304th ING Find Munitions, Four Kidnappers

CAMP AL-SAQR, IRAQ

12.27.2004

Courtesy Story

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By Cpl. Bill Putnam

CAMP AL-SAQR, Baghdad, Iraq -- Soldiers from the 304th Iraqi National Guard Battalion found several weapons and two potential improvised explosive devices during Operation Lion's Pride II, Dec. 11.

The Iraqi soldiers even stopped the kidnapping of an Iraqi police officer's son, said Capt. Dan Gelderman, the 5th Brigade Combat Team's senior adviser to the 304th ING.

These battalion-sized operations aren't anything new for the unit, said Capt. Mike Cole, the adviser team leader for Company A, 304th ING. They unit has run about 10 since June, he said.

The overall search was conducted and led by ING Soldiers. Company A, 304th ING Battalion, sealed off the area for elements for the 304th's Headquarters and Delta Companies to search. Previous searches through the area were fruitful. Units have found rockets, mortar tubes and arms caches, Cole said.

"So there was the possibility of them finding at least something because it is such a large area," Cole said.

Most of the search area was made up of farm fields and date palm groves. But overall the search went quickly.

By 11 a.m., the search had turned up what the ING told Cole were two rockets. Later it turned out they were just tank rounds.

"It's not unexpected they"d turn something up," Cole said.

After running so many missions over the last few months, the Iraqis are now essentially running operations on their own. For example, before a mission now the advisers give the unit's leadership a quick brief and the Iraqi sergeants and officers take care of briefing their men, said Sgt. Josh Abbatoye, an adviser of Cole's team.
"They just react quick and execute the mission," Abbatoye said. The company's mission for Lion's Pride II was pretty simple, he said. They would set up several blocking positions on the main dirt roads that ran through the search area.

"Pretty simple mission," Abbatoye said. "No one gets in, no one gets out."

And that's pretty much how it did turn out. With the exception of the company stopping a kidnapping, the whole morning went by quickly.

The ING at one blocking position stopped a car with four men and a young boy trying to leave the area, said Gelderman. The men were questioned and said they"d accidentally hit the boy while he rode his bike. They were just taking the boy to hospital. The ING then questioned the boy. He said they're kidnapping me. The four were men were detained and turned over to the 304th ING's higher headquarters, the 40th ING Brigade. It turns out the boy's father is an Iraqi police officer.

The mission was also a sign of how much progress the ING have made over the last few months. The ING went out and set up the blocking positions own their own. After a few minutes the advisers went out and checked on them. Checking up on them would have been impossible a few months ago.

"They had all the blocking positions set up and they were good to go," Abbatoye said.

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• Date Taken: 12.27.2004
• Date Posted: 12.27.2004 14:11
• Story ID: 754
• Location: CAMP AL-SAQR, IQ