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Posted on: Friday, March 12, 2004
3 wounded Schofield soldiers should recover
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
KIRKUK, Iraq — Three Schofield Barracks soldiers whose car was ambushed on a city street Monday in an unusually brazen attack are expected to recover from their injuries, officials said yesterday.
Meanwhile, the soldiers' mode of travel — in a single civilian vehicle as opposed to a convoy of at least several Humvees — was being reviewed.
Maj. Scott Halstead, the 2nd Brigade adjutant, said an informal investigation was ongoing, and he could not comment on why a civilian vehicle was used.
"Bottom line is: We can do better next time," he said.
All three soldiers, from Company B, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light), were well enough to be evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany, for further treatment, said Capt. Nathan Minami, 2nd Brigade assistant operations officer.
Staff Sgt. Santiago Frias, 24, received gunshots to his right shoulder and right leg, Minami said. Another bullet hit Frias in the buttocks and ricocheted into his stomach, causing some complications initially with surgery.
Sgt. Israel Burks, a forward observer attached to Company B, was shot in the left forearm. A bullet also broke both of his legs when it passed through below the knee, officials said.
A third soldier from Company B, Staff Sgt. Timothy Pollock, was injured in the eye by flying fragments.
Minami said Pollock, 25, is able to see with the injured eye, but tests are still being conducted.
The three soldiers, all wearing body armor, were in a civilian vehicle conducting reconnaissance at about 5:30 p.m. in Company B's area of responsibility in Kirkuk.
Soldiers sometimes travel in unmarked cars to observe sites without attracting attention.
Minami said the attackers were in a vehicle that slowed in front of the soldiers' vehicle.
When both vehicles stopped, two gunmen got out and began firing on the soldiers with AK-47 assault rifles, he said.
Another car pulled up behind the soldiers and shots were fired from that car as well.
Cars were on the road at the time, and Kirkuk residents were celebrating the signing of Iraq's new interim constitution.
The soldiers, who did not get out, returned fire with two 9 mm pistols and an M-4 rifle, and then drove away from the ambush to a police station about a mile away.
The attackers apparently escaped.
In Kirkuk, which has a large pro-American Kurdish population, direct attacks on U.S. soldiers are rare.
Still, Schofield soldiers are trained and prepared for such attacks, Minami said.
"It's happened in other places in Iraq," he said. "And again, it's a single isolated incident (in Kirkuk). It doesn't indicate a pattern."
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