Three Schofield convoys arrive safely in Kirkuk

Spc. Gary Strickland of Rochester, Texas, keeps his M4 rifle pointed out the window of his Humvee as the convoy travels through Tikrit. The last of three Schofield Barracks convoys arrived at its base yesterday. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

KIRKUK, Iraq — Operation Koa, the first combat mission for the 25th Infantry Division (Light) in Iraq, is a success.

Sgt. Maj. Terry Sato, 2nd Brigade Combat Team operations sergeant major, summed up the convoys with the news that everybody wanted to hear.

"Everybody's here (in northern Iraq)," Sato said yesterday at Kirkuk Air Base, about 200 miles north of Baghdad. "They're safe."

Col. Lloyd Miles, the commander of the 2nd Brigade, said it was a relief to see the 25th Division patch in Iraq.

"Now we can get started on the next phase — and of course it's a big relief the soldiers are here," Miles said.

The convoys didn't arrive without incident, however, and Kirkuk Air Base brought a new threat: mortar and rocket attacks.

The whistle of an incoming mortar round and explosion somewhere on the huge base came at about 6:15 a.m. yesterday, and a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at U.S. forces hours earlier.

An "improvised explosive device," meanwhile, exploded alongside a 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment Task Force Humvee several days ago in the vicinity of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home town.

No one was injured, although Sato said the blast damaged three tires on the 5-ton Humvee, which was armored with heavy steel plating on top, bottom and sides. The vehicle had to be towed.

The bomb was hidden by a dead dog on the roadside, which is often so littered with trash that it makes it difficult to spot an ambush.

Two rocket-propelled grenades missed the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry task force vehicles near Tikrit, and small-arms fire raked a container, but no one was injured.

For the soldiers who made the approximately 600-mile drive across Iraq, including cities such as Samarra, Baghdad and Tikrit, it was a rite of passage.

Three battalion task forces will be operating from Kirkuk, Tuz and Al Huwijah. Other units will be operating elsewhere: the 84th Engineer Battalion was headed for Balad in the north.

Dangerous mission

Pfc. Zachary Hermes, of Mansfield, Ohio, left, and Pvt. Arthur Tenore of Rock Falls, Ill., gather blown Humvee tires during a stop in muddy northern Iraq. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

A roadside bomb exploded near Samarra about a half hour before the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Task Force of about 200 Humvees and trucks rolled through on the third day of the four-day trip from Kuwait.

The damaged Humvee was not from Hawai'i. Two more bombs went off after the 1-21 task force had safely passed.

Pvt. David Snow, 18, of New Orleans said he was "very worried" about the drive north.

"We knew people were dying on their way up here from IEDs," said Snow, who joined the Army a year ago to "explore new countries." His first duty station was Hawai'i.

"It was scary because we didn't know what was going to happen, what to expect. But overall it showed we didn't get hurt," he said.

Although many roadside bombs — often artillery shells or rockets — are now detected, they still regularly take lives.

Three soldiers with the 4th Infantry Division were killed less than a week ago outside Kirkuk when their Humvee drove over four 105 mm artillery shells buried in the pavement. A 600-foot electrical cord was used to detonate the bomb, which blew the Humvee hundreds of feet into the air.

Thirty-nine bombs exploded recently in a one-week period in western Baghdad, part of the so-called Sunni Triangle where many attacks on U.S. forces occur.

"There are a lot of them (bombs) out there," Sato said. "Quite a few of them go off and miss. A majority of them detonate and don't have any effects at all."

For many Schofield soldiers on the convoy, discerning friend from foe was a trial by fire.

"I wouldn't say it was real tense, but when we went through Baghdad, everyone was more on guard," said Pvt. Jared Baxter, 23, of Farmington, N.M., a 1-21 Charlie Company infantryman who carries a Squad Automatic Weapon.

He and some other soldiers had to secure an overpass, which insurgents have used to drop gasoline bombs on passing convoys. They saw an Iraqi man put something suspicious on barrels on the bridge, and Snow was faced with the possibility of having to shoot him.

"We called it in to the (commanding officer), and we had to make the decision, but the last truck had passed," Snow said. "It's hard. Anybody can sit there and say they will kill somebody, but it's hard in actuality when you think about their family."

Convoy vehicles, spaced several hundred feet apart to minimize damage in the event of an attack, had to stop for numerous flat tires and one Humvee rollover that caused some bumps and bruises.

Each time a convoy stopped, vehicles pulled bumper to bumper and soldiers trained their weapons outward, across vehicle hoods and from behind Humvee tires, in the event of an attack.

Sgt. Maj. Sato said he was pleased with the response.

"I think it went well. We took all the right actions — looking at the route, having the right people at the right intersections, making sure we went in the right direction — just the coordination between us and the units in country."

Signs of war

Cpl. James Rinonos, center, of Kalihi, enjoys a Coke as his battalion arrives in Kirkuk with fellow soldiers, from left, Staff Sgt. Juan Vargas of Stockton, Calif.; Pfc. Benjamin Riley of Nelsonville, Ohio; Pfc. Aaron Taylor of Billings, Mont.; and Pvt. David Rendon of Sacramento, Calif. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Nights were spent at guarded convoy support centers, one of which was a former Iraqi air base. Burned-out tanks and armored personnel carriers littered the northern route.

In Samarra, in the Sunni Triangle, Bradley fighting vehicles were parked at intervals as part of roadside bomb response teams. In Tikrit, the 1-21 convoy picked up escorts from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and 4th and 1st Infantry Divisions, including Apache helicopter gunships crisscrossing overhead.

Sections of Tikrit were a study in contrasts, with majestic palaces overlooking the Tigris River and narrow, winding streets lined with crude brick homes.

Stone-faced Iraqi men stared as the convoy passed, and children — as elsewhere in the country — clowned, waved and gave the thumbs-up to passing soldiers.

At Kirkuk Air Base, where the 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry is based, soldiers will begin a "left seat, right seat" ride-along transition with the departing 173rd Airborne out of Italy.

"We will mirror what they do, and any changes or improvements we need, we will make," Sato said.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team will first report to the 4th Infantry Division, which includes the 173rd Airborne, but those soldiers are expected to move out in 30 to 45 days.

After that, Schofield soldiers will fall under the command of the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) out of Germany.

Getting job done

Iraqis smile at a passing convoy on the western outskirts of Baghdad. In all, convoys delivered more than 2,500 soldiers to bases in northern Iraq that will be their home for the next year. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Pvt. Baxter of New Mexico said he was looking forward to getting his mission done.

"I don't know what they are, but when they come down to us, we'll be ready for them," he said.

Baxter also is thinking about getting the job done "so I can go home to my wife and two kids."

He has a son who will be a year old when he returns.

"I can't believe that 21 days after my wife has a kid, we leave," Baxter said. "I'm looking forward to getting those pictures."

On the huge guarded air base, meanwhile, where Iraqi buildings are being used, soldiers were still acclimating to being in Iraq.

The sound of occasional explosions in the distance, U.S. Air Force jets overhead and brief mortar and rocket attacks nearly every night are reminders, yet the base has all the hallmarks of military life overseas, such as American-style food, a base exchange, Internet cafe and Pizza Hut.

Schofield soldiers are living in approximately 20-foot metal shipping containers outfitted with windows and bunk beds. Temperatures drop into the 40s at night and hover in the 60s during the day.

Inside the base concertina wire, it's "Americanized, and hard to stay focused on the fact you're in Iraq," said Staff Sgt. Rene Castro, 26, a Chicagoan who has a wife and three children in Mililani. "Once you step outside the gate, you see your real focus, your real job to do."