Joint patrol finds detonation switches, command wire

(Capt. Jonathan Gregory of 2/320th FSC holding up some of the recovered command wire.)

FOB O’Ryan-
The joint patrol was the first to arrive at the site of an IED attack from the night before. With ruble still strewn over the road from the blast, the soldiers fanned out in search of other improvised explosives.

On Tuesday morning soldiers of 2/320th Force Support Company joined with a platoon from the 17th Brigade, 4th Division of the Iraqi Army to help secure this dangerous stretch of road off of main supply route Tampa.

Also, the Army was looking for the Iraqis to start taking over here. “To get I.A.s (Iraqi Army) familiar with Concerned Local Citizen checkpoints,” said Lt. Jeff Sowecke of Cleveland, OH. The idea is that once the Iraqis get familiar with the job of supporting these checkpoints, the I.A.s can do it better because they know their own culture, Sowecke said.

(The Iraqi Army 17th Brigade's Lieutenant Colonel(left, holding book) and Command Sergeant(far right) ask the checkpoint guards about local insurgent activity.)

The Iraqi foot soldiers don't seem as well trained as their U.S. counterparts. Last time they were on a joint patrol, Captain Jonathan Gregory said two Iraqi soldiers accidentally discharged their AK-47s. This is a huge issue to U.S. soldiers who are constantly drilled on weapons safety and “muzzle awareness.”

‘DJ’ the U.S. interpreter who is from a local village said of the Iraqi Army, “they’re not as focused” as U.S. soldiers, who he admittedly lives and works with everyday.

But, “they’re not short on bravery,” said First Sergeant Jeremy Shiffer.

One found a new copper wire running from the road into a marsh area and the Iraqis quickly drove off in their Humvees to search for an insurgent command post where these types of bombs are often detonated from.

Although they didn’t find any insurgents or bomb caches, the Iraqis recovered hundreds of yards of wire, part of a bomb-making in progress.

(The IA Lt. Col. (center) asks about recent attacks at another checkpoint while U.S. officers listen through an interpreter.)

After a few practice runs, the Iraqis began to conduct their own roadblocks and recovered several unregistered weapons.

For one day's patrol, these are small but measurable gains. The 17th Brigade of the 4th Division has been charged with protecting main supply route Tampa from Baghdad up to Samarra in an effort to rebuild the Golden Mosque in Samarra that was bombed in 2006 and touched off one of the bloodiest rounds of sectarian violence. The Iraqis have been using these same skills in setting up and policing their own security.

“It was a mission I volunteered for,” said Sgt. Alfredo Hernandez, 30, of Brownsville, TX, explaining the patrol is a new mission for their company who had been running security and supply convoys for the first seven months of their 15-month deployment.

Missions like these help soldiers see progress in their day-to-day actions. “People from the states don’t realize we can’t just get out, or this whole thing was for nothing,” Hernandez said.