 Staff Sgt. Charles Gilbert and Capt Dan Mark, both of Blackhawk Troop, 1-7 Cavalry, question a neighbor of a suspected mortar man Oct. 22. The troop did not uncover the mortar man, but 13 suspected insurgents were taken into custody by other troops within the squadron. Cpl. Bill Putnam |
Raid in southern Baghdad detains 13 insurgents
By Cpl. Bill PutnamNovember 1, 2004
AL RASHID DISTRICT, Baghdad (Army News Service, Nov. 1, 2004) -- In a multi-target raid, cavalry troopers from 1st Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, effectively dismantled an insurgent cell operating in Al Rashid's Furat neighborhood during the early morning hours Oct. 22.
"They're all in the same neighborhood, so we decided to hit them at the same time," said Capt. Dan Mark, commander of Blackhawk Troop, 1-7 Cavalry before the raid.
Three of the squadron's cavalry troops and the squadron command team simultaneously hit the targets' homes, Mark said.
They detained 13 suspected insurgents after waking many of them up. Nine of the insurgents were taken from one house, he added.
Mark said each unit involved hit different targets throughout the area.
Headquarters Troop, 1-7 Cav hit one set of targets, two brothers who acted as the "trigger pullers" of the cell. Comanche Troop hit an improvised explosive device maker and planter. Blackhawk Troop's target was the cell's mortar man. The squadron command team hit the cell's financier and organizer.
After driving through a dust storm to reach their target, Blackawk hit their target house quickly. It turned out the large target house had been divided into a quadriplex of small flats. The troop went through them all and some of the surrounding homes asking people if they knew the targeted individual. None did. Many of the neighbors said they'd just moved into the area last year and didn't know the man or his family.
Spc. Brice Vanover, a cavalry scout with Blackhawk Troop, manned a Humvee blocking position during the raid.
"I think it went well," Vanover said. "We completed the mission without too much hassle."
The only real hassle the troop had during the raid was seeing small-arms tracer rounds off in the distance and then, ominously, the street and house lights all around them went out.
"Probably all it was just a fluke," Vanover said. "But you have to be conscious that it might not be."
Using a pair of night vision goggles, Vanover saw a guy smoking a cigarette outside his house.
"He kind of came out of nowhere," he noted. But Vanover eventually determined the guy wasn't a threat.
"He wasn't doing anything wrong, but I kept an eye on him just to make sure he wasn't a potential insurgent trying to do some bad stuff to us," he said. "But I didn't feel any reason to feel afraid, so I left him alone."
Vanover said even though the squadron was taking out an entire insurgent cell, the guys in the troop weren't expecting any trouble.
"With how swiftly things went and how well we work as a team, I didn't think anything would happen," Vanover said. "If we did find the person we were looking for, we'd have just taken him down."
It turned out someone else might have taken the mortar man out two days before the raid, Mark said. Even though his troop didn't uncover the insurgent suspect they were searching for, Mark considers the mission a success, as 13 suspects were taken into custody.
"Just because we didn't get our guy doesn't mean the mission wasn't a success," he said. "The bottom line is as long as they're not out there shooting at us or killing innocent Iraqis, that's the bigger goal here."
(Editor's note: Cpl. Bill Putnam is assigned to the 122nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)
