Disposing of a Problem

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Maj. David Diceglie, 42nd Infantry Division Artillery, holds some captured enemy ammunition at a cache site. Diceglie was one of a team of Task Force Liberty Soldiers who supervised the destruction of caches like this one.  

BAYJI, IRAQ

10.27.2005

Courtesy Story

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By Staff Sgt. Raymond Drumsta
42nd Infantry Division Public Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERALL, Bayji, IRAQ -- In Iraq, unexploded ordnance is legion, and legendary among those that deal with it - giving new meaning to the term "ammo dump."

Supervising the destruction of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and captured enemy ammunition (CEA) for Task Force Liberty fell to Soldiers like Capt. Christopher Rizzo of Worcester, Mass., and his team, made of fellow 42nd Infantry Division Artillery (DIVARTY) members.

Rizzo and Lt. Col. Jose Obregon, executive officer for DIVARTY, described the UXO challenge in epic proportions, and cite mind-boggling statistics which speak to its magnitude.

"This whole country is an ammo-supply point," said Obregon, who is from New York City. "Everywhere you go, you find all kinds of munitions."

"My initial impression was that this was unlike anything we had ever seen," said Rizzo. "We were blowing up 100 to 300 tons every other day, at multiple ammo-supply points."

Recently, the 18th Airborne Corps put the tonnage of munitions in Iraq at 410,000 - an estimate, Rizzo said.

"We don't know how much ammo is really out there, in the country," he said.

Under Saddam Hussein's regime, Iraqi ammo dumps were truly dumps. In one dump, there were nearly 300,000 "loose rounds, lying around," Rizzo said. The sheer array of ordnance is astounding, and includes a wide assortment of artillery, rocket and mortar rounds and in some cases, anti-ship cruise missiles.

"They had a wider variety of military ordnance than anywhere in the world," Rizzo said. "They purchased from everyone. The ammo policy of the former regime was measured in tons. Ammo-dump handlers were under the threat of death to make the ammo quota, even if they didn't have a weapon system to fire it."

At one site, a warehouse-house sized area was filled with exploded and unexploded small-arms ammunition.

"What a mess," said Rizzo, "a carpet of .50 caliber rounds." It took a day and a half to "dig" through them to find the lives ones to destroy, he added.

Rizzo compared the UXO problem in Iraq to the landmine challenge in Bosnia, with the same lack of accountability.

"There was no form, fashion or criteria for tracking ammo in this country," Rizzo said. He added that units in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2 (OIF 2) cleared large ammo dumps, also known as caches.

"Their effectiveness was measured in tons," Rizzo said. Operation Iraqi Freedom 3 (OIF 3) picked up where OIF 2 left off.

Legendary or not, Task Force Liberty and civilian contractors made a significant dent in the problem. Rizzo said his team was charged with securing, consolidating and destroying UXO, which included coordinating the mission's logistical requirements, augmenting civilian security, acting as a liaison with other military units and conducting quality control to verify UXO destruction.

"As of Sept. 15, 1,055 caches have been destroyed by Task Force Liberty," Rizzo said. "We don't measure in tons. We measure in number of caches destroyed."

While not measurable, the effect of UXO and CEA disposal is apparent to Rizzo, who cited one instance where the disposal of 1,200 Chinese sub-munitions allowed Iraqis to reclaim the land, and another instance where nearly 30 tons of UXO were cleared from Tikrit East Airfield, which borders Iraqi farmland.

"Iraqis dig up UXO in their fields," said Rizzo, adding that Iraqis don't know the difference between live and expended shells, and risk their lives by collecting them for scrap metal. There are environmental hazards as well.

"There were no standards for ammo storage," Rizzo said, 'so most of the ammo we find isn't suitable for turnover to the Iraqi army, due to exposure to the elements. So it's transported and destroyed."

When conventional ammunition like white-phosphorous and high explosive deteriorates from exposure, toxic chemicals leak out of them and contaminate the soil, said Rizzo.

"Stuff will never grow there," he said.

Destruction of UXO also strikes directly at the insurgents, Rizzo said.

"These are rounds used for IEDs and indirect fire," he said. "What we do is supply reduction. This denies [insurgents] use of this ordnance. We're making it safer for the Iraqi people by getting explosives out of their backyards."

Destruction of UXO is an ongoing, daily chore, said Obregon.

"They blow up munitions everyday," he said. "There are warehouses full of munitions at [Forward Operating Base Arlington]. We're going to be doing this mission for a long time."

• Date Taken: 10.27.2005
• Date Posted: 10.27.2005 12:33
• Story ID: 3499
• Location: BAYJI, IQ