Brothers in arms

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Lionel Castellano | Staff Sgt. Jeremy Moersch, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team documentation media exploitation cellular exploitation analyst and 732nd Expeditionary Intelligence Squadron Joint Expeditionary Tasking Airman, and Army Spc. Brandon Kosky, 56th Stryker BCT infantry and a Stryker driver, grew up as childhood friends in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. Now 15 years later, the two service members are both currently deployed here and work together in support of the Iraqi justice system. Sergeant Moersch is deployed here from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. Specialist Kosky is with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard.  

TAJI, IRAQ

04.09.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Dilia Ayala 

332d Air Expeditionary Wing

CAMP TAJI, Iraq - Growing up together in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Moersch and Spc. Brandon Kosky played cops and robbers as boys, fighting the "bad guys" and putting them behind bars in an imaginary world.

Now more than 15 years later, the two service members, both currently deployed at Camp Taji, are doing something similar -- only now, it's not a game and their actions are helping aid the Iraqi judiciary system.

An Airman with the 732nd Expeditionary Intelligence Squadron, Moersch is a document media exploitation cellular exploitation analyst assigned to the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Kosky, also assigned to the 56th Stryker BCT, is an infantry Soldier and Stryker driver.

"I work primarily on the cell phones. I get all of the information off of them; give them to whoever needs the information," said Moersch, a Joint Expeditionary Tasking or JET Airman. "In general, it is the whole capturing bad guys, putting them behind bars and keeping them there."

"The information we are able to obtain from the cell phones, the documents and everything can provide forewarning of any attacks for him [Kosky]," he continued. "It may provide information as to where they [the enemy] may have weapons caches. We'll let them know, 'hey there are weapons over there, go get them.' That's fewer weapons that they have to shoot at him [Kosky]."

Capt. Eric Allen, 56th Stryker BCT DOMEX officer in charge and also a 732nd EIS, JET Airman, explained it further: "We are the document media exploitation team here at Camp Taji. What we do is support the brigade support team. We support them with intel."

"What they do is go out and conduct missions trying to find the bad guys, and they will bring back any equipment that they find with the bad guy, on their person or the place they may be living in," the captain, deployed from Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., continued. "They bring that stuff back, which may include documents, media, or any type of communication equipment, and we exploit all of that for further intelligence value. Then, we give it back to them so they can use it for evidence to convict insurgents or use it for additional warrants and to go out and conduct additional raids."

Overall, the DOMEX process of utilizing cellular phones and other items as a means of gathering information adds up to a fairly new procedure in Iraq.

"What we are doing right now, since Jan. 1, has really changed from the U.S. forces going out and doing any mission," said Allen. "Now we are really working with the Iraqis through a rule-of-law process, a judiciary process, and so we are providing the evidence to support all that."

"What all this is going to ultimately do is provide the Iraqis with a process so that they can then can go over completely when that time comes and do this on their own," he added. "Right now, we are working together with them."

In the past, the Iraqi judiciary process differed in its ways of convicting criminals, said the captain.

"This is a viewpoint or a capability that [the Iraqis] haven't had in the past," said the Brawley, Calif., native. "Here in Iraq, with the Iraqis, in their culture, they've had a different system of going to a judge, getting warrants, which is not necessarily based on the evidence like we are used to in the States. So [the information gathered by the DOMEX team] is giving them another way to do that, which combines with their traditional way of convicting criminals, and will be a much more solid basis to put guys behind bars."

In general, Moersch and Kosky are an example of how the DOMEX team and the servicemembers outside the wire make the process work.

"Generally what's supposed to happen, is we'll gather the information from people, or if we find a weapons cache, we'll turn it in and [Moersch] gets it." Kosky said. "Then he ends up turning it into information that he can give back to us, so that we can find more weapons and actually find the bad guys who planted [the weapons cache]. Indirectly, basically, we work together in order to catch the bad guy."

Kosky, who is deployed with the Pittsburgh National Guard, said he is also able to gather information from locals to help the Iraqi judiciary process in convicting criminals.

"If [the locals] know that someone is planting [improvised explosive devices] and they can get hurt with the aftermath just as much as we can, they come up to us gladly and tell us, 'hey, this person is doing this,' and we can go out and get them. Then we bring that stuff back to the intel guys. It's a big circle."

Moersch, deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, says he hopes he can find something that may potentially save Kosky's life outside the wire.

"If I could do that, it would be incredibly wonderful," he said. "I just want to help him out as much as I can. We are here together in Taji; I'm doing intel, he's out doing the infantry thing. It's the classic case of I got his back, he's off fighting the war, and I'm going to help him do that.

"It's just coincidence we are here together," continued Moersch. "It's been incredible for morale. I couldn't ask for more. I hope we can catch some bad guys together and make some great stories for later."

• Date Taken: 04.09.2009
• Date Posted: 04.09.2009 02:49
• Story ID: 32183
• Location: TAJI, IQ