Samarra residents attempting to give No Slack to AQI in city

Photo By Master Sgt. Kevin Doheny | Capt. Josh Kurtzman, commander of "Cougar" Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry...... read more read more

Photo By Master Sgt. Kevin Doheny | Capt. Josh Kurtzman, commander of "Cougar" Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, speaks to members of the Samarra Rescue Committee and Iraqi police, Feb. 16, in Samarra, Iraq. Kurtzman's Soldiers were also involved with the training of the SRC to help ready them for possible enemy engagements.  see less | View Image Page

02.27.2008

Story by Master Sgt. Kevin Doheny 

1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

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By Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Doheny
1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Public Affairs Office

IRAQ - As Americans we should all know the inspiring story of our founding fathers and all the brave men who sacrificed everything to fight off oppression. Basically a bunch of farmers, blacksmiths, tailors, teachers and other ordinary men answered the call to arms in the 1770's to rid our country of tyranny. They were trained by foreigners who had experienced war and who had fought their enemy before. They then took to the battlefields as Soldiers of a common bond...the quest for freedom.

Through heavy losses, and an ever-developing knowledge of their enemy, combined with a passion for freedom, those men did what had to be done...and the rest they say is history.


286:

I was in the "No Slack", 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment area of the Salah ad Din province to report on a story about the stand up of Samarra's version of the Sons of Iraq groups, the Samarra Rescue Committee. These men had been receiving training and were help secure the embattled northern-Iraqi city.

Soon after arriving at Forward Operating Base Brassfield-Mora, Feb. 13, the very next day I was to head out to Forward Operating Base Seven, where I was to begin to fall into the storyline.

Something immediately hit me after receiving an informative brief on what I was to witness in the next few days. I thought I maybe had seen this movie before.

As I walked around and viewed the preparation for, what I was told was going to be a special day for the people of Samarra, I realized that I was going to observe the seeds of history being sown.

These SRC reminded me of the early armed force in America around the mid-to-late 1770's. These ordinary men are not organized to fight sustained battles such as the Iraqi police and army, but capable of protecting their neighborhoods.

These men, 286 to be exact, were in only two day's time, going to be putting their lives on the line for the people of their city and their country.

I was out at a range where I could tell some of these men were going to fire an AK-47 for the first time. If the early American's single-shot musket was their weapon of freedom, the AK-47 was the same for these men.

Some flinched and closed their eyes as they squeezed the trigger. Standing right behind them were Soldiers from No Slack, coaching them and giving them instructions on how to fire their weapons correctly from a number of positions.

I could only imagine Baron Friedrich Von Steuben, the father of drill and discipline for colonial forces, and his men trying to train these Sons of Iraq groups. Watching group after group of Iraqis miss targets and having little-to-no knowledge of the weapons they would be using against the insurgents. He would notice the inability to hit a target effectively, and through frustration, have an outburst of curse words in his German dialect.

The No Slack Soldiers used a different approach than one Von Steuben would have. Using simplicity and encouragement while talking through an interpreter, these Soldiers seemed to get their point across.

After a few groups went through the range, one group in particular truly put things into perspective. As a group of ordinary men walked in unison onto the range, singing could be heard coming from a few of them. Like in a symphony, the others chimed in at the right time and they marched onto the range singing songs and you could almost see a growing bond between them.

There were a few in this bunch who could fire their weapons effectively, but most would need extra coaching, which the No Slack Soldiers provided. This group of SRC members was anxiously awaiting the chance to see how well they shot. The No Slack Soldiers escorted the group downrange and you could just see the excitement on their faces as most of them put rounds inside their targets. It was a bit surreal that, in just two day's time, their targets could possibly bear al-Qaida fighters.

These men didn't seem to care about the possible danger that what was in the near future for them. They gathered their belongings and marched off the range the same way they had arrived, in unison and singing joyous songs...it was quite a sight to see.


Taking risks:

It was the personal sentiment of George Washington that "militias" were often ineffective. It was written that he experienced, "all the evils of insubordination among the troops, perverseness in the militia, inactivity in the officers, disregard of orders, and reluctance in the civil authorities to render a proper support." Though, during the American Revolution, the risk was greater than the reward as the "militias" helped secure the towns and cities while the regular army was out on the battlefields.

Organizing armed men in a large city such as Samarra is not as easy as gathering a group of men, giving them rifles and ammunition and telling them go guard an intersection. There is so much more, these No Slack Soldiers are taking risks by arming the SRC. Some of the men in the SRC have previously been detained and also tested positive for explosives, which makes it a bit uneasy for some of the No Slack Soldiers. Nevertheless, they realize that AQI members offer money to ordinary men to do their dirty work.

According to U.S. leaders in Iraq though, this risk is one they have to take. The successes in other areas in Salah ad Din province and throughout Iraq have proven a worthy risk. The 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) has netted many AQI members along with thousands of pounds of explosives and numerous weapons caches with the help of intelligence tips from SOI groups in other areas in the province. The information the SRC could gather for the No Slack Soldiers could prove to be invaluable. These SRC members are residents of certain neighborhoods, and it is almost assured other residents would be more apt to give information to them rather than coalition troops for fear of their lives. The goal of the No Slack Soldiers is this stand up of the SRC would save lives, both Iraqi and American.


A simple statement:

All the No Slack leaders were brought into a large meeting room to get the final brief the day prior to standing up the SRC groups in Samarra. After going over every possible scenario and making sure every unit was clear of what their tasks were, something was said that again put everything back into perspective and reminded me on how important tomorrow would be. The No Slack executive officer, Maj. Chris Kidd, said to everyone in the room, "This must go right." Those four words echoed in my mind for hours as I imagined really how profound and powerful just a simple statement could be. It had to be right because, yes, there had been a lot of time and effort expended in the training and planning, but a day earlier a man was killed in Samarra who had a vision of security in his city improving, so the citizens of the city could have normalcy in their lives. This man was gunned downed by enemy extremist in the southern part of city. His death was the very reason why these men needed to be in the city and only further proved to everyone that security in Samarra had to improve.

"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."

Two hundred and fifty-plus years ago in America, Thomas Paine, a member of the freedom group "Sons of Liberty," made that statement. He spoke these words trying to inspire others to stand up and fight the oppression which had entrenched his people.
The SRC have the opportunity to help rid their city of insurgent activity so their children can grow up in a society without violence.


They said it couldn't done:

It was said to the No Slack Soldiers that it could never take place. They were told the citizens of Samarra would never take up arms against enemy extremists in their city. They were prepared to prove those words wrong.

Just as the early patriots were at long odds to fight an overwhelming enemy in America, the SRC don't seem to have the odds in their favor either.

But as the outmanned, outgunned armies in America in the 1770's, these SRC members have an enduring devotion to basic freedoms.

The day was here. The SRC members arrived at the staging location and unloaded from American vehicles and immediately went into formations. As I walked around the formations I noticed the same group of men who I had seen just two days prior, the men who were singing and enjoying the moment.

Today there was a different attitude to these men. There was no singing. There were no smiling faces like I had seen two days prior. I'll try to compare it to an athlete getting his first playing time in a professional sport. They were breathing hard. They looked nervous. They seemed apprehensive about the uncertainty which was in their immediate future. I couldn't blame them; there are men in the city who want them dead. I kept telling myself how brave these men were. They have very little training and they would almost certainly be facing an ever-adapting enemy. Al-Qaida has the ability to blend into the population and intimidate even a staunch foe. A ruthless enemy who doesn't care about ruining innocent people's lives in an instant. These men have a huge responsibility.

The men were to be loaded into the back of IP trucks and driven to their respective locations. I arrived at a few of the locations before the SRC members arrived. I could see their faces a few hours prior, but now most of them had black ski masks so as not to reveal their identity. At one of the locations the SRC members sprinted to their assigned intersections and places of duty. It was "game time" for these men. The security of the city was up to them now. They now need to be a useful tool for the Iraqi Security and coalition forces in the area.


2-16-2008:

I took notice of that day, the day where the ordinary men of Samarra showed unordinary courage to stand up to their own version of tyranny and terrorism. Just as our children read about the brave men who fought to save our cities and country, maybe the children of Iraq will read about some of these "patriots" and how they saved their city. Only time will tell how effective the SRC will be. No one knows. One thing is for certain, these men are risking everything for freedom, just as those farmers, tailors and teachers did for us many years ago.

Sometimes events allow us to go unscripted, which is why I felt the need to tell this as a story. The story of 286 men taking a stand against an unneccessary evil...