Posted on 05/19/2004 10:25:07 PM PDT by Jewels1091
CAMP BLACK JACK, Iraq — Any way you look at it, it was a big score.
First Cavalry Division officials are analyzing artillery shells that were part of a weapons cache seized Saturday night outside Baghdad.
Ordnance experts are analyzing the shells, trying to determine if they’re conventional 155 mm artillery shells or if they contain other substances, including sarin nerve gas or phosphorus, said Maj. Derik von Recum, spokesman for the 1st Cav’s 2nd Brigade.
On Saturday, a roadside bomb using a 155 mm shell filled with sarin exploded in Baghdad. It’s unclear whether that bomb is connected to this weapons cache.
Some of the shells were leaking, according to soldiers on the scene. Even if the shells turn out to be conventional, it would still be one of the most significant weapons seizures during the Fort Hood, Texas-based 1st Cav’s four months in Iraq.
A team of Dark Horse scouts from 2nd Platoon, Troop D, part of the 1st Cav’s 9th Cavalry Regiment, seized the cache, which included 43 artillery shells, each weighing about 90 pounds.
Slowly, word began to filter back to the scouts from explosive disposal soldiers that the find might be more significant than first thought.
“Frankly, it meant more to me when it was 4,000 pounds of explosive,” said Spc. Owen Starlin, the M-240B gunner who spotted four Iraqis unloading the cache. “That’s just [really] huge.”
Starlin and other soldiers say that even if the find turns out not to contain sarin, it’s still 43 fewer roadside bombs, the only way insurgents can use howitzer shells.
The night started out routinely, with two teams of scouts working observation points in a rural area northwest of central Baghdad.
Starlin said he was scanning outside his sector — looking past an earthen berm concealing his position — with high-powered night surveillance equipment when he noticed four Iraqis pull up and start working with irrigation equipment.
He didn’t pay much attention: “They’re always messing with irrigation.”
But on a second scan, he saw the men begin pulling munitions out of the small flatbed truck.
“I yelled to [Pfc. Keith] Haynie, ‘Hey, we got a lot of rounds!’ At that point, we knew it was huge,” Starlin said.
The men kept pulling out 155 mm artillery shells, one after another, he said.
At a relatively close range, Starlin said he could have taken out the men with his 240B.
“I said, ‘I’ve got eyes on them. You need to let me light them up?’ That’s an easy shot.”
Instead, the order came to try to capture the men along with their cache.
As scouts closed in, the men ran for it. A poor decision.
“I saw four running. [Spc. Mike] McCormick and I probably fired 200 rounds each. Then I looked and only saw one running,” Starlin said.
After that, the two gunners fired on the palm grove where they believed the remaining man was hiding, but found no bodies in the tall grass.
What they did find was artillery shells and fuses, four Russian-made AT-3 Sagger anti-tank guided missiles, an improvised rocket launcher capable of firing nine rockets simultaneously, and assorted weapons including a G-3 Heckler and Koch German-made assault rifle, said Haynie.
“When we walked up there, there were five or six holes, each 3 feet across and 4 feet long,” Starlin said.
Each hole was full of artillery shells, with more rounds set in between the holes, he said. He considers the night “an early birthday present,” with the seizure coming two days before his 21st birthday, Starlin said.
The seizure is one more in a string of productive nights for the Dark Horse scouts, who’ve killed or captured at least 30 insurgents since March. They have also scored major intelligence coups, including lists of insurgent leaders and addresses, as well as lists documenting attacks against U.S. soldiers.
“Usually, the main emphasis is firefights,” Stalin said. “That night, no one cared about the firefight. It was so big that everyone realized firefights are one thing … but we all knew when we saw [the cache] we had saved a lot of lives that night.”
Nice cache catch! BUMP!
I got dibs on the HK...
The source is Stars & Stripes.. wonder how long ago this actually occured.
Bump^ tx for the ping!
"The source is Stars & Stripes.. wonder how long ago this actually occured"
Stars and Stripes is a daily paper over there. For awhile there was a delay in us getting recent copies in Iraq. But they've actually started printing the edition we got in baghdad, at a facility in Kuwait, so we were getting them the day they were printed. My guess is that it had to have happened in the last few days.
Thanks for the update to modernity!
Thomas Sowell yesterday in IBD:
"Since the whole purpose of terrorism is to maximize fear from whatever acts they can get away with, the media are making themselves accomplices of our enemies."
In case you don't know, the artillery is called the "King of Battle" for a specific reason. It is based of the fact that the infantry is "The Queen of Battle". The King is always willing to place the balls where the Queen wants them.
"I am just remembering the 'Stars & Lies' from my years in WESTPac, and that was looooooooooong ago."
Well about 3-4 years ago Stars and Striles was taken over again by DoD.
Unfortuneately Army Times and the other "Times" papers are owned by Gannett News (USA Today) and they aren't as military friendly in some of their articles as their names would claim indicate.
Yes I'm aware of that part. But it also irks the Infantry becasue of the "Follow Me" part. They seem to think that everyone else supports them! LOL!
Now wonder the editorials are like they are. Sheesh...
It means "back to the top" or "bump to the top" because anytime a post is made to a thread, the thread is "bumped" to the top of the list of articles on the main page (News/Activism...or whatever main page you're looking at) until, of course, someone makes another post to another thread. Then that thread is on the top of the list. etc...
Not bad for a military that was supposed to be decimated by the brutal Afghan winter, and rendered completely helpless by a big sandstorm on the way to Baghdad.
I hope all these are found to be positive. Since the left has been allowed to move the goal posts to "stockpiles" well 155 shells sounds like a stockpile of WMD to me.
Check this article out by Timmerman:
"Saddams WMD have been found"
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?include=detail&storyid=670120
"I am the Infantry. SWALLOW ME"
I was also lead to believe that, but many a time, the EOD folks were sent into the areas the infantry was leaving. I never quite understood that, because according to the Army, due to my poor eyesight, I was not combat qualified.
When I commanded the EOD detachment in Korea in 68/69 we use to work the DMZ quite a bit, and it was quite hot in there at that time. I, too, gave the command to my men, always trying to set the example, of "Follow Me". Of course I was always facing south when I uttered those words.
Bumping for a later read. Thanks.
.
1st Cav's Opening Days of the Vietnam War:
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm (Set #1 Photos)
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm (Photo Collection)
.
Not shells, remote pesticide delivery systems. Strictly for agricultural use.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.