Posted on 07/02/2008 5:15:46 PM PDT by SandRat
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — The mission was simple: perform a raid to gather information on extremists in the area, search for weapons caches and perform human-terrain mapping.
The day was still young when Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, along with “shurta” (policemen) of the Raid Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 1st Iraqi National Police division, made their final preparations for a raid on the village of al Batta, Iraq.
They exited their vehicles into the early morning heat and looked at the village ahead. Families began to stir in their homes; the sun beat down on them; they started their mission.
The raid came to a halt after three peaceful hours. The Soldiers and shurta searched through nearly thirty buildings, talked to every citizen and combed through vast farmland and fields.
They met a middle-aged man in the first house they approached who explained, through an interpreter, that he was working to provide food for his family, that he was the leader of the Sons of Iraq checkpoint outside the village and that he was working to keep his village safe. He offered to walk with the Soldiers and shurta through the village, pointing out key structures and ensuring the cooperation of other villagers.
Sgt. Jonathon Gregoire, a team leader, took every military-aged male aside to input them in the Hand-Held, Inter-agency identification equipment system.
The HIIDE system, a device resembling a digital camera, allows the Soldier to scan the person’s iris and fingerprints, to take a picture of the person and input any known information – from name and village to occupation and aliases. The information is then readily available to Coalition forces throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I believe (the mission) made the villagers feel a lot safer,” said Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Etheridge, of Virginia Beach, Va. “They know now that we are actively working to keep extremists out of the region.”
The mission allowed Soldiers to obtain information about the living conditions, unusual people in the area and suspected extremists.
Company A Soldiers operate with the 3-1 NP on a regular basis, teaching them different tactics and methods, while integrating them into a lead role. In the future, the IP will start to perform these missions independently.
“It was good working with the national police again,” Etheridge said. “It shows that we have a good working relationship with the Iraqis, and prepares them even more for taking over control of the area.”
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