Prepared for the Worst, Hoping for the Best - Task Force Lancer, Sadr City

U.S. Army Sgt. Michael Adkins, a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, and a Bay Town, Texas native, examines where a rocket-propelled grenade struck the armor plating on his Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle during a "movement to contact" patrol in Sadr City. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Erik LeDrew

Prepared for the Worst, Hoping for the Best

Task Force Lancer Up to the Task of Defeating Illegal Militia

By U.S. Army Pfc. Erik LeDrew / 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP EAGLE, BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 17, 2004 — They mount up in their Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicles, tracked beasts that are smaller, slightly less frightening than the behemoth Abrams tank, and yet are far more maneuverable. These soldiers are prepared for the worst, hoping for the best.

On any given day and at any given time, these troopers, the soldiers of Task Force Lancer, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, are policing and patrolling the over-crowded-yet sometimes forebodingly empty-streets of Baghdad’s infamous Al-Thawra District, commonly referred to as “Sadr City.”

One such “movement-to-contact” patrol rolled out of Camp Eagle’s gates just after 4:00 a.m.

The patrol entered the southern portion of Sadr City minutes later, still cloaked in the darkness of early morning, with only the incessant squeaking of the Bradley’s treads to give away the patrol’s presence.

It was quiet at first -- too quiet as that well-worn saying goes. Rounded slivers of heat could be seen intermittently on the Bradley’s thermal scanners, signatures that were easily discerned to be people suspiciously peeking out from behind walls.

With the exception of a few rapid engagements, pausing every now and again to properly clear an intersection, the patrol remained fairly uneventful as the sun began to rise.

Then reports came in saying that a group of rocket-propelled grenade gunners had been spotted running down the alley parallel to the patrol’s route. So the patrol paused and before long, those suspicious peeking heads were visible on the monitors again.

The patrol sat, waiting for the insurgents to try to get off a shot, but nothing happened. They merely peeked out from time to time.

Finally tired of waiting, the patrol decided to press onward another block. As the lead Abrams rounded the corner, it encountered a barricade of tires on one side of the street. They attempted to go around the obstacle, the patrol in-tow.

“The thing that makes it most difficult to properly patrol the city is that these [insurgents] have gotten very, very good at making and placing [improvised explosive devices],” said Joshua, Texas native, Spc. Jeff Judkins of Headquarters Company, 2-5 Cavalry. “They’ll put remote-detonated [improvised explosive device] under the pavement in the road or disguise them as trash.”

The Abrams drove past the barricade without incident, but as the first Bradley began to pass by the barricade, an improvised explosive device buried in the pavement was detonated underneath it.

Joshua, Texas native Spc. Jeff Judkins, a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, tightens the track tension on his Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle, conducting routine maintenance on his vehicle at Camp Ironhorse in eastern Baghdad. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Erik LeDrew

The patrol waited for a damage assessment as rocket-propelled grenades began raining down on them from the surrounding rooftops.

The patrol returned fire with high-explosive rounds from the Bradley’s 25-millimeter guns, launching them in the direction of the incoming fire.

Another improvised explosive device was detonated after the patrol had turned around. The patrol pressed onward.

“We encountered six [improvised explosive devices] during that one patrol,” said Lt. Col. Gary Volesky, commander of 2-5 Cavalry and a native of Spokane, Wash. “[We] killed I don’t know how many insurgents.”

Since arriving to take over control of Sadr City March 31, 2-5 Cavalry. has constantly conducted such patrols through two Shia insurgencies, the first one lasting from April 4 until the middle of June, leaving Sadr City with a month of relative peace, before fighting broke out again in eastern Baghdad Aug. 5.

“We had 82 days of sustained combat from April to June, followed by a month where we switched from lethal to non-lethal operations,” Volesky said. “And then August 5th, we went right back into lethal operations without missing a beat.”

2-5 Cavalry passed the 90-day mark of combat operations August 13. During that period, they have engaged countless enemies and lost a few of its own soldiers.

“Frankly, we’ve killed far more enemy that I’d have cared to,” Volesky was quick to point out, “because the only way we’re going to win this thing is by improving the people of Sadr City’s quality of life, not by pulling triggers.”

However, until the illegal militia in Sadr City agree to another ceasefire, Volesky maintains that his battalion is ready to react to whatever contact the enemy has to offer his soldiers.

“Our mission here is the most important mission I’ve had in 20 years of service,” he said. “My battalion has never failed a mission, and we’re not going to fail this one.”

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