 FROM THE 278TH: A Little Hello Goes a Long Way Ryan Seals Tennessee National Guard EDITORS’ NOTE: Ryan Seals is with the 278th Regimental Combat Team’s 190th Engineer Company. The Times Free Press runs an occasional column from Spc. Seals. *Note: This is part of my February column for The Chattanooga Times Free Press. It should run in this-coming Sunday's edition. -- Ryan Tuesday, February 22, 2005 It is amazing how far a simple hello will go. For Henchmen soldiers, a simple hello led to a find that possibly saved a dozen or so lives. A few weeks ago, in a town that I won’t name for the sake of protecting the innocent, I was tasked organized to another platoon for a mission in a town that has been known for its anti-coalition sentiments. We were parked in front of a school around noon when the local boys were being released for the day. We waved and said hello to many of them; most just stared and gave us evil looks. But then we came upon two boys probably around 13 or 14 years of age. They approached us cautiously and started talking to us. The language barrier being as it was, they understood some of what we were saying -- a simple “how are you?” or us asking them if they wanted some water to drink. We didn’t have an interpreter handy, so we tried drawing things on a notebook to see if they understood what we were trying to say. Then one of the boys drew what appeared to be an ammunition shell on his notebook and was trying to tell us that he saw one. We contacted an Iraqi Police officer standing nearby that spoke decent English to translate what the boys were trying to tell us. They said that they had seen “ali baba” -- Arabic for “bad guys” -- with the ammunition shells that are commonly used to make improvised explosive devices. The boys said that they had seen the insurgents with three of the shells near the town, and they had left one in a field. They told us that along with several other children, they had picked up the 50-pound shell and buried it to hide it from the insurgents. We met them later in the day at a remote location away from the town for their own safety, and the boys agreed to take us to the site. We loaded up in our vehicles, and they led us to the middle of a field and to a spot where they had buried the shell. I and a couple of other combat engineers dug up the ground cautiously, looking for booby traps around the area or anything that might set off the possible round. Buried about 3 feet in the ground was a .155 ammunition shell, strong enough to blow through an M1 Abrams tank. The shell had already been prepped and only needed to be wired to make an IED. I was amazed at how these boys went against the anti-coalition beliefs that everyone in their town seems to have and did the right thing. Their courage possibly saved many soldiers and civilians that day ,and we made sure they were rewarded. A simple hello. It’s amazing how far it will go.
From: Chattanooga Times Free Press Link
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