Assault with a deadly weapon

Photo By Spc. Paul Harris | Soldiers from 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, stack against a wall and prepare to enter a building after air assaulting into Range 141 on Fort Carson, Colo.  

UNITED STATES

09.24.2007

Story by Spc. Paul Harris 

3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division

By Spc. Paul J. Harris
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office

FORT CARSON, Colo. – There is a well renowned football analogy that says speed will beat strength. The same theory could be applied to modern combat. The "Fighting Eagles" of 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion (CAB), 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, experienced the speed of battle when they air assaulted onto Range 141 on Fort Carson, Sept. 21.

Range 141 has a replicated Iraqi village built into it complete with loudspeakers booming Muslim prayer calls and it was the "Fighting Eagles'" job to figure where high value individuals, associated with the likes of al Qaeda were hiding in the town.

"We understand our mission is to conduct combat and support operations and we understand the two missions are quite different," said Capt. Earl Barron, commander, Company B, 1-8 CAB. "It is difficult to change the mindset of an infantryman whose primary task is to capture and kill the insurgency. But now we are being told we have to engage the population and play nice in order to gather information from these folks."
Spc. Pearson Kraus, team leader, Company B, 1-8 CAB, was amazed by the speed it took his fellow Soldiers to secure the perimeter of the town.

"Support by fire positions were set up by 20 seconds after entering the gate," Kraus said. "It happens fast but you have trained so many times you know what you are doing. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast."

For veteran Soldiers the exercise was to polish up on skills but for the less experienced Soldier it was a chance to get a taste of the Iraqi culture and the hostilities that they soon might face when the Striker Brigade deploys to Iraq this December.

"A lot of (the newer Soldiers) joined when the country was at war so they already are mentally prepared to go to combat," Kraus said. "But it is our job to prepare them for what to expect when we get over there by telling them stories, little quirks that the Iraqis have."

For some of the salted platoon sergeants the training gave them a barometer to judge on the unit's deployment readiness.

"We are gearing a lot of training now to the actual theater, this is real good training now, this is what we are going to be facing," said Sgt. 1st Class John Guidry, platoon sergeant, Company B, 1-8 CAB. "It is giving us a real actualization of what it is like in Iraq."

Guidry should know. This upcoming deployment will be his third not counting a year he was stationed in Korea. It will be difficult to leave his wife again to take care of their six children alone.

"The bad thing is my wife is actually getting used to this," Guidry said.

Though the rigors of deployment weigh on his mind Guidry is comforted by the fact he will be going back with a unit that is trained and ready to tackle the mission at full speed.
"There are a lot of friendly people over (in Iraq)," Guidry said. "There are a lot of people that want to see Iraq survive."

• Date Taken: 09.24.2007
• Date Posted: 09.24.2007 11:09
• Story ID: 12520
• Location: US