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    Live together, fight together: no problem

    Buddies

    Photo By Spc. Paul Harris | Staff Sgt. Craig Barringer, native of Modesto, Calif., and Staff Sgt. John Royalty,...... read more read more

    BALAD, IRAQ

    05.26.2006

    Courtesy Story

    DVIDS Hub       

    BALAD, Iraq (May 19, 2006) -- How well do you like your best friend? Do you like him enough to go to war with him, room with him and work with him in the same platoon?

    Two Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers do.

    Staff Sergeants Craig Barringer and John Royalty are both tank commanders for 3rd Platoon, Co. C, 1-8 CAB. The live in the same containerized housing unit on Forward Operating Base Paliwoda and live next door to each other in Fort Carson, Colo. Their wives, Debbie Barringer and Monica Royalty, are best friends as well.

    Barringer has three girls Carson, Christen and Cadence ages 10, six and three. Being outnumbered by females four-to-one, Barringer frequently likes to escape to Royalty's house to get away from all the estrogen. Both men enjoy the outdoors and like to fish and hunt. Unfortunately, Royalty has had little time to do his favorite outdoor activities since the arrival of his first child Joshua born in October 2005.

    A deployment is hard on the family, but both men take solace in knowing their wives look after each others children and provide each other with moral support while the Soldiers are in Iraq.

    Royalty and Barringer met when both men were deployed to Iraq with the Iron Brigade in 2003 with Company A, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor. The Soldiers lived and slept on their vehicles during the initial stages of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The cramped living condition is how Royalty and Barringer became close friends. They spent many nights talking baseball or about their families.

    There have been many changes between the last deployment and current one.

    Besides being constantly on the move during 2003 and one hot meal a day, the focus of the mission has changed, said Barringer. The mission is now about supporting the Iraqi Army.

    "As soon as the (Iraqi) people are ready to stand up for themselves and the Iraqi Army are ready to support them. Then we will have completed our mission," he said.

    Improvised explosive devices were around in 2003 but those have evolved as well in the past three years.

    We are seeing more pressure switch IEDs out on the road, said Royalty.
    A pressure switch IED is when the pressure from a vehicle will set the bomb off as opposed to a command detonated IED where the insurgents have someone actually pressing a button to explode the bomb.

    The goal of finding IEDs is the main mission 3rd Platoon tackles when they go on patrols near Balad. Patrols vary in length from a few hours to a couple of days.

    On a recent patrol, Royalty commanded a M1A2 System Enhancement Package Abrams Tank and Barringer led his Soldiers in a Humvee to hunt for insurgents and IEDs.

    "Just the tank's presence is a deterrent," said Barringer. "A lot of times the enemy will not engage because they do not want to go up against a tank."

    Having a presence in the neighborhood is vital for intelligence gathering. Some Iraqis are more likely to come forward to an American patrol in their neighborhood with information on insurgents than run the risk of being seen going into an American base, Barringer said.

    After a quiet evening in town it was time to head back to Paliwoda. With the vehicles driving away and the Iraqi children running after waving goodbye, Royalty was pleased with the evening's events and the way the war is going six months into this deployment.

    "There are a lot less improvised explosive devices than there were six months ago," Royalty said.

    He attributes this to the constant presence of coalition forces in the area and the improvement of the Iraqi Army, especially units from 3rd Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Iraqi Army Division. Units for this company and 3rd Platoon frequently work together in the area surrounding Balad.
    Capt. Kaed, commander, 3rd Co., 3rd Bn., 1st IAD, is dedicated to his job and it is reflected all the way down the chain of command, especially after numerous threats on his life by insurgents. The threats have become so bad that Kaed has to have armed escorts with him just to go from his house to the Iraqi Army compound.

    Upon returning to FOB Paliwoda, the vehicles are parked until the next day when maintenance checks will be preformed. At this time the platoon has some down time. Royalty and Barringer spend their off hours with each other as well. They work out together, watch a movie together or play video games together. Royalty occasionally will venture off on his own, usually to call home or talk his wife via Web cam so he can watch his son wiggle around.

    The day following a patrol is mostly spent in the motor pool performing maintenance on the vehicles. It is during this time Barringer and Royalty can show the younger Soldiers in the platoon the finer points of maintaining a tank.

    Sgt. Alec Foster, tank gunner, Co. C, 1-8 CAB, was deployed with Barringer in 2003 with Co. A, 1st Bn., 68th Armor. Thrown fresh into the frying pan of OIF I from advanced individual training, he relied heavily upon Barringer to teach him what it takes to be a tanker.

    I knew very little about my job until I met Barringer, Foster said. I found him to be a very by-the-book kind of guy and he took me under his wing to teach me. Now that I have come to be his gunner he is teaching me for the next slot which is tank commander.

    With the temperature inside a tank about 10 degrees hotter than the outside temperature, it takes an individual with nerves of steel to command a tank especially when it comes under enemy fire.

    Spc. Joseph Busson, loader for the M1A2 SEP Abrams Tank, 3rd Platoon, Co. C, 1-8 CAB, saw Royalty perform under the pressures of combat.

    "He keeps a cool head when there is contact with the enemy," Busson said. "I have full confidence that he will lead us down the right path during combat."

    It is the confidence in the leadership that can make or break a platoon in a combined arms battalion. The company was tested earlier in the year when two of its Soldiers died. It is at these difficult times that Soldiers look for strength in their leadership.

    The younger Soldiers looked upon Barringer and Royalty and how they were able to handle themselves during a trying time, said Capt. Steve Powers, commander, Company C, 1-8 CAB. It was the strong bonds that we had as a company, enabling us to move forward.

    Powers is grateful to have reliable, veteran NCOs like Royalty and Barringer in his company the younger Soldiers can look up to.

    "There are definitely the go to guys," Powers said. "If either one of them says they are going to do something I know without a question it is going to get done. The more leaders in my company that I have like that, the easier my job is."

    After their time in the Iron Brigade ends, Barringer plans to become a drill sergeant while Royalty would like to leave the Army and pursue a career maintaining engine turbines for aircraft. Though he does not want to imagine the day when he will have to say goodbye to his friend, Royalty is hopeful for the future.

    Due to the nature of the Army I know there is a chance we will be split up, but I plan on still keeping in touch, Royalty said. It will all work out.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 05.26.2006
    Date Posted: 05.26.2006 11:41
    Story ID: 6533
    Location: BALAD, IQ

    Web Views: 130
    Downloads: 39

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