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Iraqi, U.S. Soldiers keep pressure on terrorists

Photo By Sgt. Matthew Wester | Sgt. Troy Krahmer, a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion,...... read more read more

TAJI, IRAQ

11.21.2005

Courtesy Story

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Spc. Michael Leslie
3/1 AD PAO

CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- The lights are out. The streets are dark. Soldiers are trudging down the alley in silence to find a target.

Early in the morning on Nov. 9, Soldiers of 2nd Mechanized Battalion, 1st Mechanized Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division walk from their patrol base in Saba Al Bor to a strategic area to catch terrorists before they have a chance to escape.

They start at their target house, knocking on the front door as an early-morning surprise. Their targeted suspect is in the house and the Soldiers detain him without a struggle.

"I think they did really well," said Maj. Steve Lutsky, 2nd Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division operations officer. "This was their first dismounted attack. We moved dismounted in the cover of darkness, and doing that, they did very well."

The Iraqi Army's participation was just part of a bigger operation by the 2nd Bn., 70th Armor Regt. searching the surrounding area.

Iraqi Soldiers were conducting most of the mission on their own with little American intervention.

"We let them do their own thing," said Sgt. Troy Krahmer, a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2/70th, "We were just there to kind of look over them, but we were always there to point them in the (right) direction."

"They had their own objectives, so they conducted a company operation," Lutsky said.

The Iraqi Army was successful in finding who they were looking for"as well as someone they weren't expecting to run into during this operation.

"The IA caught one of the targets, and also a target of opportunity that we have been looking for," Lutsky said.

They went from house to house, knocking on doors and searching for contraband.

"They found a couple of weapons that the Iraqis aren't allowed to have," Krahmer said. "Everything was good. There was nothing bad that happened, so it was all a good mission."

Lutsky thinks the operation also showed local residents that the Iraqi Army is here to help them build a safer life.

"The goal of the operation was to cordon and search areas to provide a safer environment for Iraqi people in Saba Al Bor and also show that the Iraqi Army is here and capable of protecting them," Lutsky said.

"It's their country. It's good that they're out," Krahmer said. "(The Iraqis) want their own people. They see their own people; they're going to respect them because it's Iraq."

Out on the streets, the IA Soldiers joked around with kids and gave out Iraqi flags.

"It's good to go out and have the people see that the IA is out there doing the work," Krahmer said. "Everybody seemed to interact with them and liked what was going on."

Lutsky believes continuing to conduct company-level operations will help guide the Iraqi Army to bigger operations in the future.

"The more often they get out and do this, and the more often they can exercise as a company, the better off they'll be," Lutsky said. "And eventually they will be conducting battalion-level operations without our assistance."

Lutsky thinks the Iraqi Army is getting close to taking over their areas and leading the way as they should.

"I think we are well on our way to turning this area of Iraq back over to the Iraqi Army with their set of governance and security," he said. "At this rate, we will have the Iraqis leading Iraqis very soon."