[BGB] strykers -

michael.cartine at thomson.com michael.cartine at thomson.com
Fri Mar 16 08:30:22 EDT 2007 

Following all the discussion on these things a couple of years ago.

Looks like the early results to me are good - you have to ied the thing
and then nail it trapped with repeated rpgs to kill it -

 

Strykers face Diyala barrage

 

Updated 17h 29m ago | Comments 9
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-15-stryker-baqouba_N.ht
m?POE=NEWISVA#uslPageReturn>  | Recommend 10
<javascript:void('Recommend')> 

E-mail
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-15-stryker-baqouba_N.ht
m?POE=NEWISVA>  | Save
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-15-stryker-baqouba_N.ht
m?POE=NEWISVA>  | Print
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-15-stryker-baqouba_N.ht
m?POE=NEWISVA>  |  
<http://asp.usatoday.com/marketing/rss/rsstrans.aspx?ssts=news%7Cworld%7
Ciraq> 

  <javascript:;> 

 

  <javascript:;>  Enlarge <javascript:;> 

By Lauren Frayer, AP

 

Members of a U.S. Army Stryker battalion search a storeroom in an
abandoned school in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday.
The unit was sent from Baghdad to Diyala province this week to help
quell increasing violence there.

 

			

 

 

  WAR IN IRAQ

 

 

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-12-petraeus_N.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-12-petraeus_N.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-12-petraeus_N.htm>
Petraeus: General: Al-Sadr's fighters begin to feel the heat
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-12-petraeus_N.htm>  | 
Baghdad progress brings hope
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-14-baghdad-progress_N.h
tm> 

 

 





<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-08-iraqweek_N.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-08-iraqweek_N.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-08-iraqweek_N.htm> Life
in Iraq: Violence taking a toll on men's love lives
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-08-iraqweek_N.htm>  |
Index: A weekly status report
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/life-in-iraq.htm> 









<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-28-saddam-era-ammo_x.ht
m>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-28-saddam-era-ammo_x.ht
m>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-28-saddam-era-ammo_x.ht
m> Violence: Saddam ammo caches deadly
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-28-saddam-era-ammo_x.ht
m>  | Homemade 'speed bumps' deadly on roads
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-04-speed-bumps_x.htm> 









<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-14-iraqi-outposts-cover
_x.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-14-iraqi-outposts-cover
_x.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-14-iraqi-outposts-cover
_x.htm> Battle for Baghdad: 'The most dangerous spot I could find'
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-14-iraqi-outposts-cover
_x.htm>  | Photos: Baghdad's neighborhoods
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/2007/n070214_baghdad/flash.htm> 









<http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/n070209_iraq/flash.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/n070209_iraq/flash.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/n070209_iraq/flash.htm> Photo
essays: Sniper hunt
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/n070209_iraq/flash.htm>  | Shorja
market bombings
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/gallery/n070212_baghdadexplosions/flash.ht
m> 









<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-31-us-death-toll-3000_x
.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-31-us-death-toll-3000_x
.htm>  
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-31-us-death-toll-3000_x
.htm> American casualties: Toll reaches 3,000
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-12-31-us-death-toll-3000_x
.htm>  | Contractors: AP: 800 killed, 3,000 wounded
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-02-23-contractors_x.htm>
| Deadly blast
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-01-01-iraq-ied-cover_x.htm
>  | A look at troops who lost their lives
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/casualties/front.htm>  | 
Graphic <http://www.usatoday.com/news/graphics/ied_five/flash.htm> 



 

  <javascript:;> 

 <javascript:;>  Enlarge <javascript:;> 

By Lauren Frayer, AP



Spc. Jeremiah Westerfeld, left, 22, from Batesville, Ind., and Sgt.
William Rose , 26, from Arlington, Mass., stake out firing positions in
an abandoned school in Baqouba on Wednesday. They faced fierce battles
on their first day of patrols in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

By Lauren Frayer, Associated Press

BAQOUBA, Iraq - Dozens of U.S. Stryker combat vehicles roared into
Baqouba at sunrise. The enemy was ready. As the dawn call-to-prayer fell
silent, the streets blazed with insurgent fire.

Within minutes of the start of their first mission in volatile Diyala
province Wednesday a voice crackled across the radio: "Catastrophic
kill, with casualties."

Inside the rear of one Stryker, soldiers shushed one another and leaned
closer to the radio. They all knew what it meant. A U.S. vehicle had
been lost to enemy fire.

Nearly 100 Strykers were called north from Baghdad into the province and
its capital to try - yet again - to rout Sunni insurgents, many who
recently fled the month-old Baghdad security operation.

The fighters have renewed their campaign of bombings and killings just
35 miles northeast of the capital as the war enters its fifth year.
Diyala province is quickly becoming as dangerous as Anbar province, the
Sunni insurgent bastion west of Baghdad.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Iraq
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Iraq>  | 
Baghdad
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Baghdad>
| Infantry
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Infantry>
| Baqouba
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Baqouba>
| William
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=William>
| Regiment
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Regiment>
| Diyala
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Diyala>
| Strykers
<http://www.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Strykers>


Rocket-propelled grenades pounded buildings Wednesday where U.S.
soldiers sought cover. Mortars soared overhead and crashed to earth
spewing clouds of deadly shrapnel.

Gunfire rattled ceaselessly - the hollow pop of insurgent AK-47s and
whoosh of grenade launchers nearly drowned out by shuddering blasts from
U.S. 50-caliber machine guns.

Soldiers screamed into their radios for backup. Apache attack
helicopters swooped in, firing Hellfire missiles.

By day's end, one soldier was dead, 12 wounded and two Strykers
destroyed. The Americans said dozens of insurgents were killed but gave
no specific number.

It was a brutal, bloody first-day for the 2nd Infantry Division's 5th
Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment - the crack Stryker battalion
dispatched from Baghdad's northern suburbs.

"They threw everything at us - RPGs, mortars - and a guy even tossed a
grenade just in front of my vehicle," said Capt. Huber Parsons, the
28-year-old commander of the 5-20's Attack company. "But the most
devastating was the IEDs," the Coral Gables, Fla., native said. He was
talking about improvised explosive devices - roadside bombs.

One Stryker was lost in a particularly sophisticated ambush.

Struck head-on by an IED, the rubber-tired armored vehicle was swallowed
up in the bomb crater. Insurgents emerged from hiding, firing RPGs in
unison.

The Stryker crew was trapped. One U.S. soldier was killed. All nine
other crewmembers were wounded, though six later returned to duty.

The other Stryker was destroyed when a roadside bomb exploded as the
armored fighting vehicle drove over it. The nine-man squad got out
alive, three with injuries.

"It was quite an introduction to Diyala," said Sgt. William Rose of the
5-20's 3rd platoon, Alpha company. "That was the most contact we've had
in weeks, maybe months," said Rose, a 26-year-old Arlington, Mass.,
native.

"They always say the next place we're going is the worst - the most
violent - and it never turns out to be the case," Rose said. "They
really meant it this time."

Violence has risen dramatically in Diyala since the launch of the
Baghdad security operation on Feb. 14. Insurgents have slowly been
taking control for months, however. Attacks on American forces in the
province have shot up 70% since last July, according to military
figures.

The Stryker group sent to fight the insurgents was hand-picked by Gen.
Ray Odierno, the second in command of all U.S. forces in Iraq. It marked
the opening of a new front in the Baghdad security operation, a
broadening of the operation for which President Bush has promised more
than 20,000 additional soldiers.

The Stryker group arrived in Baqouba on Tuesday full of optimism about
pacifying Diyala, as they had done earlier in parts of Baghdad and the
northern city of Mosul.

Confidence faded Wednesday in the hail of insurgent fire and news of
casualties among comrades.

"Our first day and we lost one already," said 22-year-old Spc. Jose
Charriez of Hermiston, Ore. "You realize how quickly your life can go."

He and his comrades went through names trying to figure out who had been
killed. A young private bowed his head in prayer.

"One killed in action and nine casualties. That's basically all of us
right here," said Spc. Anthony Bradshaw, a 21-year-old from San Antonio,
pointing to the nine men around him.

Hunkered down in their vehicles, the 3rd platoon were itching to get out
and into the fight. They are infantrymen trained for foot patrols, not
to ride in armored vehicles, they said. And the news of the two lost
vehicles fueled their determination.

Then the order came: dismount, clear houses to the north.

At the back of the Stryker, the hatch dropped open, and nine soldiers
piled out. They took cover on the front porch of an abandoned house and
plotted their path. Explosions rang out to the east, source unknown.

They crouched behind a crumbling cement wall separating overgrown lawns
where rusted garbage trucks lay. With large red wire cutters, Spc.
Jeremiah Westerfeld, 22, ripped through concertina wire to allow
soldiers to scramble over the wall.

The Batesville, Ind., native bent over and offered a visiting reporter
his shoulder as a step to break her fall.

They dropped down into a scruffy yard, thick with foliage and muddy
ruts. A dog barked wildly. Smoke grenades were thrown for cover.

Someone shot the dog.

Doors were kicked in, residents questioned. One vacant house was
booby-trapped with a trip wire connected to a homemade bomb made from a
propane tank.

Throughout the day, soldiers took aim but seldom got a clear shot on the
elusive enemy that hid behind rooftop water tanks and vanished in lush
palm groves. Gunfire seemed to come from nowhere and from everywhere.

Insurgent fire kicked up pebbles at the Americans' feet as they ran
between buildings. Enemy bullets were getting more accurate.

In Baghdad, the 5-20 had found little resistance as the unit scoured
suspected insurgent dens in neighborhoods around Sadr City. They often
drank tea with locals.

Things were different in Diyala, which could prove far more difficult to
tame than Baghdad.

"I think the chai (tea) days - the quiet days - are over," said
24-year-old Pfc. Allen Groth of Winona, Minn.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 330 bytes
Desc: image001.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0011.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 15057 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0008.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image003.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0012.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 152 bytes
Desc: image004.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0013.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image005.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0014.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image006.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0015.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image007.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0016.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image008.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0017.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image009.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0018.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image010.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0019.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2207 bytes
Desc: image011.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0009.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 73 bytes
Desc: image012.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0020.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 43 bytes
Desc: image013.gif
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0021.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2476 bytes
Desc: image014.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0010.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1987 bytes
Desc: image015.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0011.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 2718 bytes
Desc: image016.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0012.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 1842 bytes
Desc: image017.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0013.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 4867 bytes
Desc: image018.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0014.jpe 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 58620 bytes
Desc: image019.jpg
Url : http://www.battlegroupboston.org/pipermail/bgb/attachments/20070316/1aafe30d/attachment-0015.jpe

More information about the BGB mailing list