Operation Bulldog Mammoth strikes insurgents where they live
Army News Service
Release Date: 12/10/2003
By Sgt. Christopher Stanis
ABU GHURAYB, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 10, 2003) -- First Armored Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team conducted a rare brigade-sized cordon and search of an Abu Ghurayb apartment complex, northwest of Baghdad Dec. 4.
The operation, conducted by the Fort Riley, Kan.-based unit, was the wrap up of three large-scale cordon and searches by the brigade. The first two were conducted during Operation Iron Hammer, said Maj. Dale Ringler, 3BCT operations officer.
Reports show the Abu Ghurayb area to be a dangerous place for coalition forces, and additional intelligence reports over the past several months narrowed in on the particular apartment complex as a haven for anti-coalition forces, division officials said.
The operation, named Operation Bulldog Mammoth, found:
· 220 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, pistols and other rifles.
· 24 plates of body armor and a U.S.-made vest.
· 16 cases of U.S. military meals, ready to eat.
· 12 mortar sights.
· 10 hand grenades.
· five rocket-propelled grenades and 15 RPG launchers
· An assortment of electrical components associated with building improvised explosive devise.
· Russian-made night vision devices.
· protective masks.
· Saddam Hussein paraphernalia.
Additionally, more than 40 personnel were detained, including three on a by-name "black" list of suspects, Ringler said.
Aside from the 2nd Bn, 70th Armor, the operation's major players ranged from units like the the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 1st Bn., 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, more than 300 Iraqi Civil Defense Corps personnel and an Estonian army platoon.
Two companies from the 709th Military Police Bn. provided an outer cordon.
A Tactical Psychological Operations team from the 1210th PsyOps Company broadcast messages to the complex residents about the coalition's objective.
Two explosive ordnance disposal teams were on site and a platoon of four AH-64 Apache helicopters provided air support for the duration of the operation.
In all, approximately 1,447 Soldiers were involved in the five-and-a-half-hour operation, Ringler said.
The cordon and search went through 2,400 apartments and 53 additional buildings.
"Cordon and searches are normally at the platoon and company level," said Ringler. "Very rarely do we (include) two battalions (plus supporting units) and make it a brigade-sized operation."
But the operation was just another "day at the office" for soldiers like Spc. Travis Morrone, Company A, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment.
"For a while we were doing (cordon and searches) every other day," he said. Now they do them less frequently, but with larger masses of forces.
"These are the guys supposedly attacking us," Morrone said. "We had to come take their(weapons) from them."
The three suspects were caught in the outer cordon while trying to escape the area, Ringler said.
"(One man) is possibly responsible for the mortar attack against the MPs in the old Abu Ghurayb Police Station, killing a female (soldier)," Ringler said.
And their proficiency showed in the operation's overall success of Operation Bulldog Mammoth, according to the 3rd BCT's commander.
"Our soldiers have become a seasoned combat force," said Col. Russ Gold, 3BCT commander. "The two battalions conducting this offensive operation also participated in the ground war. They know how to use finesse and brute force, and when to use what means. They are a professional and extremely competent group of soldiers that will act with precision and exactness with little to no guidance."
The key in an operation like this is to give the residents the peace of mind that the coalition is there only to weed out the bad guys, Gold said.
No shots were fired during this operation.
(Editor's note: Sgt. Christopher Stanis is a journalist with the 1st Armored Division's Public Affairs Office.)
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