Posted on 12/05/2003 2:53:44 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
NORTH OF BAGHDAD, Iraq - Nobody shot at them or tried to blow them up, and everyone arrived in one piece.
The Stryker brigade's first series of convoys, the advance party, made it safely to their destination in northern Iraq after another long ride Thursday.
Much larger numbers were to arrive today and later until most of the Fort Lewis brigade's 5,000 or so soldiers get here to make the base one of the largest cities in this area.
For security reasons, the Army will not allow The News Tribune to report the location of the camp or the brigade's mission, at least for the present.
But it was with a mixture of exhilaration and relief that the soldiers in the advance party pulled into the camp Thursday afternoon. For a couple of weeks, they drilled on the major threats to U.S. forces on the Iraqi roadways - improvised explosive devices along the roadways and ambushes with rocket-propelled grenades.
Many were convinced they'd be struck at some point along the trip.
"It's not at all like I thought it would be," said Sgt. David Williams, who manned the .50-caliber machine gun atop the Humvee of company commander Capt. Vinnie Bellisario.
Which was?
"Like hell," Williams said.
"That's good, though," he added.
Particularly considering the route. Military police cleared at least 18 roadside bombs - or IEDs, short for improvised explosive devices - along the way over the past couple days, Bellisario said.
"We went through IED alley, we went through RPG alley. No contact whatsoever," he said. "Must be our lucky day."
Not only that, it was clear and warm enough after the previous day's cold rain.
The 200 or so vehicles in the convoy stopped for fuel at Saddam Hussein's old Al Taji air base, which the Army has converted to a convoy support center.
It's also where U.S. forces are storing hundreds of Iraqi tanks, armored personnel carriers, trucks and other military vehicles. They're all lined on a lot, like it's Puyallup's Auto Row or something.
And they passed through Duluiyah, which brigade intelligence officer Maj. Yvette Hopkins says is also known as "the town of 1,000 stares."
It was a Saddam stronghold, hometown of many agents who filled the ranks of his intelligence service.
True to the nickname, the brigade's convoys got many a long, hard look from the men standing along the roadside through town.
American troops had killed a man there the night before when he put a tubular object on his shoulder and aimed it at a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, said Lt. Col. Rob Choppa, the deputy brigade commander.
Along the way Thursday, the Stryker vehicles drew long looks from many military-aged men as the convoys passed. They're a new look in Iraq, on wheels and surrounded by that green steel cage.
Conditions are somewhat austere at the brigade's new home. They need practically everything: power, lights, tents, latrines, food, water, showers - the works.
Check that. There are showers. It's just that at one end of the base, they haven't been plumbed yet, and at the other, they don't have water.
There are latrines. But there are no chemicals, which means nobody can use them. For now, it's burn-barrel latrines.
They need gravel, too, to spread around motor pools and work areas. They've got a contract with a local provider, but somebody shot up a delivery convoy the other day and now they won't bring any more rocks.
It's kind of Spartan, acknowledged Maj. Paul Schlimm of the brigade's 296th Support Battalion. "But we'll make do."
The good news is there have been no mortar attacks or probes of the base by regime holdouts operating in the area.
"Now that we're here, we're probably going to get a lot more attention," Choppa told the soldiers.
Staff writer Michael Gilbert is an embedded journalist with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the Army's first Stryker brigade. He can be reached at mjgilbert41@yahoo.com.
(Published 12:01AM, December 5th, 2003)
archy - ping it to the SBCT TSG (ChABN), please.
archy - ping it to the SBCT TSG (ChABN), please.
SBCT TSG (ChABN) ping on the way!
Wait 'til it is occupied, and knock it over...
************************************
To: Darksheare
Steal it? Nah.
************
Amateurs.
CS grenade boobytraps. Ah, the very memory brings a tear to my eye....[also, a runny nose.]
-archy-/-
The Stryker brigade's first series of convoys, the advance party, made it safely to their destination in northern Iraq after another long ride Thursday.
.....Much larger numbers were to arrive today and later until most of the Fort Lewis brigade's 5,000 or so soldiers get here to make the base one of the largest cities in this area.
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Very good news!
To join Freepers praying for the protection of the Stryker Brigade. Y
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Stryker news!
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