Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, March 06, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH Iraq

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

SOUTHERN DIYALA PROVINCE, Iraq — Patrolling the rural desert that gives rise to the Iranian mountains just hundreds of meters away, the 1 st Squadron’s Team Brave spends its days poking around crumbling castles and navigating 20-year-old minefields.

Occasionally, the Tennessee National Guard soldiers wave at Iranian border soldiers staring back through binoculars.

"They’ll pull a tank up on a berm just to say, ‘Hi,’" Spc. Matthew Campbell, of Soddy-Daisy, said of the Iranian military keeping close watch on the movements of this 278 th Regimental Combat Team company.

Other times, according to Pfc. Jeremy Morrow, 26, of Cleveland, Tenn., the Iranian border guards will test fire mortar rounds high into the sky just "trying to show us they got them."

But most of the inter action among 278th and Iranian soldiers remains cordial.

"We don’t want to cause any international incident, so we’ve been real nice," Spc. Campbell said.

Capt. James Hite, of Hermitage, Tenn., the company commander, said Team Brave is responsible for about 80 kilometers of the Iran-Iraq border. Within the unit’s sector sit 14 castles built during British colonial rule early in the 19th century but mostly destroyed during the 1980s’ nearly 10-year Iran- Iraq war.

MINEFIELDS AND MORTARS

Today just five of the castle outposts are manned by Iraqi border police, Capt. Hite said, because ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was too busy building lavish palaces to spend money on securing his border.

U.S. dollars are refurbishing these outposts, and Capt. Hite said Iraqi border police should occupy all 14 by the time the 278th heads home later this year.

The simple two-story white castles are not structures Cinderella would be comfortable calling home. Made of brick and mud and covered by plaster, the square castles consist of open courtyards ringed by small rooms on the first floor. Stairs lead up to four corner guard towers on the second floor.

To get to these bombed-out buildings, Team Brave members must drive as long as an hour from their home base of Camp Caldwell, putting as many as 1,000 miles a week on their Humvees. The soldiers drive past dusty villages with populations ranging from 1,000 to as few as 30 people.

Villagers here still live off the land in a strange mix of modern luxury and old-fashioned poverty. A cart pulled by donkeys is passed by a brand new white Mercedes with its price sticker still on the windshield. A Team Brave convoy last week stopped several times for sheep herds crossing the streets.

Making life even more unusual for Team Brave members are minefields, filled with rusted explosives left over from the Iran-Iraq border war, scattered among these desolate roads and the area’s washed out river beds. Spc. Kyle Malone, 24, of Franklin, Tenn., a Humvee gunner, said Team Brave soldiers have to be careful because sometimes it is hard to tell a land mine from one of the many rocks scattered across the desert.

Team Brave soldiers spend a good deal of time trying to collect this unexploded ordinance before it falls into the hands of insurgents who may use it to craft one of the homemade bombs found along the roads throughout Iraq.

"For someone who doesn’t know the area, it’s pretty dangerous," said Sgt. 1 st Class Greg Hardy, 34, of Clarksville, Tenn.

To aid in their arms race against the insurgents, Team Brave offers local farmers and sheepherders financial rewards for any information leading to a weapons cache.

"You’ve got to win hearts and minds, but sometimes you’ve got to go through the pocketbook," said Spc. Brian Williamson, 30, of Clarksville, Tenn.

During a patrol last week, Team Brave members stopped at one of the castles where an Iraqi villager waited for his reward after turning over eight rocket-propelled grenade launchers to the soldiers.

WEAPONS FOR DOLLARS

Sgt. 1 st Class Hardy handed the man a check and shook his hand — an interaction captured on digital camera so the unit can promote its reward plan.

But when the Iraqi saw the amount, $1,200, he had a hard time concealing his disappointment. He unsuccessfully pleaded with Sgt. 1 st Class Hardy for more by repeating the word "eight" for the amount of weapons he had kept out of enemy hands.

Word about the weapons-for money plan is spreading.

Two Iraqis walking the desert last week flagged down a passing Team Brave convoy. One of the Iraqis led the convoy through the desert toward the looming Iranian mountains. The bonerattling ride, knocking passengers around as if they were in a prizefight but not allowed to punch back, led to an old artillery round pit.

There the Iraqi dismounted from his motorcycle, ran into the pit and pointed to a collection of about 50 artillery and mortar rounds as he smiled back at the approaching soldiers.

While 278th officers logged the type, number and location of the rusted explosives, Spc. Williamson took out a can of spray paint and covered the bombs in red so U.S. forces would not pay for the weapons twice.

The cache would have to remain here untouched and unguarded until the Explosives Ordinance Disposal unit attached to the regiment could come out and dispose of the weapons.

The soldiers soon discovered another weapons cache of about 45 mortar rounds and 25 artillery rounds.

Team Brave soldiers said motivated Iraqis would have no trouble making a full-time job out of uncovering weapons for the Americans because the land is filled with old battle positions. The ravages of war are evident by the rusted metal debris scattered everywhere. While logging in their latest weapons find, Team Brave encountered a solitary Iraqi wandering around the minefield collecting brass to sell in marketplaces.

Beyond weapons hunting, Team Brave soldiers at night observe areas known to be highspeed avenues for illegal border crossings. The topography provides hiding places for those sneaking across the border — the mountains are cut by deep depressions of dried-up river beds.

From a castle built on an overlook, the sweeping border of rust-colored foothills looks like the setting of a John Wayne western. Sgt. 1 st Class Hardy said Team Brave is forced to rely on the Iraqi border police to determine if someone wandering in the desert around the border belongs there.

"They can look at somebody and tell if they are an Iraqi or not, and that is a big advantage over us," said Sgt. 1 st Class Hardy, who added the border police recently captured 13 crossing illegally in one day and 25 in one week.

To help the border police do their jobs better, Team Brave has handed out 860 body armor vests; 6,000 rounds of 9 mm bullets; 18,240 AK-47 rounds; 500 winter coats; and 70 binoculars paid for by the U.S. government, according to Capt. Arthur Richards, the regiment’s deputy provost marshal.

Regimentwide, as part of the mentoring program for Iraqi border police, 278 th soldiers have distributed 1,700 sets of body armor; 1,000 tactical thigh holsters; 15,000 rounds of 9 mm ammunition; and numerous rounds of AK-47 ammunition, Capt. Richards said.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

ON THE WEB Starting Monday, photos by U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika of the 278 th Regimental Combat Team will be available on the Times Free Press Web site. Visit http://www.timesfreepress.com /kp.

U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. Albert Howard A convoy of soldiers from the 278 th Regimental Combat Team arrives to check out a castle outpost.

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