14th Public Affairs Detachment

Story by Spc. Opal Vaughn

An abandoned village once inhabited by Iraqi nationals, young and old alike, Fatmiya now stands alone, desolate and empty of life except for Iraqi security forces and U.S. troops passing through every so often.

Both forces are working together to ensure the safety and security of the village in order for the people to be able to return home.

"Several weeks back we cleared this village, Fatmiya, which is a suspected al-Qaida cell of snipers and IED [improvised explosive device] emplacements," said 1st Lt. John Belle, Company B, Task Force 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade.

"We cleared a route; the ISF [Iraqi security forces] came behind us and cleared the village," Belle stated. "Now we've started to establish security around the whole area. All we do is just ensuring the ISF are building up proper defensive positions and that everything is straight, that they can defend themselves."

Belle believes running security operations are important for ISF in order for them to one day run missions completely on their own.

"These types of operations are important to show the Iraqi's although we can give them support like helicopters and all that good stuff, they can complete the mission by themselves, they can clear this whole town out and they can do this with the remaining villages in the area that are suspected of terrorist activities," Belle stated.

Even though the village is uninhabited security is still vital in the return of the people to their homes.

"This area is important because the ISF have had a lot of contact before," said Staff Sgt. Nicholas Roha, squad leader, Company B, 3-66. "Supposedly there was an insurgent stronghold held up in this village so ISF have cleared the area. That way, the insurgents cannot use it to stage out of to attack the ISF."

Working together creates a stronger force and ensures a presence remains in the village.

"We work closely with the 1-21 Battalion, Iraqi army, directly. On missions they take the lead and out here they pull all the security, we park off and pull an outer perimeter security," Roha stated. "If they need us, we're here to advise them. I think they need more equipment, personally, but they can handle pretty anything thrown at them. Their soldiers seem really motivated."

"The IA are really a force," Roha stated, continuing, "they're really making themselves a presence."

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