Three Forces Come Together for Checkpoints

Photo By Sgt. Zach Zuber | Soldiers of the Iraqi army, Peshmerga and the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment react to a grenade thrown from a vehicle during a training exercise at Command Operating Post Cobra on Jan. 10. The training was set up to prepare them to man five new checkpoints in the As'Sadiya area.  

DIYALA PROVINCE, IRAQ

01.22.2010

Story by Pvt. Zach Zuber 

1-2 SBCT, 7th Infantry Division

DIYALA, Iraq — For several weeks in January, members of the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division have been training members of both the Iraqi army and the Kurdish Peshmerga at Combat Outpost Cobra. They are working together to staff checkpoints around the As'Sadiyah area of Diyala, Iraq.


The checkpoints are a part of the Combined Security Area in the region. These points, placed in positions throughout the area, will be manned by United States Forces, Iraqi Army Forces, and Peshmerga as a cooperative effort to protect the local communities. The CSA is traditionally a region where Iraqi Security Forces' responsibility for security ends and the Kurdish Forces take the lead.

Currently the 1/14th Cav., is not only working to prepare members of both groups to handle any and all challenges they may encounter at these points but they're building a partnership between the two forces. A goal of Capt. Richard Dempsey, Bronco Troop commander, 1/14th Cav., is that both forces will build the foundation for a lasting friendship through training and working together on a daily basis.

"The training is very strategic and goes above and beyond checkpoint tactics to foster cooperation between the two groups who, in their history, have had conflicts," said Dempsey.

Through training, the Soldiers have been able to take one step closer to achieving the overall goals of working together and becoming more knowledgeable about the operations of a checkpoint.

"The training has gone very well, and we will try to apply everything we have learned here to the real checkpoints. We have greatly benefited by this training," said Maj. Farhat Hamma Muhammed, 2nd Battalion, 34th Peshmerga Brigade.

Checkpoint training at Cobra is made up of three four hour blocks. During the first block members of Bronco Troop demonstrate procedures used at checkpoints. Soldiers teach the different levels of searching suspects, how to use escalation of force with approaching vehicles, and how to react to casualties during attacks. In the second block, the students perform what they have learned at a slow speed while U.S. Soldiers provided helpful tips. Finally, a full speed mission readiness exercise allowed all three groups to work together during a real time simulation.

The Soldiers participated in a variety of scenarios, from trouble-less vehicle searches to reacting to a mass casualty event. Soldiers, role playing as combatants, used smoke grenades to simulate IED explosions or grenades, as they 'attacked' the training checkpoint.

"Just like anywhere else, when the groups came in they were initially divided and by the end you could see Pesh soldiers and Iraqi Army working together to help the simulated casualties and really gelling as a group by the end," said Dempsey.

"It was very good experience for us to learn different things like indirect fire and moving casualties and I wish the best for everyone as we go to the checkpoints," said Lt. Hassanen Amir Mohmmed, 2nd Company, 4th Brigade Iraqi Army.

• Date Taken: 01.22.2010
• Date Posted: 01.22.2010 01:58
• Story ID: 44254
• Location: DIYALA PROVINCE, IQ