Oregon Guard unit nabs arms, insurgents

Alpha Company soldiers make arrests unearth weapons in Iraq




Oregon Guard unit nabs arms, insurgents

Alpha Company soldiers make arrests unearth weapons in Iraq

CAPI LYNN
Statesman Journal

March 2, 2005

An Oregon Army National Guard unit recently helped capture a group of suspected terrorists and destroyed weapons caches in Iraq.

Alpha Company of the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry, led a successful pre-dawn raid Feb. 22 in a village 30 miles southeast of Baghdad.

Cpl. Donny Holmes, 42, of McMinnville, called it the day "that we made history for 2-162 Infantry."

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Sgt. Maj. Randall Mefford, 42, of Medford, 1st sergeant of Alpha Company, guards prisoners. In the background, a weapons cache is destroyed in a controlled detonation.
Front-line report

Maj. Arnold Strong, public-affairs officer for the Oregon Army National Guard, is deployed with the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry, in Iraq. He occasionally reports about the actions and accomplishments of Oregon's citizen-soldiers.

The company's role in the capture of several enemy combatants, including a reported terrorist leader and his two deputies, was described in an e-mail from Maj. Arnold Strong, public-affairs officer for the Oregon National Guard. Strong is deployed with the battalion.

During an 18-hour operation, Oregon soldiers questioned 124 military-age males and, with the help of an informant from the village, arrested six insurgents directly linked to terrorist acts during the past month, Strong said. The people captured included the mastermind of enemy operations in the sector and two of his top lieutenants, Strong said.

Strong reported that insurgents had been holding daily meetings in a cemetery bordering the village and using crypts to hide caches of weapons.

Alpha Company soldiers conducted searches of the crypts and found mortar rounds, anti-aircraft rounds, bombs and explosive components used to make roadside bombs.

"At first it seemed nasty, you know, opening up someone's tomb," said Sgt. Timothy Edwards, 37, who transferred from the California National Guard to be part of Oregon's deployment. "But once we realized that almost none of these things had actual remains in them and that about every sixth box we checked had weapons in it, it wasn't so bad."

The searches netted at least 20 small caches, Strong reported. The weapons were consolidated at a single location and demolished by engineers.

"The payoff was awesome," said Capt. Eric Riley, 36, of Roseburg, the company commander. "This is by far the best mission we have executed in our yearlong tour."

clynn@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6710

Maj. Strong's complete report

28 Feb 05

Yusafiya, Iraq -- In a coordinated, joint combined arms operation on Feb. 22, 2005, soldiers of Oregon's 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry successfully captured nine enemy combatants, including a terrorist leader and his two deputies, and destroyed several massive weapons caches.

The operation, five days in the planning, was the result of deliberate planning, solid intelligence and the collaboration of an informant that confided substantial information about enemy activity in this previously ignored area of the war torn country. According to the information gathered, enemy insurgents had felt so secure in this area of their country that they had established a routine. Up to 40 terrorists had established their control of the small village of Qaryat Umm al Hayaya, 30 miles southeast of Baghdad, from several corners of Iraq. Holding daily meetings in a huge cemetery that borders the village and playing soccer games every day from about 4 o' clock in the afternoon until sundown, these insurgents felt impervious to actions of American and coalition forces. Impervious, that is, until Feb. 22, a day, according to company radio telephone operator Cpl. Donny Holmes, 42, of McMinnville, "that we made history for 2-162 Infantry."

The Operation

These enemy combatants, under the leadership of a Sheikh "Yunnis," an alias that disguised his murderous intentions behind a veil of piety, have been responsible for scores of roadside bomb attacks, the taking of Iraqi citizens as hostages for purposes of extortion or execution, theft and the general exploitation of the local farmers for their own intentions; all while simultaneously attempting to destroy coalition forces. Using the reputation of Qaryat Umm al Hayaya village as a large blessed cemetery, the terrorists used funeral crypts to hide massive caches of weapons, including mortar rounds, anti-aircraft rounds, bombs, and the explosive components of roadside bombs. Further, their easy access to the open desert that borders the cemetery on one side with the Al Qa Qa Ammo Depot on the other enabled them to cache overwhelming amounts of weaponry hastily buried or hidden behind berms barely seen from the major highway that entered the village.

Their coordination was so routine that footage of their meetings was captured by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The tape showed several vehicles and men rallying around a shrine at the outer edge of the cemetery. Reviewing the detailed video captured by the UAV with his key leaders the night before the operation, Capt. Eric Riley, 36, of Roseburg, explained: "Now watch this. All of the vehicles convene on this building and that becomes NAI (Named area of Interest) One. I want to clear that building before we move on to the village."

In a pre-dawn raid, Alpha Company established blocking positions to both the Northeast and Southeast, while the western access to the village was overseen by both Apache attack helicopters and a joint sniper team.

Under the command of Capt. Riley, Alpha Company was reinforced with multiple combined arms elements in order to capture insurgents and weapons caches in a village South of the Al Qa Qa Ammo Depot in the Babel province of Iraq. The depot was made famous in December of 2004 by international media due its being bypassed by a unit en route to Baghdad, resulting in thousands of tons of ordnance falling into enemy hands. That area is now the responsibility of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, a United States Marine Corps Reserve unit headquartered out of Illinois, the unit that Alpha has been working with for the past two weeks.

Due to his diligent planning and frequent coordination with the Marine Corps (Reserve) battalion that his unit is currently attached to, Riley's operation became a brigade main effort. Accordingly, he had the total support of the modern, joint, combined arms battlefield.

"The payoff was awesome," said Riley. "This is by far the best mission we have executed in our year long tour."

It was an awesome payoff, indeed. In the course of the 18 hour operation, his company questioned 124 military age males and, with the help of an informant from the village, and arrested six insurgents directly linked to terrorist acts in the past month including the mastermind of enemy operations in this sector along with two of his top lieutenants.

Crypts Become Caches

Further, his company conducted the uncomfortable but necessary task of confirming what intelligence reports had revealed, opening funeral crypts to search for weapons caches. Their initial discomfort reduced considerably once the soldiers discovered the first cache within minutes of their assignment.

"At first it seemed nasty, you know, opening up someone's tomb." said Sgt. Timothy Edwards, 37, of Sacramento, Calif., an infantry squad leader that voluntarily transferred to the unit from the California National Guard's 40th Infantry Division in order to be part of the Oregon Guard deployment. "But once we realized that almost none of these things had actual remains in them and that about every sixth box we checked had weapons in it, it wasn't so bad," he concluded.

The search netted at least 20 small caches. The weapons were consolidated into a single location to ease demolition by the brigade engineers. A fellow National Guard unit, Ohio's 612th Engineer battalion, worked with Alpha Company almost daily for the two weeks the company was in sector. On this mission, the unit's demolition experts were kept very busy destroying tons of weapons that are routinely used for IEDs in this sector.

The engineering effort was overseen by the brigade engineer officer for Fifth Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Capt. Patrick Marsh, 31, of Bozeman, Mont. "It is great to see all elements of the joint spectrum working together on one operation," he said. "In many ways, it is easier to work with a National Guard unit new to the sector," he explained in reference to the 612th, which arrived in theater only three weeks prior to the operation. "They are clear on all the proper steps and procedures and all that remains is to train and evolve their understanding of the operational environment," he offered. "From concept to planning, to integration and execution, they are working out very well," he concluded.

Snipers, Linguists and Counter-Intel Operators -- Force Multipliers

Another of the major assets deployed in this operation was a truly joint team of experts, an eleven man sniper team, led by Spec. James N. Schmorde, 26, from Eugene. This team, including nine Marines and two Army operators, were inserted the evening before under concealment of darkness.

"Our mission was to infiltrate in order to neutralize any early warning capabilities from inside the village due to its high IED and VBIED threat," said Schmorde, "As we moved in, we broke into three separate teams to provide 'eyes on' for the commander and to facilitate total situational awareness of the area of operations," he continued.

"We were able to identify a black Mercedes fleeing the village, before dawn" he said. "In coordination with the Apaches (attack helicopters) we had on station," he continued "we were able to acquire the vehicle and facilitate the arrest of one of our targets. It was a great day to be in Iraq," he concluded.

The operation would not have been successful without the integration of a Marine Corps Human Intelligence Exploitation Sub-Team or "HET". "Joe," "Jim," and "Jake," all Marine Corps NCOs whose actual identities are considered sensitive information in this environment, made the processing of detainees and the identification of terrorist much easier. Their fluency with Iraqi Arabic made the collection of intelligence much easier. According to Joe, "This (operation) netted specifically targeted insurgents operating in an area where multinational forces have had minimal presence. It was important because it denies the enemy safe harbor in a remote area of this province. It also lets them know that we have the ability to reach out and collect intelligence in any place, no matter how small or remote the area is. This was a great day because we found not only what we were looking for but acquired new leads to further exploit and disrupt enemy operations in sector," he said. "If you don't have actionable tactical human intelligence on the ground you are really just driving around making guesses. This is a job that never gets old, I love my job," he concluded.

Joint Operation

Since autumn of 2004, the Marine Corps Reserve's 2nd Bn., 24th Marines, under the command of Lt. Col. Mark A. Smith, 40, of Indianapolis, Ind., have deliberately established their presence as a formidable force and gained control, village by village, of a sector once largely bypassed due to concentration on Baghdad and its suburbs. From Feb. 5 until Feb. 27, his unit had Alpha Company as part of its task organization.

"We are making great progress down here," Smith, a State Trooper home in Indiana. "It is great to see the combined effort of soldiers and Marines mature into an operation like this," he concluded.

Major Arnold V. Strong is the Public Affairs Officer for the Oregon National Guard. He is currently deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, reporting on the actions of the Oregon National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry, deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom II as part of the Global War on Terror. He will continue to send regular updates to inform the citizens of Oregon on the accomplishments of the citizen-soldiers of the Oregon National Guard. He will return to Oregon with the battalion this month.


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Posted: Wed - March 2, 2005 at 07:31 AM          

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