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Estonian soldiers team up with armor unit to keep supply routes safe

By Sgt. David Foley
March 8, 2005

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, (Army News Service, March 8, 2005) -- One small European country is playing a major role in keeping supply convoys safe while moving through Iraq.

Each day, hundreds of trucks travel the streets of Iraq carrying cargo bound for military installations and forward operating posts.

One of the ways the Army is minimizing the risk involved in delivering supplies to Soldiers in Iraq is through a joint operation that includes Soldiers from 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y., and a platoon of Estonian infantrymen.

The two units work together keeping each other safe while patrolling Gazalia Village, a 15-kilometer section of road in the heart of Western Baghdad that is known to be a “hot spot” for improvised explosive devices.

The American tank company, part of Task Force 141, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mtn. Div., doesn’t have any light infantry Soldiers, so it relies on the Estonians to provide security for tanks, and in turn they provide security for the Estonians.

“It’s not too easy to cordon and search with a bunch of tanks,” said Capt. Jade Hinman, Co. C commander. “To have a group of Estonians who are good at what they do is like having a plate of brownies to myself.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to work with coalition Soldiers,” he said. “It is great to have another country who works so well with us.”

Hinman said he is sometimes the butt of jokes because many American Soldiers have never heard of Estonia and say it is a mythical country, but the Estonian soldiers are some of the best he’s seen.

“I’d stack them up with any infantry platoon I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I’m not getting a second-rate team; I’m getting first-rate soldiers.”

Sgt. Michael Fragassi, of Co. C, works directly with the Estonian soldiers on the ground, and said he was impressed to see their capabilities.

“I expected them to show up with outdated Russian surplus equipment, but they are very well equipped,” he said. “They have the same night vision as us, they carry Israeli manufactured Galil’s, which are basically the best parts of an AK-47 and an M16 put together, and they are very well-trained.

“They are awesome,” he said. “Outstanding soldiers. I’d put them on par with our rangers as far as their training and weapons are concerned.”

Estonian Army Capt. Neeme Brus, a media relations officer with Multi-National Corps - Iraq, said Estonia knows the value of freedom and the need to fight terrorism here, before the fight ends up in their own back yard.

There are currently 35 Estonian soldiers in Iraq, and about 140 soldiers have served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Brus said that may seem like a small number, but in a country smaller than New Hampshire and Vermont combined, with a population of less than 1.5 million people, they have made a major contribution.

Estonia’s participation in OIF has not come without sacrifice. Two Estonian soldiers have died, and 10 others have been wounded in action.

Brus said the Estonians are aware of the cost of freedom. after being under communist rule for 50 years under Soviet Union control, and they believe in the cause. Estonia gained its Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

While many of the countries who are part of the Coalition offer support strictly through logistics or engineering, Estonian soldiers are on the ground patrolling neighborhoods and searching for weapons and anti-Iraqi forces’ hideouts.

“We are a small but effective part of the (North Atlantic Treaty Organization),” Brus said.

The Estonian parliament is preparing to vote on its continuing involvement in Operation Iraqi Freedom in March, and the outcome will be known shortly thereafter.

“The public opinion in Estonia about our participation here is almost 50-50,” Brus said. “But the Estonian soldiers hope the parliament will extend the Estonian mission in OIF. We have to prove that we are capable military partners for Americans and other nations in the coalition. We want to be considered as a serious nation when it comes to international security.”