Marines Stop Insurgents With Vehicle Checkpoints

MUDIQ, Iraq, Nov. 21 2006 — Iraqis now drive on safe roads thanks to the Marines who set up vehicle checkpoints here on a daily basis.

That credit goes to Marines of Jump Platoon, Headquarters and Service Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment.

"It's making it harder for insurgents to move any contraband through the main routes of travel," said Sgt. Robert E. Mitterando, platoon sergeant for Jump Platoon.

"If you were a car thief or burglar and you saw your friend getting 'rolled up,' you'd think, 'Damn, these guys mean business. We're not playing around. If you work with insurgents or are an insurgent, we're going to stop you."

The 24 year old from Mastic Beach, N.Y., and his Jump Platoon use hasty vehicle checkpoints (VCPs), on-the-spot car searchs, to control what traffic comes in and out of their area of operations.

Mitterando said the searches have been working. He recalled one instance specifically.

"We waved the flag and usually guys stop, but this guy didn't stop," Mitterando said. "That's when he finally stopped. Then we dismounted and searched the vehicle."

Mitterando and his crew didn't find anything in the car so they tested the guys' hands for any ammunition residue. One man tested positive for gun residue and the other tested negative.

"However, we took both in because one was consorting with the other," Mitterando said.

"I'd say that we've picked up at least seven people from hasty VCPs from five different vehicles," Mitterando said. "We're going to keep doing like were doing. It's an ongoing effort."

Marines of Jump Platoon think in time their efforts will show the bad guys that no one can just smuggle anything

anywhere, said Cpl. Michael L. Deibert, a 23-year-old vehicle driver for Jump Platoon, who is also an administrate clerk.

"We do VCPs to catch insurgents and IED-making materials," Deibert said. "It also shows civilians that we're in a continuous effort to fight insurgents and keep them safe."

"It makes the convoy safer," said Cpl. Mario O. Huerta, a radio operator with Jump Platoon. "We don't have to worry about suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices." It's because the 22 year old from Dallas makes an example out of cars that break the rules. Huerta remembers one time they had to stop a vehicle that refused to halt. When Huerta and others searched the vehicle, they found that the driver didn't own the truck.

He was right. Huerta and his fellow Marines found that the driver had to pluck wires under the dash to turn the truck off.

"The vehicle was 'hot wired,'" explained Sgt. Coleman Hyer, a motor transport mechanic with Jump Platoon.

It was then the 21-year-old dismount from Oregon, and the rest of the Jump Platoon apprehended and detained the two men by a building there.

"Then I Company sent out a patrol of troops from their combat outpost to tow the truck and escort the detainees out of the area," said Cpl. Craig Ledsome.

The 24 year old from Austin, Texas, said all the events happened in front of the Iraqis shopping at the marketplace there. That's how he and his fellow Marines like it. The Jump Platoon wants their hasty VCPs to keep Iraqis safe and send a strong message to insurgents and their associates.

"If you were a car thief or burglar and you saw your friend getting 'rolled up,' you'd think, 'Damn, these guys mean business,'" Hyer said. "We're not playing around. If you work with insurgents or are an insurgent, we're going to stop you."

FYI: Posted on In From the Cold by Former Spook. A similar story was posted by Bill Roggio on the Fourth Rail. Could it be we are administering "whoop arse" lately? Note the last paragraph which is really sad as a comment...

Monday, November 20, 2006

Big Battle Near Bagdad?
I'm getting word of a big battle last week between terrorists and elements of the 82nd Airborne, east of Baghdad, near the Iranian border. According to one U.S. officer, the fighting "was intense," and the battle was one of the "five biggest" between our troops and insurgents in recent years. As many as one hundred terrorists were killed in the battle; American losses were described as light, although one member of the 82nd said at least three U.S. officers died in the fighting, including a company commander.

Late last week, Bill Roggio had an excellent round-up of recent clashes between the terrorists and U.S. forces, although most of his report focused on activity near Kirkuk, Baquba, and Ramadi. The battle described to me was about 100 miles east of Baghdad, where elements of the 82nd discovered (and attacked) a terrorist training center. The division has been focusing a lot of activity in that area as of late, trying to reduce the flow of fighters and material support from Iran.

In his report, Mr. Roggio also has a timely link to Michael Fumento's recent dispatch from Ramadi, where U.S. snipers have exacted a devastating toll on the enemy. A sniper team from the 1/506th reportedly accounted for 120 enemy kills during a recent deployment in the Ramadi area. Naturally, you won't see any video from our snipers on CNN, but there's a larger point that's missing as well: as Bill Roggio notes, virtually all of this coalition activity flew "under the radar scope" of the MSM, which focused (instead) on the daily ration of car bombings and killings in Baghdad.

The only troubling aspect of the battle I was told about? According to one 82nd officer, Iraqi security forces "watched" our troops as they carried out the tough fight near the border. That's not a statement that builds confidence in the Iraqis' ability to eventually do the job on their own.

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