'Angels from Hell' clear desert during Operation Swarmer

Photo By Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Matson | An Iraqi Army Soldier gives candy to some children after searching a home for weapons and explosives as part of Operation Swarmer March 14 in Iraq.  

03.25.2006

Courtesy Story

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During Operation Swarmer, the largest Air Assault since the initial invasion of Iraq, the Company A, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment "Angels from Hell" were among the most productive units in locating weapons caches and detaining suspected insurgents. Combined, the company found five caches (one located by First Platoon, four by Second Platoon) and detained 18 suspected terrorists during the six-day mission. Company commander Capt. Jeff Lesperance said the company thoroughly searched more than 100 houses and questioned more than 200 people in an area about 15 miles wide by 15 miles deep in a rural area Northeast of Samarrah, Iraq. The company also found numerous small stashes of additional prohibited weapons and ammunition during their raids (one AK-47 or rifle and one magazine is permitted for every adult male in a household.)

Sgt. 1st Class Angelo Lettiere, Second Platoon's Platoon Sergeant, said that the caches his companies found were hidden in a well, a goat pen, in the wall of a building they bulldozed, and in fuel barrels. He credited his Soldier's thorough searching with the platoon's results.

A new Soldier to the company, Pvt. Aaron Pildner, of Ashtabula, Ohio, had a hand in finding all four of the caches found by Second Platoon. He had been trained on using the mine sweeper/metal detector he used to find the caches just prior to the mission by Spc. Patrick O'Brien of Parkeville, Kansas.

"The one cache I found in a well with Pvt. Pidner, we found Rocket Propelled Grenades, scopes, ammunition for various pistols and rifles, TNT, mortar tubes, mortar rounds, and night vision goggles," O'Brien said.

"Pvt Pildner was down there with an Iraqi Army troop, and they came across several layers of soda cans and Pildner kept getting a strong signal indicating there was something more down there. The Iraqi Army Soldier continued to dig through the ground and eventually found a burlap sack. He dug around it, pulled it up and it contained a 60 mm mortar tube. Sgt. 1st Class Lettiere had always told us, if there's a mortar tube, there's mortars, so we continued to dig in the area and found a 55 gallon drum and the lid to a large blue barrel. We dug that up, and within it we found four RPGs. We dug some more and found the second barrel with the scopes, NVGs, another mortar tube, ammunition and a machine gun. I was a little excited. I know that small amount may not make much of a difference, but overall, we're at least hurting them somewhat. Pildner's got that minesweeping down to a tee."

"It feels good to do," Spc. Jeremy Hayhurst of Oakland, Md., who found a small cache of assault rifles and ammunition with Spc. Justin Bohannon of Richland, Wash., said. "It's less stuff that can be used against us, the Iraqi Army and the civilians here."
Hayhurst and Bohannon found two AK-47s in some barrels outside one of the searched homes.

"One was in the clear in the bottom of an empty fuel barrel," Bohannon recalled. "The other was about half full and when we put a stick in there and felt around we could tell there was something in there. We did an extremely thorough search spending about two and a half to three hours on every site."

"I liked finding the caches," Pildner said. "It made me feel real good that I was doing my job, and was part of the operation and was able to help out even if I'm kind of low, just a private, I was still able to help out."

First Lt. Adam Scher, First Platoon's PL, said that on March 16, the first day of the mission, first platoon Air Assaulted to the house of a High Value Target. While the HVT was not in the house at the time, the platoon was able to find other people associated with other people suspected of terrorist activity in the area and find a small cache of weapons and ammunition at the target site. Meanwhile, second platoon was Air Assaulted to an area where a cache was suspected to be located. At their site, Second Platoon did not find the suspected cache, but found the others in the immediate area. Meanwhile, third platoon acted as an Aerial Reaction Force, flying in helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, ready to lend assistance should either platoon encounter heavy contact.

Throughout the mission, American Soldiers worked hand-in-hand with Iraqi Forces. Company A searched every objective with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Division, Iraqi Army. They marched across the desert terrain together, ate chow together and slept through the cold nights in the sand together, taking turns pulling security on their positions as they moved.

Scher said he thought working with the Iraqi Army was an advantage.

"They know these areas and they know where to search," he said. "Their knowledge of the culture and the people is a huge bonus."

Bohannon agreed.

"I thought they did an amazing job," he said. "They know the surrounding areas and they know exactly where someone would place things, so I think they did a great job at pointing out hiding spots, it helped us out a lot. It felt real good that they contributed a lot. We're helping them to get up, and we feel more confident with each other."

Letteire said he can see the Iraqi Army Soldiers improving as time progresses and the two units continue to work together.

"They feel a sense of pride working with us, and if you ask them they'll tell you that," he said.
Lesperance said he was impressed with the way his "Angels from Hell" performed during the operation. Though the company usually conducts mounted joint patrols in Tikrit, Iraq, with the Iraqi Army, he said this type of mission comes naturally to the troops.

"Kicking down doors and searching buildings is what we're trained to do as infantrymen, and it's like riding a bike, it all comes back to you," he said. And though he said the media may be downplaying the effectiveness of the mission, he knows the things his Soldiers found saved American and Iraqi lives.

"Even if we would have found no caches or would not have detained any suspects, this mission would have been a success," Lesperance said. "This mission demonstrated our ability to team with the Iraqi Army and project our force to deter terrorism in Iraq. It denies them safe haven and sanctuary in the desert. They'll constantly be looking over their shoulders, hearing helicopters, wondering if we're cocoming after them."

• Date Taken: 03.25.2006
• Date Posted: 03.25.2006 11:25
• Story ID: 5851