A bomb explodes, sending shockwaves up and down a ridge in the Tengay Mountain Valley, April 10, following an insurgent attack on Company D, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Ironman, a part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Task Force Red Bulls. Photo by U.S. Army Pvt. Kevin Barbour

The soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Ironman, laughed when they heard the report of the attack.

“The report states: two tanks were hit by artillery shells and a rocket,” U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Chris Brenke, 2nd platoon’s platoon sergeant from East Dubuque, Ill., read from a printout during the mission briefing April 11. “Both tanks were completely destroyed during the fighting that lasted an hour. The report also said that four American soldiers were killed and two others wounded. I regret to inform you that four of you guys died yesterday.”

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Chris Brenke, the platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Ironman, a part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Task Force Red Bulls, laughs, April 11, after reading an inaccurate report, by the Taliban concerning an ambush on his platoon's convoy the previous day. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Matson

The report was from the Taliban Voice of Jihad Online, and was the Taliban’s account of what happened the day before in the Tengay Mountain Valley of the Qarghai District. The area is a site of frequent enemy ambushes.

In fact, the majority of the contact Company D has been involved in was in the valley, which 2nd Platoon patrols. Company D is part of the Iowa National Guard’s, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Task Force Red Bulls, and is stationed at nearby Forward Operating Base Xio Haq.

The soldiers of 2nd Platoon told a very different story.

“Basically, it was a day of a lot of firsts,” Brenke said. “It was the first time they hit us in the rain, the first time they hit us with that complex of an attack and the first time from that close.”

On a quick reaction force mission, the platoon responded to a call of a burning fuel tanker, said Brenke. A common tactic of the enemy is to shoot at fuel trucks to ignite them, using the burning trucks to draw coalition forces into an ambush. That’s exactly what happened April 10.

When the platoon’s convoy entered a narrow stretch of highway surrounded by steep cliffs on both sides about 15 miles west of their base, the attack began, said Brenke. Then insurgents launched a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades from the cliff to the south.

“There was about 15 minutes of solid contact, pretty intense fighting,” said Brenke. “The RPGs were close. We were firing back with the .50 cal, and they kept fighting. They weren’t stopping.”

Two of the RPGs struck the middle vehicle, where company commander U.S. Army Capt. Jared Gevock, from Dubuque, Iowa, sat, serving as truck commander. Fortunately, the RPG protective nets on the outside of the vehicles dispersed the grenade blasts, and no soldiers were injured in the attack.

In fact, the up-armoured mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicle suffered battle damage, but was driven back to base. Several other vehicles also suffered bullet holes or chips to their armour, and will need to be repaired, but all were able to return to the base.

When the enemy attacked, first with RPGs, then with machine gun fire, the first four vehicles in the convoy pushed through the ambush. They then returned to assist occupants of the final vehicle, who was under heavy contact. The platoon fought back with .50-caliber machine guns, laying heavy fire and pinning down the enemy in their fighting positions on top of the mountain.

At this time, the enemy started attacking with small arms fire from the cliffs across the road to the north.

“That was pretty smart on their part,” Brenke said. “They were pinned down to the south, so the ambushers across the road started attacking us.”

U.S. Army Pfc. Joel Mason, a gunner from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, spotted one of the attackers to the north and engaged him, ending the ambush from that side.

“After receiving small arms fire from the south, I saw one of the attackers engage us from the north,” Mason said. “We took contact from them, I got positive identification on one of the attackers, confirmed there were no friendly forces in the area, and took him out with the .50 cal.”

U.S. Army Spc. Dale Heiser, a crow gunner with 2nd Platoon, from Davenport, Iowa, who witnessed Mason’s shot through his crew remote-operated weapon optics system.

The platoon continued to lay down heavy suppressive fire on the ambushers to the south, keeping constant eyes on six individuals on the mountainside. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Peter Harder, a forward observer from Huxler, Iowa, called in an air strike on the ambushers.

U.S. forces dropped three bombs, the last one dead on target, according to the platoon, ending the conflict. When all was said and done, three American vehicles suffered repairable battle damage, no American forces were injured and seven insurgent fighters were eliminated, which differed significantly from the Taliban report.

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Ryan Matson

U.S. Army Spc. Lee Goddard, Company E, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, left, a truck driver from Dysart, Iowa, serves ham to U.S. Army Sgt. Joshua Anderegg, an infantryman from Garber, Iowa, with Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Dec. 25 at Combat Outpost Najil. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Matson

Remote. Small. Austere.

These are all adjectives one could use to describe Combat Outpost Najil here in eastern Afghanistan. COP Najil is home to less than 200 soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, part of the Iowa National Guard’s 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Red Bulls Division, as well as other service members.

The COP is nestled along the base of a mountain, and there is no flat ground; everywhere the service members walk is on a grade. Living conditions are tough, as water for showering and laundry is limited, and the bathrooms are tubes in the ground. There’s no post exchange to be found here; the soldiers are just happy to have power.

Despite their tough surroundings, Company A came together to celebrate Christmas and share in some holiday cheer Dec. 24.

“You’re out here hanging out with a bunch of people you never thought you would,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Kenneth Cain, a squad leader with 2nd Platoon from Dubuque, Iowa. “After a deployment like this, getting shot at together, getting blown up, all that stuff, you dang near consider them family.”

Cain, 24, said he does have family here. His younger brother, Kurt, also is an infantryman, is at Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam, about 25 miles away.

“We’ve seen each other five or six times now,” Cain said. “We make it a point to get a picture every place we’re together. Mom likes that.”

Cain said on Christmas morning, which is Christmas Eve in the United States due to the nine-and-a-half hour time difference, he got to see his children open some of their Christmas presents.

“They all had their little matching pajamas on so it was kind of cute,” Cain said. “It’s a little different, a little difficult with the kids. Santa Claus hasn’t come yet, so they opened some presents from their grandparents, aunts and uncles. I got them a little blow up deer target with some foam arrows and stuff – it’s kind of cool.”

This is the second Christmas being deployed for Cain, who also spent a Christmas in Kosovo.

“I’d describe this Christmas as interesting, but definitely worthwhile,” Cain said. “We all came here to do a job, all on our own free will, nobody got drafted. I extended for this deployment and we’re doing it so people back home can enjoy Christmas and the free life.”

U.S. Army Sgt. Seth VanSteenwyck, native of Sigourney, Iowa, and a forward observer with Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, eats Christmas dinner Dec. 25 at Combat Outpost Najil. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Matson

The service members took a day off from patrolling the mountainous area around COP Najil to enjoy the holiday. One person who did not have time off, however, was U.S. Army Sgt. Scott Stover, Company E, 1st Bn., 133rd Inf. Regt., the lone cook on COP Najil. He was still responsible for feeding several hungry platoons of soldiers, which was nothing new for him. This time, however, he was cooking two lavish holiday dinners.

“It’s tiring,” Stover admitted. “You get to the point where you can pretty much do it without any sleep.”

Stover, who hails from Strawberry Point, Iowa, and his assistant, U.S. Army Spc. Lee Goddard, Company E, 1st Bn., 133rd Inf. Regt., a truck driver from Dysart, Iowa, prepared two feasts. For lunch, they prepared a dinner of ham and turkey with all the fixings.

Even though Goddard usually works as a truck driver, Stover said he’s learned to cook pretty well.

“I told him when he gets home he’ll be able to cook his own meals, no more of that easy mac stuff,” Stover joked.

Meanwhile, members of 1st Platoon convoyed to FOB Mehtar Lam, an hour and a half drive south, to pick up mail which was piling up.

Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment stack boxes of holiday mail and care packages to divide out amongst the company Dec. 24 at Combat Outpost Najil. Photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan MatsonSmall RSS Icon

When the convoy returned, the rest of the soldiers from Company A were lining the entrance roadway, waiting for their eight pallets of holiday presents and care packages. They swarmed the trucks like bees on a honeycomb.

That night, Stover had prepared yet another special holiday meal. The soldiers were treated to lobster tail, shrimp, crab legs and vegetables for their Christmas Eve dinner.

Yes, they were in a rough and tumble, dangerous place in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, away from family for the holidays. But the company was doing OK – they had become their own extended family.

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Ryan Matson

The familiar refrain of “There’s nothing to do around here after work” will hopefully be a thing of the past with the opening of a new center for rest and relaxation.

The local United Service Organizations (USO) office and the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) coordinator for 34th Red Bull Infantry Division are teaming up to create an oasis in the middle of the Basrah desert for servicemembers and civilians to escape the pressure of operations.

Sarah McConnell, USO director here, said the center, housed in a former dining hall, already has undergone a “soft opening,” meaning there are some services already available.

“We have 13 Internet stations set up already, along with 18 phone lines for people to call home,” McConnell said. “Both services are free of charge to anyone who uses them.

“We wanted to get something started for the troops here right away,” she continued. “We’re not fully functional yet, but we got the computers and phones set up so we could at least offer some services.”

The USO center is designed from the same template as a similar facility that opened recently at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, according to Army Col. Ronald Albrecht, deputy chief of staff for the 34th Infantry Division.

The USO will share the space with MWR, Albrecht said.

The fitness center is under construction now and has a target opening of July 1, said Army Sgt. 1st Class Deborah Allen, MWR and event coordinator for the 34th Infantry Division.

In addition to cardiovascular machines already in place, the fitness center will feature Nautilus equipment, free weights and ample space for aerobic training and various self-defense classes, including Modern Army Combatives, she added.

“We will be putting padding on the floors and walls in one of the large rooms for combatives training,” Allen said. “We will still have a large amount of space on the other side of the room for additional fitness machines.”

Albrecht said the fitness center will be an important part of the division’s emphasis on physical fitness.

“We wanted to create a clean environment for Soldiers to work out,” Albrecht said. “We’ll have all new machines in place for them to train.”

Though the USO and MWR areas will be separated by a wall, extensive cooperation between the two has marked a positive beginning for the cohabitants.

“Cooperation with [the USO] has been splendid,” Allen said. “I really look forward to working with them in this building.”

McConnell added that she is appreciative of the help she has received from the military in making the USO presence a possibility here.

“I am very grateful to the military leadership here for the generous space allotted to the USO,” she said. “Thanks to them, their Soldiers will have a place to escape when they are able.”

Soldiers who are interested in volunteering with the USO may sign up at the center, McConnell said.

“The USO thrives on volunteers,” she said. “They are the backbone of everything we do.”

MNF-I
By Army Sgt. Frank Vaughn
Multi-National Division – South

Staff Sgt. Angela Amundsen, non-commissioned officer in charge of awards for the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, flies to Forward Operating Base Adder on a UH-60 Black Hawk, June 10. Amundsen and members of the personnel section of the 34th Inf. Div. flew to FOB Adder and FOB Kalsu to meet with the units under them. Photo by J.P. Lawrence

Pfc. Angelica Medrano always was scared of flying. As she got off the UH-60 Black Hawk and entered the Talil airport, she was still shaking off the effects.

“You look like you just did a 10-mile road march,” said Spc. Dusti Fetters, Medrano’s coworker in the personnel section of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division.

“I do?” said Medrano.

“Yeah,” said Fetters.

“I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t breathe through my mouth,” said Medrano. “And my eyelashes were being inflated – like balloons. The wind was getting them.”

Medrano and members of the personnel section of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division were on a mission to Forward Operating Base Adder to meet with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division and then to Forward Operating Base Kalsu to check in on the 172nd Inf. Bde.

The goal of the mission, said Maj. Donald Warner, an Elk River, Minn. native and deputy personnel officer of the 34th Inf. Div., was to have face-to-face interactions to build good working relationships and to synchronize procedures between the division and the brigades.

In addition, Warner said traveling to outlying locations would give young Soldiers like Medrano and Fetters, who have only worked at the division level, a better understanding of how brigades and battalions work with division headquarters.

Much of the personnel sections’ work involves keeping track and taking care of Soldiers, said Warner. When personnel sections at the corps level need information, they call their counterparts at the division level, who call down to the brigade level, who call down to the battalion level. The division’s job is to streamline the process so information gets to where it needs to be as quickly as possible.

The first stop was FOB Adder, where Warner met with the leadership of the 4th BCT, 1st Inf. Div.’s personnel department, who welcomed the opportunity to meet the Soldiers they had previously only known through phone calls and emails.

“It helps to give a face to names,” said Master Sgt. Christian Walker, a Dallas native and non-commissioned officer in charge of the 4th BCT’s personnel section. “Most of my guys are on their first deployment, and it helps to learn the ins and outs of their system from people who have already been here.”

“We talked about current issues. We talked about the different perspectives that brigade and divisions have. We talked about how we’re not used to having a division,” said Maj. Naomi Mercer, a Lovelock, Nev. native and the 4th BCT’s personnel officer, adding that the talks helped build “a better working relationship between the brigade and the division and the roles that Maj. Warner and I fill within our respective organizations.”

“After you’ve met and you know somebody and you talk to them on the phone, it’s easier,” said Warner. “So now, having met, when we talk to each other on the phone, we’ll have this bond, so when I call Master Sgt. Walker, automatically he’ll know who I am; he can put a face with the voice on the other end, and there’s just that common bond right there.”

After saying goodbye to the Soldiers in FOB Adder, the Red Bulls traveled by CH-47 Chinook to visit the 172nd Inf. Bde. at FOB Kalsu.

It was a study in contrasts. Where FOB Adder was sprawling, FOB Kalsu was snug, and the two units were at wholly different points in their deployment. While the Soldiers at FOB Adder were new, fresh off their transfer of authority ceremony, the Soldiers of the 172nd Inf. Bde. were more than halfway done with their deployment and were getting ready to do end of tour awards. “I’m pretty set in my ways,” said Maj. John Lawrence, a Madison, Maine., native and battalion personnel officer for the 172nd Inf. Bde.

The Red Bulls sat in the battalion personnel office and listened to the effusive Lawrence discuss awards, morale, welfare and recreation bonfires and other tasks given to him. “I talk a lot. It’s part of my job. Seems like every time I turn around you get put in charge of something,” said Lawrence. “If it involves people, we get it.”

“A lot of times it’s more our learning curve,” said Warner. Now was the time to listen, and the Red Bulls took notes of the 172nd Inf. Bde. operations.

“If you’ve got something going good, you don’t want to change,” said Spc. Michael Sanmarcos, a Los Angeles native and a human resources specialist with the 172nd Inf. Bde. “So getting with your counterparts at division and talking lets them know that ‘this part is going good, we don’t need to change it.’”

The 172nd Inf. Bde. Soldiers told the Red Bulls what resources they needed, gaps that the division, with its greater resource pool, was able to fill. In addition, the Soldiers discussed how to streamline communication between units.

“It helps to work with division. That way we can communicate with the units that are equivalent with us,” said Sanmarcos. “We can use division as a mediator between them and us; that way information is getting passed along correctly and accurately.”

Throughout the trip Warner had been quizzing Fetters and Medrano on what they had learned. Now, the trip was almost over, and the Red Bulls were gathered around a picnic table, discussing what they had learned.

“The difference between division and brigade is that they do everything, and we’re divided into sections and we specialize,” Medrano said. “They don’t even have a dedicated awards person.”

“Are you going to be more comfortable calling down to brigade now?” asked Warner.

“Before, I was nervous,” said Fetters, “and I wouldn’t want to call them. But now, yeah.”

Warner smiled. The young Soldiers were learning. A few more meetings in the afternoon, and it would be time to go back to Basra.

And all that was left was the flight back.

DVIDS
Story by J.P. Lawrence

Iraq’s first notable tourist, Jonah, hated it. Belched out of a whale and stuck under Ninevah’s parching, sweltering sun, the Bible says, he cared more for the plant that shaded him than for the city he was sent to save.

Thousands of years later, it’s cliche to say Iraq is not everyone’s ideal daytrip. But in the six years since Saddam Hussein was deposed, conditions have reached the point at which tourism is now a viable industry.

That’s where Army Master Sgt. Dave Cullen of the 34th Infantry Division comes in.

“My job is to increase tourism to Iraq,” said Cullen, Multi-National Division – South’s non-commissioned officer in charge for tourism and employment.

Hundreds of thousands of people already travel to Najaf, Karbala and Babil for religious events every year, Cullen said. “Some of the northern provinces in our area have over 30 percent of the economy based on tourism,” he noted.

In addition, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has hundreds of historical sites and is the birthplace Hammurabi, Nebuchadnezzar and the wheel.

“The history of the world starts there,” Cullen said.

Unfortunately for history buffs everywhere, nations ravaged by over 30 years of war and tyranny generally do not offer a plethora of five-star accommodations. “They don’t have a very good hotel industry or service industry,” he acknowledged.

The good news, however, is that Cullen will not have to revive Iraq’s tourism sector all by himself. In addition to working with the brigade combat teams and nongovernmental organizations in the area, Cullen will work by, with, and through Iraqis.

“It can’t be Dave Cullen going down there and saying, ‘I need to set up a hotel,’” he said. “It has to be agreed upon through their eyes.”

By working with the Iraqi government, Cullen said, he will be helping ensure a healthy economy for Iraq after coalition combat forces have left the country.

“The increase of tourism by increasing their economy is going to build a safer environment,” he said.

Like Jonah and his whale, Cullen and the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division have been tasked with a unique mission: to help make Iraq a better place.

Even if it is a little hot.

DVIDS
Story by Pfc. J.P. Lawrence