Abilene Reporter News: Nation / World Tense encounters in Iraqi towns for Bravo Company
By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER
April 2, 2003
Correcting dateline to KUFA, Iraq, stead Kusa
The mood was tense as Bravo Company pushed into enemy-held territory.
"See you later, guys. Make this one count," a commander shouted as the men crammed into a pair of transport trucks.
The convoy crept slowly at first down a highway showing scars from the 3rd Infantry Division's earlier sweep through the area. Remote bus shelters were riddled by bullet holes. Artillery casings littered the road. A dead dog was on the median, blown into pieces. Every so often a pile of debris blocked the lanes.
Now it was the turn of the foot soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, Bravo Company. They have been in Iraq for just a few days but already helped secure the agricultural village of Kifal, swept an office park suspected of housing Iraqi fighters in Abbas, and on Tuesday started a major push to seize key sites south in unfriendly territory.
As the convoy reached a stretch of palm trees and small villas, families stepped to their driveways to watch the procession. That put the soldiers at attention because of reports that Baath Party militia fighters have been mingling with civilians to stage ambushes.
Outside a compound of simple cinderblock buildings behind a barbed wire fence the soldiers dismounted their trucks, taking defensive positions on their bellies. Engineers worked their way to the front gate and with a sound truck blaring an Arabic message for civilians not to be afraid, they set off a booming explosion to bust their way inside.
The troops stormed in, bounding in teams from building to building, busting through doors and shouting out their introduction: "Renegades entering! Renegades entering!"
>>
The hero of the morning was an Arabic translator the soldiers brought with them, a 28-year-old former Iraqi who lives in the U.S. Midwest. He called out friendly greetings as soldiers marched through the faculty village and agreed not to search inside the homes. He was treated like a visiting diplomat and even got a kiss from one excited elderly woman.
There were no classes Wednesday. There haven't been classes for a couple of weeks. "Instead of snow days, they get war days," quipped infantry soldier Spec. Adam Oliver, 21, of Concord, Calif.
By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER
April 2, 2003
Correcting dateline to KUFA, Iraq, stead Kusa
The mood was tense as Bravo Company pushed into enemy-held territory.
"See you later, guys. Make this one count," a commander shouted as the men crammed into a pair of transport trucks.
The convoy crept slowly at first down a highway showing scars from the 3rd Infantry Division's earlier sweep through the area. Remote bus shelters were riddled by bullet holes. Artillery casings littered the road. A dead dog was on the median, blown into pieces. Every so often a pile of debris blocked the lanes.
Now it was the turn of the foot soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, Bravo Company. They have been in Iraq for just a few days but already helped secure the agricultural village of Kifal, swept an office park suspected of housing Iraqi fighters in Abbas, and on Tuesday started a major push to seize key sites south in unfriendly territory.
As the convoy reached a stretch of palm trees and small villas, families stepped to their driveways to watch the procession. That put the soldiers at attention because of reports that Baath Party militia fighters have been mingling with civilians to stage ambushes.
Outside a compound of simple cinderblock buildings behind a barbed wire fence the soldiers dismounted their trucks, taking defensive positions on their bellies. Engineers worked their way to the front gate and with a sound truck blaring an Arabic message for civilians not to be afraid, they set off a booming explosion to bust their way inside.
The troops stormed in, bounding in teams from building to building, busting through doors and shouting out their introduction: "Renegades entering! Renegades entering!"
>>
The hero of the morning was an Arabic translator the soldiers brought with them, a 28-year-old former Iraqi who lives in the U.S. Midwest. He called out friendly greetings as soldiers marched through the faculty village and agreed not to search inside the homes. He was treated like a visiting diplomat and even got a kiss from one excited elderly woman.
There were no classes Wednesday. There haven't been classes for a couple of weeks. "Instead of snow days, they get war days," quipped infantry soldier Spec. Adam Oliver, 21, of Concord, Calif.
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