By Sgt. John Queen
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division reached a milestone in August by logging half a million miles traveled during convoy operations around central Iraq since arriving in Baghdad last April.
"The task force just completed its half millionth operational mile," said Lt. Col. Greg Shultz the battalion's commander.
"That's 500,000 operational miles and about 2,600 missions that we have already completed."
More commonly known as Task Force Steel Dragon, the battalion provides security escorts for nearly every convoy that originates inside Baghdad's International Zone.
These convoys go to various ministries and locations throughout the capital city including daily runs to Baghdad International Airport.
The task force also conducts a number of long-range missions to different points in central Iraq.Shultz said that a major part of what his Soldiers do while on these escort missions is provide security for specific passengers."We have platoons that do missions for the Ministry of Oil," he said.
"They [the ministry] send advisers down to investigate where pipelines have been blown. So we provide security on the site as well as in route."Shultz's task force is made up of active duty Soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, and a company from the California Army National Guards 1st Battalion, 160th Infantry Regiment located in Riverside, Calf.
"They're full members of the team," Shultz said about his guardsmen. "You cannot tell the difference between C company and the rest of my other batteries. They've done a great job."
Shultz explained that these half million miles have involved enemy contact."It's not unusual for us to have at least one platoon a day to have enemy contact," Shultz said.
"We've had some days when two or three platoons have enemy contact."
"One platoon on one mission at two different times dealt with improvised explosive devices and on a third incident had small-arms fire," he said.
Before each convoy the Steel Dragon troopers go through a series of briefings and checks to make sure nothing has been overlooked.
"We do pre-combat inspection's prior to leaving," said Staff Sgt. Paul Teso, a convoy non-commissioned officer in charge from Company C 1-160 Infantry. "We do function checks on the weapons. We make sure we have ammo and a re-supply of food, water -- plenty of water."
"We explain the rules of engagement to the [special passengers]," Teso, a resident of Fresno, Calif., said. "We let them know their security is our priority."
"Our main mission is to get the [passengers] to where they need to go as fast as we can," Spc. Bradon Doyel, a gunner with Company C said. For having driven a half million miles and more than two thousand missions the Steel Dragons received few injuries. "We have had more wounded than what I"d like," Shultz said. With the task force less than half way through its deployment Shultz is confident his Soldiers will surpass the next milestone -- one million miles.
"We have a number of months to go so we're expecting we'll break the one-millionth mile mark before we go home," Shultz said.
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2004 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2004 09:52 |
| Story ID: | 377 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 101 |
| Downloads: | 29 |
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