Photo By Robert Timmons | Staff Sgt. Lucas Horn, 23, an infantryman from Portland, Ore., assigned to Company B,...... read more read more
By Sgt. 1st Class Robert Timmons
4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs
KAMILIYAH, Iraq – "Welcome to EFP (explosively formed penetrators) Airways," Staff Sgt. Howard Weitzmann, the weapons squad leader with 1st Platoon, Company B "Bushmasters," 2nd "Ranger" Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, said as the patrol left Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah in southeastern Baghdad.
The patrol would be heading into one of the roughest parts of the city, known for numerous EFP targeting coalition and Iraqi forces, to replace a platoon at coalition outpost Bushmaster.
Zigzagging through the bustling city and avoiding traffic jams, the platoon was forced to come to a halt only once that trip – traffic outside the local Iraqi police station was in gridlock as thousands of military-aged men awaited the chance to enter and apply for a job.
"Only about 50 or so will be chosen to go inside," Weitzmann, the 32-year-old Patillion, Neb., native said as the throng of jobless men began rushing together like high school American boys eager to watch a fistfight.
About the same time, an American unit entered the IP compound and Weitzmann's patrol began moving again.
Entering the small town of Kamiliyah, the patrol was welcomed by many children waving and giving "thumbs-up" signs as the lumbering humvees ambled their way through the narrow litter strewn streets slowly avoiding suspicious piles of debris and the omnipresent overflowing open-air sewage trenches.
Though the troops have been up and down these streets tens, if not hundreds, of times since May when they began manning the COP, the Iraqi children seemed to pay a keen interest in the Americans. At one point, a little girl and her sister passed the convoy multiple times as it halted briefly before beginning its journey.
COP Bushmaster
Ultimately, the "EFP Airways" flight had been quiet and the sights of the smiling and cheerful children refreshing. The patrol entered COP Bushmaster will little fanfare except for the smiling faces of fellow Soldiers eager that 1st Platoon had come to relieve them.
Nestled near the town's industrial complex, camouflage netting and concertina wire signals the quiet presence of the COP. Home to at least two platoons for almost a week at a time, the two-story building is the base of operations for the Bushmasters, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, operating in eastern Baghdad out of Forward Operating Base Loyalty.
The unit's parent brigade, the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, from Fort Riley, Kan., is operating out of Forward Operating Base Falcon, in the Rashid District on the south side of the Iraqi capital.
A quiet complex, that has grown quieter yet since Moqtada Al-Sadr called for a six-month cease-fire in August, has the basic needs a Soldier could ask for with few exceptions.
There are hot meals twice a day, Internet access, telephones, satellite television, a full-sized gym with free weights and wrestling mats for the Soldiers to unwind after a mission outside the relative safety of the COP's wire.
But, with all the modern amenities the COP has, the lone shower consists of a refillable bag attached to a low ceiling allowing a single Soldier a cramped chance to wash off a mission's grime. Then there are the six wooden latrines, where the contents were pulled out in barrels and with a touch of diesel fuel put to the torch.
Despite conditions that make "Fobbits" cry foul, the Bushmasters to a man stoically agreed they would take COP-life over FOB-life any day. In an era where there is no rear echelon, "Fobbits" are what Soldiers who routinely pound the Iraqi landscape call those who stay on the FOBs.
"It's not that bad," said Spc. Jonathan Turek, a gunner from Houston, slowly smoking a cigarette. "It could be a whole lot worse."
The truck commander of his vehicle agreed.
"It's much better than staying on the FOB and making that trip twice a day," said Cpl. Jacob Price, a red-haired, boyish-looking 21-year-old from Eureka, Calif. The smoke from the duo's cigarettes wafted into the air as they spoke, a quiet resolve in their faces.
During the first months at the COP, the Bushmasters had to withstand triple-digit temperatures while their air conditioning and electric generators sputtered and died. They said they lost at least ten AC units in the first month alone.
On Sept. 29, their platoon sergeant, Sgt. 1st Class James Doster was killed by an improvised explosive device traveling the stretch of road the patrol had just traversed.
"We are rolling with the ball," said Staff Sgt. Jose Vera, a 26-year-old infantryman from Philadelphia. "That is what Doster would want us to do. We are doing the same things as before."
Though solemn in their resolve, the air is ripped apart with laughter around the same time each day. One of the things that makes the Soldiers laugh heartily are the re-runs of America's Funniest Home Videos shown on Saudi Arabian television.
With the laughter is the clanking of weights as the Bushmasters strengthen their sinews before their next mission.
A meeting and a night's rest
Soon the Bushmasters would be back on the streets making their presence known to those whom they are there to protect –the Iraqi people.
A few hours after its arrival, 1st Platoon was once again cautiously driving through town, this time to the Kamiliyah Neighborhood Council Hall where Capt. Jermaine Hampton was scheduled to meet with the council chairman about current issues affecting the village.
"Looks like it will be a long meeting," said 1st Lt. Edward Boland, 1st Platoon's platoon leader as he stood guarding the front door of the bustling hall. Four sheiks in traditional dress had entered the complex, where locals arrive for everything from medical care to resolving business issues.
The troops had fanned out in their humvees outside the complex walls, while others went inside for added protection.
"There is a convoy approaching," crackled a voice on Boland's radio.
Boland said "Ranger 6," or Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, the 2-16th's commander was arriving for face-to-face talks with the sheiks.
Inside the large, well air-conditioned room on the second floor, Kauzlarich and Hampton sat across from the sheiks with the chairman sitting behind his desk under an Iraqi flag between the two as if a moderating a political debate.
After initial pleasantries, Kauzlarich told the sheiks bluntly, "We have captured these three individuals. They are bad men ... we have had numerous people tell us they were bad."
The tribal elders listened intently and asked small questions, but to a man they nodded in agreement when Kauzlarich said a contractor scheduled to do work in the town was fired because he failed to work in a manner timely enough to help their people.
Downstairs, children, amused by the heavily armed Americans, began to congregate at the gate. They strained to get a glimpse or even maybe a treat from the strangers.
Soon the meeting would end, and the sweat-drenched Soldiers were on their way back to their base for much needed rest and some hot chow.
As the sun began to sink into the dust on the horizon, the Soldiers found out why the meeting took as long as it did – there would be no night mission that evening, allowing the sheiks to maintain order over their people.
| Date Taken: | 10.17.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 10.17.2007 09:04 |
| Story ID: | 13068 |
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| Web Views: | 513 |
| Downloads: | 373 |
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