Report from Iraq

(Below are some reports on the East Tennessee 278th Troops here in Iraq.) Sorry I have not been able to report as often but things are getting very busy around here. The training of the Iraqi Army and the police is on the front burner here, and they are doing great. Each day their confidence is growing. We have about 10,000 Iraqi Army troops and an IA police Academy that is going strong. The 278th Troops are using their training and expertise to make the transition to self rule come a lot sooner than anyone expected.

Thanks for your support and the letters we have received along with all the school supplies, books, shoes, clothes, police and medical supplies we have also received. You guys are our heroes.

I hope you enjoy the reports.

Signed: Ricky Walters
Captain
US Cavalry
Tennessee Army National Guard
278th Regimental Combat Team
Camp Caldwell, Diyala, Iraq)

By Capt. Rick Walters

TUZ, IRAQ -- As the dawn broke on an Iraqi Air Base near the city of Tuz, Iraq, which the US coalition forces have turned into Forward Operation Base Bernstein; 1Lt Heath Mullins of Johnson City, Tennessee is walking the line of up-armored hummers checking the radio frequencies and watching his troops prepare for a mission. This is an everyday occurrence for the members of the headquarters troop of the second squadron, 278th Regimental Combat Team. The 278th has conducted over 10,000 individual and joint combat patrols since December 2004. 1Lt. Mullins is the unit's executive officer and acting commander while the headquarters' troop commander is in the US on rest and relaxation leave (R&R). 1Lt. Mullins organizes the patrol of 10 vehicles using a white board and marker, he has written the vehicle numbers and the troop's names that are riding in them underneath the vehicle number. Under that he has drawn the order of march and a formation to use should the patrol have to stop. The formation is shaped like a box with the heavier armored vehicles on the sides and the lighter less armored vehicles in the middle for protection from attack.

This patrol is larger than normal, and is accompanied by US and Iraqi Army Ambulances along with Iraqi Army and US Doctors. There are also 2 large Hemtt Cargo Trucks loaded with boxes. These large trucks have their own booms that can lower pallets of supplies to the ground without the use of a forklift.

1Lt. Mullins completes his brief and gives the command "Mount Up" which is a throwback to the days of mounted cavalry. The troops load into their vehicles and the convoy moves to a staging area where they meet with the Squadron Commander. 1Lt. Mullins once again verified the personnel and vehicles going on patrol. As the patrol moved out they made a stop on an abandoned airstrip and rehearsed the box formation that 1Lt. Mullins had drawn on the whiteboard. The convoy then pulled to the front gate where the vehicles drive by a large square pile of dirt and test fire their machine guns into what they call the test-fire pit. Once all the vehicles had completed the test-fire, they move out and onto the roadway.

The village they are going to is called Pir Aukmed, a Sunni Arab village that when past combat patrols had visited, the people there were not very friendly to them. The soldiers had been greeted with hard stares from the people there. Solders have sort of a sixth sense about people, and the way the people acted there, make them nervous. They warned everyone to be careful and to be on the lookout for Anti-Iraqi-Forces (AIF) in the area.

As the patrol pulled into the village a car was leaving. The lead vehicle stopped it and asked the driver to go and get the Muhktar, which is the village leader, and ask him to meet with us there just outside the village. The driver of the car turned around and brought back the Muhktar. The Muhktar was about 65 years old and was wearing traditional Arab clothes. He was greeted by the Second Squadron Commander, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Frank McCauley, of Kingsport, Tennessee. He is the commander of the area surrounding the City of Tuz. LTC McCauley greeted the Muhktar in the traditional Arab greeting, with a kiss on each cheek and a touch of his heart. Also in the Arab tradition he then held the hand of the Muhktar as they talked.

In his civilian job, LTC McCauley is a special agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. It's like the FBI for the State of Tennessee. His people skills honed over the years in that job, makes him one of the most effective leaders in Iraq. LTC McCauley recalls a meeting with the Muhktar several months ago in what was called a Sheiks Meeting in the City of Tuz. There were about 100 Iraqi leaders there that day and the Muhktar was impressed that LTC McCauley remembered him. The Muhktar then gave permission for the convoy to conduct the attack on his village.

This was not your ordinary attack, there were no overhead F-16's flying cover, no attack helicopters, flying support, the tanks and artillery were still at FOB Bernstein. No, this attack was what the troops call a Banana Milk Attack.

Since November the Troops of the 278th Regimental Combat Team, Tennessee Army National Guard have been in Iraq the supplies continue to pour in for the troops. There are a couple of things the East Tennessee Troops just don't like. One of those things is the small boxes of Banana Milk. Cases of the stuff just sit outside the mess halls and would go to waste. Banana milk, mango juice, and cans of strawberry soda and other supplies are sitting all over the FOB and the kids in the villages love the stuff. Most of it is healthy and a good source of protein according to one of the doctors with us.

The Muhktar instructed the patrol to unload the boxes on the soccer field beside the primary school. The Hemtt cargo trucks pulled onto the soccer field and began unloading. The trucks also contained boxes of cereal, rice, beans, flour and other food supplies for the people of the village.

The US and Iraqi Army Ambulance pulled up beside the school and LTC McCauley met with several village leaders. He asked if the doctors could set up a day clinic in one of the school rooms and treat the sick people of the village. The Muhktar and elders were glad we came.

As the doctors unloaded the supplies into a small room of the school, one of the elders ran home and brought his six-year-old daughter to the school. She had been very badly injured in a fall from the height of about 2 stories. She has severe damage to the right side of her face and someone in the village appeared to have tried to stitch her wounds using what looked like black yarn. Youngsters in the US have a hard time going to the doctor and not being afraid when the doctor is at a hospital, can you imagine how afraid that little girl was with soldiers with guns were trying to help her? You could see the terror in her beautiful brown eyes.

Through her crying LTC McCauley tried to comfort the little girl by telling her through an interpreter of a time when he was a small boy breaking his jaw in a bike accident. This did not seem to calm her down so he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Her eyes fixated on a picture of a beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed girl. "This is my daughter, Madison, she is 5 years old. Just one year younger than you," said LTC McCauley. As the interpreter was translating his words it began to have a calming effect on the child. The doctor then told everyone that her jaw was broken and there was nothing he could do for the child there and that she needed X-rays and immediate medical attention and would need to be transported to the base hospital as soon as possible for treatment. When she heard this she once again became frightened but LTC McCauley told the interpreter to tell her that he has some special toys for her at the base and once again the child calmed down.

As the village men looked on in amazement that someone as important as the Area Commander would take an interest in helping a little girl from their village, you could see the confusion in their faces and admiration of this man. This was not what they had heard about US forces. This can't be the same people that the Al Jazeera Network tells them about. For in that small schoolroom full of Village Elders, Sunni Muslims, Christian Soldiers, Doctors and Commanders, their differences were put aside and the room was just full of fathers with a concern for a child.

The little girl was treated at the base and then taken to a US Army Hospital near Baghdad for surgery.

As the troops pulled out of that tiny village the hard stares and suspicious looks gave way to waves and smiles from everyone in the village and the troops can notch up another successful Banana Milk Attack.

Story Copyright to The Elizabethton Star