1ST ARMORED DIVISION PATROLS HELP KEEP BAGHDAD STREETS SAFE
V Corps Release
Release Date: 6/19/2003
By Spc. Christopher Stanis 1st Armored Division Public Affairs Office
BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- Soldiers from V Corps' "Old Ironsides" Division are taking to the streets here to help keep neighborhoods safe and secure and to protect key city assets.
The 1st Armored Division soldiers have been conducting day and night patrols to enforce curfews and secure specified sites from "Ali Baba" - the Iraqi term for a thief.
"There's not a lot of law here," said Staff Sgt. Brian Dommell of the division's Task Force 1-35. "So we have to set the standard so people will get used to abiding by laws."
The patrols are helping to protect sites such as banks and ministry buildings - all vacant since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime - and the city's TV and radio antenna.
Dommell said task force soldiers catch looters on every patrol in the Ministry of Information and Al Rafidain Bank just across the street. But the looting just slows the planned restoration of the buildings, he added.
"Most of the people are poor, and a good number of them are just trying to sell the stuff," Dommell said. "But what they don't understand is that the more they take, the more they have to rebuild when they start."
Aside from the looting, Dommell said the atmosphere in the city is mostly calm and that most Iraqis seem to have accepted having coalition forces here. But night patrols in certain areas of the city are still dangerous, and U.S. troops are still being attacked almost daily by hostile elements here.
"I'd say about 80 percent of (Iraqis) are happy we're here. They want us to stay here and build up security," said Staff Sgt. Cameron Bontrager, a scout with 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment. "But you have 20 percent that is disillusioned."
But while there is still an enemy threat here, Bontrager said he feels pretty secure while on patrol.
"(The assailants are) pretty much cowards," he continued. "All they do is throw the weapon in your direction and 'spray and pray' and take off."
And there are still some greater dangers to watch out for, he added, such as command-detonated mines and grenades. But he said vigilance is the key to that problem.
"As long as you maintain good security posture and stay tough, the Iraqi people aren't going to mess with you too much," he said.
The main purpose of night patrols is to enforce curfew, Bontrager explained. But they also spend much of their time on night shifts stopping vehicles and making judgment calls about whether the passengers are a threat.
"Everyone in Baghdad knows there's a curfew, but they want to run around after curfew anyway," the sergeant said.
But Bontrager said U.S. forces must be having a positive effect, because it's becoming less common to see armed citizens sitting up all night guarding their shops and homes.
"When we first went rolling around, there were a lot of guys with (AK-47s) guarding the front of their homes," he said. "I haven't seen an AK in front of a home in a long time."
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