FR WAR NEWS! WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!
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Or if they do report it, without the anti-War Agenda Spin!
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Posted on 10/20/2007 8:10:54 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD — If the people in the Adhamiyah District’s Abu Hanifa Market hadn’t already heard about the afternoon’s grenade attack on a U.S. Soldier, they heard about it when Lt. Col. Jeff Broadwater showed up.
“Who threw the grenade!?” Broadwater shouted, stalking from shop to shop as an Apache gunship circled overhead. “Where are they? Show me where they are and I will take them out of here!”
Not half an hour before, a Soldier from Broadwater’s unit, the 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, had been wounded by a grenade thrown at his patrol. Now, in response, Broadwater was bringing the full weight of U.S. military to bear in the hunt for the culprits.
“We’re sending a message that attacks will not be tolerated,” said Broadwater, a Fort Knox, Ky. native, as dozens of Iraqi and U.S. troops fanned out through the stalls and shops of the market and helicopters continued to buzz through the sky.
It was a show of force with a purpose. In Adhamiyah – a mostly-Sunni neighborhood in eastern Baghdad which until recently was a hotbed of insurgent activity – the 3-7 Cav. “Sabers” have made dramatic improvements to the security situation by taking a zero tolerance approach to attacks.
“Any time there’s an attack we do an immediate mass response. We flood the area with as many people as we can,” said Staff Sgt. Eric Bull, a section leader with 3-7’s Troop C, from Perryville, Ark. “We don’t want to give the insurgents time to rest.”
“They punch us, we punch back harder,” explained Capt. Andrew Steadman, who commands a quick reaction force of Stryker vehicles based in Adhamiyah.
It’s a policy that began during the Sabers’ first days in the area, when insurgents tried to test the unit’s mettle with grenade and rocket propelled grenade attacks. When they did, they received a ferocious response from the Saber Soldiers, said Roanoke, Va., native Staff Sgt. William Schilling, of Troop B.
Since then, the well of “opportunists” – not hardcore insurgents, but locals willing to shoot a few rounds or lob a grenade at Coalition forces to earn some quick cash – has dried up, Schilling said.
Insurgent leaders have been forced to resort to desperate tactics like paying children to do their attacks for them, said Kisimmee, Fla., native Maj. Ike Sallee, the squadron’s operations officer. The Sabers recently captured a nine-year-old boy who had been paid to throw a grenade at one of their patrols. (The boy was later returned to his parents.)
Broadwater said the Sabers’s tactics have put the insurgents on the ropes, and the numbers seem to back up that claim. There has been a 70 percent overall decline in attacks since the 3-7 took over responsibility for Adhamiyah four months ago, said Sgt. Tim Luna, a squadron intelligence analyst.
When attacks do occur, such as the grenade attack at the market that wounded one Soldier Oct. 15, they are met with an overwhelming response. Even as the wounded Soldier was being evacuated, Broadwater was ordering scores of Soldiers in Humvees and Stryker vehicles to move in to secure the area. Fifteen minutes after the attack, there was a vehicle at every intersection around the market, and dismounted troops had begun searching from building to building.
A few blocks down, Steadman’s Stryker Company was also in position after responding to the call. Soldiers were everywhere: taking a knee at the corners, scanning the sector from positions on the roof, trudging up and down narrow flights of stairs inside an apartment complex, and working their way from courtyard to courtyard. Inside the houses they were polite and professional, careful to make as little of a disruption as possible as they searched.
“We don’t come in to scare people, it’s just to show them our presence and let them know we’re here and we mean business,” said Garden City, Mo., native Spc. Lonnie Pearson, of Headquarters Company, 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. Pearson said most residents were friendly and helpful when the Soldiers knocked on their doors.
“They want the bad guys out of here just as bad as we do,” he said.
It wasn’t long before the Soldiers located a witness who had seen the grenade being thrown. He gave them a detailed description of the suspects. The description went out over the net and was passed down to every Soldier. But it was apparently too late. The grenade throwers had managed to slip through the net. Several hours after it began, Broadwater called the search off.
Later that evening, after he had visited the wounded Soldier in the hospital, Broadwater said he felt encouraged by the resolve of his Soldiers – and by the reactions he had seen from people in the community.
“The people see that we’re not going to let (attacks) go unanswered, and they appreciate that,” Broadwater said. And though the insurgents who threw the grenade hadn’t been apprehended, Broadwater was confident he had delivered his message to them.
“We will find you,” he promised. “It may not be this time, but sooner or later, we will find you.”
FR WAR NEWS! Love true military leaders … need more of them. Kick ass, answer questions later.
They punch us, we punch back harder
Murtha will go on the Sunday television shows and demand an investigation.
Love that line. Great posting as usual. You make Harry Reid cry.
I'm reminded of Osama's famous "strong horse/weak horse" message. In Iraq, the Americans are the strong horse, and everyone knows it, and the Arabs are responding to it.
During the pacification of nazi Germany, a town became known as a constant source of insurgent attacks against locally garrisoned allied troops.
The allied force pulled all its soldiers out of the town, surrounded it and then pounded it for several days with non stop artillery barrages.
Afterwards, the surviving locals were told if one more attack came from them, the same would happen again.
No more attacks from, in or around that town.
Sometimes, kindness is weakness.
I wish I could remember the name of that town. But I do seem to recall that the troops involved were French.
THANK YOU CAPT!!!
PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH WOOOOORRRRKKKS!
This style leadership rocks! This is dedication and intelligence. Thorough power speaks tons. This is why we are so committed to getting our foot soldiers all the technology America has to take our young soldier’s agility and power to new levels. You can check it out and join us in adding your voice at www.americanagility.com Let’s make it happen with them.
God bless Lt.Col.Jeff Broadwater!
Now that’s war news I want to hear. God protect every one of those good men. Could you please add me to your ping list? Thanks!!
Yeah, we ran into that in Dora. A 10-yr old kid opening up on us with an AK when we tried to stop his tractor that he was driving. We killed him, wounded one of his buddies, and his vehicle tested hot for explosive residue, so he'd obviously been emplacing IEDs. Charming country, no?
May we as a nation be worthy of the likes of you Lt. Col.
Broadwater.
So you plan to be a snake-eater?
Hopefully in at least two pieces.
L
What a concept. Don't let the State Department find out about this.
don’t forget sen john kerry, us soldiers were probably “terrorizing” the citizenry of this village, in the middle of the night, etc.
don’t forget sen john kerry, us soldiers were probably “terrorizing” the citizenry of this village, in the middle of the night, etc.
oops, forgive the double post, it’s late :)
Note that all the troopers interviewed are from the South.
Note that all the troopers interviewed are from the South.
the SOUTH....home of our WARRIOR CLASS...
AMERICA FOR SURE....patriots live here...
Kind of makes me proud to have been born on land that was owned by our first Commander-in Chief and then later by Bobby Lee.
right as rain....
Done and welcome to FRWN.
No, hope fully returned to his parents and a couple Good-Ole boys explain’d the American Time-Honored tradidition of tannin a young-uns hide fer doin sumptin stupid and wrong.
I’ll lay ya odds the author of the storyis too.
Heh heh...not anymore. I’ve had my hooah “fun.” Time to settle down a tad bit, now that I have a wife and a baby on the way.
And that is the way you win a guerrilla war.
The Dems of course have a different notion. "They punch us, we cut and run".
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