Artillerymen guard governor in Najaf

Army News Service via Defend America ^ | May 27, 2004 | Sgt. Christopher Stanis

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Artillerymen guard governor in Najaf

By Sgt. Christopher Stanis

May 27, 2004

AN NAJAF, Iraq (Army News Service, May 27, 2004) – A field artillery battery has been tasked with the unique mission of guarding the An Najaf governor’s compound and protecting the governor’s life.

“He receives daily assassination threats,” said Capt. Brandon Anderson, commander of Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force 1st Armored Division. “It’s the (Muqtada Militia’s) attempt to undermine the coalition.”

Anderson and his men have secured a block around the compound and nearby government buildings. They are assisting the Iraqi Police Service officers and the governor’s personal bodyguards in guarding the compound.

While a small contingent of Bravo troops lives in the governor’s mansion, the rest of the battery works and lives in a neighboring building. They also pull security duties for the compound and surrounding area.

Though the governor’s mansion might appear extravagant on the outside, the inside is nearly empty. Electrical power is sporadic. Even the governor lives without some “creature comforts,” Soldiers said.

Down the road from the mansion, the rest of the battery tookj up residence in vacant offices of the abandoned Ministry of Agriculture building. Electricity is even less reliable and there is limited running water, Soldiers said.

But the “Bulldog” Soldiers are adapting quickly to their new mission of fixed-site security, leaders said.

“Everybody is tired and ready to go (home,)” said Staff Sgt. Wallace Stevens, a section chief with B, 2-3 FA. “(But) we are ready to do what we have to.”

The battery used to live in one of Uday Hussein’s (the son of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein) former palaces. The battalion moved to Camp Victory near the Baghdad International Airport for two weeks before receiving orders for its guard mission.

Bravo’s new mission is drastically different from its Baghdad assignment. In the city, the Soldiers conducted approximately 84 major raids, countless patrols and participated in August’s “Operation Longstreet” near Fallujah, Anderson said.

“We have a lot of guys (new to the Army). For them, this deployment is all they know of the Army,” Anderson said. “As far as they know, this is what field artillerymen do.”

He joked that the Army may have to amend the field artillery basic doctrine based on the varied missions that artillerymen have undertaken in Iraq.

“When I got assigned to field artillery, I wanted to know what it was like in an infantry unit,” said Spc. Benjamin Morse, battery medic. “Now I pretty much know.”

Morse added that the new mission gives a sense of purpose for 1AD’s extension in Iraq.

Despite being tired from a year-long mission in Baghdad, the Soldiers of Bravo Battery went in to their new mission in An Najaf head-on.

“They started working to improve conditions as soon as we got here – filling sandbags and HESCO barriers,” said Anderson. “They never cease to amaze me.”

HESCO barriers are collapsible wire mesh containers with a heavy duty plastic liner, filled with sand, dirt or gravel and named after the British firm that designed them, the Hyderadad Electrical Supply Corp.

(Editor’s note: Sgt. Christopher Stanis serves with 1st AD Public Affairs.)

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

A field artillery battery has been tasked with the unique mission of guarding the An Najaf governor’s compound and protecting the governor’s life.

“He receives daily assassination threats,” said Capt. Brandon Anderson, commander of Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force 1st Armored Division.

 

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To: all 1AD, 2-3 FA soldiers

Stay strong and we all will pray for you until you get back home safe.

A Mother and Wife of a deployed soldier...

             (Click pic)

[Cannoneer No. 4]

FAMPL ping

[lepton]

I would hope that this is for the Artillery Battery's security force, and not really an attempt to protect the guy by use of howitzers. "oh, no! It's a suicide bomber at the gates! Batteries A and C, Fire for effect!"

[Joe Hadenuf]

“He receives daily assassination threats,”

How can this be? I thought Iraq was now stable.

[SAMWolf]

Red Leg Bump

[McGavin999]

We still have more of those militia guys to take out. I hope we get them all, I think we can as long as they are kept out of Najef proper. There is no rehabilitating these guys, they have to be exterminated.

[neverdem]

One of the less heralded life-saving, and labor saving, devices in Iraq is the HESCO barrier. This is a collapsible wire mesh container with a heavy duty plastic liner. Open in up and use a front end loader to fill it with sand (dirt or gravel) and you have a protective barrier to protect personnel and equipment from enemy fire (or bombs). Originally designed for use on beaches and marshes for erosion and flood control, the "HESCO Bastion" as it is officially known, quickly became a popular security device even before September 11, 2001. The device is named after the company that developed it over a decade ago, a British firm called HESCO.

The labor saving angle is very popular with the troops. Before the HESCO barriers, troops filled sandbags, which was slow. One soldier could fill about 20 sandbags an hour. Troops using HESCO barriers and a front end loader can do ten times the work of troops using sandbags. The HESCO barriers come in a variety of sizes designed for military work. Dimensions of these are (high, wide, long); 4’6”x3’6”x32’(costing $651), 2’x2’x4’ ($46.50), 3’3”x3’3”x32’ ($493), 3’3”x5’0”x32’ $740), 2’x 2’x10’ ($98), 7’3”x7’x91’ ($3,500), 4’6”x4’x32’ ($665), 3’3”x2’6”x30’ ($445), 7’x5’x100’ ($3,700). There is also a special "bunker kit" for building bunkers. Most of the barriers can be stacked. The barriers are shipped collapsed and very compact. You quickly pull them open, then fill with sand or dirt. Filled with sand, 24 inches of barrier thickness will stop rifle bullets and shell fragments. It takes five feet of thickness to prevent penetration by an RPG round (although these usually do not hit at the right angle to need that much thickness, but just explode creating a lot of fragments.) About four feet of thickness will protect against most car bombs. The HESCO barriers have prevented hundreds of casualties among US troops and done wonders for morale.

Link

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Thus Eagle Eye's tag line.

[Alamo-Girl]

Bump!

[Eagle Eye]

Wondering when someone would ask!

[blam]

"Wondering when someone would ask!"

Well, I sometimes wonder about you and what you're doing. Like now, I tracked you down to your last post (and do so from time-to-time) just to see what you're up-to. Good luck, guy.

[Eagle Eye]

I hope to never have a 'last post'!!!

[blam]

"I hope to never have a 'last post'!!!"

Amen.