 | ||||
Securing northern Iraq is tough on mind, body
During the hot summer months in Al Huwija, 1-508th Inf (Abn) was constantly ambushed during the day. The only thing they had to look forward to at night was a barrage of mortars, courtesy of the "Mad Mortarmen." The Mad Mortarmen is what 1-508th Inf (Abn) named the group of Iraqis who constantly harassed them at night with mortar barrages. Luckily for the 1-508th, the Mad Mortarmen didn't have the best aim. After moving operations southwest to Daquq and Tuz, to prevent people like the Mad Mortarmen from entering northern Iraq, 1-508th Inf (Abn) was met with more ambushes and attacks. The convoy of battalion commander, Lt. Col. Harry Tunnell, was ambushed by rocket-propelled grenades and machinegun fire. Tunnell was shot in the leg and was medevaced out of Iraq. Shortly after Tunnell's convoy was ambushed, 1st Lt. David Bernstein and Pfc. John Hart, soldiers in Charlie Company, were killed when their convoy also came under attack from rocket-propelled grenades and machinegun fire. Bernstein and Hart were in the last vehicle in a quick reaction force convoy. They got cut off from the rest of the convoy when guerilla fighters shot a RPG at their vehicle causing the driver, Spc. Joshua Sams, Charlie Company, to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a dirt berm. The vehicle came to a stop on top of Sams' arm. Bernstein, mortally wounded from a gunshot wound to the leg, crawled over to Sams' side under direct fire, and pushed on the gas pedal with his hand, moving the vehicle forward off of Sams' arm.
Bernstein collapsed shortly afterward and died. The RPG explosion also killed Hart, who was in the back of the humvee. One tactical checkpoint, Echo Four, was set up 35 miles south of Tuz by Alpha Company in an effort to prevent such ambushes, and keep the guerilla fighters in southern Iraq. A platoon of soldiers was manning Echo Four when it came under a massive coordinated attack. "It was a scene right out of Full Metal Jacket," said 1st Sgt. Michael Stribling, first sergeant of Alpha Company, comparing it the movie based on the Vietnam War. "My guys were down at Echo Four when armor-piercing RPGs, mortars and machinegun fire bombarded the compound. The attackers were firing on my guys from behind a second ridgeline. At night, it looked to my guys that they were being fired upon from the first ridgeline. Those Iraqis were pretty smart." No one was injured in that attack, but it caused a lot of repair work at Echo Four, which is 45 minutes away from any help. The 1st Platoon built two bunkers inside the compound and 16 heavily sandbagged guard towers along the walls. They even renamed the tactical checkpoint "Helm's Deep"- inspired by the fortress that couldn't be taken by the armies in "Lord of the Rings." A platoon of Iraqi Civil Defense Corps soldiers has been assigned to Helm's Deep. Alpha Company is training the ICDC soldiers for when the time comes for Alpha Company to leave the country, the Iraqi soldiers will be physically and mentally prepared to take over security of Helm's Deep. The last few weeks at Helm's Deep have been relatively quiet. One night a man walked up to the checkpoint and told Abut Halik, an ICDC soldier, that bandits robbed him of his car at gunpoint. The man said he was asked to give a sick man a ride to a hospital in Kirkuk. As he drove through the checkpoint south of Tuz, the vehicle was searched by two ICDC soldiers, and waved through. After driving a north a bit, the 'sick passenger' said he needed to relieve himself. The driver pulled over and the 'sick man' pulled a pistol and ordered the driver out of the car. The driver walked five miles back to the checkpoint, and was mad at the ICDC soldiers for not finding the weapon during the search. "The guy was mad at me," said Halik. "It's not my fault." Many minor altercations with bandits the ICDC soldiers can handle. Alpha Company has switched roles, and is only there to train, observe and protect the ICDC soldiers in event of another large attack. "We gave them classes on field sanitation, muzzle awareness, basic rifle marksmanship, and different patrol procedures," said Staff Sgt. Antonio C. Medina, a squad leader in 3rd Platoon. "Every night we take them out on patrols. We've handed the actual checkpoint over to the ICDC soldiers, but we still keep one of our guys out there to keep the ICDC soldiers honest." The Iraqi soldiers who are living at Helm's Deep are the same ones Alpha Company helped train a few months earlier. "The ICDC soldiers have come a long way since the first day of training," Medina said. "Their appearance and discipline has improved enormously. Taking care of their equipment is still lacking, but they're getting better." "The ICDC soldiers are still giving us heart attacks," said Pfc. Nicholas Duplesis, a gunner in 3rd Platoon. "The ICDC soldiers have had four accidental discharges in the last two weeks while manning checkpoints. Believe it or not, that's an improvement." Brigade paratroopers may have only a second to decide how to react to a situation; relying on their training and past experience to come to the right conclusion. In the last 10 months paratroopers in 1-508th Inf (Abn) have had to deal with guerilla fighters placing improvised explosive devices on the road, and being shot at by RPG's, 105 mm rockets, mortars, and automatic weapons fire. It hasn't been easy, but they carry on.
| ||||
|
|
