1st Infantry Division Soldiers uncover weapons caches in southern Afghanistan

Photo By Chief Master Sgt. Jill LaVoie | Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Alan Thompkins, an explosive ordnance disposal specialist from Birmingham, Ala., inspects a pressure plate found in the karez system.  

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN

03.10.2009

Story by Tech. Sgt. Jill LaVoie 

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — During a recent mission to disrupt enemy movement, Soldiers in southern Afghanistan found five caches containing weapons, documents and medical supplies.

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Soldiers knew the area they were operating in is used for Taliban movement and storage of supplies.

"Something we looked into based on intelligence," said Army Staff Sgt. Joshua Rodriguez, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, platoon sergeant from New Braunfels, Texas. "We were told the [militants use] karez [water] system to store weapons and supplies."

After inspecting for traps, Bravo Company began lowering Army Spc. Andrew West, from Portland, Ore.; and Army Spc. Chad Schadewald, from West Branch, Mich., into the karez system. When they reached the 5th hole, they saw munitions and feed bags full of supplies.

"At first we were worried it was booby trapped and didn't want to get blown up; but once it was cleared, we were pretty excited," said West.

As they continued clearing the karez system, they found additional caches and enemy sleeping quarters.

Armed with this information, D. Co. began searching compounds in their area.

"We knew bad guys were in the area and intended to have a look around, but knowing that another company had found something made us even more motivated to find something," said Army Capt. Michael Soyka, D. Co. commander from Cleveland.

Upon entering a village with only three people in it, D. Co. began searching compounds. In the last room they were going to search, Army Spc. Jeffery Strouse, of Deerfield, Mich., noticed a hallway going underground that led to a small bunker.

"I kneeled down and saw plastic tubing," Strouse said "I called [Army Spc. Chad Vough, from Nichols, N.Y.] and he kneeled down and we realized they were weapons."

At the same time, fellow Soldiers in their company were finding medical supplies in a different compound in the same village.

"It's getting harder and harder for them to find weapons. So each individual cache find, small or large, puts a hurt on them," Rodriguez said. "This is the largest cache find for this battalion during this deployment."

This find is especially important before the spring fighting season, as it takes weapons, medicine and other items required to fight out of the Taliban's hands.

"The types of things we found are the things they use to hurt us," Schadewald said. "If they were to use it against us, we would take casualties. We prevented casualties today."

• Date Taken: 03.10.2009
• Date Posted: 03.10.2009 01:58
• Story ID: 30928
• Location: BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF