Dismounted infantry ensures success of ‘Iron Fury’

Army News Service ^ | August 26, 2004 | Pfc. Erik LeDrew

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

A Soldier with "Comanche" Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, sights a Dragunov Sniper Rifle to provide counter-sniper fire for his unit against attacking insurgents in Sadr City. The rifle was confiscated from insurgent forces during a raid conducted by Soldiers of Comanche's White Platoon on a house occupied insurgents in mid-August.
Pfc. Erik LeDrew

Dismounted infantry ensures success of ‘Iron Fury’

By Pfc. Erik LeDrew

August 26, 2004

CAMP EAGLE, Baghdad, Iraq (Army News Service, Aug. 26, 2004) -- For every company of armored tanks and Bradleys that pushed into the volatile portion of Baghdad’s Sadhr City during the Iron Horse Brigade's Operation Iron Fury, there was a platoon of dismounted Soldiers like the infantrymen of White Platoon, "Comanche" Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment.

When the call came for 2-5 Cavalry to mount up in their Bradleys and move into Sadr City at 5:15 p.m., August 17, the Soldiers of White Platoon crammed into the troop transport area at the rear of their Bradleys, where they sat with equipment and weapons resting on their laps, waiting to hear that command ring out over the troop speaker in back: "Dropping ramp!"

After rolling out of Camp Eagle's gate, Comanche proceeded to "Route Charlie," a street in Sadr City that was their designated area of responsibility for the operation.

Around 8:15 p.m. that evening, after hours of slowly creeping up Route Charlie in the hopes of spotting an improvised explosive device before it could detonate on one of their vehicles, the Soldiers reached an intersection that was their first-day objective. It was time for the White Platoon to dismount.

Under the imminent threat of rocket-propelled grenade attacks, possible IEDs and sporadic small arms fire, the platoon proceeded to clear several nearby buildings and alleyways, before locating a house where the Soldiers could adequately provide over-watch for the rest of their company staged along Route Charlie.

They spent the night there, hunkered down in make-shift guard positions on the roof of the building, defending the slew of armored vehicles on the streets below from would-be assailants and eliminating persistent insurgent snipers slinging lead their way.

After a night filled with mortars, sniper-fire and very little sleep, the Soldiers raided a nearby house, netting a slew of detainees and a variety of weapons, such as a Dragunov sniper rifle, an AK-47, an RPG launcher with several armor-piercing rocket-propelled grenades and a couple of mortars. They even found a Mahdi Army uniform.

At noon, the platoon piled up in the back of their Bradleys, linked up with the rest of Comanche Company and moved-out to establish another strong-point further up Route Charlie.

The platoon's actions on the first day, and the days that followed were only a small part of Operation Iron Fury. The Soldiers insist that it's all in a day's work for a 2-5 Cavalry trooper.

(Editor’s note: Pfc. Erik LeDrew is assigned to the 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)

[hometoroost]

Don't run, you'll only die tired.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Good guys. ~*~

Spc. Michael Gratace (left) and Pfc. Miguel Miranda (right), both members of White Platoon, "Comanche" Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, take a moment to rest while monitoring the radio in a building their platoon occupied on the second day of Operation Iron Fury in Sadr City, Aug. 18.

                          8Operation Iron Fury ~ Photo Essay

[Boundless]

> They even found a Mahdi Army uniform.

That leaps off the page.

Sounds like al Sadr has pretty serious intentions to
become leader of his own little country.

He needs to be sharing the cell with Saddam.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[Bald Eagle777]

History is clear that you never send tanks, armor etc into a CQB urban setting without significant infantry support. Both the Germans and Russians duked it out hard in countless battles on the Eastern Front in WW-II where significant "armor/infantry" lessons can still be studied. Tanks can be ambushed by fanatical soldiers with mines, molotov cocktails, all kinds of shape-charge devices, explosives, grenades in the hatch, etc. Even if "just" the tread is damaged and the vehicle is immobilized, the vehicle now becomes a sitting duck for further ambushes and a magnet for lead. The modern array of anti-tank weapons only complicates the problem. With FOG-M and javelin-style weapons out there, the RPG and all its variants (RPG7) will become the least of our problems. (As an aside, I always wondered why the U.S. never put FOG-M into mass production)

Rule of thumb is always having ground troops accompany armor, unless your motive is to send your armored guys to their deaths (no one would be that incompetent or treasonous, right?). We should not forget the lessons of history when deploying armor in urban environments, yes, even the M1A2 can be vulnerable without proper infantry (and aerial) support and screening elements.

[blackie]

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[whizzer]

BUMP!!

[Snickersnee]

Being a dismount is exhausting. God bless them all.

[Bald Eagle777]

What kind of trolls, Russ Trolls?

[blackie]

Sure ~ if a Russ Troll is a member of the brain dead, koolaid drinking, slobbering lunatic left.

[Bald Eagle777]

It's all in the hairdoo, like bright lime green, etc. Also, one can not forget the crack-induced bugged out eyes. Guess they are Russ Trolls after all.

It is surreal what came out of the 60's... Dr. Timothy Leary, Russ Trolls, "crunchiness" ... Thank God they don't run the military. Our guys would be having sit-ins in Baghdad, smoking pot with the locals, burning the flag, refusing to bathe, etcetera. Russ Trolls indeed. Beware!

[blackie]

Roger that, Bald Eagle ~ I remember the 60's very well!

Be Ever Vigilant!