatures can shift 40 degrees or more, and rain clouds or dust storms can pop up without warning.
Although the U.S. military prides itself on being an all-weather fighting force, unexpected weather conditions can endanger a mission, cause delays or cancel some operations altogether.
Weather in Mosul, located near the mountainous Turkish border about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, is almost always unpredictable. While the climate in much of Iraq alternates between hot and dry or cold and dry, the northernmost regions experience a full range of seasons.
Fear Hamstrings Quest for Intelligence in N. Iraq
A long article describing an intelligence gathering mission of the 1-5 Battalion.
Link to Full Article
By Scott Wilson; Washington Post Foreign Service
Threats of Bomb Attacks, Reprisals Keep Soldiers Behind Armor, Citizens Silent
QABR ABD, Iraq -- In the numbingly cold hours before dawn, dozens of Iraqi men raised their hands and pressed them against the wall of a low building in this village, under the watch of American troops. The only sounds were the buzz of attack helicopters and howls of dogs. Silhouetted by the headlights of a hulking U.S. Army assault vehicle, the men cast shadows against a scrawl of graffiti. "Support the Islamic Movement. There is no party but God," it read.
"Thumbs down," a voice crackled over an Army radio after one man, tousled and confused, stood in the headlights. His picture had been snapped moments earlier by a young sergeant, and his name checked against a laminated list held by another soldier. An Iraqi informant inside the armored vehicle, too afraid even to appear masked in the dark streets, had linked the man to Iraq's elusive insurgency.
Over the next four hours last Tuesday, more than 200 men endured the same procedure, as U.S. troops compiled a book of mug shots that included almost every man of military age in this village of mud-walled houses on the Tigris River. Thirty-four were linked to the insurgency by at least one of two informants, who later reviewed the men's pictures at an Army post in Mosul, 10 miles north of here.
"I don't care about their hearts and minds, because in a place like this we know where their hearts lay," said Lt. Col. Todd McCaffrey as he watched the suspects, some frightened, others nonchalant, all shivering. "I'm more interested in what they know." [...]
The decline in the number of troops across the north has also reduced the amount of battlefield circulation the battalion is able to do, according to its officers. As a commander, McCaffrey said he would welcome three more rifle companies -- about 300 men -- but understands that more troops could also create a backlash among Iraqis displeased by the U.S. presence.
"I'd take more terps than troops, though," said McCaffrey, a lanky, meticulous West Point graduate from Hudson, Ohio, using Army lingo for interpreters. Only five Arabic-speaking interpreters are assigned to the battalion, and one of them is on leave.
Four of the battalion's Strykers recently pulled into Taiba, a ridge-top village of low houses with mud-and-thatch roofs that overlooks the treacherous town of Hammam al-Alil. Chickens clucked in the dirt, but the people went silent. Men shook their heads when Jones asked for information, and only when Sgt. Maj. Mark Taylor pulled lollipops from his pockets did the voices of more than a dozen children fill the afternoon.
"I have onions to sell. Can I get to Mosul?" asked one man in a dark brown dishdasha, his grandson hovering at his side. Jones told him yes, but when the major asked for information about militants, whom he suspects use the town as a lookout, he got no response.
MNF discover two weapons caches
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 10, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) collected a variety of weapons and munitions Thursday in northern Iraq.
Based on a tip from a concerned citizen, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment searched a gas station near the Yarmouk Traffic Circle in western Mosul. They discovered a cache consisting of multiple Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), blasting caps and mortar fuses. The U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team destroyed the rounds in place with no injuries or damage reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment discovered a cache consisting of 200 anti-aircraft rounds near Tall Afar. A U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team destroyed the rounds in place with no injuries or damage reported.
Multi-National Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens should cooperate with security forces by providing information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
HAZARDOUS DUTY: Risks Rise as Elections Approach
This is a more extensive version of the report by Scott Wilson that also appeared today in the Washington Post. Also reported by MSNBC. A "must read".
Link to Full Article
By SCOTT WILSON; Los Angeles Times
MOSUL, Iraq - Weaving through the open-air market in this old city on the Tigris River, Lt. Scott Smiley stopped to chat Thursday with a few men sipping tea outside stalls conspicuously empty of customers. Sides of beef swung from hooks next door, and the singsong chant of the muezzin filled the early afternoon.
"The coalition must provide security here - there is no security," Saeb Salih Mohammed, a graying 40-year-old told Smiley, explaining why his bins of nuts remained untouched and why he would not vote in elections scheduled for next month. "Otherwise, how do we do this?"
Smiley, a blue-eyed 24-year-old from Pasco, Wash., assured Salih that help was on the way from the novice Iraqi security forces now being trained by U.S. soldiers. Moments later, as Smiley paused to talk to a merchant with a shop full of flour sacks, the popcorn crackle of automatic-rifle fire sounded from where his platoon stood guard at the end of the street. Hunched, he ran into the emptying avenue, reaching his men to find a pool of bright blood beneath the wheels of one armored vehicle. A sergeant had been wounded. [...]
Earlier this week, one U.S. soldier was severely wounded when mortars rained down on a battered station in west Mosul, the volatile Arab half of a city with a sizable Kurdish population. "The security is going to have to come from the Iraqi National Guard because the police force is absolutely incapable," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, 38, of Minneapolis, commander of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division's 1st Brigade, which is responsible for west Mosul. "We're going to be the guys behind the scenes with the big stick."
The insurgency's campaign against Iraqi security forces, steady strikes against U.S. troops and blanket threats against Iraqis who participate in the elections have set back planning for the vote. Every Iraqi who received monthly food rations under Saddam Hussein - roughly 80 percent of the voting-age population - is automatically registered. But Kurilla and other U.S. officials say information about the elections, which will select a 275-member National Assembly that will appoint a new government and oversee the drafting of a constitution, has hardly reached any Mosul residents. [...]
"Any success on our part to show government control is a failure on their part," Maj. Mark Bieger, 35, the battalion's intelligence officer, said of the insurgents. "It's tough. We've got to establish security as best we can, we've got to establish control and, more important, we've got to communicate that control to the people."
The 24th Infantry Regiment arrived in October and, within weeks, faced an insurgent assault that drove off more than three-quarters of the city's police force. Kurilla, a big, bluff commander with a napalm-in-the-morning swagger, said his soldiers killed scores of militants in early November. The insurgents, a mix of former Iraqi military officers, Islamic radicals and a few foreign Arab fighters, carried out a grisly campaign to isolate U.S. forces from any would-be Iraqi supporters. [...]
"We're trying to figure out what they know, and what we have found out is that they don't know anything about it at all," Kurilla said.
Scary Surprises In Mosul
Link to Full Article
By David Ignatius; Washington Post
MOSUL, Iraq -- A year ago this northern Iraqi city was a model for American commanders of how to do it right. U.S. troops worked closely with Iraqis and gradually gained their trust; they found ways to finance thousands of popular reconstruction projects; they even helped produce offbeat programs for local television, including a Mosul version of "Cops" and a talent show they called "Iraqi Idol."
Today Mosul illustrates how things have gone wrong in Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq. There are fewer U.S. troops here than there were a year ago. Meanwhile, a well-organized insurgency has taken root in this city on the banks of the Tigris, intimidating the local population and terrorizing the police. Local security forces are mostly in disarray, and American troops last weekend were fighting running street battles. U.S. commanders say the city's 2 million residents know little about the election scheduled for Jan. 30, and insurgents have even managed to destroy most of the voter registration materials.
"Many, many people are afraid," says Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, who has commanded U.S. forces here since February. The insurgents have infiltrated the city, he says, and their campaign "has had a significant effect on the population."
Ham spoke at his base at the Mosul airport during a quick trip to the city last weekend by Gen. John Abizaid, who commands U.S. forces in the Middle East. Abizaid's visit provided a window on Mosul's importance as a crucial front in the Iraq war. There's no easy optimism about the battle here; U.S. commanders know they face a brutal and determined enemy that combines the ruthlessness of Saddam Hussein's old regime and the passion of radical Islam.
The battle in Mosul is becoming a classic counterinsurgency, in which U.S. forces fight a shadowy enemy that attacks and then disappears into a maze of city streets or the anonymity of rural villages. The insurgents are waging a war of intimidation, and over the past month in Mosul, they have had disturbing success.
'These Are The Bravest Men I've Ever Known'
Link to Full Article (Photos included)
By Keith Eldridge
FORT LEWIS - Two young soldiers from Fort Lewis who were killed in Iraq both leave behind wives who are expecting.
Staff Sergeant Salamo Tuialuuluu and Sgt. David Mitts were killed in an ambush. Fellow soldiers vow to keep the men's memories of heroism alive for their children.
Army Chaplain says, "These two men were heroes." The base chapel was filled to overflowing and filled with emotions to honor their memories.
Both members of the Stryker Brigade were killed when their vehicle came under machine gun and rocket fire in an ambush. Mitts and Tuialuuluu returned fire allowing the rest of the squad to escape.
A letter from fellow soldier Joseph Dallas on the front line in Iraq was read for the families. Sgt. Dallas' letter says: "I never believed in my lifetime I would know such acts of courage and sacrifice that occurred on this day. It'll affect me forever. These are the bravest men I've ever known."
Those are the words the people here will help the children of these two soldiers remember. Tuialuuluu has an 8-month daughter and his wife is pregnant with their second child.
Mitts was about to become a father. His wife is pregnant with their first child, a son.
The letter continues: "I, as many soldiers in this company, will tell the stories of heroism to the children of these two American heroes who sacrificed the joys of being a husband and a father so other men could have that privilege to."
Related Entries: Sgt. David A. Mitts and Staff Sgt. Salamo J. Tuialuuluu.
Deuce Four Soldiers take the fight to the enemy
Link to Article
Story and photos by Spc. Gretel Sharpee
MOSUL, Iraq- When the Soldiers of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division took over operations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul from their Stryker brothers of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, many did not expect to see the increased level of combat that has occurred in their area of operation.
Nevertheless, these Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) have proven their mettle to the insurgents operating in Mosul and demonstrated that they are a fierce and unyielding force.
“The guy that I replaced said that he went through a can of ammunition the whole time he was here, and that was what I was kind of expecting,” said Staff Sgt. Romaine Black, .50 caliber gunner for Bravo Company, 1-24. “But I have used a can of .50 caliber ammunition in the last three days, and it is something that I am still adjusting to.”
During the second week in November, 1-24 or “Deuce Four” Soldiers executed sustained combat operations on the western side of Mosul.
Multinational Forces had seen a recent increase in violent activity during the religious holiday of Ramadan from mid-October through mid-November. Western Mosul is also an area that the MNF had long suspected anti-Iraqi forces were using to launch attacks on U.S. and Iraqi patrols and bases.
On Nov. 10, insurgent activity spiked throughout Mosul. Insurgents were targeting Iraqi Police Stations and other Iraqi Security forces. Immediately responding to the insurgent attacks, Deuce Four and the rest of the Lancer Brigade maneuvered to take the fight to enemy, launching several coordinated offensive attacks in the most dangerous parts of the city.
The fight lasted throughout most of the afternoon of the tenth, and at the end of the day, no police stations were in the hands of insurgents and a restless calm had been returned to the city.
The fight continued on Nov. 11, Veteran’s Day, 2004. But this time, the Soldiers of Deuce Four had the initiative. They were going into a neighborhood known for harboring insurgents and their mission was to kill or capture the enemy in a movement to contact operation.
Companies C and B were going to be responsible to set the cordon around the neighborhood and Company A Soldiers would move through the area, clearing each building of anti-Iraqi forces as they went.
“Our main objective is to secure terrain, and then we focus on the terrorists,” said Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, 1-24 Battalion Commander. “We are not on a defense mission today. We are moving to contact. We will find them.”
Those strong and decisive statements from the Deuce Four commander underscored his intent for this operation—take the fight to the enemy. His Soldiers recognized the intensity of their commander and matched it with their own intensity as they prepared to move out.
Like stirring a hornet’s nest, as soon as Multinational Forces and Iraqi Security forces entered the area, small arms and mortar fire erupted from within the cordon, with enemy fighters positioned on roof tops throughout the area. On the outer perimeter, Company B was continually attacked with small arms and mortar fire throughout the five-hour operation.
However, the enemy attacks were no match for the men of Deuce Four. They immediately returned fire, launching a TOW missile into a building identified as an enemy firing position.
As a result of the efforts of Deuce Four and Iraqi Security forces, calm and stability returned to most of the city following the two days of fighting.
While isolated fighting and pockets of insurgency continued throughout the next few days, Iraqi Security forces and the local Iraqi government controlled the city.
Soldiers in Deuce Four know that their mission is to help maintain stability and security in Mosul.
They also know that what they do is critical to future of this city.
“I hope that the Iraqi people will see us each and every day carrying out our mission and see that we are doing this for them too,” said Spc. Joseph Miller, from Company B.
Spc. Miller also recognizes that without each other and strong leadership, they wouldn’t be able to succeed in their mission here.
“This is my second time in Iraq and these are some of the best leaders I have ever worked with. With them with me, I know I can do my job and look forward to going home.”
The Soldiers of 1-24 Infantry are taking the fight to the enemy and winning in some of the heaviest fighting Mosul has seen since the ground war began in March 2003.
But the combat hardened veterans of Deuce Four won’t rest on their successes anytime soon. They will continue in this fight until the insurgent attacks stop, the Iraqi Police have been fully reestablished, and the citizens of Mosul can go about their daily lives in peace and security.
Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) launched missiles into a building that was being occupied by anti-Iraqi forces firing mortars at Multinational Forces during an operation on Nov. 11. in southwestern Mosul.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
Strykers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) secure a road during a raid on Nov. 13.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) search buildings along a road secured by Strykers during a raid on Nov. 13.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) prepare to move to the next building during a raid in southwestern Mosul on Nov. 13.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
1st Lt. Wren Angeles from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) provides security during a operation in southwestern Mosul on Nov. 13.
(U.S. Army photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
Holiday Greetings Archive
Su Ring at KING 5 News has been kind enough to provide us with a schedule of when holiday greetings from deployed soldiers would air on television. I saw on the news last night that the station now has an online archive of ALL of the video greetings. FYI - you will need to register for the site to access the archive. Thank you KING 5!
MNF unveil large weapons cache, car bomb
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 8, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) prevented a number of attacks against Iraqi civilians and security forces after the Soldiers located and destroyed a large weapons cache in Mosul Tuesday.
Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment discovered the cache during a search of the Uhud neighborhood in western Mosul. Multi-National Forces uncovered a fully functional Iraqi Police truck carrying 17 large caliber mortar rounds in the truck bed, suspected of being rigged as a car bomb.
Additionally, Soldiers confiscated 34 large caliber mortar rounds, several spools of wire, two RPG rounds with eight booster rockets, 66 empty 60mm mortar cases and several cases of ammunition. A further search of a nearby trailer produced numerous anti-security forces propaganda documents, Iraqi currency and electronic devices.
As Iraqi security forces continue to patrol the streets and protect the Iraqi citizens, Soldiers of the 101st Iraqi National Guard Battalion detained one individual at a traffic control point southeast of Mosul. Soldiers searched the vehicle and confiscated one AK-47 with magazines, a handgun and a two hand grenades.
In a separate incident, Soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 21 Infantry Regiment received information from an Iraqi citizen regarding a plot by anti-Iraqi forces to attack security forces with a buried 107mm rocket in northeast Mosul. Multi-National Forces and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal team responded and reduced the round.
Translators' fears disrupt vital lines of communication
Link to Full Article
By C. Mark Brinkley, Army Times for USA Today
MOSUL, Iraq — All Jeff Sirwan has to do is quit talking and the people he loves might stop dying.
As a translator for coalition forces in Iraq, the 25-year-old Kurdish interpreter has negotiated deals for the military, questioned witnesses and handled unruly mobs. In the process, he says, his dedication to the cause of a free Iraq has resulted in at least two murders.
"Just because I am an interpreter, they killed two of my cousins," says Sirwan, of Sulaimaniyah, preparing to head out for another patrol with coalition forces. "Killed them and burned down their homes." [...]
"We have very few left," says Maj. Brian Kenna, 42, an Army civil-affairs team chief from Spokane, Wash., whose job demands regular interaction with local officials and the public. "The terror campaign has been very effective. It makes work a lot more difficult. We're able to get some things done, but in Mosul itself, it's hard to accomplish anything because of the security situation."
Translators are integral to battling an insurgency. Winning the support of the public requires rebuilding civil society. Kenna's unit once had as many as 70 translators, most hired locally. Now it has four. [...]
"We need more of both of them," says Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of multinational forces in northern Iraq. "It's a very specific skill set, obviously, and in high demand." But the risks aren't worth it for many.
"Most of them would rather make $200 a month on the street and be safe," Sirwan says. "And (keep) their families safe."
The losses leave many U.S. military units juggling interpreters, borrowing and lending them so they can work with Iraqi forces or the public. The language barrier can shut progress down cold.
"It's all about building relationships here," says Lt. Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, whose unit works across the southern portion of the city and outlying towns. "You can't build relationships without communications."
Commander Sees Shift In Role of U.S. Troops
Link to Full Article
By Bradley Graham; Washington Post Staff Writer
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar, Dec. 6 -- Army Gen. John P. Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, raised the possibility Monday that U.S. forces in Iraq could start to be reshaped as early as next year to reduce the number of combat troops and concentrate on the development of Iraqi security forces.
Abizaid declined in an interview to set a timetable for the shift, saying it would depend on the outcome of national elections in January and evidence that Iraqi forces could assume a greater share of combat operations against the country's entrenched insurgency. Other senior U.S. officers who elaborated on the plan said the change would not necessarily lead initially to an overall decrease in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq but could eventually facilitate a lower troop level. [...]
Abizaid admitted being especially worried about the situation in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, where most of the 6,000-member police force collapsed a month ago under attack and intimidation and where U.S. forces have remained hard-pressed to reestablish order. Abizaid visited Mosul on Sunday during a one-day trip to Iraq before returning to the forward operating headquarters here for U.S. Central Command.
Once a model of U.S. stabilization efforts, Mosul started showing signs of heightened insurgent activity after the assassination in July of the provincial governor, according to several U.S. officers familiar with the situation. The city has been a haven for former Baath Party members loyal to ousted president Saddam Hussein. Abizaid said greater numbers of foreign fighters and Iraqi insurgents affiliated with the Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi also moved to Mosul in recent weeks from Fallujah, which U.S. forces cleared of rebels last month.
LT DJ Skelton
Mike Oreo posted a status report regarding DJ a while back. DJ's mother, Sandy, has set up a website at CaringBridge.org to keep everyone updated on his continued progress. She also includes a mailing address if you are interested in sending a card.
Sgt. David A. Mitts
The DoD has identified Sgt. David A. Mitts as the second soldier killed in Mosul on Saturday (see below). He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are now with the loved ones he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
DoD Identifies Army Casualties - Official DoD Press Release
Fort Lewis soldier from Oregon killed in Iraq fighting - KGW News
Oregon soldier killed in Iraq - The Associated Press
Two Soldiers From Stryker Brigade Killed In Iraq - KIRO News
Three Soldiers With Ties To State Killed In Iraq Over Weekend - Seattle PI
Iraqi insurgents kill Oregon soldier in Mosul ambush - The Oregonian
Two Stryker soldiers killed Saturday in Iraq were dads-to-be - The News Tribune
Hammond man killed in Iraq - The Daily Astorian
Coastal Residents Mourn Loss Of Soldier - KATU News
'These Are The Bravest Men I've Ever Known' - KOMOTV News
Memorial recalls valor of those lost - The Olympian
Funeral held for Ore. soldier killed in Iraq - KGW TV
Warrenton soldier remembered - The Associated Press
Family, friends honor memory of Warrenton's Sgt. David Mitts - The Oregonian
Sgt. Mitts has been added to our Memorial Page.
Sgt. Mitts was featured in a number of photos (2 of them featured below) from the November 22 edition of The Olympia Observer, the Task Force Olympia newsletter.
Sgt. David Mitts (right), of Warrenton, Ore., provides overwatch for Spc. Aaron Thomas, of Phoenix, Ariz., during a combat patrol on the streets of Mosul November 14.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Fred Minnick)
With a Stryker vehicle in overwatch, Sgt. David Mitts, of Warrenton, Ore., patrols the streets of Mosul during an operation on November 14.
(U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Fred Minnick)
Staff Sgt. Salamo J. Tuialuuluu
The DoD has identified Staff Sgt. Salamo J. Tuialuuluu as one of the two soldiers killed in Mosul on Saturday (see below). He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Any additional articles we find will be included in this entry.
DoD Identifies Army Casualties - Official DoD Press Release
Two Soldiers From Stryker Brigade Killed In Iraq - KIRO News
Three Soldiers With Ties To State Killed In Iraq Over Weekend - Seattle PI
Two Stryker soldiers killed Saturday in Iraq were dads-to-be - The News Tribune
'These Are The Bravest Men I've Ever Known' - KOMOTV News
Memorial recalls valor of those lost - The Olympian
SSG Tuialuuluu has been added to our Memorial Page.
Insurgent Violence Continues to Pound Iraq
NPR posted another audio report last Thursday that includes a segment from Mosul. Follow the link and click on the "Listen" icon.
Officers Donate Equipment to Help Iraqi Police
Registration required to view full article. Fricke has a son with the 1/25 SBCT as well.
Link to Full Article
By Amanda Covarrubias, Times Staff Writer
When U.S. Army Maj. Daniel E. Fricke visited police stations in Iraq this year, he was surprised by what he didn't see — flak jackets, gun belts, flashlights and batons.
As a sergeant with the Los Angeles School Police Department, which serves the Los Angeles Unified School District's 1,042 campuses, he knows how difficult it is to conduct police work even under the best circumstances.
But the police departments in northern Iraq that he helped train were severely under-equipped, Fricke said.
So he called his boss in Los Angeles, Deputy Chief Lawrence Manion, who asked the school district's 270 police officers to donate their used-but-still-serviceable equipment to the fledgling Iraqi police forces.
Many officers chipped in, donating not only gear, but $1,800 in cash to cover shipping expenses.
A month later, thousands of dollars in spare bulletproof vests, helmets, batons and print kits to dust crime scenes were on their way to the Irbil Police Department in northern Iraq, where Fricke trained newly sworn officers. [...]
Fricke, 49, of Palmdale went to Iraq in June as an Army reservist and was scheduled to return to Los Angeles this month after a brief stop at Central Command headquarters in Florida.
A specialist in civil affairs, Fricke was assigned to the Multinational Security Transition Center in Iraq, which is preparing Iraqis to assume more control of their country's security. He oversaw the construction of a police training academy in Iraq, capable of handling up to 1,000 cadets at a time.
The experience was nothing new to Fricke. As a reservist, he performed similar duties in Bosnia when that country was making its transition to democracy a decade ago.
The demands of military life are also familiar to his family. Fricke is the divorced father of four. His eldest son, Jeremy, 25, is serving in Mosul, Iraq, with the Army's Stryker Brigade and another son, Josh, 19, is in basic training to become a military police officer.
ISF & MNF detain 22, making seven-day total 232
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 6, 2004) – Yesterday in northern Iraq, Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and Iraqi Security forces detained 22 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities, bringing the total detained in a seven-day period to 232. In addition, anti-Iraqi insurgents killed an innocent civilian and fired a rocket propelled grenade into the Aumat Al Talib Mosque in Mosul.
Special Police Commandos from the Interior Ministry and Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a joint cordon and search in Tal Afar and detained 19 people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against MNF and ISF. During a search of various residences, five AK-47s, two machine guns, one shotgun and one mortar sight were confiscated. No ISF or MNF were injured during the operation.
Iraqi National Guard soldiers and Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment conducted a joint cordon and search operation in northeast Mosul and detained three people suspected of conducting attacks on MNF in eastern Mosul. The suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Anti-Iraqi insurgents fired one RPG at an Iraqi police station but instead hit the Aumat Al Talib Mosque. During the same incident, anti-Iraqi insurgents shot and killed a civilian outside the Mosque in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment responded, noticed damage to the Mosque’s outer dome, and discovered the deceased civilian. MNF interviewed witnesses who were vocal in their outrage of the insurgents’ actions.
21 Iraqis killed in separate attacks
This is the Associated Press version of the recent news about the 1/25 in Mosul.
Link to Full Article BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Gunmen ambushed a bus full of Iraqis working for the U.S. military, killing 17 civilians and wounding 13 in Tikrit on Sunday, while a car bomb and a gun attack killed four members of the Iraqi security forces elsewhere in northern Iraq. The violence was the latest in a string of deadly attacks targeting Iraqi forces and others allied with the U.S. military that have killed at least 68 Iraqis since Friday. The surge in bloodshed has come despite major U.S. offensives last month to suppress guerrillas ahead of elections set for Jan. 30. [...]
Insurgents also pursued their deadly campaign against American troops and Iraqi security forces. Two U.S. soldiers were killed by roadside bombs in Baghdad and near Baqouba Saturday, and two other American soldiers with Task Force Olympia were killed and four wounded when their patrol came under attack in the turbulent northern city of Mosul.
The two soldiers were killed during a patrol in Mosul's Palestine neighborhood Saturday, when they came under fire from insurgents shooting from two mosques and other buildings in the area, according to spokeswoman Capt. Angela Bowman. The U.S. military later returned to the area and detained three suspects.
Two Stryker soldiers killed
This article contains another perspective on the recent 1/25 action in Mosul.
UPDATE: Additional article added at the bottom.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Two Fort Lewis soldiers were killed Saturday in Mosul, Iraq, when insurgents attacked another Stryker patrol, once again firing from a mosque, a U.S. commander said.
Stryker troops responding to the ambush routed and killed an undetermined number of the gunmen, said Col. Robert Brown, commander of the Fort Lewis-based 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
They found weapons and ammunition in the mosque and in a nearby hospital, he said.
Four other Stryker soldiers were wounded and taken to a field hospital, officials in Mosul said late Saturday night. No other information was immediately available.
The attack followed Friday’s running battle in which Stryker troops killed at least 22 fighters who ambushed them along a main highway and from another mosque in western Mosul.
“We were really feeling good about that,” Brown said of Friday’s outcome. “Then today we lose two guys. It’s tough.”
The names of the soldiers were withheld by the Department of Defense, who won’t release them until the soldiers’ families have been notified. [...]
The soldiers killed Saturday were the fourth and fifth from the 1st Brigade to be killed since the 5,000-troop Fort Lewis unit deployed to Iraq in October.
A soldier from a Fort Stewart, Ga.-based military police unit working with the 1st Brigade was killed Thursday when his patrol was ambushed in Mosul.
Related Article: 2 Fort Lewis Strykers Killed In Iraq - KOMO News
Operations Continue in Iraq, Afghanistan
Contains a brief description of 1-24 BN action in Mosul.
Link to Full Article
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2004 – Insurgent attacks in Baghdad and Mosul have killed at least 25 Iraqis, according to news reports.
A car bomb detonated near the Al Karkh Iraqi police station in central Baghdad today. News reports said a suicide bomber rammed a minibus packed with explosives into a police station near the Green Zone, killing eight Iraqi police officers and wounding 38.
Meanwhile, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a suicide bomber struck a convoy of Kurdish militiamen near an American military base, killing at least 18 and wounding 15, news reports indicated.
Iraqi security forces have become the "target of choice" for insurgents. Officials said the attacks are part of the insurgents' campaign to intimidate the Iraqi population and instill fear in them.
Also in Mosul, insurgents launched a large-scale ambush of a Stryker patrol along a 2-kilometer stretch of road with eight to 10 roadside bombs and an estimated 70 insurgent fighters armed with rocket-propelled grenades, AK-47 assault rifles and machine guns. A patrol from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment quickly maneuvered to engage the insurgents and later broke contact to conduct a deliberate offensive operation to clear the ambush site of insurgent fighters.
Soon after, coalition and Iraqi forces launched an attack to restrict the freedom of movement of insurgent fighters and clear the pockets of resistance. While clearing the area, soldiers received heavy fire from a mosque. Iraqi security forces cleared the mosque, eliminating the enemy while finding a large cache of weapons that consisted of RPG rounds, anti-tank grenades and machine guns.
One soldier was killed and five wounded in an improvised explosive device attack in Baghdad today. The incident is under investigation. In Afghanistan, citizens turned in two weapons caches and coalition forces found another six , Dec. 3. The Nesh District police chief turned in a weapons cache to coalition forces near Tarin Kowt containing seven recoilless rifles, 65 RPGs, 77 RPG boosters, one 7.62 M25 rifle and two RPG launchers.
A local citizen led forces to a cache near Shinkay. That cache contained 35 82 mm projectiles, 265 82 mm mortars, 104 boxes of Dishka machine gun ammunition, 37 mines, 29 mine fuses, four hand grenades, 28 grenade fuses, one bag and five cans of charges, 25 82 mm high explosive rounds, one 75 mm heat fuse, 128 M-6 rocket fuses, three 82 mm mortar rounds, and five bags of Dishka machine gun rounds. Other caches were found near Bagram Air Base, Kandahar, Zormat and Bamian.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Combined Forces Command Afghanistan news releases, and news reports.)
Photos of 1-24 and 1-5 Soldiers
MK passed on this Yahoo News Photo link showing 1/25 soldiers in action this past week.
Soldiers kill 22 insurgents in Mosul
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Fort Lewis troops fought insurgents for three hours Friday along the main north-south highway through western Mosul, killing an estimated 22 enemy fighters, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Four American soldiers were wounded, he said. [...]
The fighting in Mosul started about 11 a.m. local time when insurgents attacked a Stryker patrol from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment with rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and eight to 10 roadside bombs, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman for the Fort Lewis-based Task Force Olympia.
The estimated 35 to 40 insurgents opened fire from both sides of a mile-long stretch of the road, which the military calls Main Supply Route Tampa.
The patrol fought its way through the ambush, then another one, on its way back to base. Then the 1-24 headed back out to clear Tampa north to the Yarmouk traffic circle, a major crossroads, Hastings said.
The Strykers were fired on again by 30 to 35 insurgents, including some who were shooting from a mosque along the route, as they made their way north, Hastings said.
27 Civilians Die in New Attacks by Iraq Rebels
Link to Full Article
By ROBERT F. WORTH and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr./NY Times
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 3 - Heavily armed insurgents launched attacks here and in the northern city of Mosul on Friday morning, striking at police stations, military bases and a Shiite mosque. At least 27 Iraqi civilians and policemen and dozens of insurgents were killed.
In Baghdad, several dozen black-clad militants stormed a police station just after dawn, killing a dozen officers, police officials said. Almost simultaneously, a powerful car bomb detonated outside a Shiite mosque in the capital's Adhamiya neighborhood, killing 15 Iraqi civilians and wounding 18, mostly worshipers leaving the mosque.
In Mosul, insurgents struck at least three police stations, hit American bases with mortars and staged elaborate ambushes involving synchronized explosions of remote-controlled bombs. At least 22 insurgents were killed, while 7 American soldiers suffered minor wounds, according to American commanders.
The violence, coinciding with several smaller-scale attacks throughout the country, demonstrated the continued power of the insurgency here and the ferocity of the militants' campaign against the fledgling Iraqi security forces as the January elections approach. [...]
The Mosul attacks appeared to have been planned well in advance, according to American commanders. "The terrorists told the civilians they were going to attack the Americans and to stay indoors," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the commander of the First Battalion of the 24th Infantry, which controls much of western Mosul. Shops near the biggest ambush closed just before the attack, the commanders said.
Insurgents launch attacks again U.S. and Iraqi forces in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By C. Mark Brinkley/Army Times
MOSUL, Iraq – A wave of insurgent ambushes swept across Iraq’s third-largest city Friday morning, leaving local police and coalition forces caught in the crossfire. At least nine U.S. troops were wounded in the attacks. [...]
A U.S. Army patrol in the area might have disrupted the insurgents’ plan for the day’s events, as soldiers across the city reported booby traps and car bombs that were deserted before completion.
“Things were cool,” said Army Sgt. Maj. Frank Wood, a senior noncommissioned officer with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, whose armored vehicle was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire. “We made a turn, went into a market area, started getting some hard looks from people. Then we came out into the traffic circle, and they started firing their RPGs.”
Military dispatches from across the city reported multiple pockets of insurgent fighters using mortars, RPGs and machine guns against coalition troops and police forces. One Army unit reported taking heavy fire from a large-caliber weapon, possibly an anti-aircraft gun, as insurgents tried to pierce the heavy armor of the soldiers’ vehicles. [...]
“The weather’s nice today,” Wood said. “This is a fair-weather foe. They don’t like fighting in the cold. They don’t like fighting in the rain. So today was perfect for them.”
Death Threats Make Progress Difficult in Iraq
Link to Full Article
ABC News
Dec. 2, 2004 -- Iraqis who cooperate with U.S.-led efforts to rebuild their country run a terrible risk. Anyone working with Americans is a potential target for the insurgents.
In the northern city of Mosul, dozens of Iraqi National Guard troops have been killed in the last two weeks — because they were helping Americans.
In the last month there have been attacks on police in nearly every major Iraqi city.
Today many Iraqis are afraid to work with Americans because of the campaign of intimidation.
"We're having a hard time keeping interpreters because they are being threatened," said Army Capt. Matthew McGrew. "If they find out who they are, the AIF — the anti-Iraqi forces — threaten to kill them or kill their families."
One Iraqi man, who spoke to ABC News through a translator under condition of anonymity, says he loved his work as a U.S. Army translator — but now he's afraid.
"We were helping the soldiers to understand our life itself," the man said, "because it is totally different than their own lives."
The man says he left his job after a year, worried that it had become too dangerous.
Those fears were realized when he received a chilling, increasingly common death threat on his front door — an envelope with a bullet inside.
Army Finds Stryker Shines In Iraqi Combat Zone
The following article was published by Defense Today, which requires a subscription to view full content. We've included an excerpt below. Thanks to Fred for the article.
By Scott Nance
The Army's project manager of Stryker brigade teams gave the new vehicle high marks in its initial use in the war in Iraq.
Some 311 Strykers in Iraq have driven more than 3 million miles, according to Col. Peter Fuller.
Speaking yesterday at a conference in Washington, Fuller heaped praise onto the new platform for its mobility, survivability and other capabilities.
The first Stryker brigade was deployed in Iraq in October 2003, Fuller said. The Army recently used Strykers as part of its campaign against Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah.
"They road-marched a unit down to support that operation," he said. "And then, when Mosul started to heat up, they ran them back up north. We are finding they are very mobile in the theater."
Stryker has also been "very survivable," Fuller said.
The vehicles have taken numerous improvised explosive device (IED) and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) hits, and "they keep on surviving," he said.
No IED attack has managed to penetrate the Stryker's hull, Fuller said, though he noted that one vehicle was lost due to a secondary fire.
The Army has been using a slat armor, referred to as a "bird cage," around Strykers to defend against RPGs.
"It's working very well," he said.
Fuller displayed a picture to conference attendees of a scene where an IED had exploded next to a Stryker, with the force of the detonation rolling the vehicle twice.
"No one was killed in this," he said.
Fuller also displayed a photo of the Stryker lost in that secondary fire.
"Everyone walked away—no one gets hurt in this," he said. "As a matter of fact, one individual jumped out and sprained his ankle when he was jumping out." [...]
To maintain the Strykers, the Army has embedded mechanics with the units, whether in the United States or in combat zones, Howe said.
"We're talking about mechanics being embedded in the combat units, just the way reporters were during the initial start of [Operation Iraqi Freedom]," Fuller said.
"They are absolutely embedded with the unit."
I had an opportunity to speak recently with one of the mechanics who was embedded with the 3/2 SBCT last year. He had some very good things to say about the vehicle after seeing it in action during the deployment.
MNF continue operations in northern Iraq, detain 17
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 1, 2004) ––Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 17 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations yesterday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in east Mosul and detained six people wanted for planning and conducting anti-Iraqi activities. Of the six people detained, one was a known financier of anti-Iraqi activities. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Insurgents attacked an Iraqi Police station in southeast Mosul with small arms but Iraqi Police at the station engaged the attackers forcing them to flee. 3-21 Soldiers quickly responded and detained the six suspects that initiated the contact.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two people for anti-Iraqi activities at a traffic control point west of Mosul. During a search of the vehicle, one sniper rifle, ammunition and a large sum of money were confiscated. Both suspects are in custody undergoing questioning.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in western Mosul and detained two people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against MNF and Iraqi Security forces. During a search of the residence, bomb-making tools, empty artillery shells and numerous intelligence documents that included bomb-making equipment lists were confiscated with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one suspect for anti-Iraqi activities during a cordon and search south of Mosul. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
More Robot Grunts Ready for Duty
Link to Full Article
By Noah Shachtman
ORLANDO, Florida -- Hunting for guerillas, handling roadside bombs, crawling across the caves and crumbling towns of Afghanistan and Iraq -- all of that was just a start. Now, the Army is prepping its squad of robotic vehicles for a new set of assignments. And this time, they'll be carrying guns.
As early as March or April, 18 units of the Talon -- a model armed with automatic weapons -- are scheduled to report for duty in Iraq. Around the same time, the first prototypes of a new, unmanned ambulance should be ready for the Army to start testing. In a warren of hangar-sized hotel ballrooms in Orlando, military engineers this week showed off their next generation of robots, as they got the machines ready for the war zone. [...]
Back in December 2003, the Army's 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division tested an armed Talon in Kuwait. Now, the brigade wants 18 of the UGVs to watch the backs of its Stryker armored vehicles.
The Olympia Observer
The November 29 edition of The Olympia Observer is available for download.
ISF & MNF detain 9 during operations
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 30, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 9 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations yesterday in northern Iraq.
Special Iraqi Police Commandos from the Ministry of Interior and MNF Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted joint cordon and search operations in Tal Afar and detained six people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities. The suspects are in custody undergoing questioning with no MNF injuries reported during operations.
While conducting a patrol in Tal Afar, soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard came under small arms fire by anti-Iraqi insurgents. Iraqi soldiers quickly engaged the enemy and forced them to flee into a nearby building. 2-14 Soldiers responded and searched the building, detaining three individuals suspected of firing on Iraqi troops. The suspects are in custody undergoing questioning with no MNF or ISF injuries reported during operations.
Soldier reflects on television experience
Link to Full Article
By Doug Hunt
A local Army infantryman was recruited by the chain-of-command to be spotlighted on a short CNN Headline News segment, said Daniel Suiter, a 1995 North Montgomery High School graduate.
Suiter related his momentary stardom and the job he does in Mozul, Iraq. The first story was reported Saturday in the Journal Review.
Caroline Suiter, his grandmother, had first seen the segment at 2:45 p.m. Thursday.
CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson asked military brass for a soldier to interview and the officers sent Suiter.
“Never having been on national television, I was quite nervous at first,” Suiter said. “But as the day went on and I spent some off camera time with Nic and Dave Allbritton, the video journalist, I quickly developed a good rapport with them and felt more comfortable talking to them.”
A four-minute segment was edited from nearly six hours of filming Suiter. The crew also spent about 18 hours with Suiter and his platoon.
“I learned more about the (media) business and have more respect for those in this field,” Suiter said.
In addition to his infantryman job, Suiter is the radio telephone operator for the platoon as part of Task Force Olympia in Mozul.
“We do any number of missions from seeking out key enemy personnel, security escorts for VIPs, information gathering, supporting the local Iraqi Police and Iraqi National Guard, as well as a number of different types of patrols,” Suiter said.
Car bomb fails to stop Thanksgiving dinner delivery
Link to Full Article
By C. Mark Brinkley; Army Times staff writer
MOSUL, IRAQ — Forget about rain and sleet and snow — Army Sgt. Edmund Savedra had to brave a car bomb to make his Thanksgiving afternoon delivery. Savedra, a truck driver with 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, was less than 10 minutes away from a remote post outside of Mosul, where he was set to deliver hot turkey dinners to dozens of soldiers with no access to the government-contracted chow halls.
Without warning, an explosion shattered the windshield of his rig and showered the three soldiers inside with glass.
“I guess they wanted the turkey,” Savedra, 33, of Honolulu, said with a grin, just minutes after he pulled into the post. “I didn’t want to stop.”
Instead, he floored it, tearing across the rural highways at 50 mph without looking back to see who was shooting at him.
“Everyone here was waiting on their turkey dinner,” Savedra said. “Well, I got it here.”
A closer inspection of the blast area showed a crater two feet deep and a burning hull that used to be a Toyota. Army investigators on the scene theorized that insurgents buried artillery shells under the truck, then detonated them as the lightly armored dinner wagon rolled by.
Savedra was thankful that no one was injured in the blast.
“It could have been a lot worse,” he said.
The food came as a morale boost for the troops from Rock Company, 1/5, who have lived on the outskirts of Mosul for two weeks, taking turns at the small shower facilities and longing for the somewhat easier life of their comrades at the larger posts, who have hot meals three times a day and hot water morning and night.
“I turned 25 yesterday,” said Spc. Jason Martin, a rifleman from Fort Myers, Fla., who is still waiting on his first birthday card or gift from home. “Mail’s been kind of slow out here. Then it’s mostly bills. It’s never the good stuff.”
But Martin said he was thankful, despite the daily combat patrols, frigid temperatures and time apart from his wife, Patricia, who he married in April then left in October.
“I’m thankful that my life turned out so well,” Martin said. “I’m not on a street corner somewhere, like a lot of people are. And I’m thankful for my wife. Really, she’s the highlight of my life.” [...]
But at the smaller camps, where access to phones and Internet are limited, there was an air of loneliness, especially from Spc. Stephen Morgan, 19, an armorer from Los Angeles. Morgan showed off glossy photos from home he received the night before, a first real look at his three-week-old son.
The digital pictures he received in his email a week earlier didn’t do the boy justice, he said.
“I was in Fallujah when he was born, getting mortared,” Morgan said, pointing at the image of Johnathan Paul Morgan, who arrived right on the due date of Nov. 3 at seven pounds, 14 ounces. “He’ll be a year old before I see him.”
Getting the holiday meals out to the isolated troops is one of the top priorities, “to make sure they’re included in what’s going on,” said Capt. Don Carrothers, 46, the battalion’s chaplain from Flagstaff, Ariz. “Otherwise, it’s real easy for them to feel unimportant. There’s nothing worse than feeling left out.”
And there’s nothing worse than being away from home at the holidays, many troops here said. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t thankful for what they do have.
“We’re 8,000 miles away from home, what can I be thankful for?” said Spc. Erik Kenezuroff, 23, a rifleman from Olympia, Wash., pondering the question. “I’m thankful for being alive.”
‘Cyclone’ medics prepare for the realities of combat
This is one of the articles featured in the most recent edition of The Olympia Observer we linked to previously.
Link to Article
Story by Spc. Aaron Ritter
MOSUL, Iraq -- Soldiers with Company C, 25th Brigade Support Battalion, have been in Iraq for over a month now, but the training doesn’t stop for them. The combat medics conducted a mass casualty exercise Oct. 31 to further hone their medical skills.
The “Cyclone” Soldiers are part of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and are responsible for the operations of the medical clinic at Forward Operating Base Marez in northern Iraq. When the daily sick call duties are complete and patients are sent on their way, the medics use the opportunity to train in preparation for the challenges they may face while serving in Iraq.
“The brigade as a whole would be impacted if we didn’t maintain our training,” said Staff Sgt. Matthew Longnaker, Company C area treatment non-commissioned officer in charge. “Everybody has faith that our medics are there to save lives and help their buddies and that’s the type of confidence we don’t want to lose.”
Combat medics participated in the exercise that was meant to test their ability to respond and care for the injured patients of a roadside bomb attack, without the assistance of physicians. It also incorporated many of the skills combat medics are required to know as part of their semi-annual Combat Medic Verification Skills Test.
For Spc. Lance Heidt, the training is even more of a reality. Having already been in a couple of similar real-life situations over his short time in Iraq, Heidt took from his experiences to form the training scenario and make it realistic to the Soldiers’ current environment.
Heidt said the medics faced multiple situations and challenges at once, including different injuries and the stressful environment. The medics’ endurance was also tested as they performed the exercise as they would in a real situation - with the weight of full body armor.
“I put the medics in the loudest place I could and did a whole a lot of yelling, as did the patients, to show the Soldiers how loud and chaotic things can get,” Heidt said.
All of the medics have undergone extensive training and certification in Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation, Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support and National Registry Emergency Medical Technicians, but the experience they gained during the exercise hit home for the Soldiers.
“We’re always striving to increase the knowledge base of each of the medics here and get them familiar to the high stress of actually taking care of a casualty, especially if it’s one of your friends,” Longnaker said. “There’s a little more attachment to that than just going out there and being a regular emergency medical technician taking care of someone in a driving accident.”
According the U.S. Army Medical Department, as many as 1,761 Soldiers have suffered battle related injuries since the start of operations in Iraq in March 2003. Most of the injuries were a result of improvised explosive devices, shrapnel and gunshot wounds.
Heidt said this makes the need for realistic training all the more important, even if it breaks from Army medical training in a non-combat environment.
“Medics are always given the perfect casualty in the perfect setting which does not prepare you for having to pull a Soldier that is pinned in an upside down vehicle while everyone is taking fire,” Heidt said. “I just wanted to give the medics something to think about in training because you don’t have time to think in the field, only time to react.”
Longnaker said he hopes the training helped increase the Soldiers’ confidence and proficiency of a myriad of tasks they are required to know, as well as give them an idea of how to react under stress and how to deal with it.
“We never wish for these situations to happen, but we know the situation we’re in and know it’s a reality,” said Pvt. Mike Deon, one of the participating combat medics. “This training has given us the confidence and given us the opportunity to see how well we work together if the situation arises.”
MNF net 24 suspected insurgents
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 29, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 24 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations yesterday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard and MNF from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a joint cordon and search operation in Tal Afar and detained 14 people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against MNF and ISF. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment conducted a series of cordon and searches in small villages south of Mosul suspected of harboring and abetting insurgent fighters. During the searches, Soldiers detained ten suspects and confiscated a large sum of U.S. money. All ten suspects are in custody undergoing questioning with no MNF injuries reported.
Bombs Kill 4 Civilians and 2 Marines in Attacks in Iraq
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By ROBERT F. WORTH and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 28 - Four Iraqi civilians were killed Sunday afternoon when a car bomb exploded 60 miles north of here in Samarra, and another was wounded, military officials said. In raids to the north, in Mosul, American and Iraqi troops detained 43 people suspected of being insurgents, military officials said. [...]
In Mosul, American and Iraqi forces detained 16 people after raiding mosques and other buildings during two operations on Saturday in Old Mosul, a densely populated district in the city center that is believed to be a haven for insurgents. In one of the raids, troops found a 55-gallon drum of bomb-making materials, money, anti-American propaganda and other documents intended to foster insurgent attacks on American forces, military officials said.
In addition, four more bodies were found in Mosul on Sunday, military officials said. The bodies, which had been shot in the head, had been laid on the ground with spent 9-millimeter pistol casings placed on their chests, said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the commander of the American battalion that oversees much of western Mosul. The hands and feet of the bodies had also been bound, he said.
At least 69 bodies have been found in and around Mosul in the past 10 days, most of them believed to be the victims of a strategy by insurgents to terrorize and destabilize the new Iraqi security forces before national elections are held in January. Many victims have been identified as Iraqi national guardsmen or members of the Iraqi Army. Colonel Kurilla said it was not clear yet whether the victims found Sunday were with the Iraqi security forces.
Notes Spotted by Soldier Lead G.I.'s to Rebel Cache
Link to Full Article
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 28 - At first the suspect was merely one of 115 Iraqis whom American troops corralled for questioning on Saturday night in a particularly nasty part of Mosul. But his belligerence stood out. And then he made his move.
Sitting where the troops had ordered him to sit - in front of an open-air cigarette store - the suspect flicked out of his pocket several folded sheets of handwritten notes. It was clear he hoped the pages would land unnoticed amid the clutter of the store just a step away.
They did not. A soldier scooped them up and handed them to an Iraqi interpreter working for the Americans. "Who has this? He is an insurgent!" shouted the interpreter, known only to the soldiers as Jeff the Fighting Kurd.
Jeff and another interpreter quickly translated the pages for the American officers who gathered around.
One passage mentioned a proposal for a large-scale attack against American troops, according to the interpreters. Another urged attacks on the families of Iraqis thought to be working for the Americans. Another described "how to get money and use the money for jihad," an interpreter said. And still another underscored the importance of "bringing information about who is working for the U.S. forces."
An American commander told embedded journalists not to report other passages - more specific, descriptive and pointed - for fear of jeopardizing efforts to gather intelligence and prevent attacks on American forces.
Suddenly, the night's operation was not over. Soldiers found keys on the suspect and took him the short distance to his two-story home in Old Mosul, a densely populated warren of rundown homes in central Mosul thought to be a haven for hard-core insurgents in this northern city of two million.
They walked inside, through a 15-foot-square courtyard, past two women, an elderly man, a child and a young boy, to another room packed with papers. They moved upstairs, past a flower bed, and found two rooms that contained all sorts of electronic equipment, the troops said.
"There was a large stash of bomb-making material, switches, wires, just a trove of stuff," said the American commander, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, whose battalion controls much of western Mosul. "Papers on how to launder money and others that talked about the ineffectiveness of some of their weapons systems against us and how they need to change." A 55-gallon drum of bomb-making material and 2.5 million Iraqi dinars - about $1,700 - was also found, he said.
The papers retrieved from the man in front of the cigarette stand, he said, were "minutes from some type of meeting of terrorist cells where they discussed money laundering, recruitment, weapons effectiveness and future operations."
This is how it goes in the war against the insurgents in Mosul.
The article continues...
Mosul's militants fight mostly from shadows
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By C. Mark Brinkley, Army Times
MOSUL, Iraq — These days, the violence in Iraq's third-largest city is more like The Sopranos than Black Hawk Down.
About 40 dead bodies turned up across Mosul last week. Most of them had been bound and shot in the head in hit-man fashion, then left in public for local residents to see. Nearly a dozen of the dead were identified as members of Iraq's fragile security forces. Some of the others were contract workers for the U.S.-led coalition. Many are still unidentified.
The message from insurgents to the public was simple: We're here, and we're watching.
An ethnically diverse city of about 1.7 million in Iraq's mostly peaceful north, Mosul has steadily grown more violent. On Nov. 11, as U.S. and Iraqi government forces were fighting insurgents in Fallujah, militants in Mosul attacked police stations. The insurgents were pushed back, but most of the city's 4,000 police officers retreated.
The violence came amid new concerns that the organization of Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi may now be operating in Mosul. Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for numerous kidnappings, hostage beheadings and large bomb attacks in Iraq.
A statement posted on an Islamist Web site in the name of Zarqawi's group, al-Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for killing 17 Iraqi security officers and a Kurdish militiaman in Mosul, the Associated Press reported Sunday.
Insurgents in Mosul generally don't confront U.S. or Iraqi government forces directly. Instead, they are pursuing a campaign of assassinations and terror. It's a shadowy war that U.S. military officers say is difficult to fight.
"This is not easy, but progress is being made, especially by the special police," says Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a military spokesman, referring to Iraqi security forces.
Good intelligence is even more important than firepower in fighting this type of insurgency. Insurgents intimidate the population, and it's not always easy for U.S. and Iraqi government forces to provide the kind of protection that would make civilians feel safe coming forward with tips.
Troops try to stop insurgents without alienating residents
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BY KIRSTEN SCHARNBERG, Chicago Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq - (KRT) - Soldiers joke that the Iraqis see Capt. Bill Jacobson as something of a deity, an omniscient authority in desert fatigues who sits high above them judging whether they have sinned.
The scene in a poor, insurgent-plagued neighborhood of Mosul on Saturday night only added to that perception. Soldiers had rounded up more than 100 military-age men, and Jacobson stood atop an armored vehicle as the Iraqis were brought, one by one, to stand before him.
"Let that man go!" Jacobson would yell, with a dismissive wave, at the majority of the terrified men.
But for a select few, the lanky 31-year-old officer issued a less benevolent directive: "Detain that man. Cuff him."
The Iraqi men, some standing in their socks because their sandals had been lost when U.S. soldiers yanked them off the surrounding streets and into the lineup, were wide-eyed as they stared up at Jacobson when their turn for judgment came. What they did not know was that inside the vehicle, via a live video feed, a local informant was identifying those believed to be connected to the city's growing insurgency. Jacobson was issuing his seemingly arbitrary verdicts after getting instructions through an earpiece tucked under his helmet.
Things are not always as they appear in Mosul. For example, although U.S. soldiers are getting shot at far less frequently than they were a few weeks ago, the city's insurgency is rapidly gathering strength, resolve and traction.
With such regularity that troops have begun to joke that they are in the mortuary business as much as the soldiering business, the bodies of Iraqis killed by insurgents are found scattered throughout Mosul, sometimes with notes pinned to them saying that anyone seen working with the Americans or the new Iraqi government will share the same fate. The most recent count, including the bodies of four more men discovered Sunday morning, is nearly 70 victims in just over a week.
The murders are meant to intimidate the local populace - and they seem to have done that well. But in recent days, as the insurgents leave the sometimes-mutilated corpses in more and more public places, military commanders are starting to think the insurgents have miscalculated and gone too far. They say they believe Mosul's residents increasingly think they should turn against the insurgents, who in many cases may be their neighbors.
"We know a lot of people in Mosul don't like us and are much closer philosophically to the insurgents than to us," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, whose troops from the Army's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment occupy much of the city. "But we think that the killing has reached such a level that the majority of people are turning more in our direction. Where they once saw the mujahedeen as underdogs fighting the great Satan of America, now they see them as terrorists who must be stopped from destroying their city and nation and from killing their own."
Since the mass killings began a couple of weeks ago in Mosul, townspeople have been reluctant to identify the insurgents to U.S. forces. But Kurilla says that "the number of people coming forward with information in the past few days has been phenomenal."
The Olympia Observer
The November 22 edition of The Olympia Observer, the official newsletter of Task Force Olympia, is available for download. As always, there are a number of in depth articles provided by the public affairs office.
43 detained in northern Iraq
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 28, 2004) – Special Iraqi Police Commandos from the Ministry of Interior and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 43 people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations yesterday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment conducted a cordon and search operation in Hammam Al Alil and detained 20 people suspected of planning and conducting anti-Iraqi activities. During traffic control point operations near Hammam Al Alil, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained five anti-Iraqi suspects and confiscated weapons. 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment Soldiers detained one person in Hammam Al Alil wanted for anti-Iraqi activities. Special Iraqi Police Commandos also detained one person for anti-Iraqi activities in Hammam Al Alil. All 27 suspects are in custody undergoing further questioning and investigation with no MNF Soldiers injured during operations.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24 Infantry Regiment conducted cordon and search operations in western Mosul to disrupt insurgent activity in the area. During the operation, Soldiers detained 16 people for suspected anti-Iraqi activities while also confiscating intelligence documents and a 55-gallon drum of bomb-making material. All suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported during the operation.
NPR Audio Report
National Public Radio offers an audio report from Mosul. Click on the "Listen" icon in the upper-left corner to hear it. Summary:
U.S. soldiers are attempting to train new Iraqi soldiers outside Mosul, but threats of violence and anti-American sentiment make the job a daunting one. Some of the soldiers say few in the U.S. understand the complexities or the scale of the insurgency they're confronting. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.
Troops Finding Scores of Bodies of Slain Iraqis
Link to Full Article
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
MOSUL, Iraq, Nov. 26 - American troops have discovered 32 bodies here in the past two days, the latest sign that insurgents in the north are increasingly focusing their efforts on killing and terrorizing vulnerable Iraqis, especially those working with American forces.
Seventeen bodies were found Friday, after 15 were discovered Thursday, according to a military spokesman here. In the past eight days at least 65 bodies have been found, and one American commander says more than 20 have been confirmed as members of the new Iraqi security forces.
No identification has been made of the newest bodies or whether they were Iraqi soldiers or national guardsmen, said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Paul Hastings. But he called the new killings part of the insurgents' "campaign of fear, intimidation and murder, and doing whatever they can to disrupt operations here." [...]
In recent weeks, insurgents in Mosul have had little luck attacking American troops head on, as their rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and roadside bombs typically do little damage to the 19-ton Stryker light armored vehicles that the Americans have been using in the city.
Instead, the insurgents have settled on a gruesome alternative intended to destabilize and terrorize, focusing their efforts against the one thing Americans have counted on as the linchpin of an exit strategy from the country: the new Iraqi security forces.
The insurgents are picking their fights carefully while taking refuge, commanders believe, in places like Old Mosul, an ancient district in the city center. Its narrow, twisting streets and alleyways make it a perfect place for insurgents to stage hit-and-run strikes and then blend in among the district's 500,000 residents, all packed into a single square mile.
Insurgents are abducting Iraqi troops at taxi stands as they return from leave and seek transportation to bases in northern Iraq, the commanders say. And infiltration of the new security forces remains a major concern. Three Iraqi soldiers were recently detained for collaboration with insurgents; one was caught at an illegal checkpoint helping insurgents identify others in his unit. [...]
The insurgents "have learned that if they go head to head with us, they'll lose big time," said Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the commander of a battalion that oversees much of western Mosul. "Instead they are going after the Iraqi security forces."
In one battle on Nov. 11, he said, about 40 insurgents from a force of 60 or 70 were killed by American troops.
By contrast, insurgent attacks on American Stryker convoys have been ineffective. Since last month, convoys from Colonel Kurilla's battalion have been hit with 20 rocket-propelled grenades and 9 powerful bombs - all "without loss of life, limb or eyesight," he said.
Stryker power and a broad smile
MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - A "Stop or we will shoot!" sign written in Arabic hangs off the back of the eight-wheel Stryker armoured vehicles rolling down Mosul's streets as US soldiers seek to impose their military might while trying to win people's hearts.
But while the vehicles may save soldiers' lives, residents say they are just another example of US military heavy-handedness.
"It's a light infantry vehicle on steroids," raves Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kurilla, 38, about the Stryker, which is the US army's newest medium-weight combat vehicle developed to fill a gap between light infantry and tanks.
The boxy Strykers that roam the northern Iraqi city have been hit with everything from suicide car bombs to rocket propelled grenades and small arms fire, according to Kurilla, but so far troop casualties have been minimal.
In one incident a car laden with almost 300 pounds of explosives rammed a Stryker, wounding five soldiers, he said.
Kurilla's 1st Battalion, 24th Regiment has only had one soldier killed and 18 wounded, many of them returned to duty, since it came to Iraq in October for a one year mission.
The Strykers sent to Iraq are outfitted with a sort of metal cage to help detonate rocket-propelled grenades before they hit the vehicle's armour.
"These vehicles save lives," says Specialist Chris Espindola.
Kurilla's men were recently patrolling one of the meanest neighbourhoods in western Mosul when two men fired on them from a rooftop. They responded by riddling the building with bullets and killing the assailants.
As they were leaving the area, one of the Strykers hit a roadside bomb.
"Danger enemy in the area!" bleeped a recorded woman's voice into the headphones of the vehicle's commander.
A red icon pops up on the monitor in front of him and the alert is transmitted instantaneously to all other Strykers in the area, shown as blue circles on the screen.
The vehicle was jolted but nevertheless forged back to base on a secondary inner tyre.
The Stryker, whose first-ever deployment in a combat zone was in Iraq a year ago, appears to be a huge success as far as the military is concerned.
More Bodies Found In Mosul
There is additional information on Mosul buried in the following article.
Link to Full Article
By MARIAM FAM, The Associated Press
[...] Meanwhile, U.S. forces found 13 more bodies in and around the northern city of Mosul, the military said Friday, bringing to 35 the number of corpses discovered in the past week in the area shaken by an insurgent uprising.
Eleven of the 35 have been identified as members of the Iraqi security forces, who have been targeted by insurgents. The others have not been identified.
"It's a continued campaign of threats, intimidation and murder by insurgents to spread fear into the public. Their campaign has been directed at what appears to be Iraqi security forces," said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman with Task Force Olympia.
U.S. forces patrolling Mosul and nearby Tal Afar on Thursday morning found nine bodies on the western side of Mosul, he said. Two more bodies were found in the city later in the day.
In Tal Afar, one Iraqi National Guard soldier was found dead while a second body discovered in a different location was unidentified.
The military late Thursday had reported the discovery of another two bullet-riddled bodies in western Mosul. U.S. and Iraqi troops were hit by mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as they were retrieving the bodies, according to Lt. Col. Eric Kurilla of the Army's 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
The U.S. military spotted at least one team of insurgents firing at them. One Iraqi National Guardsman suffered minor injuries, according to Kurilla.
Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, was the site of a mass insurgent uprising in apparent support of Fallujah guerrillas following the U.S.-led assault on that rebel stronghold on Nov. 8. In the wake of the mass attacks, U.S. and Iraqi forces were sent in to retake parts of the city but insurgents have managed to hit back.
Twenty other bodies have been found in Mosul since last Thursday. At least 10 of the bodies - nine of them shot execution-style - belonged to the Iraqi regular army, based at the al-Kisik military base about 31 miles west of Mosul, near Tal Afar. Four of the bodies found were decapitated.
Troops Still Find Conflict In Mosul
Link to Full Article
Chicago Tribune
MOSUL, Iraq - Spec. Chris Espindola had just groused - "Who plans missions on Thanksgiving?" - when the first mortar hit. Then came a rocket-propelled grenade, small-arms fire and another mortar.
On the receiving end was a convoy of U.S. Army officers who were traveling around increasingly unsettled Mosul, visiting American soldiers throughout the city to wish them a happy holiday.
On their rounds the officers learned that the bodies of two Iraqi soldiers had been dumped in one of the busiest traffic circles downtown. The officers diverted there to pick them up.
"We can't just leave them. This is being done to send a signal and intimidate the public," the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, said as his soldiers used body bags to load up the bodies of the Iraqi men, who had died from gun shots to the head.
But insurgents apparently were lying in wait. Just as the soldiers began putting the bodies into their armored vehicles, the firefight began, and for several cacophonous minutes bullets tore through the busy traffic circle as Iraqi pedestrians dived for cover.
No one was killed, but the day's events illustrate the precarious state of Iraq's third-largest city and who all the major players - and victims - are in this conflict, which has been simmering here for the past two weeks.
On Thursday alone, even as U.S. troops were eating turkey and stuffing, word was filtering in that the bodies of 11 Iraqi soldiers had been found throughout Mosul, a discovery that has become all too common recently as insurgents have turned their attention to fellow citizens rather than U.S. forces in the area.
In a way, Thursday's small battle was what U.S. commanders have been hoping for. Their soldiers train for just these adrenaline-pumping moments. Their equipment is the best in the world, and their chances of winning against virtually any enemy are excellent. But what has been frustrating about Mosul is that the insurgents have been operating just under the radar, intimidating the public with tactics as effective as any psychological operations campaign the U.S. Army could ever launch.
The bodies found in Mosul's busy traffic circle Thursday afternoon are one example. The executed men lay blindfolded and bound. Tucked visibly in the waistbands of their pants were their military ID cards; the message to anyone who walked past was plain: Cooperate with the Americans or the new Iraqi government, and this will be your fate, too.
American military planners in Mosul are placing high priority on stopping the killing of local forces, who are deemed essential to securing peace in the city.
On Wednesday, when word came in that insurgents had been using a local taxi stand to kidnap Iraqi soldiers coming home on leave, Kurilla's convoy of armored vehicles descended on the stand from every direction, surrounding the men there. One by one, the Army commander pulled the Iraqis aside and asked what they knew of soldiers being picked up there and taken to their deaths.
Be sure to read the rest.
Soldiers dodge car bomb to deliver dinner
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By C. Mark Brinkley, Army Times
MOSUL, Iraq — Forget about rain and sleet and snow: Army Sgt. Edmund Savedra had to brave a car bomb to make his Thanksgiving afternoon delivery.
Savedra, a truck driver with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, was less than 10 minutes away from a remote post outside of Mosul, where he was set to deliver hot turkey dinners to dozens of soldiers with no access to the government-contracted chow halls.
Without warning, an explosion shattered the windshield of his rig and showered the three soldiers inside with glass.
"I guess they wanted the turkey," Savedra, 33, of Honolulu said with a grin minutes after he pulled into the post.
"I didn't want to stop," he said.
Instead, he floored it, tearing across the rural highways at 50 mph without looking back to see who was shooting at him.
"Everyone here was waiting on their turkey dinner," Savedra said. "Well, I got it here."
An inspection of the blast area showed a crater 2 feet deep and a burning hull that used to be a Toyota. Army investigators theorized that insurgents buried artillery shells under the truck, then detonated them as the lightly armored dinner wagon rolled by.
Savedra was thankful that no one was injured in the blast. "It could have been a lot worse," he said.
The food came as a morale boost for the troops from Rock Company, who have lived on the outskirts of Mosul for two weeks, taking turns at the small shower facilities and longing for the somewhat easier life of their comrades at the larger posts, who have hot meals three times a day and hot water morning and night.
"I turned 25 yesterday," said Spc. Jason Martin, a rifleman from Fort Myers, Fla., who is still waiting on his first birthday card or gift from home. "Mail's been kind of slow out here. Then it's mostly bills. It's never the good stuff."
But Martin said he was thankful, despite the daily combat patrols, chilly temperatures and time apart from his wife, Patricia, who he married in April.
"I'm thankful that my life turned out so well," Martin said. "I'm not on a street corner somewhere, like a lot of people are. And I'm thankful for my wife. Really, she's the highlight of my life."
3-D Maps From Commercial Satellites Guide G.I.'s
Link to Full Article
By ERIC LIPTON, The New York Times
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 - The Army commanders in Iraq knew roughly where they wanted to position their men in Mosul, but first they had a few questions for Chief Warrant Officer Jason Feser. What alleys might turn into ambush routes? Were there any nearby minarets that could serve as sniper lairs? Where would he place troops to avoid possible friendly crossfire?
Taking soldiers into any urban environment is hazardous. But the Army has been using a new tool before going into Iraq's restive cities, like Mosul and Falluja, that helps officers answer critical questions and make their missions somewhat less unpredictable.
The new weapon is called the Urban Tactical Planner, which combines advanced computer software tools with high-resolution imagery that is beamed down to earth from a new generation of commercial satellites. Mr. Feser was able to provide commanders with a three-dimensional virtual tour of a mazelike section of Mosul before the first troops from the First Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, and the Iraqi National Guard began capturing insurgents last month.
Not only did the commanders simulate flying overhead to practice air or ground approach routes, but by zooming down they also saw buildings and streets and spots where soldiers could assemble with some protection from sniper fire. The images are not clear enough to make out people. But schools, mosques and other important buildings were highlighted. Even ditches or other barriers that might slow down an approach were marked.
The Urban Tactical Planner is just one of a number of military and intelligence tools that use high-resolution commercial imagery. From relief efforts in Sudan, to mission planning for Air Force flights and Navy ship movements across the world, space-based imagery by private companies is now playing an essential role.
"It is the encyclopedia for minutia of Mosul," Mr. Feser said in a telephone interview from Iraq, after he used the imaging system to help his brigade prepare for its mission in Mosul. "Before what we had was a map with markers and acetate. It was like being a kindergartner with fat crayons."
Three high-resolution commercial satellites are now circling the earth, in orbits that range from 280 miles to 400 miles from the ground. The federal government has just committed $1 billion to help two private companies launch two more satellites by 2007, to replace the current ones after their six- or seven-year life span ends.
Thanksgiving in Iraq
We wanted to share this message from a soldier that was posted on our Bulletin Board:
The dining facility prepared a sumptuous feast and kept it open for 8 hours so that everyone could eat. Actually.....we also flew the meal out to people at remote locations so no one missed out. I am not a master chef or terribly picky about what I eat, but I certainly think that this meal was a very good and tasty one. We had tons of turkey, ham, stuffing, vegetables, pie.......basically anything you would eat at a Thanksgiving in the states.........and the ice sculptures and exquisitely carved pumpkins were a nice touch on the side. There was football playing on the big screen TV (granted, a college game since the NFL games won't start for another hour or two). We even had "festive" Thanksgiving napkins...........kind of weird to be 8000 miles from home but still have "Happy Thanksgiving" napkins.............a nice thought nonetheless.All in all a great meal considering where we are and what is going on around us. The unit commander thanked the troops for the great job they have been doing and personally served troops chow for the last few hours of the meal (an Army tradition that was certainly not ignored here).
I am sure we would all rather be sharing this day with families and loved ones back in the states, but please know that your sons/husbands/daughters/wives are with their sisters/brothers in arms and certainly not alone, nor underfed.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
You can also see a photo of the spread in our gallery.
Stryker Soldiers on TV
We mentioned yesterday that "Good Morning America" has a crew in Mosul right now. I still don't know if the segment will be aired today, tomorrow or next week, but keep those VCRs primed.
Jacksmom also sent me this:
I just watched a live report on CNN from Camp Freedom!! The reporter showed clips from a mission he went on last night, embedded with some of our troops. Then he reported live from the Mess Hall, showing soldiers getting their Thanksgiving dinners. He stressed how hard our soldiers are working, commenting that the soldiers that he was with last night got back to camp at 3AM and were up again at 5AM, ready to go. He made mention of the Stryker vehicles.I do not know whether this specific report will be repeated, but when a major cable news network has a reporter in the north, I would bet that he will be making more reports from that area.
Also, there seems to be quick clips of specific soldiers wishing their families a Happy Thanksgiving and I have already seen 3 who said that they were from Ft Lewis!!!
MNF detain three suspected cell members
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 25, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained three people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations early today in northern Iraq.
Multi-National Forces from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment conducted cordon and search operations in a west central neighborhood in Mosul where they detained two individuals. Soldiers positively identified one of the subjects as a member of a terrorist cell.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment conducted similar operations in Mosul’s eastern neighborhoods in an attempt to locate other suspected terrorist cell members. They positively identified and detained one individual also wanted for anti-Iraqi activities.
All three suspects remain in custody with no injuries reported during either operation.
Good Morning America
Word has it that ABC's "Good Morning America" will air a segment from FOB Marez in Mosul tomorrow morning. Tune in and find out.
Bodies left in city's streets intimidate police, populace
This article contains quotes from 1/25 commanders. A free subscription to the Chicago Tribune on-line is required in order to view the entire article.
Link to Full Article
Kirsten Scharnberg,Tribune correspondent
MOSUL, Iraq -- Almost every morning for the past several days, American soldiers have made the gruesome discovery. Sometimes the bodies are partly burned; sometimes they are dismembered; sometimes they are shot in the head.
When two more victims were found this week slumped on a busy street corner, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla finally lost it. The Army commander, a bear of a man who usually is the first to crack a joke even in the most dire of circumstances, stormed across the street and began chastising the Iraqis gathered there.
"Why do you not have the common decency to clean them up?" shouted Kurilla, who is in charge of securing much of historic Mosul, as he angrily motioned to the bodies.
"Your fellow Iraqis are lying dead in the streets, and you sit there doing nothing. To say nothing is to support the insurgents. These were Iraqi soldiers who were trying to help your country, to serve you. How can you do nothing?" .....
Multi-National Forces detain 6 during operations
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 24, 2004) –Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained six people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities during operations over the last 48 hours in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two people yesterday at a traffic control point after the vehicle they were driving matched descriptions of one used in attacks against MNF earlier this week. On Monday, Soldiers from the same unit conducted a cordon and search in central Mosul and detained four people suspected of financing and supporting anti-Iraqi activities in northern Iraq. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during either operation.
Confusion Reigns as U.S. Raid Misses Target in Iraq
This article contains quotes from a 1-25 commander.
Link to Full Article
Reuters/New York Times
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - It began with U.S. troops busting through the doors of the wrong house.
Dozens of soldiers rammed the white gates of a well-to-do home in central Mosul early on Tuesday, detaining three Iraqi men, only to discover their target was a house with black gates.
``Four houses down,'' said the elderly homeowner patiently, his hands bound behind his back by yellow plastic cuffs.
CNN Segment
Christi wanted to let everyone know that CNN is running a segment featuring A Co., 3-21 INF. If the network holds true to form the segment should run throughout the day/night.
One of largest weapons caches unearthed in N. Iraq
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 22, 2004) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) unearthed one of the largest weapons caches ever found in northern Iraq approximately 45 km. south of Mosul in the village of Shafa’at today.
During their patrol, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment discovered a huge stockpiles of weapons and munitions that consisted of one anti-aircraft gun, 15,000 anti-aircraft rounds, 4,600 hand grenades, 144 VOG-17M anti-personnel grenade launchers, 25 SA-7 surface-to-air missiles, 44 SA-7 battery packs, 20 guided missile packs, 21 120mm mortar rounds, two 120mm mortar tubes, 10 122mm rockets, six 152mm artillery rounds and two 57mm artillery rounds. Soldiers also discovered a building full of explosive-making materials.
The 3-arce site is secure and still under investigation with more weapons and munitions discoveries expected. Anyone having information regarding the weapons cache or any other terrorist activities should contact the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
More bodies of Iraqi soldiers found in Mosul
A United States army officer says four more bodies, at least three of them Iraqi soldiers, were found in the past 24 hours by US forces in the restive northern city of Mosul.
"We found them at 23:00 (local time), they had been dead for at least a couple of hours and their bodies set against the sidewalk, shot in the head and hands tied," Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kurilla told AFP, adding that three of them were confirmed as being Iraqi soldiers. [...]
Lieutenant Colonel Kurilla explained the slain soldiers were probably seized on their way to their barracks at a US base, where a contingent of 500 of them had been sent to take part in US-led operations, which started last week, to wrest the city from rebel control.
Despite the US show of force, insurgents have struck back at Iraq's fledgling security forces and waged an intimidation campaign to spread fear among Iraqi recruits.
US commanders have promised tough action against insurgents, whom they say are only creating the perception that they are in control.
"We are going to deny them freedom of movement," Lieutenant Colonel Kurilla said, promising more raids and sweeps against rebel hideouts.
Deployment of Kurdish Troops in Mosul Alarms Arabs
A couple 1-25 SBCT commanders are quoted in the following article.
Link to Full Article
By Luke Baker
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - As U.S. forces try to regain control of Iraq's third largest city, they are turning to their old allies the Kurds to keep the peace in Mosul.
That has caused resentment among some Arabs and Kurdish troops have been killed in at least one incident -- three Kurds were found shot dead in the mainly Arab city on Sunday.
In the 10 days since Sunni Arab insurgents overran parts of Mosul, looting, burning and in several cases blowing up police stations, reinforcements have been sent in from across the nearby northern Kurdish region, especially Dohuk and Arbil.
A battalion of Iraq's paramilitary National Guard has been sent in from both those towns and another could soon join them, raising the total to around 1,800 men, U.S. commanders say.
While now in National Guard uniform and answerable to the Iraqi Defence Ministry in Baghdad, most of the Kurds were until recently "peshmerga" fighters, a well-organised and feared force set up by Kurdish leaders in the mountains who, with U.S. help, fought Saddam Hussein's army to a standstill after the Gulf War. [...]
For the U.S. military, the public suspicions about the Kurdish National Guard units have created a conundrum.
For well over a decade, the Kurds have been Washington's strongest ally in Iraq against Saddam. Now, with Mosul threatening to turn to chaos after most of the city's 4,000 police deserted, the Kurds are again proving staunch allies.
"They're well-organised, fierce and get the job done," said Captain Robert Lackey, a company commander with the U.S. Stryker Brigade, which is responsible for northern Iraq.
"They understand how we operate and what we need to do, so it's great to have them working with us."
Out on the streets of Mosul, the Kurdish National Guards are far more effective than Arab peers, U.S. commanders say. Many Arab Guards are simply not turning up to work, partly out of fear of reprisals by insurgents against them or their families.
"For the Kurds, this isn't their neighbourhood, this isn't their town, so they have nothing to fear," said Lieutenant Noel Rodriguez, a Stryker Brigade platoon commander.
Mosul: Where Iraq Hovers Between Chaos and Control
Correspondents from the major news outlets have arrived in Mosul and are now reporting on events that occurred last week. Thanks to John for the link.
Link to Full Article
By Luke Baker
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - If any indication was needed of how events in Iraq can turn on a dime, switching from order to mayhem in moments, it happened last week in Mosul.
The northern city of two million people went from relative calm to the brink of chaos in the space of a few hours, and then stayed there for the next two days.
Groups of up to 50 armed men staged coordinated attacks around the city, storming and overrunning at least seven police stations, robbing them of weapons and vehicles and then setting some ablaze.
Recounting the events of Nov. 10-11, Brigadier General Carter Ham, the commander of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said on Thursday he became aware of just how serious the situation was when the insurgents decided to hold their ground and fight, rather than cut and run as they normally do.
"Right then we knew something significant had happened," he said. They came as U.S. forces stormed the rebel bastion of Falluja, near Baghdad, and was in part a reaction to that assault, he added.
"There was a higher level of coordination than we had previously seen, with local command and control," Ham told reporters in Iraq's third biggest city. "It was a very dangerous enemy that we were faced with."
Events began when insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a convoy of cars carrying security contractors through central Mosul. At least one vehicle was hit and went up in flames. As U.S. forces arrived to help, they too were attacked.
A platoon of U.S. Stryker vehicles -- heavily armored, eight-wheeled troop carriers -- was hit by no less than seven roadside bombs, four RPGs, rifle fire and an anti-aircraft gun in the space of a few minutes as it rushed to help out.
"It was crazy. It felt like we were in the middle of a rainstorm there was so much coming down on us," said Lieutenant Benjamin Pry, 25, the commander of the four-vehicle platoon.
"There must have been 40 to 50 guys in two- or three-man teams on rooftops and along the road just unleashing on us."
Fort Lewis remembers soldier killed by sniper
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Thomas Doerflinger was not the kind of young man anybody expected to join the Army, friends told his hometown paper.
He was a sharp but distracted student, liked to write poetry and go his own way, and was raised in the middle-class Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., The (Frederick, Md.) Gazette reported. His father, Richard, is a policy adviser with the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops.
But join the Army he did, in October 2002, even though it looked likely that the United States was headed for war with Iraq.
The Fort Lewis community gathered Friday to pay its respects to the 20-year-old infantryman, who was killed Nov. 11 in Mosul, shot by a sniper during a battle with insurgents in the city’s Yarmouk neighborhood. Doerflinger went to Iraq last month with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
He was the Stryker driver for the executive officer of Bravo Company with the brigade’s 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment. He was the brigade’s third soldier to be killed in Iraq, and one of at least 34 Fort Lewis-based troops to die there or in Afghanistan.
Speakers Friday said the soldier joined the Army despite the risks and did so “not to kill, but to protect people,” said Col. Henri Fischer.
The chaplain said the Bravo Company commander wrote to tell him Doerflinger died while defending his comrades under heavy fire.
The soldier’s funeral was also held Friday, in his hometown of Silver Spring, Md. He is survived by two sisters, 23 and 17, and a brother, 12.
“Our son Thomas was a smart, dedicated, wonderful young man who volunteered for the Army to serve his country and protect innocent people,” his parents, Richard and Lee, said in a statement.
“He understood the risks of his chosen path, and gave his life doing what he had committed himself to doing – standing against those who have no respect for human life.”
Offensive operations nab suspected anti-Iraqi personnel
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 20, 2004) – Iraqi Police Commandos and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities as operations continued Friday in Mosul to eliminate remaining anti-Iraqi forces in the region.
Special Iraqi Police Commandos from the Ministry Interior in Baghdad conducted a cordon and search in central Mosul and detained 23 people suspected of planning and conducting attacks against ISF and MNF. The suspects are in Iraqi custody undergoing questioning.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals at a traffic control point after Soldiers spotted the individuals tossing hand grenades and weapons out of their vehicle as they approached the TCP.
MNF conducted a cordon and search in the western Mosul and detained three suspected members of a terrorist cell in Mosul. The suspects are in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.
Multi-National Forces and Iraqi Security Forces continue to root out the remaining pockets of sporadic resistance. Joint operations between the Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces will continue as necessary to maintain law and order in the region. Anyone having information regarding terrorist activities should contact the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
US-Iraqi forces kill 15 rebels in Mosul
Link to Full Article
Sydney Morning Herald
US and Iraqi troops have killed 15 rebels as they chase down insurgents in the northern city of Mosul, while more than a dozen Iraqis were killed in other parts of the embattled country..... "We are finding the (insurgent) pockets with Iraqis, and going and asking them to come out and fight," said Colonel Robert Brown, a senior US military commander in Mosul.
Similar news was reported earlier by Al-Jazeera. Their article contains a quote from Lieutenant Colonel Michael Kurilla of the 1st Battalion 24th Regiment of the Stryker Brigade.
The Olympia Observer
The November 15 edition of The Olympia Observer, the official newsletter of Task Force Olympia, is available for download.
A Soldier's Letter
Provided below is a recent email written by a soldier with the 1-25 SBCT to his parents. We are publishing this with his permission. Thank you for sharing.
0920 15 NOVEMBER 2004 IRAQ
Mom & Dad,
It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Yesterday marked one month since we left home. Yesterday was one of the hardest days of my life. Yesterday we laid to rest a brother in arms. He was just a kid, only 20, from Maryland. He was in B company, I didn't know him well, but I'd seen him around. He was the first KIA in 'Duece Four' in this war and, make no mistake, war it is. I couldn't tell you about him until after his family had been notified. At 1400 yesterday the memorial service took place. The most difficult part was when his First Sergeant called the final roll. The First Sergeant called the names of each member of his squad and each answered in turn. Then his name was called once, no response. Twice, no response. A third time, no response. Then 'Taps' began to play accompanied by the '21 gun salute'. We then filed by his helmet atop his rifle, dog tags hanging from it, all of this behind his boots and a picture of him, and each of us, individualy, turned to his equipment and rendered a final salute.
I know this is probably harder for you to read than it was for me to write, hard to believe though it is. There are some things I have been putting off saying, something I can no longer do. I am a SOLDIER. I am sworn to protect and defend and I will do that until my last breath, be it in the military or after, that is my calling. I have no desire to lose my life, but it is a price I am willing to pay for 'putting foot to ass' for my country in the name of freedom. I love you all more than life itself, that's why I'm here.
Mosul is a cesspool of insurgents, they will give us no peace. [D]aily we bring the fight to their door. Before yesterday, even though we were here, it still wasn't real. We were still shooting at 'pop up targets' that can't hit back. Now they hit back. They screwd up. Our innocence is gone. We will fight with honor and obey the laws of war. We will go out of our way to help the innocent, but there will be no mercy for those who rise up against us or against their countrymen, for them hell will be unleashed.
I'm sorry that these things needed to be said, but you needed to know in case they ever call my final roll. I love and miss you all very much and I WILL be home before you know it. All my love, Dustin.
(Written by SSG Dustin C. Holcomb who is with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA, serving in Mosul.)
Mosul election ballot materials destroyed
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 19, 2004) – During routine patrol operations today, Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) inspected a Mosul warehouse which contained the ballot materials after an Facilities Protection Service officer informed Soldiers of the materials destruction.
Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment entered the warehouse and found the materials burned. Efforts are underway to replace the ballot materials for the January elections.
The incident is still under investigation.
Special Police search hospital used by terrorists, detain three
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 19, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces, with the support of Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), continued operations in Mosul Thursday to eliminate terrorist cell members still in the region.
Commandos with the Iraqi Ministry of Interior’s Special Police Force, conducted a cordon and search at the Al Zaharawi Hospital, in the Al Shefa neighborhood of Mosul, to confirm anti-Iraqi forces are using the hospital to treat their wounded.
As Multi-National Forces of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment secured the outer region of the hospital, Commandos located and detained three individuals inside the hospital suspected of being participants in terrorist activities. Hospital workers also told commandos that 23 bodies were brought into the morgue that they believe were members of a terrorist cell.
Commandos took pictures of the bodies for later processing. The detained remain in custody for questioning.
Multi-National Forces and Iraqi Security Forces continue to root out the remaining pockets of sporadic resistance. Joint operations between the Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces will continue as necessary to maintain law and order in the region. Anyone having information regarding terrorist activities should contact the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
Here is an article from the Associated Press that describes the operation as well.
Iraqi Rebels Fire Mortars at Governor's Office
Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi insurgents lobbed mortar shells at the provincial governor's office today in Mosul, wounding four bodyguards and igniting a fuel truck, a U.S. military spokesman said by telephone from the northern city.
"Mosul is stable, but there are isolated pockets where we continue to get small-arms fire or indirect fire,'' said Lieutenant Colonel Paul Hastings, Task Force Olympia spokesman. ``I would describe it as tense.''
Two mortar rounds cleared concrete barriers that guard the provincial hall, spraying shrapnel and wounding the bodyguards in the attack at about 11:30 a.m. local time, Hastings said. Governor Duraid Kashmoula was unhurt, and the building was undamaged, Hastings said.
The U.S. is trying to quell insurgencies in Mosul and other parts of Iraq before elections scheduled for January to replace the interim Iraqi government. Fighters tested U.S. and Iraqi forces last week when they seized Mosul's police stations and chased away three-quarters of its officers.
The Mosul governor called in U.S. and Iraqi troops to put down the rebellion.
About a quarter of Mosul's 4,000 police are again manning stationhouses, Hastings said. U.S. and Iraqi troops killed about 80 insurgents and dispersed more in restoring order in Iraq's third-largest city, Hastings said.
Trustworthy Police
"We've found the police we can trust, those who stayed and fought,'' Hastings said. "Those with no leadership cut and ran.''
Hastings said the U.S. would vet returning officers and retrain and rearm them. Insurgents stole body armor, hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles, about a thousand police uniforms, and 50 squad cars while occupying stationhouses last week.
"It's very difficult now to discern who is a friend or foe, when it comes to police in uniform,'' Hastings said. "It's a significant concern.''
Fort Lewis mourns soldier, airman
[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Fort Lewis on Tuesday gathered to mourn the loss of the first servicemen from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division to be killed in Iraq.
Airmen and soldiers remembered Army Maj. Horst Gerhard “Gary” Moore and Air Force Master Sgt. Steven Auchman, who were killed in a mortar attack Nov. 9 on their quarters at Camp Freedom.
“To honor the memory of these two outstanding servicemen we are called to renew our commitment to the cause of justice, liberty and peace for which they served, and ultimately gave their lives,” chaplain Henri Fisher told the 300 or so who attended the joint service at the Main Post Chapel.
Both men were eulogized as dedicated military men who took good care of the soldiers and airmen who worked under their supervision.
Other articles covering the ceremony:
- Fort Lewis honors lives of two men killed in Iraq - The Olympian
- Fort Lewis remembers two troops killed in Iraq - The Seattle Times
- Memorial Photo - The Associated Press
Stryker troops rejoin comrades in Mosul
[Link to Full Article]
Michael Gilbert, The News Tribune
Stryker troops from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment have rejoined their Fort Lewis-based comrades in Mosul, Iraq, after taking part in the offensive at Fallujah.
The battalion made the 225-mile trip to Mosul over the weekend to return to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, brigade commander Col. Robert Brown said Tuesday. The battalion’s job at Fallujah was to seal off possible insurgent escape routes.
The 700 or so soldiers had been stationed in the Baghdad area as a reserve force since they arrived in Iraq last month, he said.
Mosul won’t become next Fallujah, says commander
[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Reports that Mosul, Iraq, was partly under the control of insurgent fighters and in danger of becoming the next Fallujah “is a bunch of baloney,” said Col. Robert Brown, commander of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade that arrived there last month.
Brown said U.S. and Iraqi forces were all over the key northern city Tuesday to shore up the embattled police force. They also tried to draw out the fighters who looted and burned several police stations in Thursday’s uprising.
“We went out and occupied every police station in town, and patrolled all over the place,” Brown told The News Tribune in a telephone interview Tuesday. “We were saying, ‘Come on!’ They avoided us all day long.”
He echoed his boss, Task Force Olympia commander Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, who on Monday assessed the situation in Mosul as “tense but not desperate.”
But Brown also acknowledged the challenges of his mission, including contrary information being put out by Iraqi government leaders and threats from ruthless insurgents that make it difficult for a strong local leadership to take root.
“I have great hope, but it’s not a fast process,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of hard work ahead.”
Three servicemen from Brown’s 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division have been killed in Mosul in the last week.
News services reported that a U.S. soldier was wounded Tuesday when a car bomb blew up near his convoy. Brown said the injury was minor and the soldier returned to duty.
News services also reported that mortars hit the area near the provincial government headquarters in downtown Mosul on Tuesday, killing three Iraqis and wounding 25 others. Another car bomb exploded outside a police station.
The Nineveh governor imposed a 4 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and closed all five bridges across the Tigris River, which divides the city into east and west halves.
Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib in Baghdad told reporters insurgents controlled three or four police stations, but Brown said that wasn’t true.
“It’s tense because people here just want to get on with their lives, they want to be free, and these terrorists just won’t let them,” Brown said. “They want chaos.”
Read the rest. Gilbert also mentions that a variety of news organizations are sending correspondents to Mosul, so expect the extensive coverage to continue.
Mosul Roundup
Provided below are a number of articles regarding Mosul - too many to post individually. Thanks to everyone for sending these links.
- Battles rage across Mosul - The Olympian
- U.S. Troops Move to Rein in Rebels in North of Iraq - The New York Times, reprinted in The Ledger
- U.S. pounds Fallujah for yet another day - MSNBC, blurb at the bottom of the article about TFO.
- Troops Recapture Mosul Police Stations - The Associated Press
U.S. commander: Mosul under control
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- On the second day of increased U.S. and Iraqi security operations in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, conditions are more stable, a top U.S. commander said Wednesday.