By Sgt. 1st Class Brent Williams
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq — Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, have one more responsibility to fulfill before they can say "Mission Complete."
Soldiers, noncommissioned officers, leaders and officers of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, joined the 2nd "Warriors" Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., to get hands-on training and familiarize their units to the Rashid District in southern Baghdad before beginning their its mission in January.
The paratroopers' mission is to secure the Iraqi population and assist the Iraqi security forces enforcing Baghdad's rule of law, said 1st Lt. Jessie Sheehan, an infantry platoon leader assigned to Company D, 505th PIR, attached to the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.
The Soldiers of the 1st Bn., 505th PIR, part of the 3rd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, deployed to Baghdad in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, will assume responsibility for eastern Rashid, to include the Doura, Masafee, Jazeera, Hadar, Jaza'ir and Karb de Gla communities during the first weeks of the new year.
While the new Security Agreement between coalition forces and the government of Iraq changes operating protocols for MND-B Soldiers partnered with the ISF, the mission to secure the people of Iraq remains the same, said Sheehan, a native of Knoxville, Tenn.
"It's not going to affect us at all because we are pretty much in a tactical over-watch scenario," Sheehan explained. "We have been working with the ISF for years now, and they are ready to take over."
The "Warriors" of the 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., spent the final days of 2008 introducing the incoming troops to the Iraqi army, Iraqi police, national police and Sons of Iraq security guards operating in the many muhallahs and checkpoints in southern Baghdad, said 1st Lt. Kyle Fitchner, Co. B, 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., attached to the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.
There will be little change to how MND-B accomplishes the mission once the ISF takes responsibility for ongoing security operations in southern Baghdad, said Ftichner, who hails from Broken Arrow, Okla.
"It won't affect us in really anyway, shape or form," he said. "They'll just continue to do what they are doing day to day, and we'll continue to support the Iraqi security forces in their mission to protect their own people."
As in past months, said Fitchner, the NP and IP operating in eastern Rashid will continue to be extremely successful in their efforts to transition into the lead and provide a secure environment for the people of Doura and surrounding muhallahs.
"In this area, the ISF leadership, the [Iraqi army] soldiers are outstanding as well as the SoI program," he said. "The increased responsibility will cause the ISF to step up to the challenge and take more control."
Staff Sgt. Omar Jackson, an infantry squad leader from Newark, N.J., said the situation on the ground changed drastically since the last time he deployed to Iraq in 2003 with the United States Marine Corps.
Due to the hard fought and gains made in the local security around Baghdad, the emphasis for operations shifted from kinetic and lethal operations to non-kinetic operations and a counterinsurgency fight, said Jackson, assigned to Co. D, 1st Bn., 505th PIR, attached to the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.
That doesn't mean there won't be more challenges to both forces as MND-B Soldiers serve in more of a tactical over-watch position and ISF takes the lead in conducting patrols, cordon and search operations and serving warrants, he added.
"There is going to be some learning and what not; and as eager and as aggressive as the ISF are going to be, we're going to be there to back them up," explained Jackson, who added that being in the Army after the USMC is the "same walk, different talk."
The airborne infantry paratroopers in his company are prepared for the kinetic fight, but many are new to the idea of providing stability and support for the Iraqi people, said Staff Sgt. Thomas Gillespie, an infantry squad leader, assigned to Co. D, 1st Bn., 505th PIR, attached to the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div.
"This battle is going to be won with brains not brawn," said Gillespie, who calls Bloomington, Ill., home. "Brawn plays a role because we have to use it, but whoever can adapt the quickest to the situation on the ground – whether it is us or the enemy – is going to come out the winner."
The Soldiers are more than capable of adapting to the non-kinetic fight, especially as operations transition into the sustainment phase of counterinsurgency operations, he said.
Conducting combined operations and patrols with the ISF, and using warrants to detain criminals, thugs and terrorists, while transitioning into a non-kinetic fight are big missions for the unit as it prepares to replace the 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., he explained.
"We have to make sure that we think quick, and we act quick – and we do it in a way that stands up the IP and the NP," Gillespie said.
Ordinary tasks for the Soldiers of the "Warriors" Bn., now at the end of a 14-month deployment, will be a new state of affairs for the incoming airborne infantry paratroopers out of Fort Bragg, N.C., said 2nd Lt. James Joslyn, an infantry platoon leader, assigned to Co. B, 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt.
As a result, 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt.'s relief-in-place with the 1st "Panthers" Bn., 505th PIR, will be very important to maintain the gains in security and progress made during the past year, he said.
The new Soldiers may be hesitant to accept the changing situation in the streets once renowned as a stronghold for the insurgency because of a more elusive enemy than in previous years, said Joslyn, a native of Bedford, Va.
"The enemy here is not visible and, these days, extremely hard to find," he explained. "He only shows his head when the circumstances benefit him and when he sees the opportunity to do damage without being caught or injured."
It will be important for the incoming unit to work with the ISF and to spend time in the neighborhoods and communities to learn the very different operating environment, he explained.
The Panthers will face the more typical tasks of building ISF capacity, working with the NPs on a day-to-day basis, and stimulating the local economy with the microgrant program, while improving quality of life for Iraqis with programs such as microgeneration, Joslyn said.
"The [2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt.] has done an outstanding job of setting up that situation for us to come into so we're not tossed right in the middle of a horrible story our first weeks into the mission," said 1st Lt. Christopher Timmerman, platoon leader, Company C, 1st Bn., 505th PIR, attached to the 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div., MND-B.
The 1st "Panther" Soldiers, many on their second and third deployments to Iraq, are very used to "knocking down doors and the kinetic fight" experienced in previous years, said Timmerman, a native of Russia, Ohio.
While many of the veterans and their younger Soldiers may be surprised at the progress made, the change is good, he said.
The 2nd Bn., 4th Inf. Regt., part of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, will redeploy to Fort Polk, La., after a transition of authority ceremony with the 1st Bn., 505th PIR, in early 2009.