Originally posted by rpm
VOR, Widewing....no comment?
From defendamerica.mil, dated 10/19/04 (that's days before the current stupidity came into being)
TAJI, Iraq, Oct. 18, 2004 — More than 400 57 mm rockets, 7,275 rounds of 14.5 mm anti-aircraft ammunition and one U.S. tube-launched optically tracked wire guided, or TOW, missile were just the tip of the iceberg in terms of munitions uncovered during a recent weapons cache discovery.
“We would begin digging in a new area and we just kept finding stuff,” said the 2nd Battalion, 7th Calvary Regiment senior Iraqi National Guard advisor Capt. Mark Leslie, of the 1st Team’s 39th Brigade Combat Team.
The discovery began with a tip from a reluctant informant. Rumors had circulated within the Iraqi National Guard camp of a citizen who knew where a very large cache of weapons was located, but fear for his life kept him from speaking with Multinational Forces.
“Once word got back to us, we began trying to get soldiers with the ING to bring this guy to talk to us. But the gentleman just wasn’t having any of it,” said Iraqi National Guard advisor Staff Sgt. Ronald Denton, of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment’s Headquarters Company.
Known locally as a fair and honest person, the commander of Company D, 307th Iraqi National Guard Battalion finally convinced the man to speak with him and to ultimately work with Multinational Forces to recover the cache.
“Had it not been for the reputation of Lt. Col. Waleed within the community, I really don’t think we would have ever found the cache,” Denton said.
Using the information, Company D, 307th Iraqi National Guard Battalion, supported by troopers from 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment gathered up detection equipment and headed to the location.
“The location of the first site put us in the far northern region of 2-7 Cav.’s AO (area of operation),” explained Iraqi National Guard advisor Sgt. 1 st Class Robert Haney of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment. “The initial cache discovery was exactly where the informant said it would be. But as we started spreading out, we kept finding more cache sites.”
Fanning out from the original location, soldiers eventually discovered 12 sites, each within 1 kilometer of the original site. The total amount of items discovered was staggering: 12 SS-30 127 mm rockets with launchers, 20 rocket mortars, multiple varying intensity mortar rounds and other various armaments.
As the soldiers began loading the discovered items for transport back to Camp Taji, the Iraqi National Guard troops noticed that something just didn’t seem right.
“You’ve really got to attribute the success of this mission to the ING,” said Leslie. “They live in the areas we’re going to, so they know when something looks off. People are more willing to come up to them, talk to them and give them information we would probably not get. As we were drawing close to moving back to Taji they came up to us and voiced their concerns, and asked that we increase our search area a bit more.”
Working off the Iraqi National Guard members’ suspicion, the troopers set to increasing their search radius, moving further and further away from the initial site. Soon enough, the search paid off.
“We found what appeared to be another significant cache location just a few (kilometers) away from the first sight,” said Leslie. “At that point, a quick look at our maps and we realized we were moving outside the 1st Calvary Division’s AO into areas maintained by the 1st Infantry Division.”
Securing the site for the evening, wheels were set in motion to secure permission to cross assigned area-of-operation boundaries.
“As soon as we got back to Camp Taji, we started contacting 2nd of the 108th (the command responsible for the area) to get permission to go into their AO,” Leslie said.
That unit, a New York National Guard infantry regiment attached to the 1st Infantry Division, not only granted permission, but also sent elements to assist in the security and excavation of the site.
“This is how joint operations are supposed to work,” said Haney. “You request permission, it gets approved and they send soldiers down to help with the mission. That’s Army teamwork!”
The second day of search operations revealed a much more significant find in terms of items seized as well the five individuals who were detained for later questioning.
“We found so many mortar rounds, it was just unreal,” said Denton, adding that an extensive amount of material to make improvised explosive devices was also discovered.
Included in the discovery that day was more than 150 pounds of PE-4 explosive, the explosive favored by anti-Iraqi forces to make vehicle-borne bombs that have targeted Multinational Forces and civilians alike.
Three heavy dump trucks were needed to haul the entire cache contents back to Camp Taji, where it will be disposed of.
“Everything came together like it’s supposed to on this operation,” said Leslie. “Everybody worked together in a joint (operation) that should make residents of Camp Taji and Camp Anaconda sleep a little easier— knowing we have denied the enemy these tools of destruction.”
See it
here. My regards,
Widewing
