Posted on 12/31/2003 2:49:53 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
BALAD, Iraq - Stryker brigade soldiers are certain that sooner or later, they're going to catch the crew that's been lobbing mortars at their base camp.
Troops from Fort Lewis' 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment say they'll corner the bad guys trying to flee after an attack, or scoop them up in a raid on their homes. Or bad guys will linger too long at their shoot site and the brigade's artillery will get them.
"But what do they do in the interim?" said the battalion's operations officer, Maj. Larry Perino.
Mortars have been a consistent threat to U.S. troops operating north and west of Baghdad. While most of the time the fire is way off target, occasionally a round strikes home.
Two soldiers were killed and four wounded on Christmas when guerrillas mortared the U.S. base near Baquoba. They were from the 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas.
Those mortar deaths happened about 30 miles southeast of Forward Operating Base Eagle, where the 2-3 is headquartered.
Eagle was mortared on Christmas. Five rounds fell just outside the perimeter at dusk as soldiers were digging into their holiday meal.
Another round landed at about the same time the next day on the other side of the camp.
Then, about 10 o'clock the next morning, Saturday, another three or four rounds struck, this time at least one of them inside the perimeter.
There were no injuries in any of the attacks on Eagle, where roughly 250 of the 5,000 Stryker soldiers are based. The closest rounds landed within 250 yards of the nearest occupied structure in the camp.
"I was standing up there on top of my Stryker, and then bwoosh!" said Spc. David Stine, who said he saw three explosions Saturday, two of them not far from the camp's fuel point.
Within about five minutes, there were more explosions, but these were a couple miles or so to the north. It was fire from the good guys at Camp Pacesetter, the main Stryker brigade base camp about 15 miles away - 155 mm Howitzers raining steel on the spot where the mortars were likely fired.
Pacesetter is home to two gun battalions - the Stryker brigade's 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment and another from the 4th Infantry Division - as well as counterbattery radars that are meant to detect enemy fire.
For some reason, the radars failed to pick up the first two nights' attacks at Eagle. But they worked correctly on the third, and within about five minutes, an artillery battery fired 15 rounds.
The radars are precise, plotting the point of origin to within about 10 meters. Operators say they can track almost any kind of gunfire.
A platoon of soldiers from Eagle hurried to the scene after the shooting stopped.
They found a couple of rocket-propelled grenade launchers, some empty AK-47 magazines and bayonets - and three donkeys and a couple of donkey carts.
One animal was dead, its hindquarters chewed up by shrapnel from the artillery fire. The rounds detonated about seven or eight feet off the ground, sending hot metal spraying in all directions.
Another donkey had a wound to one of its hind legs, but like the third, it was chomping nervously on tall grass.
The Iraqi mortar crew apparently escaped. They might have used the donkeys to haul their gun tube and rounds to the site, disguising themselves as farmers.
Lt. Col. Gordie Flowers, the 2-3 battalion commander, said the guerrillas know the drill: Shoot, and get out of there.
"This has been going on for eight months now," he said. The ones who aren't dead or in custody have learned not to hang around after they fire.
On the first two nights, without the radar's hits, the battalion had to try to figure out where the rounds came from by examining the craters they created.
It's not as much guesswork as it might seem. There's the range of the rounds to take into account and the surrounding terrain and location of nearby roads and trails. The shooters must have a way to escape quickly.
And they weigh intelligence they've received about specific persons known to store caches of ammunition or run anticoalition operations.
The battalion increased patrols over the last several days and put up flash checkpoints on several key roads at night. Several times, drivers approached with their lights out, then made quick U-turns and sped away despite warning shots, Perino said.
Civil affairs officers also put out the word among the locals that they'll pay for any mortars turned in - and more for information about who's doing the shooting.
On Sunday, 2-3's Alpha Company conducted raids on nine homes in the area based on information gleaned from informants, Flowers said, but didn't find any mortars or their shooters.
On Tuesday night, the gunners at Pacesetter shot what they call "H&I" fire - for harassment and interdiction - at likely mortar spots.
Also on Tuesday, the battalion's Bravo Company detained six men in a raid on what was thought to be a meeting of area guerrilla planners, Flowers and Perino said.
If nothing else, the increased pressure apparently has halted the attacks on Eagle - at least temporarily.
"I say that, and there'll be a mortar round tomorrow," Flowers said, knocking on a wooden table.
"But we've at least got them disrupted. ... You go after people and start getting their friends, and they start going to ground."
Michael Gilbert: mjgilbert41@yahoo.com
We should even be working on a min-Patriot system to intercept incoming mortar rounds to defeat the entire shoot-and-scoot mortar attack concept. Technology marches on . . .
We already have it. Laser system we've developed with the Israelis and are still testing. We've tested it successfully against artillery shells, but it's mainly intended to short down the low tech rockets that get flung at Israeli settlements.
We should even be working on a min-Patriot system to intercept incoming mortar rounds to defeat the entire shoot-and-scoot mortar attack concept. Technology marches on . . .
Well, sort of. The Stryker mortar carriers don't have the gun tubes mounted inside the vehicle- the axles won't it, and there's not enough room in a Stryker for 360º traverse of a mortar tube as there is an a M106 or M1064 mortar carrier, which the Stryker Mafia won't use since those vehicles have tracks. So the guns are set up outside the vehicles, and unless they're pointed in the right direction, the Stryker unit has to instead request a fire mission from adjoining artillery units, instead of immediately returning fire with their own mortars.
Of course, if the other side ever goes up against a Stryker unit's mortar team and that enemy has mortar locating radar, the return fire will likely be coming down just as the Stryker crews are trying to break down their mortar tubes and stow them aboard their vehicles.
At the NTC field tests of the Stryker, the only reason the Opposing Force mortar teams didn't wax the bogged-down Strykers was that they were ordered not to fire on the helpless Stryker teams.
Air drop of light infantry to secure the landing field (Bicycle lake) was done with 12 C-130s loaded with a total of about 600 soldiers and two artillery tube drop packages. Drop started at 2:10 AM. First drops were the artillery. Then for the next 45 minutes the battalion dropped from the sky. OPFOR was in position to lob motors at the rather noisy and bright airdrop, but was not allowed. Lots of VIPs watching from bleachers(over 200 generals scheduled to visit NTC during MC02). Drop was very impressive, even when viewed via Low light TV. Only 3 soldiers and two O/Cs injured in the drop. Took a long time to regroup on the ground. At 4 am, the tarantulas were still trying to figure out who had jumped, location of units and injury list. The blueforce soldiers were stil wandering/regrouping on Bicycle lake. Looked like another hour before they would be ready for combat. Majority of OPFOR were out of direct and indirect fire range. Looked like a company minus of OPFOR. Some engagements/ clashes with OPFOR planned for that day. HUMMWV surrogates for the mobile gun system will be principle blueforce fire power.
The Stryker air lift was delayed because the AF wanted to land under limited vis conditions so the whole rotation/demo was delayed about a day. No problem the OPFOR was more than happy to be finally allowed to use its mortars. AF had not delivered any Q-16 counterbattery radars so the blueforce got mangled up in front of a lot of VIPs. Another example of the fine joint spirit that permeates the experiment.
...Within about five minutes, there were more explosions....fire from the good guys at Camp Pacesetter, the main Stryker brigade base camp about 15 miles away - 155 mm Howitzers raining steel on the spot where the mortars were likely fired.
...Lt. Col. Gordie Flowers, the 2-3 battalion commander, said the guerrillas know the drill: Shoot, and get out of there.
The battalion increased patrols over the last several days and put up flash checkpoints on several key roads at night....
If nothing else, the increased pressure apparently has halted the attacks on Eagle - at least temporarily.
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Stryker Brigade: Battery A, 1st Bn, 37th FA, 3rd BDE, 2ID = A/1-37FA/3/2, ping! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Whoo hoo!
Happy New Year !!!
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