Rock of the Marne Soldiers from Company A, 1-30th Infantry fought tooth and nail alongside local Iraqi citizens to push more al-Qaeda rat bastards out of their neighborhoods.
FOB KALSU, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 28, 2008) - For three days, Coalition Forces weathered harsh cold and deadly pressure-plate improvised explosive devices to secure a foothold in southern Arab Jabour, beginning with an air assault Jan. 20.
Infiltrating areas dominated by al-Qaeda in Iraq, infantrymen of Company A, 1-30th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division began their push through the farm fields.
Capt. Neil Hollenbeck, Company A commander and his Soldiers would initially be cut off from ground supply lines. They had to pack enough food and water to sustain themselves for three days while arrangements were made to have supplies flown into the territory, which had never seen a sustained Coalition presence.
Photo Courtesy U.S. Army
Dog faces and angry citizens on the same side make a recipe for success. Sgt Hook out.
A handful of Marines and Military Police from the Texas Army National Guard remain in the once war torn city.
After I adjusted my embed to focus specifically on Police Transition Teams, I was nearly surrounded by young men from Texas. Many seemed to instinctively understand Fallujah’s infamous provincial “nationalism.”
“Fallujah pride is like Texas pride,” I heard from several MPs who, unlike Iraqis from Baghdad, didn’t think that was a bad thing.
BAGHDAD (Army News Service, Jan. 25, 2008) — Most of Sha’ab was still sleeping as a Humvee weaved its way through the neighborhood’s maze-like streets early one frigid, January morning.
Leading the patrol was 1st Lt. Austin Dziengelewski’s platoon of paratroopers from 2nd Battalion “The White Falcons,” 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment. The patrol was on its way to a squatter village in the area, where displaced families were living in makeshift tents. With the temperatures dropping below freezing at night, the paratroopers were worried people in the camps might freeze to death. The platoon’s mission was to find them and see what help they needed.
As the Humvee rounded a corner, the squatter village appeared. The vehicles pulled up and the platoon dismounted. With breath steaming out of their mouths in the chilly air, the paratroopers picked their way through the ramshackle camp. It was a nest of tents, tarps, and scrap metal that looked as if it had been picked up and dropped there by a tornado.
The head of a family emerged from one of the tents and spoke with Dziengelewski. He told the lieutenant that sectarian violence had forced him and his family to flee their home in another part of Baghdad and settle in Sha’ab.
“Why here?” Dziengelewski asked him.
“It is safe here,” the man replied.
After Dziengelewski promised to return later with blankets, tarps and food, the platoon headed back to base. On the ride back, the man’s seemingly insignificant words hung in the air.
It is safe here.
A year’s worth of work, translated into four words. When the White Falcons first arrived in Sha’ab with the mission of improving security, the neighborhood was gripped by constant violence. Twelve months later, it is safe enough that families flee to it as a sanctuary.
For paratroopers like Spc. David Higuera, a medic with Company B, the area’s revival against all odds is a point of pride.
“After a year, when you look back on how it was, compared to now - things are definitely a lot better,” Higuera said. “I know for a fact that when I look back on all this, I’ll be proud of what we did.”
I highly encourage, nay order you to read SSG Mike Pryor’s entire article. His piece clearly puts those four words into perspective. It is safe here. Sgt Hook out.
Your Army continues to push out the sonsofbitches al-Qaeda in Iraq and turning neighborhoods over to Iraqis. Oh, and by the way, they’re sticking around to keep the rat bastards from coming back.
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq - Just days after a major precision air strike in southern Arab Jabour to root out al-Qaeda in Iraq, combat engineers traversed the battlefield, arriving in the area to construct Multi-National Division - Center’s newest combat outpost.
Soldiers with 535th Equipment Support Company, 479th Engineer Battalion convoyed from Camp Stryker, Baghdad, 15 miles southwest to Zambraniyah in southern Arab Jabour to begin construction on Combat Outpost Meade Jan 15. Coalition Forces hit more than 40 AQI targets in an air strike Jan. 10 to secure the area in support of Operation Marne Thunderbolt.
The commanding general, MG Rick Lynch, stopped by the COP to speak with the engineers digging in reminding them they are making a difference…
“I just want to tell you I’m proud to be here with you,” said Lynch to the combat engineers gathered around him at COP Meade.” You all have had more impact than you’ll ever know … The whole world is turning right here right now at Combat Outpost Meade. We’ll fight the Global War on Terrorism here so we won’t have to fight it back home.”
And your Soldiers get it…
On site for less than two days, the engineers had already graded the ground and a significant proportion of the outer wall was completed. Soldiers constructed the wall with Hesco barriers - wire-framed, fabric-lined containers filled with dirt.
Pfc. Charles Brosnahan, from Granton, Wis., explained his unit’s mission. “We’re just trying to build up a spot so the infantry can come in, clean house and keep their sweep going to push the terrorists further away,” he said. “(Soldiers) can’t do that without a place to live, so we come out here first and build it up.”
As much as some might hate to admit it or choose to ignore it because the story doesn’t support their agenda, good things are happening over here every damned day. We will come home, but we will come home with honor having accomplished our mission. Sgt Hook out.
“Last Sunday, my dad asked if I was still in Iraq,” Lynch said. “He’s not seeing it on TV because bad things aren’t happening over here. It’s less publicized. That breaks my heart, because I’ve got 20,000 ‘Dog Face Soldiers’ working their (butts) off every day over here making great progress for the United States of America, and we just have to get that story told.” -Major General Rick Lynch, MND-C Commander
A lot of good things happening over here, most notably is we’ve got the rat bastards of al-Qaeda in Iraq on the run and when they try to hide, Iraqi citizens are ratting them out.
“A year ago, we were often reacting to al Qaeda and what they were going to do,” Hertling said. “Now, I think the tables have turned a little bit, and they are attempting to react to where we’re going to go next. And that’s a critical difference.” -MG Mark Hertling
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 10, 2008) - Army aviation continues to successfully “fight the fight,” in support of operations, while simultaneously transforming and modernizing its forces. That was the consensus of a panel of aviation commanders at the Association of the United States Army’s Institute of Land Warfare Aviation Symposium and Exposition.
“As rapid as innovations occur, we are challenged daily with updating our doctrine, improving our training and sharing lessons learned, all while continuing operations in theater,” said Col. Kevin W. Mangum, commander of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), at Fort Campbell, Ky. “We have the systems, we just have to continue to train with them,” he added.
In recent years, the combination of a significantly increased operational tempo and advancing technologies has presented various challenges, said the commander of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, which redeployed from northern Iraq recently back to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
“We are making vast improvements materially, but our training capacity to integrate new systems into the war fight as soon as they are received needs to be enhanced,” Col. A. Thomas Ball Jr., 25th CAB commander. “It is vital that we have the ability to train before we are, ‘in the box.’ Not individual training, but collective training to synergize as a unit.” Ball praised training exercises, which he says allow simulation and integration of everything from personnel and materials to system utilization.
I watch these UAVs take off and land day in and day out over here and am privy to the capabilities that they bring to the fight; impressive to say the least. With a healthy dose of American ingenuity, Soldierly grit, and dedicated civilian contractors the mission is being accomplished and the training plans are being developed. We’ll udoubtedly catch up just in time for newer technology to be introduced, but that’s OK, bring it on. Sgt Hook out.
ZAHMM, Iraq, Jan. 8 — The U.S. military launched a major offensive early Tuesday against one of the largest known redoubts of al-Qaeda in Iraq, part of a new nationwide campaign to destroy remaining pockets of the Sunni insurgency.
The unusually large attack by 5,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops in volatile Diyala province reflects growing concern that success in rooting the group out of Baghdad and Anbar province to the west has driven its members to northern areas such as the Diyala River Valley and the city of Mosul.
U.S. officials said an estimated 200 fighters from al-Qaeda in Iraq created a mini-state here in what Americans call the Bread Basket, a 50-square-mile, shoe-shaped region northeast of Baghdad that stretches from the northern Diyala River to a parallel canal to the east. Residents said the fighters, whom some described as foreigners, imposed curfews and strict interpretations of sharia, or Islamic law.
The U.S. troop buildup that began last year and success in fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq elsewhere in the country have, for the first time in two years, freed up enough troops to wage a full-scale assault and establish a continued presence in this area, U.S. commanders said. They said the Iraqi military is sending up to a full battalion from Anbar in the coming days to help hold the territory.
And the Iraqi citizens are helping…
More casualties were likely avoided because of tips from villagers, who identified explosives left by the insurgents. One man helped U.S. soldiers find and detonate a car bomb in Zahmm, which filled the night sky with dark smoke for hours. The man was promised a $100 reward.
Villagers encountered on Tuesday told the Americans of mistreatment by the Sunni insurgents. In one town, locals said al-Qaeda in Iraq imposed curfews from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day.
“Al-Qaeda said, ‘You must all work for us now,’ ” Sgt. Patrick Martin of Saratoga, N.Y., recalled villagers telling him.
American, Coalition, and Iraqi forces continue to set conditions for stabilization and the citizens are showing signs of hope for a brighter future and faith in their leaders while al-Qaeda remains on the run. Sgt Hook out.
They are popping up all over the place here in Iraq. The MRAP Vehicles have been long anticipated by those driving on Iraqi roadways and the procurement guys back in Washington have done a good job of getting them into theater.
“These armored trucks… have been the military’s top acquisition priority for months now, and with good reason,” Morrell said. “They have proven to be true lifesavers for our warfighters in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
As of Dec. 17, 1,300 MRAPs were in the theater, Morrell reported. Another 180 are en route by sea aboard USNS Pililaau, a large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ship operated by Military Sealift Command that left Charleston, S.C., Dec. 13. In addition, another 15 MRAPs are in the air headed to Iraq.
The other day I was talking with a pilot who told me that he was flying the night previously and did a double take when he saw the odd looking vehicle driving up the MSR in a CLP of about six. As the pilot brought his Kiowa Warrior around for a better look at the colossal truck his night vision devices momentarily suffered a white out from the blinding flash of an explosion. An IED had detonated just as the lead MRAP drove across it.
The pilot immediately began the process of calling in a 9-line MEDEVAC request for the injured occupants while his wingman began searching for signs of insurgents in case it was a command detonated device. The MRAP was propelled into the air from the blast, turned 360 degrees while momentum kept it moving forward, and landed on its side, sliding to a stop on the shoulder of the road. The pilot on the radio could not believe his eyes when he watched all of the occupants climb out of the vehicle seemingly unharmed. It’s good to see more of these mammoths on the roads over here. Sgt Hook out.
UBAYDI, Iraq (Army News Service, Jan. 2, 2008) — Going after al-Qaeda cell leaders in the Ubaydi farmland 20 miles south of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi troops launched a three-pronged assault on the area which netted dozens of detainees, Dec. 29.
Soldiers from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, and Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor, along with about 200 Iraqi troops, raided houses and searched fields near the Tigris River.
The operation was planned by Task Force 1-76 Field Artillery, part of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division.
As the sun rose through Ubaydi’s date palm groves, four Black Hawks landed in a fury of dust and whipping wind. Soldiers from Co. B poured out, their breath steaming in the cold air as they charged straight for a small compound purported to be an al-Qaeda safehouse.
In case it isn’t making your evening news. Sgt Hook out.
This site is a collection of my writings, thoughts, and ramblings and in no way reflects the official positions of the United States Army or the Department of Defense. OPSEC trumps everything.
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In view of a recent tendency to identify characters in fiction with real people, it seems proper to state that there are no real people in this volume: both the characters and their names are ficticious. The names or designations of any military units are ficticious. There are no living people nor existing military units presented in this book.
-Ernest Hemingway
Halfway down the road to hell,
In a shady meadow green,
Are the souls of all dead troopers camped
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddler's Green.
-Author Unknown
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