Members of the Obeidi tribe in Maderiyah, 25 kilometers south of Baghdad, have always relied on one another through difficult times.

Now, thanks to successful implementation of the counterinsurgency policy, the tribe can also rely on Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, for help.

Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Battery B, 1-9th FA, met with an Obeidi woman May 21 to coordinate treatment options for burns she suffered during a mortar attack aimed at coalition forces.

Reshi Hadey Afeiy was cooking in her home last December when a mortar landed near her home. The explosion and shockwave caused the oil she was cooking with to spill all over her upper body, leaving her with second- and third-degree burns from her waist up to the top of her skull, said Sgt. Ian Loud, 1st Platoon medic.

Soldiers of 1st Platoon found her during a presence patrol through the area to remove al-Qaida remnants.

Loud, a native of Hanford, Calif., said although she received some surgery on her face in Taji, Afeiy still needs much work to recover from her injuries.

Even though coalition forces were not responsible in any way for her injuries, Cpl. Adam Peak, vehicle commander in 1st Platoon, said helping her was the right thing to do.

Now, Loud, Sgt. Kyle Nygaard and Sgt. Mark Loper all contributed some of their own money to buy Vaseline cans to help soothe her injuries.

Except, this isn’t the first time innocent villagers suffered injuries at the hand of criminal attacks.

Last September, Afeiy’s 7-year-old cousin, Faathsid Saad Adeah was also injured by an al-Qaida mortar attack. Adeah was playing in her yard with her cousins when shrapnel from a mortar struck her in the stomach. Unable to help her, Adeah’s father rushed her to the front gate of Joint Security Site W1, located nearby.

Nygaard, 1st Platoon sergeant, said the incident struck a deep cord with him, having a 4-year-old himself named Aiden.

His fatherly instinct kicked in, said the Houston native. Likewise, the desire to help rose in other Soldiers, who worked to stabilize the girl and arrange helicopter transportation to the International Zone for surgery.

Now, eight months later, Adeah is out playing with her family and the only proof of the incident is a vertical scar on her stomach.

This success is what 1st Platoon Soldiers hope for Afeiy. Eventually, they hope to get her transferred to the al-Kendu Hospital in Baghdad, where she can get specialized treatment, Peak said, a native of New Boston, N.H.

These relationships will continue to strengthen as Soldiers continue to provide her with medicine, document her injuries and provide her with treatment from a female physician with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

Although a small token, these efforts have gone a long way toward building relations with the local population, Peak said.

These Soldiers have also vowed to rid the area of al-Qaida so they cannot injure any more people.

Aggressive targeting of al-Qaida sympathizers, removal of insurgent weapon caches, daily patrols and recruiting local citizens into the Sons of Iraq program have all increased in the past month to drive out the last remnants of the insurgency and keep them from migrating back.

“Our mission now is to keep the peace,” Nygaard said.

DVIDS
By Sgt. Kevin Stabinsky

These are the men and women that General Cardon talked about with me, and this story demonstrates the results of their hard work. Now they’re coming home. Well done!

The numbers only begin to tell the story: 5,943 houses cleared, 1,433 suspects detained, 1,241 small-arms fire engagements, 577 weapons caches found and 532 improvised explosive devices safely destroyed.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, is already busy with the task of preparing for the journey home. As the last of the “surge brigades,” arriving in the south Baghdad area last June, 2nd BCT Soldiers had a difficult but important mission to fulfill. Now, as they prepare to hand the torch to those who will continue the mission, they can look back and see a place not only made safer, but ready to reap the benefits of security.

“When we entered [the area], our task was to go in and stay,” said 2nd BCT commander Col. Terry Ferrell. “We were to go in and block accelerants from entering Baghdad, protect the population and defeat the sectarian violence that was going on in the area.”

Setting the Scene

In the summer of 2007, the area south of Baghdad on the west bank of the Tigris River was considered one of the most dangerous places in all of Iraq. The majority-Sunni population had largely boycotted the 2005 elections, and soon began to feel the effects brought by lack of government representation. In addition to essential services such as clean water and electricity, citizens clearly needed security.

Al-Qaida in Iraq strictly and violently ruled the area and its citizens. To combat the militants, 2nd BCT used the combat power of the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment; 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment; 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment; 6th Squadron, 8th Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment. There was also a fledgling Iraqi Army battalion supporting the area.

“When 2nd BCT first assumed control of the Spartan (2nd BCT) operating environment in June 2007, the brigade was faced with a unique and challenging situation,” said Capt. Lauren Glaze, 2nd BCT provost marshall. “The only Iraqi security force present in the brigade OE was an undermanned and underequipped Iraqi army battalion, stretched thinly across a quarter of the area,”

Al Qaeda in Iraq

Sectarian strife and rumors of ISF targeting and killing Sunnis led many to distrust the largely-Shia army and police, Glaze said.

“What developed was really a petri dish for al-Qaida to grow,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Adgie, commander of 1-30th Inf. Regt., a mechanized infantry battalion.

AQI infiltrated the area, using homes and farms in the region as bases of operations and bomb-making factories. Attacks on coalition forces and ISF were on the rise. Citizens themselves felt the effects of terrorist activity.

“They used ultra-violent means to inflict incredible pain on the Iraqi people here. They deprived people of resources to control their behavior,” Adgie said.

Coalition forces were attacked 95 times in the first two weeks, as they pushed into areas they had not been since 2003. After establishing Patrol Base Murray just 16 kilometers south of Baghdad, Soldiers of the 1-30th Inf. Regt. began moving south and east to secure the area along the banks of the Tigris River called Arab Jabour; because AQI had firmly established a presence there, it was not easy.

AQI Defense in Depth

“What we discovered was a well-built, elaborate, defensive belt,” said Ferrell, a native of Huntington W.Va.

Improvised explosive devices, many of them buried deep, made travel in the area difficult. A combination of air assaults and ground strikes enabled the Soldiers to capture and hold territory from al-Buaytha down the banks of the Tigris to Sayafiyah.

“From June 16 until the first of February of this year, we were in full-scale kinetic operations,” Ferrell said. “Simultaneously, we were doing humanitarian assistance and working to build local governance.”

As coalition forces secured the area, citizens came to realize the benefits of working with them.

Sons of Iraq

One of the key elements to success in holding the newly-gained areas was the formation of the Sons of Iraq, a volunteer security force of Iraqi citizens initially formed to guard important infrastructure such as roads and power stations. Coalition forces trained and worked with the SoI to secure their neighborhoods and help oust AQI, Glaze said.

“The training included classes on the SoI role in securing the community, basic first aid, basic self-defense tactics, the use of force and an overview of basic security principles,” Glaze said. “As a result, the SoI received the information they needed to successfully assist in removing hundreds of al-Qaeda, caches and IEDs from the battlefield.”

An important turning point came in November, Ferrell said.

“We had a battle in Hawr Rajab in November, on Thanksgiving Day, when al-Qaida attacked to try and take back the city. We stood arm-in-arm; you had coalition, ISF, SoI. You had Sunnis and Shia banding together and you could not tell anyone apart,” he said. “From that day forward, I’ve always highlighted that one battle, when they were standing there as brothers to take care of one another.”

Another key event was Operation Marne Thunderbolt, intended to deny al-Qaida safe havens in the area.

“Just as recently as January, we dropped over 40,000 pounds of ordnance as we fought down the southeast in our area of operations, finalizing one of the last major kinetic operations,” Ferrell said.

Sons of Iraq helped coalition forces identify safe houses, weapons caches and IEDs, which in some cases were eliminated with air strikes. Between January 10 and 20, more than 100,000 pounds of bombs were dropped in the Arab Jabour area by coalition aircraft.

Adgie, a native of National Park, N.J., marked Jan. 22 as the date when AQI left Arab Jabour. In the past four months, SoI membership in the Spartan AO has grown to 5,400, greater than the number of coalition forces and IA in the area combined. Their involvement, Adgie said, has kept AQI from returning.

The next step toward making security sustainable in the area was to increase the amount of ISF in the area, particularly the Iraqi police.

Iraqi Government Steps Up

“In September 2007, the governor of Baghdad visited Arab Jabour and promised the local leadership and coalition forces that Arab Jabour would have an IP station by mid-2008,” said Glaze, from Woodbridge, Va.

“After his visit we noticed an obvious change in the locals’ opinion of the ISF, specifically towards the IP. Over 300 SoI came forward and said they wanted to go through the IP recruiting process,” Glaze said.

The police station is currently under construction.

“The ground has been broken and they are in the process of building the structure,” Ferrell said.

Ferrell credits the established security for the construction of the new IP station, as well as GoI and Iraqi leadership coming down to witness the security for themselves.

Even before IP forces could be established in the area, IA forces began to work alongside their coalition counterparts, living and conducting operations alongside them. Two IA battalions now conduct patrols with coalition forces and work with the SoI to maintain security.

“There are more hard days along the way,” Ferrell said. “We have to work to build the ISF, we have to continue to build confidence in the ISF, in the progress they are making.”

Another key to continued peace, Ferrell said, is programs that encourage agriculture and industry, provide job training and bring local governments closer to the government in Baghdad.

“It’s all about momentum,” Ferrell said. “The security that’s been established is fragile. If you want to maintain it, you’ve got to keep these other programs running. That’s how we’re going to maintain the success we’ve established with the surge.”

DVIDS
By Sgt. David Turner
2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

A mix of force, good governance and economic stimuli has resulted in a turnaround for an area in Iraq that once was a hotbed of Sunni and Shiite insurgents.
The 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team is completing a 15-month tour as part of Multinational Division Center, and the unit commander, Army Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr., spoke to Pentagon reporters yesterday about the deployment.

The “Sledgehammer” brigade arrived in February 2007 as part of the surge of additional forces into Iraq. Violent crime was out of control, Grigsby said, and al-Qaida in Iraq intimidated Sunni portions of the area, allowing the terrorist group to use them as safe havens.

“In our time here, murders have declined by greater than 50 percent, from 631 in ’06 to 253 in ’07,” Grigsby said in a video hook-up from Baghdad. “Shop owners are selling their goods in revitalized markets, and we are now down to maybe one attack every other day.”

The heavy brigade accomplished this by conducting counterinsurgency operations. “We wanted to bloody the nose of the enemy and make them fear us,” he said. “We did bloody the nose of the enemy, and the enemy does fear us, both coalition forces and Iraqi security forces. We never forgot what a U.S. Army heavy brigade combat team is built to do: to close with and destroy the enemy.”

Brigade soldiers killed 160 enemy combatants and detained more than 500 suspected criminals. “We cleared every enemy sanctuary that existed prior to our arrival,” the colonel said.

This has not been without cost. Twenty-nine brigade soldiers have been killed, and 162 were wounded. But the level of violence went from four to five attacks per day to an average of an attack every two days.

In and around Salman Pak — a majority Sunni area — al-Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups have been decimated.

“We estimate there are three Sunni extremist groups of no more than 10 personnel per group in our battle space, disrupted and not able to synchronize operations,” Grigsby said. “We killed or captured their leaders, denied them use of safe houses and support zones, and with our ‘Sons of Iraq’ allies we are sitting in the former supply lines, holding the terrain, not letting the extremists come back in.”

The Sons of Iraq are local citizens who assist with security efforts in their neighborhoods.

Though their operations brought security to the region, the soldiers of the brigade weren’t solely about force. They worked to build relationships with the various ethnic groups, tribes and sheikhs.

“Since we worked out of eight patrol bases and four joint security sites in the middle of population centers, we never commuted to work,” Grigsby said. “When a combat patrol began each day, Sledgehammer soldiers were already among their neighbors, living with them.”

They also lived with Iraqi security forces. Grigsby said the unit worked with an outstanding Iraqi national police brigade and very capable Iraqi army units. U.S. soldiers will continue to work with local police to improve their community policing, the colonel said.

Security was the bedrock of the progress. The Americans and Iraqis gave the residents their communities back, Grigsby told reporters.

“By taking extremists and criminals off the streets in Jisr Diyala, Wahida, Salman Pak and Nahrawan, we emboldened the good people to step back into the traditional roles of leadership — leadership by the tribal leaders, leadership by local governmental officials — rather than leadership by fear, where individuals use murder [and] intimidation to control the masses,” he said.

Markets, water distribution systems, sewage treatment plants, schools and health clinics all followed. The unit even helped Iraqis build a soccer stadium. Employment also has followed. The Narwan brick factory in the region now employs 15,000 Iraqis, up from 3,000 a year ago.

Money, too, has followed. In 2007, the Iraqi government spent about $1 million in the region. In 2008, the government already has spent $86.1 million for projects and improvements.

The unit’s soldiers head back to Fort Benning, Ga., knowing they have made a difference, Grigsby said.

“We have seen a significant reduction in violence,” he said. “We have seen the economy spring back to life. We have seen the local governance structure continue to mature and progress. We most definitely have momentum, and we have made gains.”

The brigade is one of the most deployed units in the Army. It was part of the original thrust to Baghdad in 2003, was back again in 2005, and is completing its current mission now. Some 60 percent of the soldiers in the brigade are combat veterans from previous deployments. They are passing along their hard lessons to the 1st Armored Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, home-based in Germany.

Grigsby said 2nd Brigade will continue the momentum his brigade began, because the gains in the region remain tenuous. To ensure stability, coalition and Iraqi forces must continue “to hunt the enemy where he sleeps, and we will continue to assist our Iraqi partners where they look to make improvements.”

DoD
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Have you read this in your paper? Nope. The third of five surge brigades will be coming home in the next several weeks. Umm… misson accomplished!

Approximately, 3,500 Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division are redeploying to Fort Benning, Georgia, in the next several weeks.

The 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team deployed in March 2007 to secure the Mada’in Qada in Baghdad Province east of the Diyala River.

The brigade was one of five units deployed in support of the surge.

The 3rd HBCT’s operations in Mada’in Qada helped improve the safety and quality of life for approximately 120,000 people living there. Its contributions over the last 14 months have led to improvements in security and the capture of more than 600 criminals, numerous cache finds, and a remarkably lower number of attacks in the area.

The improvements in security enabled merchants to reopen shops, and the local government to establish rule of law and employment through programs such as the Sons of Iraq.

“The 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division inherited battle space with a history of sparse security force presence prior to 2004,” said Brig. Gen. Dan Allyn, chief of staff, Multi-National Corps – Iraq. “Their aggressive efforts in partnership with the Iraqi Security Forces and comprehensive initiatives like the Sons of Iraq, successfully reduced sectarian violence and attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces, producing economic growth and restoration of essential services in Mada’in Qada.

“We are extremely proud of the Sledgehammer Brigade Soldiers, and their success in creating a safe and secure environment while instilling hope for the future within the people of Mada’in Qada,” Allyn said.

Many of the leaders in 3rd HBCT attribute their success to veterans of the Brigade. Nearly 65 percent of the Brigade’s Soldiers are serving their second or third deployment in Iraq.

“The mission given to us by Corps and Division was to interdict lethal accelerants coming into Baghdad,” said Col. Wayne W. Grigsby Jr. of Prince George County, Md., the commander of the 3rd HBCT. “I’d say we achieved mission success.”

Grigsby also feels his veterans’ professionalism was as important as their experience, bringing mentorship and confidence to newer Soldiers. This is the 3rd Brigade’s third tour in Iraq since January 2003.

The 3rd HBCT is the third of the surge Brigades to redeploy.

The remaining two brigades will redeploy by the end of July.

“The continued drawdown of surge Brigades demonstrates continued progress in Iraq. After July, commanders will assess our security posture for about 45 days and determine future force requirements based on these conditions-based assessments,” said Allyn.

MNF-I

Knocking on doors; greeting the family; talking about politics, the neighbors or just the weather over a hot cup of overly sweet chai – a pleasant side of operations for Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers who have operated in the southeastern Rashid District for the past eight months.

For Soldiers of “Fox,” Company F, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, MND-B, interpersonal relations, consensus information and the pictures they create are the biggest contributors to the safety and security of the citizens living in the Saha and Abu T’shir communities of southern Baghdad.

“We want to build a relationship to give the people a normal life – to bring the resources into the community,” said Lt. Col. Scott Reineke, commander, 2nd “Cougars” Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt., MND-B.

“This is about building relations in Abu T’shir and Saha,” said Reineke to his commanders and staff officers during the unit’s final rehearsal for a three-phase operation that began, April 16, in support of 1st BCT’s Operation Raider Typhoon.

Stationed at Vilseck, Germany, and deployed as part of the “surge” force sent to reinforce security in support of MND-B and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Stryker infantry unit, will handover their areas of responsibility to the troops of 7th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., in May.

In the meantime, the Soldiers of Co. F, occupying a combat outpost in northeast Rashid, want to take a few more bad guys off the streets before they leave Baghdad.

“We are conducting point operations to improve security for the people of Iraq,” said Capt. Kevin Ryan, commander, Co. F, 2nd Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt. “Once security improves, we can focus on improving the quality of life for the people of Abu T’shir and southeastern Rashid.”

The ongoing clearing operations are part of 1st “Raider” BCT’s first effort since assuming its mission, April 13, to deny terrorists and criminal elements a safe haven in the area that is home to approximately 1.2 million citizens in Baghdad.

The three-phased operation is reminiscent of the same work that the squadron has undertaken since the unit assumed responsibility for the area in August, said Ryan, a native of Quincy, Mass., and a graduate of the Citadel Military Academy, S.C.

Soldiers conducted pinpoint raids, April 16-17, acting on military intelligence and information from Sons of Iraq (Abna al-Iraq), to capture some of MND-B’s most wanted terrorists and criminals, said Ryan, who is on his third deployment to Iraq.

The units then transitioned into the second phase of their operations, conducting ongoing atmospherics in the neighborhoods, working with the SoI, the sheiks, and members of the local community, to gather data with the intent to build better relations with the predominately Shia and mixed Sunni-Shia communities, he explained.

“People who are sitting on the fence, and don’t know which way to go, will go our way just because we talked with them,” Ryan explained. “If we do this right, we will build relationships with the people which will empower them to be able to keep these bad guys from coming back into their neighborhoods.”

Conducting census operations, checkpoint inspections, joint patrols, combined operations and traffic control points with Iraqi security forces is nothing out of the ordinary for the Stryker Soldiers, said Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Huie, a platoon sergeant assigned to Co. F, 2nd Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt.

“Us walking through the neighborhoods – that is an everyday thing,” he explained.

Early morning operations hunting down 1st BCT’s most wanted criminals is just an added bonus for the ‘Fox’ Soldiers, said Huie, a 19-year veteran, who hails from Brooklyn, N.Y., and is the company’s acting first sergeant while his senior non-commissioned officer is on environmental leave.

“Our preferred method is to knock, and 90 percent of the people are more than willing to let us in,” stated Huie. “Conversely, if we find a house that looks suspicious to us, or a family that looks suspicious to us, and they don’t want to let us in their house, sometimes we have to cut their locks.

“We may not see the results in the next three weeks, but I think this (operation) is going to generate a lot of tips and a lot more leads … and eventually we will get them,” added Huie. “Whether the people like it or not, we are coming through their whole neighborhood to get these criminals off the streets.”

The company’s mission has varied greatly during their time as a “surge unit” operating in southern Baghdad since August of 2007, said Huie.

The Fox Soldiers have worked throughout Saha and Abu T’shir in southeastern Rashid to assist with essential services, force protection for Iraqi contractors to fix sewage or electricity issues in the Iraqi mulhallas (neighborhoods), as well as providing over watch for ISF and SOI manning checkpoints, providing security for the local communities, he said.

Staff Sgt. Scott Campbell, squad leader, Co. F, 2nd Sqdn., 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt., said that he hopes to see more changes for the better as the unit prepares to leave Baghdad for the unit’s future mission in Baquaba.

“There’s a better peace now, than there was before the ‘surge,’” said Campbell, a native of Orlando.

Campbell a veteran of 11 years, said that in three deployments in support of OIF, from 2003 to today, he has seen many changes, especially in the security situation around southern Baghdad.

“I think that when we go around and meet the locals and get to know them better on a personal basis, they become more at ease with us,” he explained. “The more we get to talk with them the better they trust us; the more they like us.”

Campbell said that in addition to improving security, units must continue to work to improve the infrastructure to better meet the needs of the Iraqi people.

“They need to improve faster,” he said. “Iraqis need to start pushing a lot more effort into rebuilding their infrastructure; power, water, medical treatment, jobs, ways to create jobs. Stuff that could be making them money is not making them money right now, and I believe that we need to pursue those endeavors more.”

The Cougars will begin their third phase of the operations in May, as they begin to transition the Abu T’shir and Saha neighborhoods to 7th Sqdn., 10th Cav. Regt., 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.

MNF-I
By Staff Sgt. Brent Williams
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division