Thunder Rumblings
Commander's Update, December 1, 2004
Tim Ryan, LTC, Commanding Officer
2/12th Cavalry
Camp Striker, Baghdad, Iraq
Well, I started this newsletter over a month ago, just after we moved to Camp Striker. I thought then that I’d take advantage of a relative lull in the battle to write; then the “lull” ended abruptly and I have been so involved in all the events that I haven’t finished the letter I started. So, let me review the headlines: Ramadan started on the 15th of October which brought on increased attacks, we moved to a tent city called Camp Striker about the 21st of October, lost an Estonian soldier to an explosion on the 25th of October, we had a very successful raid on the 5th of November, fought some very heated battles 12-14 November, began transition with a battalion from 10th Mountain Division on the 13th, handed over the sector on the 17th, road marched up north of Baghdad on the 18th, conducted a very large offensive operation on the 20th, redeployed to Striker on the 21st, moved to Camp Fallujah on the 24th, conducted another large operation on the 29th and now we’re continuing with operations in the Fallujah area. Whew! It has been a busy month. The next month will be even busier, now the details.
First the bad news, on the morning of 25 October, tragedy struck Task Force 2-12. As the soldiers of the Estonian Platoon were conducting a patrol in Abu Ghuraib a large explosive device blew up under their truck. The blast took the life of First Sergeant Arre Illenzeer, the platoon’s maintenance sergeant. The loss hit us all very hard as the soldiers of the Estonian Platoon are our brothers in this fight and are as much a part of this Task Force as any unit we brought from Fort Hood, Texas. The platoon’s call sign “Stone”, describes Arre and his unit in many ways. Solid like a rock, steady in actions and unwavering in the face of danger, First SGT Illenzeer exemplified what a senior non-commissioned officer should be and do by any standard. Confident and competent, 1st SGT Illenzeer was a hard charging soldier who led from the front and he was leading his unit on the morning he was killed. We all mourn his loss.
Less than a week later, we struck back with a series of raids beginning on 5 November and netted over thirty enemy captured or killed. These raids took a huge bite out of the main insurgent cell operating in Abu Ghuraib and the primary individual responsible for the attack on Stone was among those captured. We remained very aggressive and on the offense for the remainder of the month and this helped to blunt the counter attacks made by the enemy in response to the Fallujah operation that kicked off the second week of November. Meanwhile, 2d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (“Black Jack”), our normal parent brigade headquarters and Task Force 1-5 CAV had moved to Fallujah to execute operations with the 1st Marine Division. 2-12 CAV and the rest of the regular 2d Brigade members came under the control of 2d Brigade, 10th Mountain Division during this period. The 2d Brigade, 10th Mountain is attached to 1st Cavalry Division.
By the middle of the month of November, we conducted a relief in place of our sector with 2-14 Infantry from 10th Mountain Division (not the LA National Guard as we’d once thought was going to happen). Then on the 18th, less than 24 hours after pulled out of sector, we moved the whole task force up to Camp Cooke in Taji and staged for an attack into an enemy stronghold at Al Tarmiya, 20 miles north of Baghdad. There we worked for the 39th Brigade, Arkansas National Guard, who is also under 1st CAV control. On the 20th, Task Force 2-12, comprised of over 1100 soldiers from three different countries, conducted a coordinated attack to clear the zone around Tarmiya, capture the police station and rid the town of terrorists. The mission was a huge success and we returned to Camp Stryker (back near our old sector) and 2d Brigade, 10th Mountain control late on the 21st. After re-fitting and being stood up for several missions that didn't happen, we deployed to Camp Fallujah on the 24th and prepared for another large operation, but this time under 1st Marine Division and 2d Brigade (Black Jack), 1st CAV Divison control.
On the 28th, 2d Brigade, with TF 2-12 as the main effort and 2d Marine Recon Battalion as a supporting effort, conducted a search and attack operation into a zone south of Fallujah and the Euphrates River to clear it of enemy and ordinance. Again, the mission was a huge success. We collectively found hundreds of artillery, RPG, and mortar rounds as well as rockets, weapons and small arms ammo. We also captured several high profile targets and disrupted the enemy trying to seek sanctuary out in the countryside after leaving Fallujah. While all of the Task Force 2-12 soldiers made it back without injury or incident, unfortunately, C Company, 1-5 CAV attached to 2d Recon lost two soldiers to an improvised explosive device hidden on the roadside. Our last elements closed back into Camp Fallujah early this morning.
As for our future, it looks like we are going to stay on the offensive and continue to pursue the beaten and fleeing enemy in pockets scattered out around the Fallujah area. We have the enemy back on his heels and now is the time to keep punching him with repeated blows until there is no fight left in him. We cannot let up now and it is for that reason that we are going to stay even longer to maintain the pressure through the elections on 31 January 2005. The Secretary of Defense recently approved a request for our extension through March. So, maybe we'll be home for the kid's Spring Break. I know this is hard on everyone, but deep down, we all know it is the right thing to do. These elections are the most important thing to happen in this country since Baghdad fell in April of 2003.
I can’t tell you all how proud I am to be a part of this organization. The complex things that we do with such ease and teamwork are amazing. We have worked for three different brigades and two different divisions from two different services in the last month. To begin our attack the other morning, we moved over 600 U.S., Estonian, and Iraqi soldiers in over 175 vehicles of all types through Fallujah and then forty miles south in complete black out drive, hit a quick refuel enroute, then converged on the objective from four directions with aviation support from three different services overhead and we were at the first target building within four minutes of our projected time after four hours of staging and movement. I often boast to my very pro-American Iraqi interpreter, “Mr. T”, (his code name), “you are riding with the most powerful and professional military force ever to move on (or above) the surface of the Earth at any point in history”.
In closing, please know that we could not do what we do without the support of the greatest families from the greatest nation in history. Thank you all for all the heroic efforts you make back home keeping things going so we can stay focused over here. Hang in there; we’re almost to the end. This will all be behind us soon and will make for great stories over a beer someday. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers and keep those cards and cookies coming.
Always Ready! Thunderhorse!
LTC Tim Ryan
Thunder 6