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    Fierce Company completes different kind of mission this deployment, as part of historic last combat brigade to leave Iraq

    All-Hands Call

    Photo By Jennifer Villalovos | Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Rick West meets with command master chiefs for...... read more read more

    BAGHDAD— All Strykers are not the same. There is a company of soldiers who are not like the rest of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team soldiers.

    Soldiers with Company F, “Fierce Company,” 52nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, 4th SBCT, 2nd Infantry Division, United States Division-Center, provide anti-tank artillery from the gunnery systems mounted on their Strykers and are considered an important brigade asset for that special skill set.

    “Fierce Company’s specialty is anti-tank weaponry including the TOW missile,” said Capt. Vic Morris, Fierce Company commander. “With all combat troops removed from the streets of Iraq in 2009, we took on a different function for this deployment.”

    Fierce Company mainly conducted route clearance missions, securing key terrain for logistics convoys that went through Iraq this year to facilitate the responsible drawdown of troops and equipment in Iraq. Soldiers of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team have just completed a yearlong tour supporting U.S. Division-Center area of operations in and around Baghdad, assisting, training and advising the Iraqi Security Forces.

    Fierce Company Strykers were equipped with specialized equipment to break fortified positions, neutralizing threats by vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices and being an extra eye on the road for route clearance.

    “We used the anti-tank Strykers as an over watch platform,” Morris said.

    In addition to over watch missions, the 4th SBCT had to train their Iraqi counterparts on all the other missions they conducted, in order to meet the withdrawal timeline as the last combat brigade in theater.

    “Fierce Company did everything from force protection missions, counter-indirect fire and counter-IED measures,” said 1st Sgt. Nick Pingel, first sergeant with Company F, and a Chilton, Wisc. native. “We also conducted federal Iraqi Police training, including forensics training and Iraqi high profile war criminal escort.”

    The biggest thing Fierce Company did, according to their first sergeant, was just set a positive example for the Iraqis to follow.

    “We always set a willingness to help and work with the Iraqis,” he said. “I think that helped influence them in the right direction.”

    It is essential for a close-knit, professional team of Soldiers to train Iraqis how to take over the missions essential in securing their country, Morris said.

    “We have a really tight group because we only have 50 or so Soldiers,” said Sgt. Kyle Schmidt, a team leader with Company F, and a Manchester, N.H., native. “Everyone knows each other’s back stories, and we work a lot closer together than other companies because of our small size. Every detail there is to know about each other, we know.”

    The cohesion of Fierce Company has made an impact both the American Soldiers and the ISF, Pingel said. Working jointly with the Americans, the Iraqis are now capable of handling the security of their cities with the knowledge they have obtained during that training, he said.

    “Specifically, 2nd Platoon was partnered with an IA explosive ordinance disposal contingent as their security element, while American EOD worked with them, teaching specific tactics, techniques and procedures,” Morris said. “F Co. contributed to the whole battlefield forensics capabilities. We responded to significant activities jointly, and really showed the Iraqis how to retrieve and collect biometric evidence for analysis in our forensics labs, in order to produce warrants which were processed through Iraqi courts.”

    While not a lot of units operated in the city limits of Baghdad, Fierce Co. continued to set themselves apart from other units by the flexible skills they exhibited.

    “I think it opened the eyes of a lot of guys because in a deployment that there wasn’t a whole lot of hostile contact, they guys still got to see the effect of what the enemy was still doing because they would go out to a convoy that got hit by an IED and see the vehicle still on fire,” Pingel said. “Or they would go out to a neighborhood where a suicide vest detonated and caused tremendous destruction. This deployment still kept things in perspective for the soldiers.”

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 08.18.2010
    Date Posted: 08.18.2010 21:19
    Story ID: 54811
    Location: BAGHDAD, IQ

    Web Views: 517
    Downloads: 16

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