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Infantry company reacts, bonds under fire

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Ryan Carlson, a gunner with C Company, 3rd battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment,...... read more read more

JOINT BASE BALAD, IRAQ

07.14.2010

Courtesy Story

103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary)

By Sgt. Chad Menegay

JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq – Service members continue to risk their lives as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, while United States Forces-Iraq reduces its personnel and consolidates its bases to pave the road for Operation New Dawn. Insurgents continue to attack, but fail a good percentage of the time. Some might attribute this to the superb training and preparation of U.S. forces.

Convoy security teams, like Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 156th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) can give witness to those assertions.

Pfc. Mckenzie Spriggins, a gunner with C Company, and a Villeplatte, La., native, credits his crew members for extracting him from one such attack the night of July 10 on Main Supply Route Tampa-North.

He said his life flashed before his eyes, as he watched what he believes to be an improvised rocket take to the air directly at his face from around five meters from the right side of the road. It came so close that it knocked the heat shield off his .50-caliber Browning machine gun and rendered him unconscious. His legs collapsed, and the medic, Spc. John Murphy, a Lake Charles, La., native, came to his aid inside their Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicle, removing his vest to check for wounds.

Murphy said Spriggins, stunned from the force, suffered a slight concussion and later recovered.

Staff Sgt. Nicholas Deshotels, the convoy commander and a squad leader with C Company, described the attack as a flash that came out of his peripherals to his right.

Deshotels, a Mamou, La., native, said his Soldiers followed the unit’s standard operating procedures perfectly after the projectile missed his MRAP, and Spriggins,’ and sailed into the distance.

“Guys were moving before I had to tell them to move, because they knew where they needed to be,” he said. “My crew stayed calm.”

Deshotels said going over battle drills during every briefing before every mission builds muscle memory and allows his Soldiers to better react.

Soldiers with C Company said the failed attack enhanced their camaraderie and respect for one another.

“I respect this truck,” Spriggins said July 14 on his first convoy security mission following the July 10 attack. “I’m about to get over my fears. I’m Spriggins, ‘the improvised explosive device fighter.’”

Spriggins jokingly sang the chorus to R. Kelly’s “U Saved Me” to Murphy in gratitude for the medical treatment Murphy performed the night of the attack.

Spriggins and Murphy said they have reevaluated their lives after the experience and see the members of their company as brothers.

The incident has strengthened their resolve to always be prepared, they said.

“Thank God it was set off too early and didn’t cause any casualties,” said Sgt. John Jennings, the assistant convoy commander and a team leader with C Company, and a Church Point, La., native. “It absolutely came too close for comfort, but the reaction time of our truck commanders and gun trucks was outstanding. Everybody went into their positions right away to make sure the commodities were safe, which is our job.”

The 156th protects and escorts contracted commodities, moving items including fuel, food, water, supplies and vehicles. across Iraq from one base to another.

“There’s no telling what will be carried from one day to the next,” Deshotels said.

It’s probably not the most glamorous job for our infantry unit, he said.

“It’s not what we normally do, but it’s definitely important,” Deshotels said. “Right now in Iraq, convoy security is the prime mission. You have forward operating bases closing down. You have to get supplies from point A to point B. It’s essential.”

The company has overcome some unexpected obstacles, unlike those experienced during their last deployment, in ’04-‘05, Jennings said.

This includes such things as changes to the Security Agreement, requiring U.S. forces to share the road with Iraqi traffic, more checkpoints and reducing speeds to prevent MRAP rollovers, he said.

Despite some challenges, the unit remains vigilant, Jennings said.

“Preparation is getting second nature to us now, because we run missions [often],” Jennings said, “But convoy security is still something to get used to. Every time you go outside the wire, you’ll have the nervous feeling. ‘What’s going to happen’? ‘Will something happen’? You know it can happen.”

It does happen, and it did happen July 10, but it seems all the insurgents’ failed attack accomplished was to better prepare Soldiers of the C Company, 156th Inf. Regt.