Operation Deadbluff

Photo By Rick Rzepka | "Above the Rest" Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division move through the dense vegetation during an Air Assault mission onto the banks of the Tigris River. The Soldiers conducted Operation Deadbluff along with Iraqi army soldiers, in an effort to reduce the number of enemy weapons caches in the area.  

BAYJI, IRAQ

10.14.2008

Story by Sgt. Rick Rzepka 

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

By Sgt. Rick Rzepka
1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division

BAYJI, Iraq – As security continues to improve across Iraq, insurgent networks are becoming desperate in their attempts at proliferating weapons and ammunition.

Because they have been marginalized within Iraqi society and are under constant pressure from Iraqi security forces and coalition soldiers, enemy fighters are frantically seeking to hide large quantities of weapons in the hinterlands of Iraq's north.

"Often the insurgency will attempt to utilize rural areas to hide weapons," said Capt. Michael Sykes, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment. "What they don't realize, is that we are highly mobile through the use of the Air Assault and are training the Iraqis to do the same," he said.

A recent Air Assault mission, conducted by Iraqi army soldiers and Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, aimed to track down enemy weapons caches being stored along the lush banks of the Tigris River.

"Our intent is to deny them a place to call home," said Capt. Jeffrey Rottenberg, whose 'Mad Dog' Company has been battling extremist fighters for more than a year. "The enemy here goes to sleep at night wondering if this is the night that the 101st will come to pay them a visit," he said.

The mission, dubbed Operation Deadbluff, was one of many operations carried out by the battalion in order to sever enemy weapons trafficking in the area. "The enemy doesn't just stick to cities," said Rottenberg, "so we don't either."

In utilizing the Air Assault, Rottenberg's 'Mad Dogs' have gained the upper hand. By taking the fight to the enemy, the Soldiers of the 327th go after them from all sides, said Rottenberg. "The major advantage gained through Air Assaults is the ability to move a lot of Soldiers quickly, with little warning to the enemy."

The element of surprise is one brick on the road to success here. Another is having the actual intelligence on enemy weapons locations from sources on the ground.

"The key to finding caches is the Iraqi people themselves," said Rottenberg. "Unless you have someone inform you about them, it becomes somewhat of a guessing game," he said.

For more than a year, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment has detained hundreds of suspected insurgents and has taken thousands of weapons out of the hands of the enemy here.

"Our guys have performed at a high level, under austere conditions," said Sykes. "While there has been some adversity, there has also been a great deal of success," he said. "Our barometer for success is the Iraqi people, and right now they are enjoying a sense of security and liberty that they have not known before."

• Date Taken: 10.14.2008
• Date Posted: 10.14.2008 13:18
• Story ID: 24967
• Location: BAYJI, IQ