Rakkasan Angels sweep desert floor, turn up weapons, high value targets

Photo By Command Sgt. Maj. Ryan Matson | Spc. Richard Williams, Company A, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, places a flag in the turret of a troop carrier during Operation Iron Triangle in Iraq Southwest of Balad.  

05.16.2006

Courtesy Story

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Fresh off the heels of Operation Red Light Two, in which Company A, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment uncovered the largest cache in terms of explosives found to date in Iraq, the Company was at it again for Operation Iron Triangle, the second-largest Air Assault mission, behind Operation Swarmer, of the 101st Airborne Division's (Air Assault) deployment.

The "Angels from Hell" cleared an area of rural desert Southwest of Balad approximately 36-square kilometers in total area, split evenly amongst the company's first and third platoons. When all was said and done, the unit had found several small caches, and detained numerous suspects, including five high value targets (HVTs).

Staff Sgt. Clifton Sanders, a 11C, or indirect fire infantryman, with Company A, described how the HVTs were apprehended. The captures took place on the first day of the operation.

"One of the people first platoon had detained and questioned decided he would give up one of the bad guys for us," Sanders recalled. "We got the call to go out and get them, so we linked up with the Iraqi Army scout platoon."

From there, Sanders said the source, traveling with Iraqi Army in their vehicle, headed North to the suspected HVT residence.

"The IA were pumped," Sanders said. "The HVT that was on the list, they were really worried about him being a really bad guy, so they were excited about getting this guy. It was really important to them to take this guy in."

"When we pulled up to the house and set up our cordon, we pretty much let the IA take over. They flew in the house and we went in with them."

After questioning the first detainee, the Soldiers determined the suspect's brothers were in the next house over. Next, Sanders and some of his 11Cs and some IA troops went to the house and detained the remaining people.

With the sight secured, Sanders and his Soldiers searched for weapons in the area. In a well outside one of the houses, they uncovered three extra AK-47 assault rifles wrapped in a blanket with some magazines.

"They are allowed to have one rifle per house, so automatically, with the weapons being concealed in a well like that, it was suspicious," Sanders said.

When Sander's men and the IA returned, they learned that five of the six people they detained were on the HVT list.

"I think we got them at their homes and not their base of operations," Sanders said. "It was the first raid I had ever been on with the IA."

The Angel Company Soldiers involved in the capture were Sanders, Sgt. Christopher Hjuler, Pvt. Michael Zuercher, Spc. Adam Gillingham, Pfc. Dean Roe and Pfc.David Fuchs. Sanders said they all searched the homes and assisted with the captures, while Hjuler and Fuchs found the weapons in a well.

On the final day of the operation, Sanders and his crew also uncovered another small cache in a farmhouse, which included three British-style Individual Body Armor vests with the plates in them, a helmet, various other pieces of military equipment and other small weapons.

Another find for the company occurred when Sgt. Timothy McCaskill and Staff Sgt. David Hubert, both Soldiers in first platoon, uncovered two improvised hand grenades. The Soldiers said they found the grenades, about 20 blasting caps and two bags of propellant hidden in a small hole which was dug in the side of a berm outside a farmhouse on the first day of the operation. Hubert also questioned one of the people in the area who gave up the HVTs Sanders and his Soldiers later captured with the IA.

"We dug it all up and called the Explosive Ordnance Team," McCaskill said.

The IA found several hundred PKG machine gun rounds on the final day of the operation.

Third Platoon Leader 1st Lt Carl Puglis said the citizens of Iraq seemed appreciative of the mission.

"A lot of the people we talked to were very cooperative," Puglis said. "They seemed to understand that in this area there is a threat, and the ones who said they had been threatened in the past were very understanding of what we were doing because they want to see the insurgents captured and killed as much as we want to."

The company conducted two days of non-stop house searches traveling with military vehicles from one location to another, following an Air Assault insertion. At the mission's conclusion, the company was also Air Assaulted out.

"I can't honestly tell you how many houses we searched and how many people we detained, but every house we went to we searched, and every person we saw we talked with."

"It was a lot of areas to search and a lot of driving around, but the guys still did a very good job," Puglis said. "They never let their guard down."

• Date Taken: 05.16.2006
• Date Posted: 05.16.2006 09:19
• Story ID: 6399