USD-C ‘Longknife’ Squadron route clearance platoon safeguards roads in Baghdad

Courtesy Photo | 1st Lt. Cody Pucket (left), platoon leader with 2nd Platoon, Company C, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, United States Division – Center and a Cove, Ore., native, observes his platoon conduct rehearsals Jan. 27 for an upcoming mission out of Joint Security Station Falcon, Iraq. (Photo by: 2nd Lt. Devin Osburn)  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

01.27.2011

Courtesy Story

2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs

By: 2nd Lt. Devin Osburn

BAGHDAD — Soldiers with the 5th ‘Longknife’ Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, United States Division – Center, partnered with the Iraqi Federal Police, travel the roads in search of any possible threat.

Using their training in detecting improvised explosive devices, these soldiers go outside the wire often to provide clear roads for U.S. and Iraqi forces as well as the citizens of Iraq.

Second platoon, Company C, Special Troops Battalion, 2nd AAB, 1st Infantry Division, attached to 5th Squadron, 4th Cav. Regiment, has been operating out of Joint Security Station Falcon—in the southern part of Baghdad—for the past two months. During this time, the platoon has conducted more than 60 route clearance missions—clearing more than 2,500 kilometers of roadway. Nearly 20 of these missions were in combined patrols with the IFP.

“The IFP are very competent, friendly, and willing to work side-by-side with us, to help ensure the roadways are safe and clear of improvised explosive devices,” said 1st Lt. Cody Pucket, platoon leader with 2nd Platoon, Company C, STB and a Cove, Ore., native.

“The [IFP] are very quick to pick up our tactics,” said Staff Sgt. Joe Grant, a combat engineer with 2nd Platoon, Company C, STB and a Charleston, Ill., native. “We just do things as we normally would and they fall in right beside us and mimic our movements.”

As the U.S. continues to draw down forces in Iraq, the platoon has evolved from doing combined patrols one or two times per week with the IFP to making every operation a combined effort. The IFP have requested the assistance of the platoon’s soldiers many times throughout the past several months to supplement their forces to help clear the streets of Iraq.

During the Ashura religious holiday, the platoon assisted the IFP by conducting nightly route clearance missions in the vicinity of the Kadamiyah Shrine, where more than a million visitors had flocked to pay homage. While the platoon was in the Kadamiyah area conducting patrols, there were no attacks or IEDs targeting the local populace—there had been multiple attacks just days prior.

“The relationship and continued training with the [IFPs] and the route clearance platoon is key to the success of the responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces,” Pucket said. “Many of the IEDs found or detonated in the Baghdad area are targeting the local populace, Iraqi officials, Iraqi Army [soldiers] and IFP [officers].”

• Date Taken: 01.27.2011
• Date Posted: 02.13.2011 03:12
• Story ID: 65348
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ