Another Tip, Another Cache and One Less Terrorist

Another tip from a concerned citizen has led Cav Scouts from C Trp - 3rd Sqdn - 1st Cav to a large cache where they weapons, explosives and captured 3 terrorists:

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER – Acting on tips from concerned citizens, scouts from Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, detained three people and seized a large cache east of Baghdad Sept. 2.

The 789th Explosive Ordnance Company, from Fort Benning, Ga., currently attached to 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, destroyed eight rocket propelled grenades, six 82mm mortars, two fragmentary grenades, 21 mortar fuses, a 5-gallon fuel can filled with an unknown explosive, 20 detonating cords, two blasting caps and three rocket propelled grenade launchers.

Two AK-47 assault rifles, seven magazines and improvised explosive device-making materials were confiscated.

Third Squadron, 1st Cav. Regt., is a part of the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in Fort Benning, Ga.

Another tip, another cache and one less terrorist.

As I mentioned in the previous post, COIN involves a lot more than just killing the enemy, and this is another important aspect of the changing face of war in Iraq: the ability to gain the trust of the citizenry to turn on the insurgents in their midst. This is a major step towards a stable Iraq, no longer do the civilians fear the insurgents so much that their silence will continue to literally kill their fellow citzens on a daily basis. Now the civilians have someone to turn to as they embrace the Iraqi Security and Coalition Forces, and the insurgents are forced out of their hiding spots and their weapons siezed and destroyed by Coalition Forces.