By Sgt. 1st Class Robert Timmons
4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division Public Affairs
BAGHDAD – The morning started like any summer day at a beach town in southern California – warm and overcast. It wouldn't be until afternoon when the heat of the sun would scorch the clouds away.
But there wasn't going to be any frolicking in the surf today. Instead, the Soldiers of Company B "Bushmasters," 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment would be patrolling the increasingly calm yet dangerous streets of this small neighborhood, called Kamiliyah, in a southern section of the Iraqi capital, Oct. 11.
After an unexpected reprieve from a mission the previous night, the Bushmasters of 1st Platoon were ready and ventured out into the quiet town for the following two-fold mission: check the town's water supply and check the industrial area for a reported weapons cache.
"We don't get blown up or shot at that much anymore," said Cpl. Jacob Price, an infantryman from Eureka, Calif. "The sheiks are starting to rein in their people."
Even through the eerie calm, the Bushmasters will uncoil and show the people they are still there through various day and night patrols.
Staff Sgt. Adam Schumann, the 1st Squad leader from Minot, N.D., led the platoon straight out of the semi-comforts of Forward Operating Base Bushmaster down a road more than a half mile and then stopped and dismounted near a school.
As the day before, the children began to gather to get a glimpse of the heavily armed Americans bottled up in heavy armored vehicles or to possibly be the beneficiary of a Soldier's good will.
Schumann entered the school to take a sample of the water in the area. Water samples were being taken at various points around the perimeter of town to judge the health of its water supply.
The convoy stopped a few more times to take other samples and eventually tested in a residential area.
"Look for a house with running water," Schumann ordered through the radio as Price, Pfc. Scott Francis Scutari, a 31-year-old infantryman from Long Island, N.Y., and others began testing the locks on nearby courtyards for entry.
Politely the Soldiers wrapped on a front door and patiently waited until a mother and child opened the door.
"Salaam Alakum," Scutari said the Iraqi greeting with a smile to the mother and child, who returned the smile and quietly stepped aside as the Bushmasters stealthily searched the house.
"This one has running water," a Soldier called out somewhere in the house and after doing a cursory check of the residence the troops left as quickly as they arrived.
The next part of the mission would last a bit longer.
The sun had burned off the haze as 1st Platoon drove around mountains of scraps that in another time and place may have been considered abstract art; near ramshackle tan brick walls with rusted. They parked and began searching for what intelligence said could be a sizeable cache of weapons. If it weren't for dogs barking and new locks on the doors the place would seem deserted.
"We went looking for 30 to 300 107mm rockets," Price said afterwards. "It's a little easier to find something like that – there are not a lot of places you that can hide it."
Armed with bolt cutters, the troops began a methodical clearing of the industrial block with knock on each door then if no answer the locks would be destroyed and the troops entered.
Building after building the Bushmaster searched in vain for the cache.
The troops kept searching even though most of the near empty buildings didn't have the space to conceal a sizeable cache. But they did find Iraqis working hard either packaging dates or powder coating hot water heaters who barely acknowledged the inspectors and kept working.
"We have been here many times," Price said. "We come here from time to time, but don't always find caches. We go places to show our presence and to let the locals know we are there."
Even though they have been to the complex many times, it doesn't make it any less stressful.
"You are always apprehensive until you finally go in the door," Price said.
With sweat dripping off the brows the temperatures creeping toward 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the platoon methodically neared the end of the mission. But there was still one more shop to inspect.
When Schumann, Price and a few others stepped through the courtyard, they encountered fresh metallic scraps littering the courtyard and a grey-haired old man and his family who smiled at the Americans and shook their hands with an excitement reminiscent of meeting long lost relatives.
The Soldiers gave a cursory look over the man's tin-cutting wares and left as quickly as they arrived.
Intelligence arrived the afternoon of a possible high-value target in the vicinity and the Bushmasters began planning a lightning strike to snatch him up.
With the clock striking the first few ticks of Oct. 12, the platoon doused the Humvee lights and a squad led by Schumann entered the block on foot.
Like ghosts afraid of the light, the squad stealthily crept from shadow to shadow looking for the house intelligence pointed to a two-story residence with a yellow gate and a courtyard.
Houselights up and down the block cast an eerie glow as the squad approached.
A few meters before the suspect house, the patrol walked past an empty vehicle on the right side of the road and met a heavy-set Iraqi leaning up against a wall taking in the night sky. Schumann immediately exchanged pleasantries with him and quickly enlisted his services.
"Do you know where this man lives?" the squad leader asked politely.
"No," the man insisted.
"What about this address?" Schumann said showing the man a map. With a slight hand gesture the man indicated it was the first home on the right. As part of the squad searched a house four doors up the road, Schumann and others quickly tested the gate to find it locked.
Three Soldiers scaled the gate and knocked on the door. A middle-aged man answered and quickly went outside to unlock the gate. Soldiers inspected his house and only found the man's identity paperwork. It was the wrong man.
Schumann talked with the man and with a smile and handshake the Soldiers left.
"We had vague intel," Price said later. "People may be upset at other people for what ever reason and reported them."
No matter if it was another dry hole or not, 1st Lt. Edward Boland, a 24-year-old platoon leader from Washington, D.C., said it helped keep his troops sharp.
"It was good practice for the guys," he said. "You might scare some people in the house; it makes them mad, but they see you are going after bad guys."
With daylight still a few hours off, the Soldiers crawled into their bunks and slept until the smell of hot breakfast and preparation for their next mission would wake them up.