The Cool Blue Blog

Reporter Rescue?

I wonder who the reporter mentioned below is? Could it be Mohammed Siddi, bodyguard of VOA reporter Alisha Ryu who was kidnapped in May and is mistakenly identified as a reporter?

U.S. Soldiers Free VOA reporter, Seize Terrorists

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 16, 2006 – U.S. soldiers freed a kidnapped Voice of America journalist and captured four suspected terrorists in two separate operations in Baghdad July 14, officials in Iraq reported.

Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers rescued a kidnapped Voice of America reporter in southeast Baghdad. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, had observed four men dumping a bound-and-gagged body from their vehicle.

The soldiers engaged the suspects with small-arms fire, but the men escaped into a nearby palm grove. The U.S. soldiers had first believed that the suspects in the car were dumping a corpse.

However, the soldiers found the missing reporter and transported him back to a coalition forces forward operating base.   

In another action, Multinational Division Baghdad soldiers detained four suspects and seized weapons during a combat patrol in northern Baghdad July 14.

Soldiers from 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, had stopped a suspicious-looking minivan and found a PKC machine gun, a rocket-propelled grenade and a belt of ammunition.

The U.S. soldiers detained the vehicle's four occupants for questioning. During interrogation, one of the suspects provided information that led to a house search that yielded anti-coalition forces propaganda and plans for future attacks.

In other news, Iraqi leaders, soldiers and engineers teamed up to repair some broken water pipe during a project conducted west of Mahmudiyah July 13 and 14.

The Iraqi engineers and soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, worked together for two days to make the repairs. A group of Iraqis led by Sheik Kareem Al Kafawni had gathered outside the Mahmudiyah city council building the previous day to request repairs needed to restore water service to their neighborhood.

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, facilitated a meeting between Mayor Muayed, the city council and neighborhood leaders. The mayor organized local engineers, arranged for the purchase of repair materials and requested that Iraqis perform the job.

After consulting with local officials and residents, Muayed dispatched a repair crew consisting of soldiers and civilian engineers to the worksite. The Iraqi crew completed the repairs early July 14.

(Compiled from Multinational Force-Iraq press releases.)

Update: Alisha Ryu writes in email:

I just read your speculation about the VOA reporter rescue in Baghdad...

Just to set the record straight -- The person rescued was definitely NOT my driver and bodyguard, Mohammed Siddiq.  He was shot to death by a lone gunman near his home back in February.   I don't know who the rescued person was.

The mystery deepens.

The road to Ramadi

Marines engage enemy in Habbaniyah

Story and photo by Cpl. Mark Sixbey
1st Marine Division

CAMP HABBANIYAH, Iraq - Marines of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment engaged insurgents in direct firefights twice in three days at Observation Post Bears along a main route through the city.

The battalion recently built new observation posts along the highway connecting Fallujah and Ramadi, an area near the Euphrates River with no distinct city lines or local government.

Pfc. Matthew Donnelly, an infantryman attached to the battalion, was standing post when the first attack broke out June 10.

“The next thing I know machine guns start opening up on the posts, including mine,” said the 19-year-old from Salem, Ore. “I got down and got my weapon to start shooting.”

Rocket Man

Lance Cpl. Richard M. Mason II, of Medina, Ohio is a 21-year-old assaultman with K Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. His weapon of expertise is is a portable anti-armor rocket launcher known as the Shoulder-Launched Multi-Purpose Assault Weapon or SMAW. Weighing in at 30 pounds fully loaded, it can be used to destroy bunkers and other fortifications and even has the capability to take out  tanks.

“They are calling me ‘Rocket man’ because of all the rockets I’ve fired since we have been here,...It’s an adrenaline rush to be the guy firing the rocket during a firefight.”

Mason has accurately fired 24 rockets in combat and his teammates have dubbed him appropriately.

The enemy is often very sorry to see Lance Cpl Mason show up

One night during an attack on the Government Center, mortar teams launched illumination rounds to give Mason enough light to see his target. However, the objective was not the only thing the flare illuminated; it also exposed Mason’s position on the roof. Insurgents spotted him and rounds came flying his way. That night he fired four rockets in heavy contact to repel the attack....

In another situation, K Company Marines at the Government Center began exchanging machinegun fire with insurgents May 2. The insurgents managed to burrow themselves inside a well fortified building which made it harder for the Marines to eliminate the threat. Mason was ordered to fire a rocket at the building from the rooftop. He scrambled to the rooftop again exposing himself to incoming fire, his teammates laid down suppressive fire and he launched a rocket at the building.

“His quick reactions possibly saved the lives of his fellow Marines. You only get one opportunity to shoot it,” said Goetz. “It leaves a big signature so you need to be on target.”

Just another day in the life of the Rocket Man

Omaha Beach and the USS Arkansas

For this 62nd Anniversary of D-Day, I am reprinting the tribute to my father and his crewmates I wrote for the 60th Anniversary two years ago. For those who know people who served on the "Arky", you may want to visit the comments posted there.

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During WWII my father served on the USS Arkansas, BB-33. She was a Wyoming class battleship. Her keel was laid down at the Camden, NJ shipyard in 1910 and was commissioned in 1912. During WWII, the Arky was the oldest battleship in the fleet.

The Arkansas only had 12 inch main guns while all the other battleships in the fleet at the time had 14 or 16 inchers. For much of WWII, she was assigned to escorting supply ships accross the Atlantic. Between December 1941 to April 1944 she made a total of eight trips across the Atlantic as a convoy escort.

Up until June 6th, 1944, the Arkansas had never fired a shot in anger.

But all that would change at Omaha Beach at 0552 on D-Day

Operation Dragon's Breath

Operation Dragon's Breath

Joint Operation Targets Insurgents in Ramadi Neighborhood

By U.S. Army Sgt. Jeremy Pitcher
124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

RAMADI, Iraq, May 30, 2006 — As the sun rises above the horizon, the silence of a neighborhood is shattered by the roar of armored vehicles. The convoy kicks up dust and rocks, tearing along the makeshift road. It passes two U.S. vehicles burning from a roadside bomb earlier that morning.

It's mid-May, and the 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division is working with Iraqi soldiers from the Iraqi Army's 1st Division to conduct Operation Dragon's Breath in Ramadi.

Humvees pull up to a house, designated to be today's base of operations, on the southern edge of a neighborhood. U.S. soldiers, along with their Iraqi counterparts, are tasked to watch the southern approaches to the neighborhood for any insurgents, while other Iraqi troops sweep the area.

The convoy slows to a stop. U.S. and Iraqi soldiers file to the gated entry of the house. The gate opens with a stern holler and a push. Soldiers pour in, clearing every nook and cranny of the home. As soldiers check the area, the mood is a cautious calm. The troops have done this many times before, but the looks on their faces show that it never becomes a fearless task.

Once the house is secured, the soldiers take up positions in windowsills and on the roof.

Four Iraqi soldiers are among those taking positions; peering around corners and waiting.

In the distance, a loud speaker shouts instructions in Arabic to the neighborhood residents. The instructions convey the troops' intentions - they're trying to make the neighborhood safe.

Iraqi soldiers begin slowly advancing through the neighborhood, rushing through houses and courtyards with tactical precision. U.S. soldiers stand ready, observing while the Iraqis 'leap-frog' - one keeps watch while the other moves forward.

The morning burns away as the sun peaks and smoldering temperatures engulf the city streets. As a bead of sweat trickles down an Iraqi soldier's face, a shot rings out.

Everyone scrambles to find where the shot came from. A sudden burst of fire is heard. Within seconds, the Iraqi soldiers are face-to-face with insurgents. The Iraqi soldiers engage the black-garbed fighters.

Rocket propelled grenades and rifle fire erupts as the Iraqi forces fight forward, killing the insurgent onslaught.

U.S. soldiers hear the shots and bring their weapons eye-level. The insurgents, trying to flank Iraqi soldiers, run into awaiting U.S. troops. The explosion of an insurgent's rocket propelled grenade smashes a home's perimeter wall, while U.S. soldiers bombard the pressing enemy.

With every insurgent shot, the U.S. soldiers try to identify the source and make split-second decisions to engage.

From the sky comes a thunderous blast as an F-18 Hornet fighter jet barrels back into the sky after destroying a pickup truck carrying three insurgents speeding into battle.

As quick as it came, the battle is now over. All the insurgents who came to fight this morning are dead or have retreated.

While the smoke clears, the U.S. soldiers know their training and the training of their Iraqi counterparts was key to the outcome of the battle.

"These are some crazy times we live in, boys. Good thing we're the best," said U.S. Army Pfc. Jason Allen.

Fifteen insurgents were killed in the battle and no U.S. or Iraqi soldiers were injured.

"Today was a good day. Sometimes we get them good, and sometimes they get us. But we are definitely getting better at them not getting us," said U.S. Army Sgt. Anthony Heimos.

U.S. soldiers have seen Iraqi army forces grow in numbers and experience each day. "These Iraqis who were out here with us today are a good group of guys ... with every mission they get better," said U.S. Army Spc. William Willis.

"One day these Iraqi soldiers are going to look back and tell their grandkids, 'I was a part of something great. I got to help make Iraq a free country.'"

Medal for a Darkhorse

Marine 1st Lt Alfred L. Butler IV, is the  Weapons Company executive officer of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment: the Darkhorse battalion. The citation he received with his Bronze Star with Combat Distinguishing Device tells the story

as insurgents ambushed his platoon, Butler rushed to the attack where he found several men pinned under heavy automatic weapons fire on a stairwell. He evacuated them from the house and learned insurgents isolated additional men on the second floor. He quickly organized an assault force and raced to an adjacent house under constant small arms fire to recover the men.

Cpl. Justin Butler, a mortarman in the platoon, saw his platoon commander from across the street while laying suppressive fire.

“When we were on the roof, he was the first one I saw standing up to see the situation while everyone was getting shot at,” said the 21-year-old from Dyer, Ind. “It pumped everybody up that he would do that just to know everything that’s going on.”

The platoon commander led his team as they cleared two buildings, jumping from roof-to-roof to reach them. He shielded the bodies of the fallen Marines when a grenade landed nearby with complete disregard for his own safety, then threw two grenades into a room filled with insurgents.

While delivering cover fire, the lieutenant moved the men across to an adjacent rooftop, personally evacuating a wounded Marine under constant small arms fire and grenade attacks. His actions preserved the lives of the men.

As is the case with most real life heros, Lt Butler credits his Marines

“I owe those Marines my life,” he said. “The things they did that day are the sort of things you read about in books. What they do for each other and what they sacrifice for each other makes you not want to leave the Marine Corps. They hold up the tradition of 3/5 and live up to the legacy.”

Lt Butler's description of that day goes like this

“It was one of those days when everyone ran out of ammo,” said Butler, a graduate of Western Carolina University. “We even used AK-47s.”

Chef outside the wire

Soldier chef serves outside the wire

March 27, 2006              

 

      

Managing dining facility operations is just one of many important jobs Soldier-chefs do here at Forward Operating Base Gabe, Baqubah, Iraq.

There are both male and female Soldiers serving as food service specialists in Fox Company, 4th Infantry Division’s 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion, however, the female Soldiers’ role plays a unique part in cultural awareness and communications with the Iraqi people.

Female Soldier-chefs are called on when male Soldiers encounter an Iraqi female that needs to be searched or questioned. It is culturally unacceptable for males to speak directly to Iraqi women. These troops are at times attached with infantry and other tactical elements that take part in patrols outside of “the wire.”

Pfc. Jennifer Eischens travels along with Alpha Company, 1-68 CAB, to assist with communicating with women encountered on patrols. She plays a crucial role in cultural sensitivities.

Eischens has been in the Army as a Food Service Specialist for 20 months and this is her first deployment.

“It is a change of pace,” says Eichens. “I like to go out on patrol – it makes the days go by faster.”

The dining facilities here are operated mostly by contract employees and third country nationals, leaving the role of the traditional Army food service specialist out of the forward operating base and into the streets, assuming other roles essential to the fight against anti-Iraqi forces and the overall freedom of Iraq.

(Editor’s note: Staff Sgt. Mark Wojciechowski serves with 133rd MPAD.)

One Tough Soldier

U.S. Army Sgt. Kareena Lechner

Soldier rejoins unit after surviving suicide bomb blast.

By U.S. Army Spc. Lee Elder
133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BAQUABAH, Iraq, Jan. 23, 2006 — After being wounded in a suicide bomb blast, a U.S. soldier said there was never any question if she would rejoin her fellow soldiers, just when.

Sgt. Kareena Lechner, assigned military police duties with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, was among six soldiers injured Aug. 23 when an Iraqi with a fake I.D. entered the dining facility at the Provincial Joint Communication Center in Baquabah and blew himself up. Besides taking his own life and destroying the facility, two other U.S. personnel were killed.

"I remember a bright light and the noise," Lechner recalled. "I  pretty well remember all of it very vividly."

The blast destroyed both of Lechner's eardrums, left her with cuts and bruises and shrapnel wounds in both legs. She was evacuated to nearby Forward Operating Base Warhorse and later to Logistical Support Area Anaconda.

Lechner was hospitalized for two weeks. When time came for her  release, she was told she was being transferred.

"I told them I wanted to come back here," Lechner said. "I insisted on it. I talked to my battalion commander and they let me come back here."

While Lechner has recovered physically and bears no visible scars from the incident, she is reminded of it daily. She has to walk past the demolished site where the facility once stood to get to work. Now, all that remains is the outline of a building on the ground and a few piles of rubble.

"It was hard at first," Lechner said. "I just do not want to let things like that bother me."

"She fought through her injuries and came back," said Staff Sgt. Charles Warner, the unit's operations sergeant. "She's earned a lot of respect around here. She's a good NCO and has a lot of heart."

"Lechner is special to all of us," said Sgt. 1st Class Roberto Chavez, the center's noncommissioned officer in charge, "She asked her superiors to send her back here. That says a lot for her character."

And it turns out that female soldiers and Marines are exploding the myths as this report from Wired shows

Female soldiers have long fought off perceptions that their bodies just aren't equipped to handle the rigors of training and warfare. But a decade's worth of research suggests that women are hardly as fragile as critics once thought.

A new study by military researchers found that many assumptions about female bodies are "astoundingly wrong." Women are just as good as men -- in some cases, perhaps even better -- at handling intense exercise and decompression sickness.

The findings, reported in the Journal of Women's Health, don't change the fact that women -- on the whole -- are smaller and less powerful than men. Still, they suggest "that human physiology is more consistent than would be suggested by the social embellishments and exaggerations" that come about when there isn't any actual research, said Col. Karl Friedl, commander of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and co-author of the report (.pdf).

You go girl!

Master Sgt. Sarun Sar

Soldier awarded Silver Star for heroism in Afghan battle

By U.S. Army Sgt. Tim Meyer
U.S. Pacific Command Public Affairs

January 6, 2006

A Special Forces Soldier was awarded the Silver Star for heroism in a firefight while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom during early 2005.

Master Sgt. Sarun Sar received the medal from Brig. Gen. David P. Fridovich, commander, Special Operations Command, in a ceremony at U.S. Pacific Command, Jan. 3.

During the eight months he spent on this tour, his second in Afghanistan, Sar and his team were in the Paktika Province along the Pakistan border, which is one of the poorest in the country. They provided security, health care, and construction projects for "shuras," meetings held with tribal elders to allow them to voice their concerns. On their days off they taught English to local kids and played soccer with them, said Sar.

The day of the attack, Sar’s unit was conducting aerial reconnaissance. In fog and extreme cold, 9,000 feet up a snow-covered mountain in eastern Afghanistan, the first of two Blackhawk helicopters landed and immediately came under enemy fire. Sar landed in the second helicopter, dismounted, and rushed to prevent the enemy from damaging the aircraft and harming his team members.

He pursued one of the attackers into a building, and was struck in the helmet with a round from an AK-47 assault rifle fired from 10 feet away.

“It felt like I was hit in the head with a hammer,” Sar said.

For a moment he was disoriented, but within a few seconds he established that the wound was not life threatening, and continued to fight. After the battle, he and his men administered first aid to two injured Afghan civilians, stabilizing them for medical evacuation to a Coalition hospital.

Of the 12 personnel in that battle, only Sar and another Soldier were wounded.

“This country [U.S.] has given me so much, and this is a small price to pay,” Sar said. “The real hero is the guy in the cemetery right now, he and his family,” referring to his weapons sergeant, who died in a separate battle in June 2005. “He’s the one who gave his life for his country. He’s also an immigrant from Mexico.

"Growing up in a war zone teaches you to be immune to a gunfight," said Sar as he described his childhood during the Vietnam War. Sar gained his first combat experience in his homeland of Cambodia, where his father was arrested by the communist insurgency during the war, and his brothers and sisters were separated from their family. At a very young age he joined the anti-Vietnamese guerillas, was wounded in action several times, and was sent to a refugee camp in Thailand to recover. There he was reunited with his older sister and her two children. After the war, they moved to the United States.

Years later he learned that his father survived the Khmer Rouge regime, was imprisoned in Vietnam for subversion, and passed away from disease. His older brother was caught smuggling weapons for anti-government guerillas and was executed by the Vietnamese. His mother and his two younger brothers died from starvation. Only he and his two sisters survived.

Sar became a U.S. citizen, and was later selected to join the Special Forces, where he has served 15 of his 20 years in the military. He fought in the first Gulf War, and has deployed to Thailand, Cambodia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Africa, Columbia and Afghanistan during his various assignments. He is currently assigned to Special Forces Command-Pacific at Camp Smith, Hawaii.

(Editor’s note; Sgt. Tim Meyer serves with U.S. Pacific Command Public Affairs.)

UPDATE: Ralph Kinney Bennett has written a great peice on MSgt Sar here.

Combat life saver

U.S. Army Sgt. Chad Mahutga

Medic’s Actions Save Lives

By Sgt. Jason Mikeworth
207th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

BALAD, Iraq, Jan. 3, 2006 — It started as a normal August day. Soldiers of Task Force 1/128th comprised of K Troop, 3 rd Squadron, 278th Armored Calvary Regiment and 1st Battalion, 128 th Infantry Regiment, were returning to Forward Operating Base O’Ryan after a successful mission to escort an engineer unit. They were just minutes away from an improvised explosive device changing their lives forever.

The IED, made from two anti-tank mines, detonated beneath the lead vehicle of the patrol, tossing the Humvee into the air and causing it to land on its roof. The smoke and dust obscured the vehicle from the view of the rest of the patrol.

“The first thing I did was give a contact report,” said Sgt. 1st Class Eric Weaver, a platoon sergeant with K Troop. “Then I radioed to the vehicle to see if they had rolled through it.”

There was no answer.

Sgt. Chad Mahutga, a medic with 3rd Platoon, got to the scene as quickly as he could.

“It was like time stood still,” Mahutga said. “As soon as my feet hit the ground, it was like operating on instinct.”

Mahutga went to work organizing a casualty collection point with the help of Combat Life Savers from the engineers and from K Troop. McCullouch ordered another vehicle closer to the scene to help shield the wounded from the rounds that were discharging in the fire.

Ten years of experience as a combat medic were put to feverish use as Mahutga worked to treat shrapnel wounds, head injuries and to keep one soldier’s airway open.

“Doc Mahutga was like a machine. He was doing what he was trained to do,” said McCullouch.

Weaver also expressed his admiration of Mahutga’s actions.

“Sgt. Mahutga is a franchise player, I’m glad he’s on my team,” Weaver said. “None of them would have survived if he hadn’t been there. He took a bad situation and made it better.”