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Combat engineers destroy leftover Hussein-era ordnance

Army News Service

Release Date: 6/23/2003

By Spc. Katherine Robinson June 23, 2003

AL FALLUJAH, Iraq (Army News Service, June 23, 2003) -- The 4th Infantry Division's 10th Engineer Battalion, and the 890th Engineer Battalion, a National Guard unit from Picayune, Miss., blew up weapons and unexploded ordnance with a little help from local children near the town of al Fallujah June 17.

Soldiers from Company A, 10th Eng. Bn., collected some of the weapons and UXOs for redistribution later, and destroyed others depending on the type.

The soldiers started the day by picking up mortars out of a swamp, with a crowd of children gathered around to watch and offer help, then loaded heavy equipment tractor trailers with surface-to-air missiles. There were about 30 missiles of all different sizes and ranges in the cache they found near Fallujah.

"Our company has the mission of collecting UXO in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team sector," said 1st Lt. Thomas Booth, a platoon leader in A Co.'s 1st Platoon leader. "The majority of things we're finding are anti-aircraft rounds, surface-to-air missiles and tank rounds."

Cleaning up UXO protects civilians and soldiers from danger, according to Sgt. Michael Mitchell, a Co. A. squad leader.

"We don't want kids playing with this stuff, we don't want people driving over it, and we also don't want the wrong people to get hold of it and use it to kill American soldiers," he said. "A lot of these (ordnance) are fully mission capable and can be used."

While the soldiers are out, they often get to interact with local civilians and children, who, many times, show them where to find small UXOs.

"It makes you feel better about what you're doing," Mitchell said. "It's a good thing when they want to participate and help get rid of these things."

There are still thousands of UXOs in the Al Fallujah area, Mitchell said.

(Editor's note: Spc. Katherine Robinson is a journalist with the 50th PAD in Iraq.)