Edge of the border: Infantrymen move from Ramadi to Lake Thar-Thar

Courtesy Photo | Bradley fighting vehicles from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor overwatch a road near the Lake Thar-Thar region in northern Anbar province, Oct. 14.  

IRAQ

10.17.2007

Story by Spc. Ricardo Branch 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

By Spc. Ricardo Branch
1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

LAKE THAR-THAR, Iraq – 1st Brigade Soldiers have a new mission to secure the area between Samarra and Ramadi.

Leading the way are Soldiers from Company B, 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor, who recently moved from Combat Outpost Aggressor into the area around Lake Thar-Thar.

"Lake Thar-Thar is the last organized vestige of al-Qaida in Iraq in Anbar province," said Lt. Col. Michael Silverman, 3-69 commander. "Bravo company is now going to partner with an Iraqi army battalion in order to rid the area of al-Qaida insurgents."

He said the plan to move company B into the area was long in coming with 1st Brigade's recent successes in Ramadi.

"One of their main objectives will be the road that goes from Samarra to route Mobile, which is the Samarra highway," Silverman said.

The highway will now be patrolled by Iraqi and U.S. forces. Insurgents had used the highway in the past to target travelers from northern Iraq

"This road is highly important to the economic livelihood of the Anbar province," Silverman said. "Our being here will allow all the fuel and commercial traffic from Turkey to come into Anbar."

It's a new partnership for company B but one the battalion has done before.

"The main difference for the Soldiers is they'll be partnered more directly with Iraqi Army soldiers," Silverman said. "It's really very similar to what we've done with our Alpha company in the region of Abu-Bali to the east of Ramadi."

Staff Sgt. Clint Madron, fire support non-commissioned officer said that the insurgents from various places around Anbar have been congregating in the Lake Thar-Thar region after numerous operations cleared them from other areas.

"This is the last pocket," said the 30-year-old Holdenville, Okla., native. "The insurgents from Samarra, Fallujah and Ramadi have been organizing in this area for some time. With us being pushed here, we can form a stronghold which will help clear them from this area for good."

Since their arrival in the Anbar province, the Soldiers from company B have moved from area to area. First starting in the center of Ramadi, where they encountered daily gun battles with insurgents, to their move into the Jazeera section north of the city, where they handed out humanitarian assistance, the infantrymen have seen a gradual change in all the areas they have moved through.

"You can see it in our significant act reports," Madron said. "First we started with upwards of ten a day when we arrived on ground to barely one a month as time has progressed. These last few months, we've seen a drop in IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and engagements on coalition forces. Now we're to the point where we're breaking the last leg of the insurgency."

With the Soldiers in Anbar reaching their tenth month mark and distant thoughts of home creeping into someone's mind, Madron remains optimistic of the successful efforts in Anbar.

"What we're doing here may seem like it's taking a while to get accomplished, but it's working," he said.

Madron remembers his first deployment in Tikrit, Iraq, with the 4th Infantry Division. During that deployment the unit built three gas stations. He went back to Tikrit in 2005 with the brigade and saw the gas stations and the area thriving. "Our efforts here in Anbar may not seem much at first but a year or two down the line, and you'll see that the efforts today were worth it in the future."

• Date Taken: 10.17.2007
• Date Posted: 10.17.2007 08:32
• Story ID: 13065
• Location: IQ