WTG, Mr S....you got #100!!
#100!
Fellin' the LOVE now, Tom?
LOL!!
WTG, Mr S....you got #100!!
A soldier of U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division (Task Forse Ironhorse) guards a detained Iraqi man during a night raid in Khadasiya, a northern suburb of Tikrit, Iraq on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003. In four pre-dawn raids in Tikrit U.S. troops detained eight suspects, three of whom are believed to have ties to the cells of insurgents responsible for frequent bomb attacks on coalition forces and Iraq civilians. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Lt. Col. Steven Russell, right, commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division 1-22 Infantry regiment, shakes hand with Iraqi Civil Defense Corp (ICDC) member and gives him a dagger during a graduation ceremony at the military base in Tikrit, 193 kms (120 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003. Some 104 Iraqi men were graduated as ICDC members after 21 days of training. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
US soldiers place a concrete block at the site of a suicide attack outside a US military base in Tall Afar, near Mosul. A massive suicide car bomb that exploded outside the military base wounded 58 American soldiers and an Iraqi translator.(AFP/Henghameh Fahimi)
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld poses for a photo with troops taking part in Operation Bayonet Lighting in Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. 6, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Lt. Gen. John Craddock, senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense, work on board a C-17 Globemaster III from Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., flying to Iraq, Dec. 6, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld walks with Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of Combined Joint Task Force-7, at Baghdad International Airport, Dec. 6, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld shakes hands with the troops after having breakfast at Kirkuk Air Base, Kirkuk, Iraq, Dec. 6, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld meets with Abdel Aziz Hakim, Iraqi Governing Council President, in Baghdad, Dec. 6, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld receives a briefing on the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps training from U.S. Army Lt. Col. Caraccilo in Baghdad, Dec. 6, 2003. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andy Dunaway
Laid-back snowboarder Brad Jordan takes a powder in Vail, Colo.
Soldiers from the 652nd Assault Bridge Engineer Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Ellsworth, Wis., ferry troops to a site near Tikrit, Iraq where soldiers a constructing a 340-meter bridge across the Tigris River. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Liana Mayo
Bridge Mission Pushes on Despite Challenges
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Liana Mayo
244th Combat Heavy Engineer Battalion
FORWARD OPERATING BASE IRONHORSE, Tikrit, Iraq — On a crisp November evening, as shadows stretched along the banks of the Tigris River, six soldiers from the 652nd Assault Float Bridge Engineer Company, climbed out of the multi-purpose boat and fanned out along the cliff.
While some pulled security, others pushed through the tall reeds along the river’s edge to retrieve a pontoon that had escaped its restraints when the river rose the night before.
Aptly named, Rugged Bypass is a major floating bridge construction project near the city of Tikrit that began more than two months ago. When completed later this year, it will be the longest pontoon bridge built by Coalition forces in northern Iraq.
The bridge will be 340 meters long, or more than 1,000 feet, and will stretch past both banks and onto the causeways. The pontoon span is meant to handle rerouted traffic when a permanent bridge in Tikrit is closed for repairs.
The 652nd, an Army Reserve unit from Ellsworth, Wis., is one of a handful of units collaborating on the Rugged Bypass project that, when done, will feature a floating bridge that spans the Tigris River five miles south of Tikrit.
The latest challenge came with rising water levels of the Tigris as severe storms in northern Iraq and Turkey in November caused 24 pontoons to break away and float downriver. The search for pontoons went on for several days, and many were found as far as 25 miles downriver. Almost all stray pontoons were found and recovered, and construction teams have resumed building.
To withstand the fast current, the new Mabey & Johnson bridge is a floating construction using large pontoons that are anchored to the riverbed. Allen Pierson, a Mabey & Johnson Ltd. employee from the United Kingdom, is supervising the construction of the bridge.
“This will be the longest floating bridge by Mabey Johnson ever built and the first Mabey Johnson bridge to be constructed by the U.S. Army.” Pierson said.
Because of the fluctuation of the river level, building the span has been particularly challenging.
“So really, the actual bridge building is a small part of the project,” Pierson said.
ON THE PROWL — A soldier with 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, based at Firebase Catamount, provides security as members of his platoon search an Afghan compound during a cordon and search mission in Nuristan Province as part of Operation Mountain Resolve. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Greg Heath