Courtesy Photo | Unexploded ordnance that was used as hoax improvised explosive devices at a high...... read more read more
KHOWST PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Making a decision to eliminate threats against coalition forces can be tough. However, showing restraint toward deadly threats might be the toughest decision of all.
For Able Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Task Force Duke, at Combat Outpost Tirzaye, U.S. Army Capt. Dan Leard, the Able Company commander said restraint was the key theme in dealing with the potential of improvised explosive devices and insurgents at a school in Tirzaye District, July 19.
Able Company’s leadership received several intelligence reports that an active high school in nearby Mormendi Village was being used to hide IEDs with an armed insurgent standing guard. What was not clear was whether the school, which on a normal day is teeming with students, was wired with explosives or if it was just being used as a storage area.
Leard said that left two options--destroy the suspected cache from afar, quickly eliminating the threat while posing the least risk to U.S. forces; or check out the school; detain insurgents operating there and save the building from destruction. After carefully weighing his options, Leard dispatched a patrol to the school to inspect the grounds.
“We never use violent or deadly force without getting eyes on (the target),” said the Kittanning, Pa., native. “Especially with this being a school that’s part of a village of 20,000 plus, you have to put soldiers up close and see what’s going on.”
1st Lt. Ryan Johnson, 1st Platoon leader, Able Company, from Melbourne, Fla. said there were a lot of unknowns, including how many insurgents might be there and how much explosive material would be found, possibly ready to detonate.
“This was the most high-risk mission the platoon had faced at this point in our deployment,” he said.
When the team arrived at the school, they quickly and carefully executed their plan of securing the building and the surrounding wall. The team proceeded into the school and discovered four males and rocket propelled grenades.
“Once we made entry into the compound, we observed the four individuals sleeping on the roof,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Siipola, a squad leader with the 870th Military Police Company, 92nd MP Bn., TF Phoenix, attached to TF Duke and native of Eureka, Calif. “We observed at least two rockets with wires leading away from them.”
The team immediately found cover and weighed their options, said Siipola. They could use deadly force toward the men, eliminating the option of detonating the IEDs. Or, they could show restraint and secure the area. The team chose the latter.
Through an interpreter, Johnson’s team coaxed the men down from the roof.
They claimed to be night watchmen for the school but gave different accounts on why they were on the roof, also claiming the IEDs were a hoax.
They were detained, and part of the coalition team took them back to COP Tirzaye, while the remaining group called for an explosive ordnance disposal team to diffuse the suspected IEDs.
The EOD team determined the IEDs to be hoaxes.
The surrounding villagers said they were grateful the threat was gone and the school was still standing. Hundreds of students and teachers poured into the building, which had been vacant for the past two days, Johnson said.
“We were happy there wasn’t any damage to the school and that it was a hoax IED,” said Siipola. “The people were happy that were able to go there and recover the (un-exploded ordnance).”
The detainees were later released when their claim to be night watchmen for the school proved to be factual.
Several of the soldiers involved in the operation speculated that insurgents had hoped coalition forces would choose to eliminate the school, destroying an important building in the village and ruining coalition forces’ credibility in the area.
However, the restraint displayed by his company avoided what could’ve been a major propaganda victory for insurgent forces, said Leard.
| Date Taken: | 07.29.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2011 16:31 |
| Story ID: | 74487 |
| Location: | KHOWST PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 403 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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