Commander's apology to villager wins new support for Hawai'i unit
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
AL HUWIJAH, Iraq — Guided by an Iraqi's good intentions and by satellite coordinates, the soldiers dug first with their hands, uncovering the Katushya rockets buried in a field that looked no different from the dozens surrounding it in the farming countryside.
Lt. Col. Scott Leith, commander of 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, leaves a meeting with an Iraqi, left, who accepted Leith's apology for detaining his wife and mother.
Grabbing shovels from their Humvees, Schofield Barracks soldiers eventually unearthed more than 60 of the 3-foot Russian rockets, and two 80 mm and 68 mm rounds.
It was already the second success of the day, and there would be one more to go for the convoy of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, and the 65th Engineer Battalion.
"I didn't count them, but this is 40 or 50 less possible IEDs (improvised explosive devices or bombs) or rockets coming toward our camp," said Lt. Col. Scott Leith, the 1-27 commander, as the munitions were pulled out of the ground. "This is within a couple of miles of where a second IED hit our troops."
In terms of a soldier's 9 to 5, it was a great day at the office.
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It started by making amends to a former Iraqi intelligence officer for 1-27 soldiers' detaining not only the man but also his wife and — in a cultural faux pas — his mother. The day's missions ended at dusk, with a roadside bomb being pried out of the pavement.
During a fruitful day of multiple missions for Hawai'i soldiers, Pfc. Johnathan Guerrero, right, retrieves a Russian-made rocket from a cache of more than 60 found in a plowed field. Guerrero, with the 65th Engineers, is from Mililani. At foreground is translator Sam Behhnam.
"It's like this pretty much every other day," said Cpl. David Gallardo, 27, of Palmdale, Calif., Leith's Humvee driver. "It's not boring."
It also highlights the complexity of the 1-27 Wolfhounds' mission: securing the peace and rebuilding relations and infrastructure in a country that was at war with the United States just a year ago.
Leith wanted to apologize to the one-time intelligence officer in Tall Hussein village — a man found not to be a threat — after his soldiers also took the two women into custody. Women are not allowed to carry weapons and are considered noncombatants within the local community.
"Out of going through hundreds of houses, the only thing that really hurt people's feelings was we took two women in a truck, so it really is a cultural difference," Leith said before his meeting with the family.
But even the apology turned into a plus.
The family in the village of mud huts and concrete homes was honored by Leith's visit, ushering him to the front of the traditional gathering room where male guests sit on a Persian-carpeted floor.
Like a town-hall meeting
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As word of Leith's visit spread, more and more men jammed into the back of the room for what turned into an impromptu town-hall meeting.
Staff Sgt. Juan Azucena of Los Angeles uses a probe to dig around an explosive device so it later could be destroyed.
"I understand that we made a mistake that we would not recognize in our culture," Leith told the group. "We knew very quickly that it was a mistake — your city leaders brought it to our attention, and I thought it very important that I myself delivered an apology to your families."
"Shokran gazillan" — thank you very much — the beaming man said in return.
Leith told the group he needed their help in keeping the peace and in rooting out terrorism.
The Sunni Arab region about 40 miles southwest of Kirkuk still does not have the security level needed for contractors to come in and start major rebuilding efforts.
"That's why we're working to make it a safe place, so people will come in with jobs," Leith said to the group. "So I think we need just a little patience, even though I know it's hard."
But Leith, 40, did offer an incentive: He said he would contact village leaders if an individual is being sought for questioning, reflecting a big change from the door-busting approach of preceding U.S. forces.
"We are working with your village leaders now so that when we check something, we will come and ask the leaders of the village to look for it," Leith said, with an interpreter translating into Arabic. "If it is a person we are looking for, we will ask you to bring him to us."
The former intelligence officer agreed to work with U.S. forces to help rid the area of insurgents. Because he was unprepared for a visit from the highest-ranking U.S. military officer in the region, he only had apples and oranges to offer his guests, but a day later he delivered platters of meat, bread and soup to Forward Operating Base McHenry as a sign of proper respect.
"We build trust with each of these little villages," Leith said after the meeting. "I can focus on the terrorists and avoid unnecessary disturbances in people's homes."
Conciliatory action pays off
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The meeting paid an immediate dividend: Leith was warned not to drive the same route used when he came in, because of information that a bomb may be planted in the road.
Villagers gather to see the district's highest-ranking U.S. officer visit a home to make amends. The officer, Lt. Col. Scott Leith, promised that villagers would receive proper notice if a suspect is sought.
From there, the convoy traveled to a farming region where isolated mud huts and, occasionally, more substantial homes dotted the low grass fields.
Responding to a tip that a rocket cache was in the area, 1-27 soldiers in Humvees had traversed the low hills earlier but found nothing.
Now they had a Global Positioning System coordinate to follow and, as a result, found the rockets buried in a freshly tilled field about 30 feet off a dirt road.
"They're very good at hiding these caches," said Maj. Jeff Butler, the 1-27 operations officer. "Without the help of Iraqi people, we'd never find this."
Combat engineers with the 65th Engineer Battalion wired the rockets with more than 30 pounds of C4 plastic explosives, then placed them back into the grave-sized hole.
"It feels great to find all these rounds," said Pfc. Johnathan Guerrero, 20, of Mililani, whose nickname is "Pidgin" because of his accent. "There's a lot of hunts we go on where we don't actually find anything."
Staff Sgt. Juan Azucena, 29, from Los Angeles, said finding the cache means that fewer rockets can be launched toward Forward Operating Base McHenry.
"That's a big accomplishment for us — to destroy the mortar rounds coming at us. But it can never beat the feeling of blowing up stuff," he said, smiling.
Which the engineers did — lighting a five-minute fuse, then watching the blast from more than a kilometer's distance.
There was one more find on the way back to base through the town of Al Huwijah: a 152 mm artillery round in the pavement with a blasting cap wired in its nose. For whatever reason, the wire had been cut, and soldiers dug the 1 1/2-foot shell out of the ground.
"I feel pretty good about being here. We're helping them (the Iraqis) out," said Gallardo as he guarded Leith's Humvee. "I look forward to driving out here. Makes the days go by faster. Over there (at McHenry), the days drag by."
