Photo By Sgt. Maj. Johnathan Bentley | During the Iraqi-led Operation Makua II, a Soldier from 1st Battalion, 14th Brigade,...... read more read more
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By Spc. John Bentley
1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
BAYJI, Iraq—During his Hall of Fame football coaching career, former Green Bay Packer head coach Vince Lombardi said "Confidence is contagious."
Lombardi uttered these words to describe the confidence that spread throughout his players in order to bring them together to achieve the team's goals.
Over 50 years later this is a parallel message for a group of Iraqi soldiers that recently conducted a mission in Salah ad Dinp province.
During Operation Makua II, Mar. 5, the Iraqi army didn't find the insurgents or weapons caches they were looking for, but perhaps more importantly they established a sense of confidence for accomplishing a task they have not completed before.
Iraqi soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 14th Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division combed more than 350-square kms of desert at the base of the Hamrin Mountains, east of Bayji. The Tikrit-based IA Soldiers searched endlessly for weapons caches, enemy extremist and caves with possible tunnel networks.
Even though the Iraqi soldiers didn't discover precisely what they were looking for, "they found out that they were capable of planning and executing missions for more than one day at a time," said Maj. Joe Pavone, 1st Special Troops Battalion Military Transition Team chief.
Pavone said the 36-hour operation was the first overnight mission planned and conducted by this battalion.
"I think a positive outlook is that there is an increased ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) presence in the Hamrin Mountains. Insurgents now know that they can no longer use that area as a stronghold. At any given time the IA are able to go out there," said Capt. Timothy Lawson, 1st STB MiTT operations officer.
Although the Iraqi battalion commands and controls all their missions, the Tikrit-based military transition team Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, provides assistance for any problems they may encounter.
"We don't give them all the answers," said Pavone. "We do coach them along the way, but we allow them to find their own solutions to setbacks."
Pavone said once the missions are complete they evaluate situations which could have been performed more efficiently, similar to a U.S. military after action review.
During his days as head coach of the Packers, Lombardi often used his mentorship to develop the confidence of his players so as to prepare them for the battles that they would face on the gridiron.
If Lombardi were coaching this battalion of IA he may have shared one of his famous quotes, "life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man. But sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can."
Confidence is just the outward expression of a man that thinks he can.
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2008 13:34 |
| Story ID: | 17547 |
| Location: | IQ |
| Web Views: | 308 |
| Downloads: | 285 |
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