News from the Iraqi Front

[SuperScout]

(The following is a letter from one of my "mentorees", a former commander of a training battalion that had invited me to give the graduation speech back last November. Chipper is an outstanding Infantry officer, and has promise of going very far up the ladder, a genuine article of a soldier's soldier.)

I've been out of the net awhile. I appreciate the e-mails keeping me up to speed on what's happening with the brethren. Sorry to hear that 3-47 IN will be reflagged as 1-38 but they will probably be reactivated elsewhere soon.

I've spent some time in Iraq. Lots of shootin' going on. Unlike most of Iraq, the area I was in was heavily vegetated to include rice paddies and palm groves (sound familiar?). The Panthers [our old battalion from Vietnam days, when we were known as The Panther Batallion] would have loved to watch one operation where the bad guys attacked the perimeter of the fire base and the response of a Bradley equipped infantry company. The unit rolled out the entrance of the fire base and cordoned a large area at night in zero illumination to surround the bad guys. After establishing interlocking fields of fire on the dikes with their thermal sights, the infantry squads began assaulting through and flushing out the terrorists across the rice paddy dikes at which point they were mowed down with coax and 25mm. The thermal sights make it easy to fire a 20-30 rd killing burst at 900m in total darkness and kill 3-4 bad guys instantly. That night they killed about 30 total. They raided the local town the next morning and rounded up everyone with muddy pants.

The enemy does frequent mortar attacks with 120mm mortars. These definitely get the blood pumping. They fire 5-10 rounds and hall ass so you can't use counterfire. They rarely hit anything - mostly harassment.

The country is a real shithole. It's like a giant landfill with people on top. I have always maintained that you can tell a lot about a culture by the way they treat the weakest members of society. Women are treated like chattel and children even worse.

The main supply route out to the unit (the equivalent of "Thunder Road") is a gauntlet. To get there you must negotiate RPG alley and IED alley (Improvised Explosive Device). They use IEDs on the roads like command detonated mines. They are usually artillery rounds fixed with C-4 and detonated with a beeper or garage door opener. You ride locked and loaded, oriented in 360 degrees without seat belts or harnesses and move at 40 to 60 mph through heavy traffic and Iraqis weaving in and out of the convoy. The support platoon leader negotiates the route twice a day with different vehicles and soldiers each time. He has the classic 1000 yard stare.

Every house has an AK-47 in it. You can buy them on the streets for $10 and as a bonus 6 full magazines. If you take their AK-47, someone will rob or kill them in a matter of days. Needless to say, entering and clearing buildings looking for bad guys is a harrowing event.

Morale among the soldiers I saw was high. Sense of humor is still there. Of course, they would rather be home.

The areas these battalions cover are huge. The one I was with is responsible for an area 40 by 70 kilometers with about a million or so people. Even if 99% are on your side, that still leaves 10,000 bad guys against 500 good guys. Nevertheless, the progress is steady.

Give my regards to the guys.

"Never Quit"

Lewis

[If any of you folks want to email a message of support to him, kindly pm me, and I'll forward his email address.
Scouts Out!!]

[catman]

Col...thanks for sharing. His letter sounds very similar to the emails i get from a friend in Mosul. Although she is with a commo unit, they take regular mortar & RPG fire at their fixed position.

Trav