Bulldog Patrol

Photo By Lt. Col. Christopher Belcher | Sgt. Jason Gamble, squad leader, Troop B, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, inflates a toy for Iraqi children at a house near the village of Ishaki, Iraq, Aug. 28.  

BALAD, IRAQ

08.28.2005

Courtesy Story

22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment   

By Maj. Chris Belcher
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

FORWARD OPERATING BASE PALIWODA, BALAD, Iraq --They're out there everyday along Main Supply Route Tampa in the searing heat, waiting and watching as the Coalition Forces convoys move along the route.

They're not terrorist, they're Soldiers from Troop B, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry and their mission is to patrol the main supply route looking for improvised explosive devices, their makers and maintaining a military presence near the village of Ishaki, Iraq to keep the MSR safe.

With the temperature more than 120 degrees inside the Humvees, the Soldiers outside prepare to leave the FOB for the afternoon. They move around in the heat loading ice into coolers for their bottles of water, mounting machine guns in turrets and preparing the vehicles to roll out the gate.

1st Lt. Jon Dower, platoon leader, Troop B, walked up and began his patrol briefing. He covered current terrorist tactics, the patrol route and the planned observation posts along the route.

The briefing over, Soldiers walked to their assigned vehicles, got in and the patrol moved from the "ready line" down a short road and out the gate of the FOB.

The heat would be a constant companion as the patrol moved up the MSR and into its first OP near the village of Ishaki.

Dower and "Jack," an Iraqi interpreter, talked to several families along the route.

"We ask about schools, water quality," Dower said. "We ask if they've seen anyone placing IEDs."

The Soldiers also interacted with the children at the houses, giving them candy and promising to bring a soccer ball back for one family's children. At one house, the children seem glad to see the Soldiers, while playing with an inflatable kite they were given. Their laughter rings out over the desert as they chase the floating black toy around the dirt yard.

While the children play, the adults talk to Dower.

"Sometimes, they want to talk to you," he said.

The Soldiers ask if the occupants of the house have seen anyone coming by and placing IEDs along the road, but the adults reply to them saying the terrorists use many roads and that they "haven't seen anything."

As the patrol headed away from the houses and back down the MSR towards FOB Paliwoda, Dower said "it was a good day because they didn't encounter any IEDs.

"It's a better day if you find an IED before it (detonates)," he added. "You can't expect that every day."

Dower said it was a good patrol because of the "positive encounter" with the people they met.

It was the end of a normal patrol for red platoon, the Soldiers had cleared the MSR, talked to the locals and now they were back on the FOB where their job is to prepare to do it again tomorrow.

• Date Taken: 08.28.2005
• Date Posted: 09.20.2005 13:02
• Story ID: 3065
• Location: BALAD, IQ