Checkpoints hinder insurgent activities

Photo By Spc. Jessica Luhrs-Stabile | A Kirkuk Emergency Service Unit soldier that is a searcher at a checkpoint outside of Kirkuk, Iraq, searches a local nationals car for any contraband, March 16. The checkpoint that opened in January played a key role in security for the city during the elections and the soldiers have promised it will continue to.  

KIKRUK, IRAQ

03.20.2010

Story by Pfc. Jessica Luhrs-Stabile 

1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division

KIRKUK, Iraq -- Just south of Forward Operating Base Warrior, Kirkuk, Iraq, is a joint checkpoint known to the Task Force Marne Soldiers and Kirkuk Emergency Services Unit soldiers that occupy it simply as "the castle."

Soldiers of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Ga., along with the ESU were the first to occupy this checkpoint after it opened in Jan. 2010.

Since opening the castle played a key role in giving Kirkuk the safety and security the city needed during the elections and will play an even bigger role in keeping the city secure post-election, according to 2nd Lt. Eddy Olvera, a native of Houston and a platoon leader with C-Company.

"Through our operations we have successfully hindered insurgent activities before and during elections and will continue to do so," said Olvera.

At the checkpoint the ESU is incorporating skills taught to them by the Task Force Marne Soldiers and successfully executing them in daily operations at the checkpoint, according to Olvera.

The ESU soldiers check the identification of local nationals as they enter the city and search any suspicious vehicles that come through the checkpoint.

"We don't run into many problems at the castle with the citizens of Kirkuk," said Pvt. Casey Yates, a South Bend, Ind. native and a tanker with Charlie Company. "Most of the people that travel this road live in the area and understand that these checkpoints are for their safety."

But all the Soldiers and ESU attribute the lack of issues in the area to fear.

The insurgents know we will catch them as soon as they try to get into the city, said one ESU soldier as he searched a car.

So why even try to get past us, he added.

Even though there are not many issues at the checkpoints the Task Force Marne Soldiers and ESU know that now is not the time to be complacent thanks to their platoon leader.

"There is still a threat out there, if there wasn't we wouldn't be here" said Olvera, who tells his Soldiers this every day to keep them focused.

• Date Taken: 03.20.2010
• Date Posted: 03.20.2010 05:39
• Story ID: 46926
• Location: KIKRUK, IQ