Photo By Master Sgt. Jerry Saslav | Iraqi army soldiers man a checkpoint in Baghdad's Sadr City District, Jan. 31. The...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Jerry Saslav
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
SADR CITY, Iraq – "This is the last actual day of combat missions," Staff Sgt. Jason Condreay told his squad in the morning darkness at Forward Operating Base War Eagle, in Baghdad's Adhamiyah District, Jan. 31.
Very soon the Soldiers would be finishing their 15 month deployment and would start their journey home.
"This is the last major thing that we have to do before we get out of here," said Condreay.
The country was holding its first elections since 2005 and there had been reports that terrorists would try to disrupt the voting.
Condreay and his team, a mix of military policemen and infantrymen from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Special Troops Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad were assigned to be the Quick Reaction Force in Sadr City, the Soldiers who would rush, if needed, to the scene of any terrorist activity.
Less than a year ago, these same Soldiers fought alongside the Iraqi security forces in battling criminals, terrorists and other anti-government forces in this section of Sadr City; now they were backing up the ISF.
"The Iraqi's were in complete control," said Condreay, a native of Greeley, Colo. "We were just out here to assist them in whatever way that we could."
Coalition forces were not allowed near the voting sites unless something happened; so for Condreay and his men it meant driving around the streets of Sadr City and stopping at various ISF stations to see if they needed anything.
The Iraqi government instituted a driving ban resulting in empty streets, with a few children playing nearby.
For the better part of 11 hours the squad drove the streets in their armored vehicles, stopping every now and then to talk with local citizens and ISF, all the time waiting for something to happen.
Nothing happened.
"This might not seem like a lot today," Lt. Col. Michael Pemrick, a Greenwich, N.Y., native who serves as the deputy commanding officer of the 3rd BCT, told the squad after the elections had ended with no violence reported in their area. "It seems like we drove and nothing happened around a lot, saw a bunch of people sticking their fingers in the air. Someday this will be in the history books, just like [the battle for] Sadr City and you'll be able to tell people you were part of it."
| Date Taken: | 02.02.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 02.02.2009 05:01 |
| Story ID: | 29529 |
| Location: | SADR CITY, IQ |
| Web Views: | 416 |
| Downloads: | 360 |
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