Cavalry Soldiers continue to see improvements in Diwaniyah

Photo By Sgt. Robert Yde | Spc. Adam Brookshire, Troop A, Task Force 1-14th Cavalry, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, looks through a locker in a Diwaniyah household during a clearing operation in the Iraqi city, April 15.  

DIWANIYAH, IRAQ

04.17.2007

Story by Sgt. Robert Yde 

2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

By Sgt. Robert Yde
2nd BCT, 1st Cav. Div. Public Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE ECHO, Iraq – After a little more than a week of operations in city of Diwaniyah, Soldiers with Task Force 1-14th Cavalry, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, continue to make strides toward restoring security in an area that has seen an increase in militia activity after a couple of years with no steady coalition presence.

"We came here to do a mission, and we came here to accomplish handing over security to a follow on unit, whether that's IA (Iraqi army) or IP (Iraqi police)," Troop A commander, Capt. Gerald Resmondo said April 15. "I think we've just about completed the mission."

For the past week, these cavalry troops have been out patrolling the neighborhoods of Diwaniyah. They target different neighborhoods each day, search the houses and buildings within that area, talk to the locals about problems in the area and pass out cards with information and a tip-line number, which can be called to report suspicious activities.

"We're going to houses looking for weapons, and not only that, but we're establishing a presence in the neighborhood," explained Spc. Adam Brookshire of Troop A.

Although the task force has been successful locating weapon caches and has captured several suspected militia members, as was the case on this day, they are starting to find less and less.

"All the weapons we found today were the one [AK-47 rifle] and two magazines that everybody is allowed to have in their house and everybody was pretty honest about whether they had it or not," Brookshire, a native of Lexington, Ky., said.

After completing a short clearing operation April 15, Resmondo's troop performed what he called "an assessment of the mosques in the area."

Resmondo said that the goal behind this is to put together information packets that will be passed on to the unit that takes over the area, which will give them a base from where to begin their own assessments of the area.

According to Resmondo, the unit that does take over operations in the Diwaniyah area should find the area to be pretty stable.

"There have been no major reports of any security crises, and I think we'll leave the city in pretty good shape," he said.

Of all the improvements that he has seen over the last week-and-a-half, Resmondo said that the most important is probably the increased presence of Iraqi army soldiers and police officers, who perform operations around-the-clock in the city.

"I think the biggest improvement has just been the integration of the 8th IA and the IPs together in the city," Resmondo said. "When you travel through the city, you'll see checkpoints that are set up at just about every major intersection that will have either IA or IPs.

"We ran into a location today that was an IP station. (It) had almost 500 recruits that they were training – sort of an IP academy to train more police for Diwaniyah," he added. "That's probably the most marked improvement. We've put them in a position that they weren't before."

According to Brookshire, being able to come in and have this type of immediate impact on the city is a good feeling.

"I don't know whether it's going to flair up after we leave or not, but I definitely got the impression that we made a difference, and that's important," Brookshire said. "It really makes me feel good that we can make a difference."

• Date Taken: 04.17.2007
• Date Posted: 04.17.2007 13:57
• Story ID: 9973
• Location: DIWANIYAH, IQ