Rakkasan Cavalry Squadron proud of 90-day progress

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kerensa Hardy | A Soldier from Troop B, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), walks past children while on patrol in the Al Haswa area.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

01.29.2008

Story by Sgt. 1st Class Kerensa Hardy 

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs

By Sgt. 1st Class Kerensa Hardy
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq – With almost 90 days on the ground, Rakkasan Soldiers are pleased at progress in their areas of responsibility.

"I think we are doing a very good job of addressing the requirement of realizing that there is no single decisive point in this effort," said Lt. Col. Brian Coppersmith, commander of 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). "We've got to hit three or four (tasks) over the fence, but we've got to manage 50 tasks really well."

The "three or four" tasks given the most emphasis are security, reconciliation, essential services and economic development – in that order.

"Security must come first – physical security – the expectation that they're secure in their person and their property and in their future," Coppersmith said. "The problem with broad-front strategy is...you stick and move a lot.

"You go to the one in the higher priority; you have to focus on things in sequence while simultaneously addressing them all. One of the key doctrinal aspects of war fighting...is being able to manage a multitude of tasks without neglecting any," he said.

With each task the unit performs carrying its own level of importance, Coppersmith described the overall mission here as "a constantly rolling ball of effects where one thing leads to another, which leads to another."

Essential services are lacking in many areas of Iraq. Coppersmith, a native of Olean, N.Y., has given his troop commanders guidance to "pick three and get after it." Many areas need improvement, but each troop has selected the top concerns for their respective regions.

Because each troop has a diverse operations environment, a top concern in one area may not be an issue in another.

Connecting the area to government of Iraq-supported essential services, incorporation of Iraqi security forces and release of detainees are priorities for Troop A, 1-33rd Cav. Regt.

"We have gained the trust of the people," said Capt. Toby Jimenez, from San Antonio, commander of Troop A, 1-33rd Cav. Regt. "We have a very good idea of what needs to happen to enable the people to reconcile with the GoI and then get the people sustaining themselves without coalition forces' help."

By the deployment's end, Jimenez hopes to see the area secured by Iraqi army and Iraqi police and being supported with essential services such as water, roads, electricity and medical care.

Capt. Brandon Cave, who commands Troop B, 1-33rd Cav. Regt., said his area, Al Haswa, has transitioned from focusing on security to economic improvements. His "pick three" are drinking water, canals and roads.

Cave, from Omaha, Neb., said his unit is working to improve the economy and essential services to show the Iraqis that life is better without insurgency or al-Qaida in Iraq. "When we arrived, we thought that we would have to remove (AQI) influence and this has turned out to be not true," he said.

Troop C has rated four areas as top priorities in Rasheed: medical capabilities, roads, canals and drinking water.
"You can get a better truck or new tires, bottled water and clean the canals yourself, but medical treatment is...(substandard) unless you live in Baghdad," said Capt. Jerome Parker, from Stafford, Va. By the time his unit leaves the area, he hopes to have two medical clinics fully operational, a cleaning rotation for the canals implemented, two nahia representatives and a functional water plant.

Whether it's securing the area, releasing detainees or revitalizing the community, all troop initiatives require communication and coordination on a larger scale – above and beyond what coalition forces can do on their own. That's where reconciliation comes in.

Coppersmith defines reconciliation as competing parties identifying common ground of mutual benefit. He said the key to bringing hostile people together is to first find places of common benefit.

"The most pressing issue for reconciliation right now is the perception by the local people that the uniformed services of Iraq mean them harm because it's not true," Coppersmith said. "I'm impressed with the quality of leadership of the Iraqi army officers I work with." He said Gen. Ali, the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army commander, and Col. Muhammad, 3rd Battalion, 4/6 IA commander, are "superb at addressing the needs of the people, ensuring that they are secure where they sleep, looking after their essential services, economic development and (are) actively pursuing these kinds of reconciliation measures."

Coppersmith said he is most proud of the human network the unit has inherited and built upon.

"Counterinsurgency doctrine calls for engaging the population and using all efforts available to secure them, gain their trust and enlist their common effort in the total enterprise," Coppersmith said. He said the network of local citizens, leaders and Iraqi army contacts has enabled his unit to build most of the time and fight in intelligence-based operations when fighting becomes necessary.

Coppersmith added that the unit's predecessors, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), set 1-33rd Cav. Regt. up for success. "They gave us a tremendous running start."

• Date Taken: 01.29.2008
• Date Posted: 01.29.2008 15:44
• Story ID: 15900
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ