Photo By Chad Menegay | Iraqi Army soldiers with 2nd Company, Commando Battalion, 11th Iraqi Army Division,...... read more read more
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BAGHDAD - Perhaps officials with the Iraq Ministry of Defense understand that, as the Iraqi Army continues to fight an insurgency, its battle-tested soldiers need time to train, away from the fight, to perfect skills for the fight.
As evidence, soldiers with 2nd Company, Commando Battalion, 11th Iraqi Army Division, based out of Joint Security Station Old MoD in Baghdad, trained on urban operations and entering and clearing rooms Dec. 22-23 under the instruction of soldiers with Company B, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, United States Division – Center at Camp Taji, Iraq.
The 18-day counter terrorism course culminated with a live-fire exercise in a “shoot house.”
“The live-fire … instills confidence to prove what they can do,” said Capt. Eric C. Smith, commander of Company B, 1st Bn., 18th Inf. Regt., and a Milwaukee native.
Many Iraqi Army soldiers enlist, go through a brief basic training and go straight into combat, he said.
“It’s brutal,” Smith said. “A lot of these guys have watched their friends die; they’ve fought for years. They don’t get a chance to go home sometimes, because the mission calls. A lot of these guys have been beaten up for years, so this is a vote of confidence to them that, yes, there is light at the end of the tunnel … that they are capable of doing room clearing—it’s confidence.”
Iraqi Army Sgt. Amir Ali Hammad, with 2nd Company, Commando Battalion, 11th Iraqi Army Division, was shot three times in a 2007 terrorist attack in Ramadi, Iraq. He is not deterred and continues to fight, and train to fight, the insurgency.
“I will continue to rebuild Iraq,” Amir said. “Until my last breath I will always keep fighting. There are a lot of people who need protection. We’ll follow the insurgents everywhere they go.”
The 11th IA Div. uses its commandos as a maneuver strike element to seize high value targets or weapons caches.
The Iraqi Army is focused on pinpoint, surgical operations, Smith said.
“If you don’t have fire teams that are competent, you don’t have squads that are competent,” he said. “Then you don’t have the ability to project force inside a volatile area, such as Baghdad.”
The focus, then, for 1st Bn., 18th Inf. Regt., when its Soldiers work with Iraqi Army Commando elements, is to provide a training foundation from which Iraqi Army leaders can work from in the future.
“They know a lot about combat,” Smith said. “This unit was capable of clearing or seizing a target before we began training, but we’re providing them a framework within which they understand what it means to train. This is how we do this, building blocks first. We work through marksmanship, short-range marksmanship, room clearing at the fire team level, [clearing] hallways and stairwells, and then you graduate to squad level. Then you start throwing little things in like enemy personnel searches.”
The live-fire shoot house exercise is very important to the commando battalion’s mission, Amir said.
The mission is to defend Iraq from terrorists, capture them and get them to the judge, said Iraqi Army
Sgt. Hasan Ali Ashour, an instructor with 2nd Company, Commando Battalion, 11th Iraqi Army Division.
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Terrorists destroy any neighborhood they go to,” Hasan said. “The important thing is security and safety for local nationals. When we provide the security and safety for people, then they will start working with us. A lot of families have been hurt and displaced.”
Soldiers with the 11th Commandos said they are like a family, even though they come from different backgrounds and from different parts of Iraq.
“Even if we are from different provinces, when we’re working as a team, we’re all one hand,” Hasan said. “Our team is an example to other people in Iraq of how people can come together for the betterment of our country; we’re one hand to rebuild Iraq. We defend our country; we are the eye on Iraq. We have a hand like steel; we have to beat anybody to defend the country. We will continue fighting for the Iraqi people, because Iraq is in our blood.”
| Date Taken: | 12.22.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2010 07:58 |
| Story ID: | 62822 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 53 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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