Two Iraqi missiles believed to be Al Fatah surface-to-surface missiles with a range of more than 90 miles lie in a culvert after Stryker brigade soldiers found them Monday.
Posted on 12/16/2003 3:51:32 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
NEAR DULUIYAH, Iraq - Stryker brigade soldiers killed 11 Iraqi fighters who ambushed them Monday with small-arms fire, an improvised bomb, mortars and a rocket-propelled grenade, brigade officials said.
No brigade soldiers were hurt in the 45-minute firefight, which started just as school was letting out in an urban area several miles from the Stryker base camp.
It was the first sustained fighting for the troops from Fort Lewis since they arrived in Iraq 10 days ago.
Also Monday, brigade infantrymen found what are believed to be two medium-range surface-to-surface missiles in a remote desert culvert.
They went to the site on a tip they'd find numerous shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles. Instead, they discovered what experts think are Al Fatah missiles, capable of delivering a warhead more than 90 miles.
It was the busiest day yet for Stryker troops, who were out to reconnoiter their area and assess the mood of local Iraqis after the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment learned that the locals have mixed feelings.
Soldiers from B Company, 2nd Platoon heard folks at a gas station tell them they were happy at the news of Saddam's arrest and that they blamed their lack of security on regime holdouts, according to a battalion report of the afternoon's operations.
But soon after the pleasantries, a man on a motorcycle fired an AK-47 at the rear of the platoon's convoy, which included at least four Stryker vehicles, according to the report.
"It was difficult to return fire because a school in the area had just been let out and the area was swarming with children," said the report.
Battalion officials think the shooting was meant to drive the convoy toward other shooters in a nearby field and then to an improvised bomb planted in a berm. It detonated without harming any U.S. forces or vehicles.
The soldiers got out of the vehicles and returned fire, brigade spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Piek said.
Because of the crowds of schoolchildren, a platoon sniper did much of the shooting, apparently killing seven of the gunmen who fired on the convoy from the field, according to the report.
The insurgents also fired an RPG at the convoy, but it missed and struck a van instead, although it did not explode. They also fired mortars, which likewise missed, according to the report.
B Company sent 3rd platoon in to help, and then the battalion dispatched A Company. By 2:30 p.m., the fighting was over and they all cleared the area.
For security reasons, the brigade is prohibiting reporting on the exact location of the firefight.
Elsewhere, soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment's A Company found the missiles about 15 miles or so west of the brigade's base camp.
The company escorted an ordnance disposal team to the site, thinking that they'd simply destroy the shoulder-fired antiaircraft rockets they expected to find there.
But the big missiles, which looked to be about 25 feet long, were another matter entirely. The bomb team, Capt. Joseph Popielarcheck and Sgt. 1st Class Michael Emelio, said they'd seen this kind maybe a couple of times before, but this was their first encounter with them in the wild, so to speak.
Iraq is littered with thousands of weapons caches that reportedly will take years for U.S. forces to recover and destroy or pass on to the reformed Iraqi military. Last week, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment soldiers found two such caches and recovered a mortar tube and mortars, RPGs, nine AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition.
While Stryker soldiers waited at the scene, three men from a nearby village approached and through an interpreter said the missiles had been there about six months, said Lt. Christian Durham, the A Company executive officer. They claimed U.S. forces had seen them there before but had done nothing.
Soldiers said they doubted that, but considering the difficulty of lifting and moving two, possibly unstable, 1,000-pound missiles, they could see how others might've passed on the challenge.
The nose cone of one of the missiles appeared to have been tampered with.
The company called for a flatbed truck and an M88 recovery vehicle - a big tracked rig with a boom for pulling tanks and trucks out of tough spots.
But due to communication problems with the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment headquarters, the recovery units weren't sent before it started to get dark.
Then the lightning started, and the ordnance disposal guys said the job would have to wait for better weather. Soldiers were dispatched to secure the site, and A Company moved on.
Soldiers from the company's 1st platoon reported they were fired on by two men on their way to the missile site. Soldiers said they returned fire as the men fled into a building, but the convoy moved on without further pursuing the shooters.
Michael Gilbert: mjgilbert41@yahoo.com For regular reports on Fort Lewis' Stryker brigade, including the latest stories by News Tribune embedded reporter Michael Gilbert, sign up for your Stryker Brigade e-mail newsletter by registering at www.tribnet.com/registration.
Two Iraqi missiles believed to be Al Fatah surface-to-surface missiles with a range of more than 90 miles lie in a culvert after Stryker brigade soldiers found them Monday.
Time and again one notes the Arabs' utter disregard for the safety of Women and Children. This is no coincidence, the Arab never had the tradition of Chivalry as we did in the West, and posesses a different mentality.
The PC feel good movement tried to convice us that "all cultures are essentially the same" this is not true. Some are inferior.
Saddam was captured based on human intelligence followed up with foot-soldiers walking the ground and finding his hole with their organic optical sensors (sometimes called eyes). And this situation was handled the same way Sergeant York took care of business--a competent marksman with his rifle hitting the target. We spend billions on technology, but winning or losing at the cutting edge is always based on the human factor.
11 fewer jihadist scum. Thank God! Hope they successfully follow up on the cretin who thought he got away...by ducking into his house.
The use of the school children as cover is truly evil. Hence ABC/CBS and the NYT will never publicize this. Not PC. They just want American bodybags to count.
That's a large part of the SBCT doctrine: When you can't use your big hammer, bring out the tack hammer.
The technology of the sniper rifle, on its surface, would be recognizable. But the "hidden technologies" that are important in bringing it to hand would blow that grognard's mind.
I was really surprised at the differences between the MTOE of a Stryker Brigade Combat Team (at the battalion level) and that of a regular mech inf. Lots more personal firepower for the Strykers.
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