Convoy security force prepared to 'unleash hell'

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Fourteen thousand U.S. vehicles a week travel routes between Kuwait and Kirkuk, facing an average of five roadside bomb, rocket or direct-fire attacks.

Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, Pfc. Ian McClendon, left, Pfc. Aledaine Lugo and Pfc. Jay Schuchardt, manning machine gun atop Humvee, practice reacting to enemy fire. The company practiced live-fire skills for 2 1/2 days in the Kuwait desert. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The company was chosen to provide security for the Task Force 1-21 convoy of hundreds of vehicles, one of several convoys from the 25th Infantry Division (Light) that will make the 600-mile trek to the Kurdish-held region around Kirkuk.

"They are an extremely flexible and intelligent force that can

handle a variety of situations," said Capt. Bill Venable, who commands Charlie Company. "Morale is very high. The soldiers are task-oriented, they are focused and they are ready."

A variety of heavily armed "gun trucks" will provide security for the convoy trip, and Venable was given additional platoons to augment the force.

The 36-year-old company commander's soldiers spent 2 1/2 days in the Kuwait desert honing their live-fire skills by shooting from moving trucks and Humvees at pop-up and static targets that required them to distinguish between civilians and insurgents.

"The task required us to discriminate targets — which my soldiers did very well," said Venable, who shares the excitement of many of his younger soldiers for the mission ahead.

Pfc. Jason Buck, 24, an M-240 Bravo machine gunner, gave several other Charlie Company soldiers pointers on Friday on the use of a new scope being issued to other machine-gunners that can target the enemy more than three-quarters of a mile away.

"I feel confident about the convoy training. We did well. Basically, it's what we do every day, but now we're in vehicles," Buck said. "We'll have enough firepower to take out the enemy — that's without a doubt."

Cpl. Joshua Newbrough, 25, a team leader whose wife in Hawai'i is expecting their first child in late July, said, "I know I look forward to actually performing (my job).

"I don't look forward to killing a person. If it can be resolved without bloodshed, great. But if it can't, we're going to do our job and we're going to do it very, very well."

Newbrough said that when Charlie Company soldiers went to the range, "especially with the (machine guns), and everyone is on task, it's just like unleashing hell — you unleash all that firepower."

There is the realization something bad could happen, but the soldiers' confidence far outweighs concerns.

"My personal feeling is if something is going to happen, it's going to happen. No matter how well I train my guys, there's always going to be somebody motivated enough to do what they want to do," said Sgt. Edward Harmes, 23, a team leader for four soldiers. "All I can do is watch my sector and make sure I don't let anything through."

Sgt. Richard Huffman, 36, who was in the first Gulf War with the 3rd Infantry Division, knows why the soldiers of Charlie Company are eager for the assignment ahead.

"It's pretty much a case of other MOSs (military occupational specialties) in the Army do their job on a daily basis. If you are a mechanic, you fix cars all day long," Huffman said. "For infantry guys, we train for this and then do a lot of stuff we don't like to do, like a lot of maintenance. But this is it — the real thing."

As 25th soldiers train for the convoy trip north, daily routines have changed as well. In addition to practicing room-clearing exercises and combat dismounts from vehicles, soldiers must wear full combat gear every time they leave their tents to prepare for Iraq duty.

That includes ceramic-plate body armor recently distributed at Camp Virginia that can stop the most common rifle round used in Iraq.

"It helps (to wear the combat gear) because we just got these plates," said Sgt. Kaiphet Phaydavong, 23, who's with 1-21's Headquarters and Headquarters Company. "It helps you get in the mindset of a war zone."