Destroying a Baath Party House ~ a Defend America Photo Essay

Defend America ^ | May 20, 2004

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Destroying a Baath Party House

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Hoglune, left, and Sgt. Erickson, both of the 141st Engineering Battalion tape C-4 plastic explosive to the columns of the Ramadan 14 building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. The Ramadan 14 building is a former Baath party house being demolished by the 748th Explosive Ordinance Detachment and the 141st Engineers Battalion. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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U.S. Army Sgt. Andy Erickson of the 141st Engineering Battalion places blocks of C-4 plastic explosive into holes in the columns of the Ramadan 14 building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jessen, right, with the 748th Explosive Ordinance Detachment, inspects a 2,000-pound rocket to determine the size of hole needed to maneuver it into the basement of the Ramadan 14 building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jessen with the 748th Explosive Ordnance Detachment, supervises the insertion of a 2,000-pound rocket into the basement of the Ramadan 14 building, a former Ba'ath party house located outside of Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. The missile is being used to help demolish the building. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dobitz with the 141st Engineering Battalion uses a bulldozer to push a 2,000-pound rocket into the basement of the Ramadan 14 building in the building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Jessen with the 748th Explosive Ordinance Detachment, supervises the insertion of a 2,000-pound rocket into the basement of the Ramadan 14 building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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Smoke billows from the Ramadan 14 building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. The Ramadan 14 building is a former Baath party house demolished by the 748th Explosive Ordinance Detachment and the 141st Engineers Battalion. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

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[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 

Saturday (in Iraq), men at work, bless our troops, home improvement, ping!   (^:

[cavtrooper21]

Hey, ping the gang!
Pics of our boys playing with things that go BOOOM!
..and a nice cloud of smoke at the end.!

[Baynative]

Another day on the job -- in spite of Ted Kennedy and Nancy pelosi.

[Khurkris]

Its fun to blow things up.

[Howie66]

The good guys now need to turn their attentions to the mosques that are used as weapons depots, staging areas, and command & control centers.

The time for playing patty-cake with the bad guys is over!

[Last Dakotan]

Especially a "party house".

[Diva Betsy Ross]

BTTT!

[Robert A. Cook, PE]

Oh sure, and I'll bet Holiday Inn paid them to blow up the local RamadaInn. 8<)

[teletech]

Looks like it blowed up Reeeal Goooood!

[Chieftain]

Thanks Ragtime Cowgirl.

I am sending links to the source to all the names in my address book.

I think it is a good idea to send info like this to as many folks we know, so they can get more POSITIVE info about the war in Iraq, not just what the MEDIA keeps smearing on TV about the prisoner abise crapola!

[NJJ]

Thanks, that last picture brought a smile to my face.

[JennysCool]

Oh! Wait! Thought you said 'Beach Party.'

Great pics, thanks!

[Valin]

She blowed up! She blowed up real good.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping

[SAMWolf]

Fallujah and Najaf need that treatment.

[Ramius]

Ya' think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch? :-)

[Steven W.]

thanks for posting - we often forget about those non-destructable rockets laying around all over Iraq (and I say they're non-destructable because, of course, otherwise they would have been declared to the UN and previously destroyed lest we have liberated Iraq for false reasons ROFLMAO)

[Libertina]

Join the military and blow things up! :)I just love our guys!

[Squantos]

...................:o)

[Bellflower]

Fallujah and Najaf need that treatment.

They will before this age is over, only much more. I really don't think it will be long. Read Isaiah chapter 13. It is about Babylon but seems to cover the whole area.

[Travis McGee]

Memory Lane.

[Squantos]

I do miss the fun.......:o)

[Travis McGee]

I guess if anything goes boom at your present work site, things are not progressing according to plan.

[Squantos]

LOL..............yep that'd be a bad day in poohville fer sure. Freep Mail my Friend !

Stay Safe !

[R. Scott]

Great! Good training for the engineers, and great fun too.
I never met a Combat Engineer that didn’t like to blow thing up.

[R. Scott]

A "Bath Party" house?

[MeekOneGOP]

Thank you ! :^)

Well, I did a Google Search to find a pic.
But I think I left an 'a' out of "Baath Party" .....

[Calpernia]

(In the voice of Marvin the Martian)

"These block buster bombs only go off if you hit them just right"

[blackie]

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[blackie]

We are winning ~ the bad guys are losing ~ trolls, terrorists, democrats and the mainstream media are sad ~ very sad!

~~ Bush/Cheney 2004 ~~

[VOA]

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dobitz with the 141st Engineering Battalion uses a bulldozer to
push a 2,000-pound rocket into the basement of the Ramadan 14 building in the building

Looks like our lads are showing the Baathists where to stick their missles!
I wonder if the Baathist dead-enders are as humiliated/traumatized
by that photo as the ladies-panty-on-the-head degradation!?

[Darksheare]

LOL!
Putting a rocket through a hole in the basement to help demolish the place.
THAT'S pure genius.
Love the pics, and thanks for the ping.
(Wish I'd gotten to level a Baathist building..)

[no_problema]

kewl!

i just love it.

[bruin66]

That's what they do -- kill people and break things...

[Go Gordon]

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dobitz with the 141st Engineering Battalion uses a bulldozer to push a 2,000-pound rocket into the basement of the Ramadan 14 building in the building near Ad Dujayl, Iraq, May 6, 2004. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Elizabeth Erste

Now thats what I call a precision guided missile (even if its low tech).

[HenryLeeII]

There's something wonderfully manly about bulldozing a rocket into a basement. I'm sure the Freudians and Maureen Dowd-crowd could expend endless ink on the psychological analysis of it, while we Americans simply sit back with a contented sigh, light a cigarette, and say, "Great job, troops. Thank you! Wanna do that again?"

[AngryJawa]

There's something wonderfully manly about bulldozing a rocket into a basement.

No wonder those photos made me feel all tingly...like when we used to climb the rope in gym class. 8^)

[CKJESSEN28]

Well this is pretty cool. Staff Sgt. Jessen is my husband. It's amazing to actually see what he does everyday. I hear about it all the time but it becomes much more clear once I see pictures of what he does. I am so proud of him!!

[prairiebreeze]

Thanks for your ping, please convey our utmost gratitude and appreciation to your husband. I am amazed at the size of those rockets. Somehow, I forget that they can be so large......I'm used to just seeing RPG's on TV I suppose.

Wonder what would happen if our lamestream media showed plenty of pictures of rockets of that size? Maybe Americans would get the idea of what our guys are dealing with and heck no, we couldn't have that. (/s)

Prairie

[Maigrey]

I just love a big KABOOM!

[AndRock238]

I got to say, I was completely surprised to come across this page. That is me in the first two photos, SGT Erickson. I got to tell you, seeing those pictures really brought back some memories. I wanted to tell everybody on this page thanks for all your comments, it really made me feel good reading them all and hearing something positive for a change about the war and to hear that there are still people out there supporting our troops.

Again, thanks for all the comments, if anybody would ever like to see a video of the explosion, I could probably arrange to get the video posted online. You can drop me a line at andrew.c.erickson@gmail.com if you want to see it. Take care, and God bless the United States of America.