Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Thursday, December 30, 2004
Section:Front Page; Page:1

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE COBRA, Iraq — Despite mortar attacks up to four times a week, this base 18 miles from the Iranian border has a smalltown feel that has many of its nearly 500 new residents from the 278th Regimental Combat Team feeling right at home.

This base houses the regiment’s Third Squadron with soldiers primarily from Southern towns such as Cookeville, McMinnville and Springfield, Tenn., which some would say are not much bigger than this military base.

"Cobra definitely has that cozy feel," said Maj. Ray Gipe, of Brush Creek, Tenn. "Like that small room where you put your favorite chair."

But visitors are warned not to be too charmed by the comfortable feel of the base, which is about 50 miles north of Camp Caldwell, the 278th’s main operating base and regimental headquarters. Cobra is guarded heavily by one platoon of M-1 Abrams tanks and two companies of Bradley Fighting Vehicles. Some soldiers admitted to getting up on roofs to watch the mortar fire at night.

Third Squadron commander Lt. Col. Jeff Holmes said the biggest challenge for soldiers here will be handling tensions among various tribes and ethnic groups.

This sector includes six cities, primarily border towns and villages on the line where Kurdish tribes and the Arab region meet. "So we have to learn not only Arabic, but Kurdish, as well," said Lt. Col. Holmes, 43, a Nashville architect who lives in Murfreesboro, Tenn. "We are the brokers between the two that have so many issues with one another."

Lt. Col. Holmes compared the situation to the Reconstruction era in the United States after the Civil War when the North and the South struggled to become one nation again.

"They are tied so much to their history because they are so proud of their heritage," Lt. Col. Holmes said of the Kurds and the Arabs. "But they have to learn the ability to sit down and discuss their issues without resorting to violence."

Many of the area Kurds and Arabs have trouble separating the rival sitting across from them at a negotiating table from the rival who killed a relative. Revenge killings are common, Lt. Col. Holmes said.

"They are so used to whoever has the biggest stick knocks the other guy in the head and takes his stuff," Lt. Col. Holmes said. "At some point the line has to be broken, and you have to put your hand out to the enemy."

Nongovernmental agencies have tents set up to help displaced people who are returning to their homelands after decades of oppression under imprisoned dictator Saddam Hussein. Capt. Jim Reed said the area’s primary towns include Jalula and Khanaqin, which Capt. Reed said is "one of those towns Saddam pushed around a lot."

The 278th duties in Iraq include helping with the country’s Jan. 30 elections and patrolling nearly 150 miles of Iraq’s border with Iran.

Capt. Reed, of Cookeville, Tenn., said Third Squadron patrols also keep busy discovering and disposing of unexploded ordnance left over from past wars.

"People get their hands on them and blow themselves up all the time," he said.

The insurgents in the area also are testing their new neighbors by placing fake homemade bombs along the road.

"They are trying to read us to see how we do business so they can find any weakness and exploit it," Capt. Reed said.

But the squadron’s objectives do not just include using force. On a board hanging in Capt. Reed’s room, a list of squadron goals includes conducting classes for children on democracy and health and hygiene as well as maintaining a soccer field and a weight room for the locals.

Spc. Colt Drouillard, 33, of Chattanooga said about 90 percent of the Kurds are happy the Americans are here. Second Lt. Karl Kruger said the people seemed hesitant at first with the 278th’s new faces and new uniform patch. But now whole entourages of generous civilians follow the 278th on patrols.

"You have to be real careful," said Lt. Kruger, 35, of Portland, Tenn. "If you say, ‘I like that picture on the wall,’ they will take it down and give it to you."

The Third Squadron’s home for the next year sits within view of Iranian mountain ranges and is near enough to a large lake that greenery rare for the desert is plentiful. Groves of eucalyptus trees scattered throughout Cobra promise to offer shade in the coming summer.

Cobra is small enough that a person can stand in its center and throw a rock over its outer boundaries, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Morgan, of Dunlap, Tenn., said.

"We have a little bit more room to breathe," said Chief Warrant Officer Morgan. "You see the same people every day walking around."

Absent are the throngs of private defense contractors who operate many military bases in the area as large as Camp Caldwell. Soldiers do most of the work here including preparing their own meals with the squadron’s 13 cooks, who worked 24-hours straight whipping up a six-meat holiday meal. Electricity is entirely produced by generators, mail comes about three times a week and an Iraqi–style flea market with about seven booths offers a variety of items with negotiable prices.

The biggest amenity missing from Cobra is bathrooms. The solders must make do with oversized portable toilets with sinks and faucets.

"We have the Taj Mahal of Port-a-Johns," Maj. Gipe said.

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepess.com

REPORTER EMBEDS WITH 278TH IN IRAQ

The 278th Regimental Combat Team has begun a year long deployment in Iraq. Chattanooga Times Free Press military affairs reporter Edward Lee Pitts is with the unit to tell of the experiences of more than 3,000 sol diers from across Tennessee.

His reports will reflect how the soldiers adjust from lives as fathers, teachers, police officers and regular citizens to combat soldiers patrolling Iraq’s border with Iran more than 6,000 miles from home.

The stories are exclusive to the Times Free Press.

Story Copyright to Chattanooga Times Free press