DVIDS Hub works best with JavaScript enabled

Rage

Courtesy Photo | Capt. Sam Donnelly commander of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment,...... read more read more

TIKRIT, IRAQ

11.18.2005

Courtesy Story

133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Sgt. 1st Class Walter E. van Ochten
133rd MPAD
13 November 2005

FORWARD OPERATING BASE REMAGEN, Tikrit, Iraq - A convoy of Coalition humvees 'snaked" its way through the streets and alleys of Tikrit on Nov. 10. They were doing a main route sweep, a routine they've done for almost a year now.

Capt. Sam Donnelly, commander of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, was leading this convoy. He said the sweeps are done to look for improvised explosive devices and other sights that might look unusual for the area.

"It also gives the villagers a chance to see us and we can see the tone of the community," said Donnelly who hails from Richmond Hills, Ga.

These kinds of sweeps are an almost daily job for his Soldiers, Donnelly said.

For this trip, Donnelly said he had also planned on checking in with the local 'spheres of influence" in the Tikrit area. They are the movers and shakers in the community; government officals, religious leaders, the police and Iraqi Army personnel.

Coalition Forces work closely with Tikrit's community leaders training and supplying them so they can bring peace and stability to the Tikrit area.

"We like to get and meet with Iraqi leaders and have a rapport with them," Donnelly said. "It helps us to have a situational awareness, learn what's going on and stay current on what the atmosphere is like."

Today, the local religious leader had to reschedule, so Donnelly and his Soldiers pressed on with their route sweeping mission.

As humvees from Company A, also known as "Rage," made their way through the dusty streets, they would pass fruit vendors hocking their products, men fixing vehicles, children playing in the streets and flocks of sheep being led along the roadway.

Staff Sgt. Joshua Hanks, who kept the truck's radio handset pressed to his ear to hear over the constant rumpling of the humvee's engine, commanded the third humvee in the "Rage" convoy. He kept an eye on the road ahead, watching children playing nearby and Iraqi vehicles as they approached. He is always on the look out for things that have changed or look unusual.

About an hour and a half in to the mission, Hanks took the handset away from his ear, looked over and spoke to his crew.

"That smoke off to the right is a (vehicle born improvised explosive device)," Hanks said to his Soldiers.

With that the convoy of humvees raced off towards the rising smoke in the distance.

Donnelley later said that the blast was an attack by anti-Iraqi forces on a hospital used by the Iraqi army for physicals.

The blast had happened in Cataseea, Iraqi just north of Tikrit, not in "Rage's" area of operations, but they were the closest Coalition unit to the city and were instructed go to the scene, Hanks said.

The trip took "Rage" less then five minutes to complete.

As the "Rage" humvees pulled up to the scene, they could see a wave of Iraqis moving away from the blast area. The Iraqi Army and police had already taken control of the area around the blast site and set up roadblocks to cordon it off.

Without stopping, the "Rage" vehicles went around an Iraqi police roadblock. The first two humvees in the convoy moved on up to the blast area to do a situation report as the other two pulled out to the side of the police roadblock to lend additional security.

Moments later, Iraqi fire engines, ambulances, more police and Iraqi Army personnel arrive on the scene.

Hanks said the Iraqi forces in the Tikrit area are now at a level that when something like this happens, they are able to deal with it on their own. Mostly what the Coalition forces do now is see what happened and lend support if they are need.

That day they didn't need support.

As other Coalition Forces got to the site, Donnelley did a quick battle hand off to another convoy, telling them what was going on and what had happened. He then took his "Rage" convoy back to its route sweeping duties. They had been at the scene for only 15 minutes.

"Six months ago, we would still have been there," Hanks said as his convoy drove from the site. "But now they (Iraqis) can take care of every thing."

The Iraqi Army in the Tikirt area has come a long way during the past few months while working with their Coalition counterparts, Donnelly said.

"The people here have really toughened up a lot," he said. "The Iraqi Army now takes the lead in situations like this and we just get situational awareness.

"A VBIED is not able to stop the whole day like it use to."