Photo By Staff Sgt. Nathaniel Smith | 1st Lt. Eric Laflin, platoon leader for "Dirty" Platoon, Company Alpha, 9th Engineers,...... read more read more
By Pfc. Nathaniel Smith
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div. Public Affairs
BAGHDAD – The day was only five minutes old when Soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Company Alpha, 9th Engineering Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division were struck by an improvised explosive device in southern Baghdad June 20.
The platoon called, 'Dirty Deuce,' which is attached to Company Charlie, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment returned to Forward Operating Base Falcon to regroup, only to start walking the streets of Baghdad, looking for answers as to who was responsible for the attack on their comrades.
Before that, the Soldiers were given the task of finding the culprits of an attack on the Al Sadiq Mosque the Northwest Sadiyah region, where the troops talked to citizens and sought answers.
It is all in a day's work.
Being quick to adapt and respond is nothing new to these Soldiers. They have been moved several times throughout this deployment, spending stints attached Company A, 1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment and two with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-18 Inf. after being pulled from their organic unit, Company A, 9th Eng.
1st Lt. Eric Laflin, the platoon leader from St. Paul, Minn., said despite all the moving around, it has been a good experience for the Soldiers.
"There have been a lot of changes, but guys have stayed flexible and adaptive," he said. "You just have to go with the flow, not letting little things get to you."
Staff Sgt. Jonathan Babinger, a squad leader from Piedmont, Okla., said the biggest challenge to all the moving around was adjusting to the different areas of operations.
"As soon as you get comfortable with a sector, you get moved to a different sector," he said. "We don't get complacent, and everybody's been staying flexible and open-minded."
The platoon has had an opportunity to perform a few combat engineering missions, with the destruction of four bridges and a cache house to their credit. Being attached to the different units has been an opportunity to perform missions most engineers don't get to, Laflin said, such as raids and cordon and search operations.
"It's been a pretty good experience," he said. "I've learned a lot about infantry and tankers and how they operate. We've got a really diverse background."
Along with job experience they also gained friends.
"When you spend that much time with anybody you get close, especially in this environment," Staff Sgt. Jonathan Babinger said.
Help from higher assisted them with their success. With all the moving around within 1-18 Inf., Laflin said the battalion has been very helpful to his Soldiers.
"They've helped us whenever we've needed it," he said.
The 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment out of Schweinfurt, Germany, is attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division from Fort Riley, Kan.
| Date Taken: | 06.25.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 06.25.2007 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 10981 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 592 |
| Downloads: | 355 |
This work, Moving Doesn't Faze 'Dirty Deuce', by SSG Nathaniel Smith, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
