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Artillerymen guard governor in Najaf

Army News Service

Release Date: 5/27/2004

By Sgt. Christopher Stanis

AN NAJAF, Iraq (Army News Service, May 27, 2004) - A field artillery battery has been tasked with the unique mission of guarding the An Najaf governor's compound and protecting the governor's life.

"He receives daily assassination threats," said Capt. Brandon Anderson, commander of Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force 1st Armored Division. "It's the (Muqtada Militia's) attempt to undermine the coalition."

Anderson and his men have secured a block around the compound and nearby government buildings. They are assisting the Iraqi Police Service officers and the governor's personal bodyguards in guarding the compound.

While a small contingent of Bravo troops lives in the governor's mansion, the rest of the battery works and lives in a neighboring building. They also pull security duties for the compound and surrounding area.

Though the governor's mansion might appear extravagant on the outside, the inside is nearly empty. Electrical power is sporadic. Even the governor lives without some "creature comforts," Soldiers said.

Down the road from the mansion, the rest of the battery tookj up residence in vacant offices of the abandoned Ministry of Agriculture building. Electricity is even less reliable and there is limited running water, Soldiers said.

But the "Bulldog" Soldiers are adapting quickly to their new mission of fixed-site security, leaders said.

"Everybody is tired and ready to go (home,)" said Staff Sgt. Wallace Stevens, a section chief with B, 2-3 FA. "(But) we are ready to do what we have to."

The battery used to live in one of Uday Hussein's (the son of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein) former palaces. The battalion moved to Camp Victory near the Baghdad International Airport for two weeks before receiving orders for its guard mission.

Bravo's new mission is drastically different from its Baghdad assignment. In the city, the Soldiers conducted approximately 84 major raids, countless patrols and participated in August's "Operation Longstreet" near Fallujah, Anderson said.

"We have a lot of guys (new to the Army). For them, this deployment is all they know of the Army," Anderson said. "As far as they know, this is what field artillerymen do."

He joked that the Army may have to amend the field artillery basic doctrine based on the varied missions that artillerymen have undertaken in Iraq.

"When I got assigned to field artillery, I wanted to know what it was like in an infantry unit," said Spc. Benjamin Morse, battery medic. "Now I pretty much know."

Morse added that the new mission gives a sense of purpose for 1AD's extension in Iraq.

Despite being tired from a year-long mission in Baghdad, the Soldiers of Bravo Battery went in to their new mission in An Najaf head-on.

"They started working to improve conditions as soon as we got here - filling sandbags and HESCO barriers," said Anderson. "They never cease to amaze me."

HESCO barriers are collapsible wire mesh containers with a heavy duty plastic liner, filled with sand, dirt or gravel and named after the British firm that designed them, the Hyderadad Electrical Supply Corp.

(Editor's note: Sgt. Christopher Stanis serves with 1st AD Public Affairs.)