News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.
In their own words:
Sergeant Grumpy: How to spot a dumbass - We had just gotten done with a mission that had taken extra long, which seems to be our specialty, and had all our vehicles lined up on the road to exfil. I was in the trail vehicle, so I could see the whole line of vehicles, and was keeping an eye on the houses to our right. Most Iraqis around here are sensible enough to not be too curious when we are out with our partner forces, but occasionally someone gets nosy, and I was worried about the locals as they were starting to wake up and word had quickly gotten around that we were in the neighborhood. (READ MORE)
Yellowhammering Afghanistan: Lineage - As we enter the final weeks of this deployment, we are well aware and thankful that the job here in Afghanistan doesn't end with us. We are also well aware and thankful that it didn't start with us. The training of Afghan National Security Forces in Ghazni goes back four years when Team Vulcan was formed and set up a camp here with the Afghan National Army. That is where Camp Vulcan gets its name - the Alabama guys on the team took it for the famous Vulcan statue in Birmingham. They were the first embedded training team (ETT) permanently assigned to Ghazni. They are a big part of the reason the ANA is a strong and effective fighting force today. It wasn't easy for Team Vulcan. (READ MORE)
Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal: Back to the FOB - In from the Wilds. Provisionally. Like foxes at a farm, feigning domestication to prowl for scraps, anxious to return from whence they came, complete with their spoils. Don’t make the hate for the housebroken and fire-seekers too obvious, or you’ll give us away before we complete mission. With all the shadiness and misinformation of a too smooth rogue picking up his date before the big dance, oiled up and emanating spring cologne and radiating charm and assuring her father that she’ll be home by midnight ten minutes prior even and oh of course sir I only have the noblest of intentions. Right. Just don’t check the glove compartment. (READ MORE)
all expenses paid afghan vacation: SSG Charles R. Browning Fitness Center - Last week we had a dedication ceremony for the newly remodeled gym here on our FOB. It was dedicated to SSG Charles Browning of our platoon who was killed in action June 1st of last year by an IED. After he died there were plans of renaming the gym in his honor, but we were waiting until we got some new equipment in and the gym could be remodeled so it could officially reopen under his name. The chaplain open and closed the ceremony as usual, and Browning’s squad leader, who was in the same convoy with us when Browning died, came up to speak. It was good to have this man speak, as he wasn’t able to give any words during the original memorial ceremony we had in June because he escorted Browning’s body back to the U.S and was there for the funeral. (READ MORE)
Acute Politics: Crazy Troop - Today’s informant used to be an insurgent. Today, his name is Hassam. It’s been quite a while, though, since Hassam fought as an insurgent. The circumstances surrounding his conversion are a bit murky- his brother was killed by insurgents for reasons unknown, at which point all the males in his family began to support and work for Coalition Forces. Now, he is praised as one of the best informants around. The cynic might suppose that he is only working with the Americans to save his own skin because of his past. Those cynics could certainly be right- however: (READ MORE)
Back Stateside but still writing about the front:
Matt Sanchez: Journalism or Propaganda, we thwart you decide - Another Enemy Propagandist (Journalist) Detained by U.S. Forces? The U.S. military confirmed yesterday that it was holding an Afghan reporter, Jawad Ahmad, because of his extensive ties to the Taliban. Jawad was a stringer for Canadian Television (CTV). Apparently his cell phone had Taliban phone numbers on them and indicated that the journalist had done extensive interviews with them. He also was in possession of Taliban propaganda videos. Have we just met the Afghani Bilal Hussein? (READ MORE)
Battlefield Tourist: Reconstruction Phase Part 2 - Afghanistan 2004 - This report was originally filed in 2004 and continues the assessement of what was known as the “Reconstruction Phase” that the US military undertook in 2004. This story takes place in Ghazni Province and includes members of 2-87, 10th Mountain Division. (READ MORE)
News from the Front:
Iraq:
Civilians targeted in northern Iraq - TIKRIT, Iraq – Al Qaeda in Iraq has conducted three attacks resulting in the death of six children and more than four citizens in northern Iraq this week. Three children were killed and seven wounded during a terrorist attack in Balad Feb. 19. A car bomb killed one Iraqi and wounded eight near a hospital in Tal Afar Feb. 20. (READ MORE)
IA, MND-C Soldiers discover four caches, spider hole - CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – Iraqi army and Multi-National Division – Center Iron Rakkasan Soldiers discovered four weapon caches in Yusufiyah Feb. 18. Troops from 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Company C, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) acted on a tip from a local citizen who was questioned by the IA. (READ MORE)
Iraqi army soldiers discover weapons cache near Karbala - FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – Iraqi Army Soldiers found a weapon cache and detained one suspect during an operation near Karbala Feb. 18. The Quick Reaction Force platoon from 4th Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, conducted the operation based on information from an Iraqi Soldier. The cache contained 18 grenades, five rocket propelled grenade rounds, one AK-47, four bags of TNT, one homemade grenade, one large metal container with fuses installed and one bottle of poison. (READ MORE)
MND-B Soldiers find EFP cache - BAGHDAD – Numerous tips led Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers to seize an explosively formed penetrator cache in West Rashid Feb. 19. The tips led “Black Lions” of Company D, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, to a weapons cache in Bayaa. (READ MORE)
Iraqi Army, MiTT patrol seizes munitions in Rusafa - FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Iraqi Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division and Soldiers from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 11th Division Military Transition Team seized munitions in the Rusafa Security District of eastern Baghdad, Feb. 20. As part of a clearance operation, the patrol reported finding two large containers including munitions of an undetermined amount of C4 explosives, artillery shells, fertilizer and mines. (READ MORE)
Paratroopers continue to dismantle criminal organizations - BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers detained five suspected extremists Feb. 19. The arrests were made by paratroopers with 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, based in northeast Baghdad’s neighborhood of Sha’ab. Paratroopers were conducting a cordon and knock operation with the Iraqi National Police in Sha’ab when they discovered a suspected criminal. (READ MORE)
Coalition forces target al-Qaeda networks; one terrorist killed, 20 suspects detained - BAGHDAD, Iraq – Coalition forces killed one terrorist and detained 20 suspected terrorists Wednesday and today during operations to disrupt al-Qaeda operating in central and northern Iraq. West of Taji this morning, Coalition forces conducted an operation targeting an individual believed to be an associate of the Baghdad improvised explosive device and car bombing networks. (READ MORE)
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