thedrifter
12-13-05, 12:42 PM
December 19, 2005
Beating the ‘resilient’ enemy
Ambush hits 3/7 in Ramadi
By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer
RAMADI, Iraq — “Operation Skinner” got off to a lethal start Dec. 7 as one Marine was killed and another 12 wounded when insurgents detonated a makeshift bomb ambush on a group of infantrymen heading into position in the western section of this violence-wracked city.
Molten vehicle parts, twisted weapons and human remains littered the site as a quick reaction force from Combined Anti-Armor Team Black, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, hurriedly swept the ambush area, flanked by a fetid rivulet and trash-strewn fields, for remaining explosives and kept a lookout for armed attackers.
Nearly three hours later, after the flames from the burning truck tires had subsided, an Army M88 Tank Retriever based at nearby Camp Ramadi arrived to tow the burnt-out shell that once was a 7-ton truck back to base.
Operation Skinner, the latest in a series of assaults intended to cripple the insurgency in this capital city of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, involved the entire Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based 3/7 along with Army explosive ordnance disposal unit teams and Iraqi army troops.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Dec. 15, and many experts believe that participation by Sunnis is key to avoiding a civil war with the majority Shiites, who for years were marginalized by the Sunni-dominated Saddam Hussein regime. Voter turnout in the Sunni bastion of Ramadi was light during the constitutional referendum in October. Military leaders here hope that operations such as Skinner will help discourage insurgents from intimidating voters.
“This is a disruption operation,” said Maj. Brad Tippett, operations officer for 3/7. “It’s intended to facilitate the citizens of Ramadi to have the ability to vote.”
‘They’re resilient’
The stricken Marines from 2nd Platoon, Lima Company, 3/7, were driving out of their forward camp, dubbed “Snake Pit,” in a heavily armored 7-ton truck escorted by armed Humvees when the first of two roadside bombs struck, disabling the truck and causing one minor injury.
When Marines got out of their vehicles to assist the wounded and move the truck out of the dark dirt road around 8:30 p.m., a second bomb exploded, raking the troops with shrapnel that caused 12 more casualties.
One Marine died on the way to a hospital in Baghdad. Moments later, the fuel tank for the truck exploded, causing more chaos and sending Marines from throughout the city in a rush to help.
“That was a good action on the part of the enemy. He set up a pretty good ambush,” Tippett said. “It’s straight-up frustrating.”
The ambush exacted the highest casualty toll on the battalion since it deployed to Iraq in September. Lima Company has been hit especially hard, taking several casualties in combat operations in the town of Husayba near the Syrian border on its last deployment to Iraq in April 2004, before this latest ambush.
“They’re resilient,” Tippett said of Lima. “They have good leaders so they’ll bounce back.”
The operation continued into the night of Dec. 8, this time with no significant strikes by insurgents. Army EOD teams swept the convoy routes for bombs, while Marines swirled from several directions into rebel strongholds in search of weapons caches and bomb makers.
Rolling through the neighborhoods north of what the Marines call “Route Michigan” — the main highway cutting through Ramadi — during the second night of the operation, tension was in the air. The Marines scanned the debris-littered streets and alleyways for the telltale signs of roadside bombs, their wary eyes tinted green from the soft light of night-vision goggles.
“Stay clear of that manhole cover, Phillips,” growled Sgt. John Brandon, 26, of Corpus Christi, Texas, platoon sergeant for Combined Anti-Armor Team Blue, Weapons Company, 3/7.
Brandon’s driver, Lance Cpl. Ernest Phillips, 21, of San Bernardino, Calif., swerved to the left, muttering a plaintive “sorry sar’nt” as the convoy of Humvees continued down the pitch-black street.
The operation continued throughout the city as infantry troops from 3/7’s Kilo and India Companies searched houses and storefronts suspected of hiding insurgents and bomb-making materials.
Tinny voices over the radio indicated the tragedy of the previous night might yet be avoided. Everything was going smoothly.
Around midnight, Brandon received a call from the Army EOD team, call sign “Bulldog,” that a wire from a mortar shell in the median of Route Michigan led to a house nearby.
“Roger, we’ll check it out,” Brandon said.
The house turned out to be empty, with no evidence that it was sanctuary for a bomb triggerman.
The Marines decided to question the occupants of a residence next door.
Inside the house, a good-natured middle-aged Iraqi, who said his name was Muthanna, sat with his two sons, mother, father and wife in a modestly appointed living room.
Muthanna chatted with the Marines in surprisingly good English, explaining that he was a pharmacist in Ramadi and that soldiers had been there two days ago.
“They stay here 22 hours,” Muthanna said, without a hint of bitterness. “They break my door and my computer.”
Lowering to one knee and taking off his helmet and clear ballistic glasses to appear less intimidating, Brandon offered Muthanna a “claim card” — a certificate Iraqis can submit to the local justice center to compensate for damaged property.
‘It’s not so good now’
American forces have been at pains here to defeat a grinding insurgent/terrorist alliance while still winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis — with mixed success.
Operations such as Skinner provide a window into the two sides of the current conflict in Iraq, one where bullets can hurt U.S. efforts as much as they can help the coalition win.
But there’s still a long way to go before the citizens of Ramadi — such as Muthanna — are won over.
“I cannot take this because the ‘Irhadeen’ will see me and think I am a spy,” Muthanna said, using the unfavorable local term for insurgents.
“I understand. How will things get better here?” Brandon asked, lighting the Iraqi man’s cigarette as his teenage son glared silently at the Marines moving through the house.
“It will be better when you leave,” Muthanna said, again, without a hint of anger in his voice.
“I know,” Brandon replied. “It’s not good now.”
Ellie
Beating the ‘resilient’ enemy
Ambush hits 3/7 in Ramadi
By Christian Lowe
Times staff writer
RAMADI, Iraq — “Operation Skinner” got off to a lethal start Dec. 7 as one Marine was killed and another 12 wounded when insurgents detonated a makeshift bomb ambush on a group of infantrymen heading into position in the western section of this violence-wracked city.
Molten vehicle parts, twisted weapons and human remains littered the site as a quick reaction force from Combined Anti-Armor Team Black, Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, hurriedly swept the ambush area, flanked by a fetid rivulet and trash-strewn fields, for remaining explosives and kept a lookout for armed attackers.
Nearly three hours later, after the flames from the burning truck tires had subsided, an Army M88 Tank Retriever based at nearby Camp Ramadi arrived to tow the burnt-out shell that once was a 7-ton truck back to base.
Operation Skinner, the latest in a series of assaults intended to cripple the insurgency in this capital city of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province, involved the entire Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based 3/7 along with Army explosive ordnance disposal unit teams and Iraqi army troops.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Dec. 15, and many experts believe that participation by Sunnis is key to avoiding a civil war with the majority Shiites, who for years were marginalized by the Sunni-dominated Saddam Hussein regime. Voter turnout in the Sunni bastion of Ramadi was light during the constitutional referendum in October. Military leaders here hope that operations such as Skinner will help discourage insurgents from intimidating voters.
“This is a disruption operation,” said Maj. Brad Tippett, operations officer for 3/7. “It’s intended to facilitate the citizens of Ramadi to have the ability to vote.”
‘They’re resilient’
The stricken Marines from 2nd Platoon, Lima Company, 3/7, were driving out of their forward camp, dubbed “Snake Pit,” in a heavily armored 7-ton truck escorted by armed Humvees when the first of two roadside bombs struck, disabling the truck and causing one minor injury.
When Marines got out of their vehicles to assist the wounded and move the truck out of the dark dirt road around 8:30 p.m., a second bomb exploded, raking the troops with shrapnel that caused 12 more casualties.
One Marine died on the way to a hospital in Baghdad. Moments later, the fuel tank for the truck exploded, causing more chaos and sending Marines from throughout the city in a rush to help.
“That was a good action on the part of the enemy. He set up a pretty good ambush,” Tippett said. “It’s straight-up frustrating.”
The ambush exacted the highest casualty toll on the battalion since it deployed to Iraq in September. Lima Company has been hit especially hard, taking several casualties in combat operations in the town of Husayba near the Syrian border on its last deployment to Iraq in April 2004, before this latest ambush.
“They’re resilient,” Tippett said of Lima. “They have good leaders so they’ll bounce back.”
The operation continued into the night of Dec. 8, this time with no significant strikes by insurgents. Army EOD teams swept the convoy routes for bombs, while Marines swirled from several directions into rebel strongholds in search of weapons caches and bomb makers.
Rolling through the neighborhoods north of what the Marines call “Route Michigan” — the main highway cutting through Ramadi — during the second night of the operation, tension was in the air. The Marines scanned the debris-littered streets and alleyways for the telltale signs of roadside bombs, their wary eyes tinted green from the soft light of night-vision goggles.
“Stay clear of that manhole cover, Phillips,” growled Sgt. John Brandon, 26, of Corpus Christi, Texas, platoon sergeant for Combined Anti-Armor Team Blue, Weapons Company, 3/7.
Brandon’s driver, Lance Cpl. Ernest Phillips, 21, of San Bernardino, Calif., swerved to the left, muttering a plaintive “sorry sar’nt” as the convoy of Humvees continued down the pitch-black street.
The operation continued throughout the city as infantry troops from 3/7’s Kilo and India Companies searched houses and storefronts suspected of hiding insurgents and bomb-making materials.
Tinny voices over the radio indicated the tragedy of the previous night might yet be avoided. Everything was going smoothly.
Around midnight, Brandon received a call from the Army EOD team, call sign “Bulldog,” that a wire from a mortar shell in the median of Route Michigan led to a house nearby.
“Roger, we’ll check it out,” Brandon said.
The house turned out to be empty, with no evidence that it was sanctuary for a bomb triggerman.
The Marines decided to question the occupants of a residence next door.
Inside the house, a good-natured middle-aged Iraqi, who said his name was Muthanna, sat with his two sons, mother, father and wife in a modestly appointed living room.
Muthanna chatted with the Marines in surprisingly good English, explaining that he was a pharmacist in Ramadi and that soldiers had been there two days ago.
“They stay here 22 hours,” Muthanna said, without a hint of bitterness. “They break my door and my computer.”
Lowering to one knee and taking off his helmet and clear ballistic glasses to appear less intimidating, Brandon offered Muthanna a “claim card” — a certificate Iraqis can submit to the local justice center to compensate for damaged property.
‘It’s not so good now’
American forces have been at pains here to defeat a grinding insurgent/terrorist alliance while still winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqis — with mixed success.
Operations such as Skinner provide a window into the two sides of the current conflict in Iraq, one where bullets can hurt U.S. efforts as much as they can help the coalition win.
But there’s still a long way to go before the citizens of Ramadi — such as Muthanna — are won over.
“I cannot take this because the ‘Irhadeen’ will see me and think I am a spy,” Muthanna said, using the unfavorable local term for insurgents.
“I understand. How will things get better here?” Brandon asked, lighting the Iraqi man’s cigarette as his teenage son glared silently at the Marines moving through the house.
“It will be better when you leave,” Muthanna said, again, without a hint of anger in his voice.
“I know,” Brandon replied. “It’s not good now.”
Ellie