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Stryker brigade encounters first combat in Iraq

Army News Service

Release Date: 12/17/2003

By Sgt. Jeremy Heckler

FOB PACESETTER, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 17, 2003) - Infantrymen from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, took to the roads and villages north of Baghdad on Dec. 14, patrolling to keep the peace.

As darkness fell on Forward Operating Base Pacesetter, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Soldiers made final checks on their weapons systems and equipment.

In tents around the battalion, the mood was light, as the Soldiers played cards and listened to music, waiting for the call to mount up. Word passed slowly through the tents of something coalition forces had been waiting to hear for 11 months. The simple words came from L. Paul Bremer, ambassador to Iraq, "We got 'em."

Saddam Hussein was the "him" in question. After confirming the information, cheers went through the battalion. However, it didn't make the Soldiers' upcoming operation any easier. And they didn't realize the following day would be the first time Soldiers from the Stryker Brigade Combat Team encountered combat.

"Things could go either way," said Spc. Michael Findell, Company A, 5th Bn., 20th Inf. Reg. from San Diego, referring to the capture of Hussein. "[Insurgents] could retaliate or think the terror is over."

Findell said he was going to do his job as a Soldier and protect the guys to his left and right.

Later that night, the Soldiers went to work and headed for their tactical assembly area. Before leaving, 1st Lt. Joel Beck, Company A executive officer, clarified for his Soldiers the threat that still exists, specifically to the air guards in the rear of his Stryker combat vehicle.

The two air guards turned out the lights and with weapons loaded and at the ready, they popped out of the hatch.

Upon arriving at the site, the unit received word of a mission change due to Hussein's capture. The battalion then rolled through the city of Samarra at intervals throughout the day with Soldiers at the ready. Until mission time, the Soldiers sat and waited, pulling guard throughout the night.

In the morning, Company C made the first trip through their part of the city. They stopped vehicles and quelled a disturbance at a gas station.

Behind them, Company B rolled into their part of town and encountered contact.

As they drove through the city, Soldiers saw a large flock of pigeons take flight. The pigeons were apparently used as a signal to announce the arrival of the Soldiers in Stryker infantry vehicles.

Moments later, two men on a motorcycle, firing automatic weapons used children leaving school as cover to attack the patrol. Soldiers, in consideration of the children and a nearby mosque, employed snipers to target the attackers and successfully suppressed the enemy's ability to inflict damage. The attackers fled as the patrol continued their movement through the city.

A short distance later the patrol was attacked again by automatic weapons fire from a group using an overgrown field for cover. In a simultaneous action attackers detonated an improvised explosive device to the south of the patrol. The patrol was then inundated by fire when, in a continuing coordinated effort, the patrol was attacked by former regime elements using rocket propelled grenades coming from the west and mortar fire that emanated from the north. The enemy's attack was ineffective, causing neither casualties nor damage to any vehicle.

The sound of automatic fire could be heard as they engaged the enemy head on. Soldiers radioed a nearby patrol and requested support. Company A Soldiers responded and moved towards the embattled patrol. Both U.S. elements fought through the ambush and eliminated the threat.

"We moved in on their right flank to allow them to continue to fight," said Beck. "We had a couple of small contacts and firefights but Company B had the bulk of the engagement."

Snipers from "Attack" Company took positions on the roof near a casualty collection point. The Soldiers relied on their years of training, including military operations, urban terrain training, to enter the building.

"In the building we went through every MOUT situation you could think of," said Cpl. Samuel Trevino, a sniper with Headquarters Platoon, Company A.

Trevino said he looked under stairs and in doorways. As one resident came through the doorway, he directed her back into her apartment. With the enemy out there somewhere, the snipers took no chances.

"I was in a doorway scared as hell with a nine millimeter in one hand and an M4 in the other," said Trevino.

At the end of the day, a company commander confirmed that 11 attackers were killed. After confirmation, Samarran residents moved the attackers' bodies from the area. There were no coalition casualties during the firefight. And, except a civilian automobile that was damaged by a rocket-propelled grenade, there was no damage to any other property or equipment.

(Editor's note: Sgt. Jeremy Heckler is a journalist with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in Iraq, and a 4th Infantry Division news release contributed to this article.)