Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Friday, January 07, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

Early morning raid nets two Iraqi detainees, small weapons cache.

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE COBRA, Iraq — In the largest operation of the 278th Regimental Combat Team’s deployment thus far, soldiers raided a village early Thursday morning, captured two suspected insurgents and found some weapons and anti-American propaganda literature.

Acting on a tip, the Tennessee-based regiment’s 3rd Squadron sent more than 100 men, led primarily by Bravo Company of the 128th Infantry from Wisconsin, into Saif Saad, a village of about 200 people west of Forward Operating Base Cobra.

The night snatch-and-grab mission included an undisclosed number of Special Forces troops and a pair of F-15 fighter planes.

Operation Fire Hydrant occurred in a wide-open sector that soldiers dubbed the "Wild, Wild West" for its high level of insurgent activity. The simultaneous raid on four houses began when members of the 16-vehicle convoy departed Cobra two hours before midnight Wednesday.

Humvees, Bradley fighting vehicles and armored personal carriers barreled down Iraqi roads and side streets in blackout status with drivers using night-vision goggles instead of headlights.

"The bad guys are stashed away in safe houses," squadron commander Lt. Col. Jeff Holmes said while directing the raid from the front seat of his armored Humvee. "They come up here to hide out and rest before going back down to Baghdad and Fallujah to fight. Hopefully, when we finish tonight, these guys won’t be going back."

To achieve total surprise, soldiers dismounted from their noisy Bradley fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers nearly four miles from the targeted houses.

After dropping off the infantry at about 1:15 a.m., the armored vehicles encircled the area and monitored various escape routes. Nobody would get in or out during the raid, Lt. Col. Holmes said.

"If this works right, you just wake them up and say ‘Come with me’," said Lt. Col. Holmes, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., moments before the soldiers stormed the houses sometime after 3:30 a.m.

But before getting the green light, the soldiers marched through a steady drizzle and cold wind as they crossed irrigation canals and plowed fields made nearly impassable by the rain. They crossed eight ditches, sometimes wading through water up to the armpits and then climbed up steep banks of mud. Silently marching in the total darkness of rural Iraq, the soldiers relied on night-vision goggles, which skewed their depth perception and caused frequent falls.

"It looked like a slapstick military comedy at times," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Penttila, 26, of Inver Grove Heights, Minn.

Each group of soldiers arrived at their target homes with weapons caked in mud.

Spc. Ben Justman, 23, of Iron Ridge, Wis., said the night noises made it a jittery wait for his first real combat experience.

"Sitting and listening to all the dogs barking, I kept wondering why all the people didn’t just wake up to check on their dogs," he said. Moments later Spc. Justman ordered an armed Iraqi fleeing in an alley to drop his weapon and hit the dirt.

After hours of planning, rehearsing and positioning, the actual raids ended in mere minutes.

Soldiers found one door unlocked. Others used explosives, sledgehammers and feet to break inside.

Spc. Bill Giesecke, 38, acted as the point man for one assault team and found a targeted insurgent seconds after breaking down a door. "He was kind of standing right there like a deer caught in headlights," said Spc. Giesecke, of Madison, Wis.

While some soldiers rounded up the detainees, other 278th troops worked to comfort the children terrified by the sudden appearance of the armed Americans. One soldier handed a little girl a glowing light stick. Staff Sgt. Penttila gave bottles of Gatorade to the children in the house he raided.

As the infantrymen burst into the homes, the vehicles in the combat patrol stormed toward the village with searching floodlights ready to spot any escaping suspects. But two Humvees approaching the village became bogged down for more than an hour in mud that almost covered their wheels.

The circling jets provided up-to-the-second visual reconnaissance of the area. But some soldiers on the ground said the loud planes might have tipped off the intended targets.

Squadron leaders originally had intended to nab between four and seven members of anti-Iraqi forces. The 278th assault force captured 12 Iraqis, but only two matched pictures of suspected insurgents. The two detainees returned with the unit to Cobra where they are undergoing questioning.

The soldiers completed the mission without firing a single round. "They will be bragging about it for weeks," said Maj. Barry Roberson, of Nashville, the 3rd Squadron’s operations officer.

He said the raid was meant to send a clear message to the residents of Saif Saad.

"We came into town because you are harboring terrorists," he said referring to the message. "‘You are endangering your life, and if you don’t want us to come back, then get rid of them.’"

Spc. Collin Gilbert, 29, of North Branch, Minn., said the raid should encourage Iraqis who are willing to cooperate with the Americans. "If you give us the right information, we will do something with it," he said.

When the combat patrol pulled out of the village shortly after daybreak, the villagers left behind — many sheepherders already tending to their animals — watched the U.S. troops leave with icy stares. Even the children, normally very friendly and excited around soldiers in the 278th’s sector, failed to wave or smile as the vehicles drove away.

"These people do not like us," said Lt. Col. Holmes moments after telling his gunner to crouch down from his vulnerable position on top of the Humvee.

The convoy left with music from the heavy metal group AC/DC playing on a loudspeaker mounted on one Humvee’s roof. E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

U.S. Army Photo by Staff Sgt. Russell Lee Klika - Soldiers with the 278th Regimental Combat Team detain a suspected Iraqi insurgent during a raid early Thursday morning.

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