Marines deployed their M-60A1 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge to help the infantry reach an observation post.
U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Bryan P. Kippes drives his M-60A1 Armored Vehicle over the bridge he launched near Gharmah, Iraq, recently. Marines from Company D, 2nd Tank Battalion serving with Regimental Combat Team 5 in Fallujah, laid the bridge to help infantrymen with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment after a bridge was deemed unsafe. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Ryan C. Opick)
By Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, March 16, 2006 Grunts with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment walk without fear thanks to a helping hand from tankers and a seldom used tool in their inventory.
Marines with D Company, 2nd Tank Battalion, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 5, recently deployed their M-60A1 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge to help the infantry living north of Gharmah. It was the first time the tankers could recall the bridge being used since the initial thrust toward Baghdad in 2003.
The need for a reliable bridge arose after an existing bridge leading to an observation post began to degrade. Marines trying to cross the bridge experienced a couple hair-raising crossings when the bridge began to give way and the humvees almost went into a canal.
It was just a crappy old bridge, said 2nd Lt. Steven E. Alsop, a 24-year-old platoon commander assigned to 1st Battalions A Company. It started eroding and we almost lost the humvee in the water."
It was kind of shaky, said Alsop, from Elk Grove, Calif. We had the doors open, ready to hop out, when it started sliding.
Alsop knew he needed something better and tankers had the answer in their bridge launcher. The 56-ton behemoth of a vehicle, carrying a 63-foot-long bridge, motored out to the observation post and in just minutes, the problem was solved.
They were worried about the safety of the bridge, said Capt. Matthew D. Fehmel, the tank companys commander. If that bridge was destroyed we wouldnt be able to access the observation post, which is critical in Gharmah. I was all for it.
Lance Cpl. Bryan P. Kippes, a 21-year-old from Suffield, Ohio, and Cpl. Ryan C. Opick, a 27-year-old from Granger, Ind., sparked up the old tracked hulk and set off for the mission. They had their reservations. The two tank mechanics practiced using the bridge at Camp Lejeune, N.C. and here at the camp in Iraq, but never laid a bridge that had to be used. They knew they were using equipment that was introduced into the Corps inventory in 1987, when they were just kids.
It was kind of scary because its so old, Kippes said. It very rarely runs for such a long time because it requires so much maintenance. She gave us one good last run.
Still, Kippes and Opick didnt take any chances. They packed a toolbox with every imaginable tool they thought they might need, just in case.
But the machine performed as advertised.
It kept up with the tanks, Opick said.
Once they got on site, they went to work immediately. They crept up to the old bridge, took a look and began moving it into position.
When you first launch it, its over your head, Kippes explained. You see this massive piece of steel. Its hard to believe it moves it, as old as it is.
The bridge was pushed out in less than ten minutes, the whole operation lasting under an hour.
The only adjustment we made was when they wanted it pushed forward, Opick said.
Its what we wanted, Alsop explained. We asked for it and in a day turnover, they came right out and threw it down.
Still, Kippes and Opick had to check to make sure the bridge would hold. That meant driving the 56-ton bridge launcher over. If it was going to fail, it would be under the enormous weight of their lumbering vehicle based on an old tanks chassis. Kippes mashed the accelerator and climbed over his bridge, praying for the best and preparing for the worst. If the bridge failed, it would be about a 15-foot drop into the water below.
I wanted to close my eyes, he admitted. I looked down and that was my biggest mistake.
But it held.
I was pretty impressed, he said. I went back and went over it again.
Fehmel, a 31-year-old from Newport, R.I., explained the bridge is designed to hold even the heaviest of vehicles Marines use, the nearly 70-ton M-1A1 Main Battle Tank.
Its very durable, he said. Its a fire-and-forget weapon. You put it on the deck and pick it up when youre done.
Alsop said his Marines couldnt be happier about the new bridge. They no longer go over with white-knuckles, waiting to bail out from a falling humvee.
Theyre not scare to go over the bridge now, he said. If that bridge wasnt there, a vehicle would go into the canal. It works. It does its job. Theres no more pucker-factor.
Kippes said it made him proud to know that a couple hours of his time is keeping Marines safe out on the field.
It makes me feel like we accomplished a mission above the mission were here for, he said. It feels good.
March 15, 2006
KIRKUK, Iraq -- In the past two days, Bastogne Soldiers from the 1st Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 101st Airborne Division, have detained several insurgents and confiscated a large cache filled with materials used in the construction of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) as result of combined efforts with Iraqi Security Forces.
After receiving information on a possible fake identification workstation, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, conducted a cordon and search with members of the Iraqi Police. Once inside the target residence, the combined force discovered more than 300 false identification cards, including Iraqi Police IDs.
During the search, an Iraqi man came to the house to see the owner. After a few minutes of questioning, the man admitted to previously purchasing a false ID card from the owner of the residence. The owner of the house and the second man were both taken into custody.
In a similar incident, Bastogne Soldiers on a combined patrol with Iraqi Police discovered a weapons cache at a home in Kirkuk. Iraqi Emergency Services Unit had detained the owner of the residence the day prior after receiving information linking the man to a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attack in the Raheem Awa neighborhood of the city.
A search of the mans house yielded several bags of ammunition as well as a large cache of materials used to make IEDs including four rocket propelled grenade rounds, three blocks of C-4 explosive, 13 Motorola radios with batteries, and four rolls of electrical wire.
The 1st Brigade Combat Team has been working with and training Iraqi Security Forces in the Province of Kirkuk since taking over responsibility for operations in Northern Iraq last November. The combined efforts of Bastogne Soldiers and their Iraqi counterparts continue to improve stability to the region as missions like these diminish the ability of insurgents to harm innocent civilians.
List of Items Found in Cache;
4 Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) rounds
1 AK-47
13 Motorola Radios with 23 Batteries
6 155mm mortar rounds
2 Anti Personnel Mines
3 bags of ammunition
2 AK-47 Drums
3 Blocks of C-4 Explosive
1 M6 (approximately 25mm round)
4 Rolls of Wire
1 Mortar Bipod
By Spc Barbara Ospina - 1st BCT PAO
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
More than 300 fake documents, including police identification cards, were discovered in the home of a suspected terrorist. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division)
Three bags, full of ammunition, were discovered during a cordon and search mission conducted by Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and Iraqi Police in Kirkuk, Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division)