1-14 Cavalry troops take over operations on Haifa Street

Photo By Sgt. Robert Yde | Capt. Gerald Resmondo, commander of Troop A, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, and his interpreter talk with a Haifa Street resident in central Baghdad about issues in the his neighborhood May 8.  

05.10.2007

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 UNION III, Iraq – After spending the majority of the month of April providing assistance in Diwaniyah, Iraq, the Soldiers of 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, are back in Baghdad and focusing their attention on to their next mission – taking over operations in the Haifa Street area in Baghdad's city center.

"It's definitely a more challenging battlefield," Troop A commander, Capt. Gerald Resmondo said of Haifa Street. "It's probably the most challenging battle space or area of operations that we've operated in just because of all the built-up and high-rise buildings."

The sheer number of people living in the area is a new challenge to "Apocalypse Troop," the West Palm Beach, Fla., native added.

"For the Strykers, the routes in and out of the area are very limited," he said. "There are only so many roads, and we're doing dismounted operations, as well. It's a little bit more challenging, even though it's a smaller area than we're used to working. It's got a lot more obstacles."

For the past couple of weeks, Apocalypse Soldiers have been conducting reconnaissance missions on Haifa Street to familiarize themselves with the area and figure out how to overcome these new obstacles.

"We've been gathering information on all the mosques, all the schools, all the apartment types and doing reconnaissance of these apartments in preparation for this operation," Resmondo explained.

Apocalypse Troop was back out on Haifa Street May 8 to conduct a small clearing operation and begin taking a census of the local residents.

"We're going to report it up to squadron and put it into a book for our area - basically like a phone book," explained Clarksville, Tenn. native, Staff Sgt. Jason Jones of the information that the troop was out collecting.

As they went from apartment to apartment in the high-rise buildings that line the street, residents were asked to fill out a personal information questionnaire, and Jones used a small device that looked similar to a large camera to take fingerprints, perform retinal scans, take photographs of each resident and store the information collected.

All of the information collected through the census and reconnaissance will help assist the brigade in its on-going "Haifa Street Project."

"We want to record anything that the brigade can assess that will benefit them for the Haifa Street Project," Resmondo said. "We also want to provide them a good visual of the demographics that we find in the area, so most of the questions are geared toward ... essential services, such as if they have water or electricity within the buildings."

The Haifa Street Project is a joint effort between coalition forces and the area's local government agencies, such as the Neighborhood Advisory Council and the District Advisory Council, which focuses on improving security, essential services and the economy in the area.

"Every week I meet with the local NAC and DAC members and work through the local government," Resmondo said. "So we're just getting to know them and see what their issues are."

Resmondo said that right now the biggest issues residents are facing stems from a lack of electricity.

"They only have about one hour of electricity a day in the whole (area), and it's usually early in the morning, which causes more problems such as being able to get water because electricity controls the pumps that pump the water into their storage tanks," he explained.

While the residents are still facing issues with essential services, Resmondo said that the feedback he has heard regarding the security situation in the area has been positive. People he described as "professional types," continue to move back into the area daily.

"We've found, so far, is that they're mostly educated people that work somewhere in the vicinity of the (International Zone) - doctors, psychiatrists, that kind of thing," he said. "The people that are moving back into this area who we've talked to said that they moved out during the fighting and they feel safer now that there are (Iraqi army) checkpoints along Haifa Street.

"They feel like the area's a little bit more secure so they're starting to move back in," he added. "We haven't had any real complaints that lead us to believe that there's a huge sectarian fight going on here yet. But we're still in the early stages trying to figure out what is going on here and what exactly we need to help this area progress."

• Date Taken: 05.10.2007
• Date Posted: 05.10.2007 13:51
• Story ID: 10315