Posted on 10/18/2005 5:12:43 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Owen Williams, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, carries two artillery shells out of a weapons cache site northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 4, 2005. Williams is from West Plains, Mo. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Wester
Days-Long Dig Yields Thousands of Munitions
During a traffic stop, two men were questioned about the fuses in their truck; the information they provided led U.S. soldiers to thousands of buried munitions.
By U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew Wester 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division TAJI, Iraq, Oct. 17, 2005 — A U.S. Army combat engineer sifts through the sun-bleached sand and uncovers a shiny rocket tube as other soldiers scramble into the pit to pry the tube from the ground.
They've been at this for hours and found hundreds of pounds of explosives, but the site isn't empty yet.
The soldiers of 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, found the weapons cache in a remote area northwest of Baghdad and worked to uncover the munitions for several days.
"Just like a good fisherman can look at the water and say, 'Hey, there are probably fish over there,' our guys have developed the ability to do that (with weapons caches) as well." U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony M. Cady
Since the battalion, nicknamed "Kodiaks," started digging in the arid, desert-like terrain, they have unearthed more than 700 mortar rounds (ranging from 60-millimeter to 120-millimeter), more than 700 rocket-propelled grenades, hundreds of rockets and 51,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition.
The Kodiak soldiers, assisted by troops from 977th Military Police Company, also found several mortar tubes, various explosives, small-arms weapons, homemade rocket launchers, wires and timing devices.
"Any time we find a cache this size, we take a lot of pride in it. It's a big win for us," said U.S. Army Capt. Jesse Curry, commander of 70th Engineer Battalion's C Company. "We know that these are rounds that won't be buried on the side of the road in our sector or around Baghdad."
The catalyst for the cache discovery was a routine patrol conducted by C Company miles away from the site.
"We found the cache based on a 'snap' traffic stop and that led us out to this site in the first place," said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony M. Cady, command sergeant major for the Kodiaks. "It's kind of like a piece of string frayed on a sweater. We just pulled on it and instead of the piece of string ending, we ended up with a whole sweater."
During their combat operations, the C Company patrol pulled over a truck and found fuses inside. The soldiers detained the two men in the truck, questioned them and got the information that led them to the general area of the weapons site.
Once they were there, they had to rely on their experience and instincts to unearth all the hidden munitions.
"We started off with picks and shovels," Curry said. "You identify where you think there is a cache, and you call your buddies over with the picks and shovels and start digging."
"The combat engineers in the Kodiak Battalion have become very adept at identifying what appears to be likely places that anti-Iraqi forces have stored their munitions," Cady said. "Just like a good fisherman can look at the water and say, 'Hey, there are probably fish over there,' our guys have developed the ability to do that (with weapons caches) as well."
Photo, caption below. U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy Poly, a St. Louis, Mo., native and miitary policeman assigned to 4th Platoon, 977th Military Police Company, carries a rocket tube out of a weapons cache site northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 4, 2005. Poly's unit assited 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division clear the site in a remote rural area. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Wester
Mortars are stacked and organized at a weapons cache northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 4, 2005. The cache was discovered by troops of 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division in a remote rural area on Sept. 28, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Wester
Photo, caption below. Mortars are stacked and organized at a weapons cache northwest of Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 4, 2005. The cache was discovered by troops of 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division in a remote rural area on Sept. 28, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Wester
"Initially, it's all done by hand with shovels," said the Kodiaks' commander, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Anthony Wright. "There is a lot of hard work involved."
As the troops dug in the fine, powdery sand, which some soldiers call "moon dust," they realized they needed heavier equipment to get to all the buried explosives.
"Our ability to get a small-emplacement excavator out here saved our soldiers from a lot of back-breaking work," Cady said. "Then, they ended up yanking (munitions) out of the hole and carrying them somewhere to set down so the explosive ordnance disposal team could get rid of it for us."
Getting rid of those illegal weapons was the purpose behind the whole operation and an important part of the Army's mission here in Iraq.
"It's one of the key missions we do. Obviously, we're disrupting anti-Iraqi forces' ability to construct improvised explosive devices and put direct fire on our forward operating bases," Cady said. "We're making Iraq a safer place for coalition forces and civilians."
"We're pretty pleased with this because it puts a big cramp in the enemy's style and his ability to execute operations," Wright added. "There is a lot of stuff here that he could have used against us and he can't now."
Finding the cache motivated the engineers to keep grinding away and patrolling, continuing to make a difference in the waning months of their combat tour here.
"It's really a boost to our morale." Curry said. "You do this kind of thing and you feel you're making tangible progress,"
He is determined to finish the tour strong.
"We're not done yet, " he said. "We've got more progress to make."
Ping for the Kodiaks!
Way to go Kodiaks!! Way to go 3rd Brigade. BULLDOGS!
FWIW...Spc. Wester is in my old guard unit from Texas.
Woo hoo!! Way to go!!
WOW--this is so exciting...thanks for posting this...I just love to hear good news from Iraq.
You know, this is just one of hundreds of caches that have been found....how many more, and how many bigger ones are out there?
Plus, even if none of them have chemicals and biological weapons with them, doesn't make the anything LESS than WMDs
If used, all of the weapons that the troops have found and destroyed since we went in there, would prolly have killed all citizens of Iraq twice over!!! THAT is mass destruction, IMHO.
Why isn't this on CNN, or at least on FOXy news?
Well done! It is always good to hear from them and get 'inside info'. My girl has been back home at Ft Lewis for a month now, her first tour in Mosul is done. Got her Combat Medical Badge last week and is already getting antsy. Talking about transfering to a unit deploying early next year, but hope she waits a while longer and sticks with the 1-25th SBCT. My cousin's daughter, also a medic, just got out of AIT and has volunteered to ship out with the next CSH unit leaving Ft Sam, probably in December. There are some fine young men and women out there, thankfully. Tell yours 'Thanks' for me.
Thank her for us.
Dave
I know they've found several others, but this one was the biggest so far.
Why dig out? Just set the fuse to the pile and when scumbag turbanites come to retrive some, send them up to their pig virgins in one spectacular kaboom!
Why dig out? Just set the fuse to the pile and when scumbag turbanites come to retrive some, send them up to their pig virgins in one spectacular kaboom!
Thank your daughter for me too!! Whoo Hoo! We did good, hey?
Thanks Jim, I'm a proud mama. Can't you tell???
I tell her about the folks at FR all the time, and how they support the troops, sincerely. It means the world to them knowing there are people out there who do. Lord knows, they aren't getting it from the LSM.
Watch for booby traps-at least in the next cache!
That's a given. Those troops are hardened and tough.
You should be proud! Congratulations to your daughter's unit.
Thanks, it's not often a unit gets press time. Granted, this is not your normal press.
Yup. And she's one great girl!! God bless her and all in her unit!
Thank you! Check my page for additional info, I've got a ton of stuff there!
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