BAGHDAD--In an urban landscape like Baghdad, a place peppered with a variety of cars, buildings, people and animals under the ever-present sheen of neon lighting, the tracked monster that is an M1A2 Abrams tank doesn't make for the most inconspicuous or mobile of vehicles.
So when the tankers of White Platoon, "Cobra" Company of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, left the gates of Camp Cuervo the night of July 29 to patrol their sector in north-eastern Baghdad, they decidedly left their Abrams behind them. Instead, White Platoon rolled-out in its more mobile, but still quite noticeable up-armored humvees. It wasn't long however, before they came to a stop, parked the vehicles and threw open their doors to begin part of its patrol that is usually left to the Infantry: the foot patrol.
"Sometimes I'd rather be in a tank because it feels so much safer," Pvt. Wilbert Parks, 2-8 Cav. said. "But on days where it's hot like today, being inside of a tank is like being in an oven, so I'd definitely rather be outside, walking around." Despite his training as a tanker, Parks had not conducted a single patrol in a tank since he arrived in Baghdad.
Parks, who has been in Iraq since the end of March, said his platoon is either driving around in a humvee, or doing dismounted patrols on foot, "doing the Infantry thing."
On this particular night the White Platoon patrolled a place affectionately referred to as "Restaurant Road," a kilometer-long stretch of road where many Iraqis congregate due to the high-concentration of shops, eateries, nightclubs and restaurants. First Lt. Travis Tramell, platoon leader for 2-8 Cav. said the main purpose for conducting the dismounted patrol down Restaurant Road was to give face-time to White Platoon's cohorts: approximately a dozen Iraqi National Guard Soldiers of Company C, 305th ING Battalion.
"These ING usually get a really positive response when we walk around down here," Tramell said. "Letting the ING Soldiers take the lead on patrol while we hang back really gives the Iraqis a feeling that their own people are taking back the control of their country."
After completing their patrol, the Soldiers of White Platoon mounted up once again in their humvees and prepared for another night of patrolling both on and off foot, sans tank.
| Date Taken: | 08.03.2004 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2004 15:31 |
| Story ID: | 194 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 155 |
| Downloads: | 67 |
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