Fires Bde. Soldiers presented Combat Action Badges

Courtesy Photo | CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – Sgt. Keith Brantley, first fires reconnaissance noncommissioned officer, Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, receives the Combat Action Badge from Col. Allen Batschelet, commander, Fires Bde., 4th Inf. Div., during a ceremony July 11 at the battalion headquarters here. Brantley, a Lawton, Okla., native, and three other Soldiers were driving out of Samarra, Iraq, in an M1114 up-armored humvee from Kuwait to Forward Operating Base Q-West, Iraq, when an improvised-explosive device detonated 10 meters from the vehicle Dec 27. The Soldiers made it away from the explosion safely.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

07.25.2006

Courtesy Story

Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs

By Spc. Allison Churchill
Fires Bde. PAO, 4th Inf. Div.

CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq – "I think these guys had a rude welcome to Iraq," said Lt. Col. Mark Johnson, commander, 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Regiment, Fires Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, upon presenting three of his Soldiers with the Combat Action Badge July 11 at the battalion's headquarters at Camp Liberty.

While driving to Forward Operating Base Q-West from Kuwait Dec. 27, an improvised-explosive device detonated next to the Soldiers' vehicle.

Sgt. Keith Brantley, fires reconnaissance noncommissioned officer, Battery B; Spc. Edward Panico, track vehicle mechanic, 67th Forward Support Company; and Pfc. Adam Tomasik, driver, Btry. B, were presented the CAB during the ceremony and are the first Fires Bde. Soldiers to earn the award.

Also awarded the CAB was Pfc. Branson Hutchens, a multiple launch rocket system ammunition specialist, Btry. B, who wasn't able to attend the presentation.

Good training led to the proper reaction to an IED, said the Soldiers. "We constantly go over and over (procedures). It happened just like it was supposed to; the training kicked in," said Panico, a Westport, Conn., native.

Panico described the atmosphere of the day prior to the convoy as being "just another day at the office."

The trip started quietly, the Soldiers said. Soon after passing a marketplace in Samarra. Tomasik said he stared at a spot that would soon explode.

"All of a sudden there was a boom about 10 meters off the side of the road!" exclaimed Panico.

Immediately after the blast, Brantley radioed the information in and checked his crew. The Soldiers realized their M1114 up-armored vehicle was still safe to drive.

"We rolled right on through it like we'd been trained to do," said Brantley, of Lawton, Okla.

Despite their pulse-pounding introduction to Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-07, the Soldiers now living on Camp Liberty said they are looking forward to 2-20 FA's new mission: patrolling an area west of Baghdad.

"I'm all for patrols," said Tomasik, a native of Hamburg, N.Y. "You've got to get out there, got to help the people."

• Date Taken: 07.25.2006
• Date Posted: 07.25.2006 16:16
• Story ID: 7316
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ