Commander's Update, May 18, 2007
2/12th Cavalry
James Nickolas, LTC, Commanding Officer
It has been too long since I updated you on the status of the battalion. Since my last report on 20 January, 2007, the Troopers of the THUNDER HORSE Battalion have been fully engaged in executing the new strategy outlined by GEN Petraeus.
To update you on operations, I want to provide you with a snap shot of the big picture in our Area of Operations. The battalion has a piece of ground that mirrors Iraq in general. The southern part of the zone is Sunni, occupied by Al Qaida and other Sunni extremist groups. The northern part of the zone is Shia, occupied and run by Muqtada al Sadr's boys, Jaysh al Mahdi. In between, is the killing ground.
It was the killing ground until we established Joint Security Station (JSS) CASINO with Charlie Company, in January, the first combat outpost in Baghdad, right in the heart of the zone. The JSS places Coalition Forces and Iraqi Security Forces right into the heart of our neighborhoods. Living side by side with our Iraqi counterparts we can coach, teach, and mentor them as we conduct joint patrols, raids and fully integrate our command and control of the zone.
We followed the establishment of JSS CASINO with the emplacement of JSS THRASHER by Delta Company in March and we are finishing the emplacement of JSS MAVERICK with Bravo Company, as I pen this update. (Bravo Company returned to the battalion after a 5 month attachment to the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division in Kalsu, south of Baghdad). With the establishment of each outpost, we’ve also partnered our companies with Iraqi Security Forces. So rather than operating in the same manner as the unit we replaced in December 2006, our Soldiers are living out in our zone, side by side, with their Iraqi Army or National Police counterparts, and are able to act and react quickly to events in the area.
Our battalion zone is also one of the areas selected to undergo the safe neighborhood program which includes emplacing a barrier plan around the community to support the operations of our JSS’s. After establishing JSS THRASHER, the brigade conducted a combined clearing operation followed by the emplacement of barriers around the Al Qaida portion of our zone. We are seeing some positive results. In talking with some of the community leaders, they’ve also expressed the desire for us to barrier the entire community and not stop at the portion we have currently finished. Contrary to what you’ve seen in the news, most Iraqi’s we’ve talked to, understand the need for the Safe Neighborhoods, have worked with us to modify the barrier plan to mitigate hardships and are willing to accept those hardships to return the neighborhood to normalcy.
With the establishment of our first two JSS facilities and the Safe Neighborhood barrier plan in South Ghaziliyah, the murders per month have dropped from 120 to less than 10. IED attacks have dropped from 110 per month to less than 40. Additionally, the location of these IEDs has dramatically shifted into approximately one fifth of our operating area. Overall, these operations have resulted in a reduction of violence in the battalion area of operations of over 60%.
In addition to the reduction of violence in our area, we’ve also been able to make some headway with improving essential services. For months, the city workers responsible for sewage remediation, electrical power lines and phone lines would not enter the neighborhood. In the past four weeks, we’ve seen crews working to repair these services. Sometimes, they’ve entered the neighborhood and requested security from the Iraqi Army, but sometimes we’ve seen them work without it.
The Iraqi Army has also assisted the locals receive their food rations and allocated propane. A remnant of the Saddam era, this hold over socialist process rations food stuffs, propane, benzene and other essential daily items. Each citizen has an official ration agent for each of these commodities. The sectarian rift made these agents targets and caused many to move to different neighborhoods. Or families willingly moved or were forcibly relocated severing the tie between the agent and the citizens. For months, many families did without, until the Iraqi Army began escorting citizens to the propane factory or transporting the food stuffs from the warehouses to the neighborhood.
Unfortunately, these operations and their positive impacts cost the battalion several brave Soldiers. SGT Robert Thrasher was mortally wounded during a cordon and knock mission in South Ghaziliyah on 11 February. A true American Hero, SGT Thrasher was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq as a member of our Delta Company.
On 17 March, we lost four outstanding Troopers. As the battalion was establishing our second combat outpost, JSS THRASHER, the forces building the JSS came under small arms fire. Sergeants Santini and Allen, and Privates First Class Landry and Davis were part of the Quick Reaction Force dispatched to assist the forces under attack at JSS THRASHER. While moving to JSS THRASHER, the patrol hit a buried IED. The loss was felt throughout the battalion, but since these men were assigned to our first JSS, CASINO, Charlie Company was impacted hardest. Those brave men had been working and sleeping side by side in close quarters for months.
On 21 April, as his patrol left JSS THRASHER, SGT William Bushnell’s patrol came under attack by RPG fire. SGT Bushnell died of wounds suffered in that attack. A well loved member of the battalion mortars, he and his platoon played an essential role in establishing JSS THRASHER and beginning to quell the violence in South Ghaziliyah.
While we share in the loss of these American Heroes, we cannot know the depth of sorrow each family has endured. The entire battalion sends our heartfelt condolences to each family with the knowledge that all will be missed tremendously by their Army family. The deeds and sacrifice of each of these outstanding Troopers will be forever enshrined in the most sacred of places, our hearts.
Although the political debate rages back in the United States, your Soldiers continue to fight, and fight well. And while we face many challenges in Iraq, the most deadly enemy we see in our zone is part of the same enemy responsible for September 11th, Al Qaida.
Unless we fight for the things we hold dear, who knows how many generations of Americans will never know the joy of true freedom. And right now, only America’s fighting men and women, and their families, know freedom also comes with responsibilities. I pray the Almighty keeps us all in his care as we continue our mission here in Iraq.
The CSM and I continue to marvel at the performance of our Soldiers. Life is not easy in Iraq, but each Trooper, despite the hardships endured as husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, is doing tremendous work. May the Good Lord continue to watch after each and every Trooper in the battalion and those faithfully serving our Nation throughout the world. Until my next update, we remain, “Always Ready”,
THUNDER 6