thedrifter
05-08-07, 06:17 AM
War Story:
SGT Cody Dikeman
Combat Caught on Tape
Jill Hanks
12 News
May. 7, 2007 03:52 PM
Desire and a feeling of obligation compelled Cody Dikeman to join the military.
"I had to listen to my heart and it told me that I needed to go out and I needed to serve my country," he explains.
Some 4 years later, the Marine Sergeant went to Iraq. He arrived in August 2004 and was based at Haditha Dam in the Al Anbar Province.
His mission included not only securing the routes that Coalition Forces used, but trying to capture or kill the people who were putting IEDs and mines on the roads. Dikeman and his Marines would often lie in wait, hiding off the roadway, to lull the insurgents into a false sense of security, allowing them to try to place a bomb.
His team was called a Mobile Assault Platoon, or MAP. "We are mobile and we can be used to assault things, " Dikeman says. He was the vehicle commander and assisted the patrol leader for their MAP. "My vehicles were all tow-gunners, which is a tube-launched, optically-sided wire-guided missile system. It's a big missile that we fire off the top of our Humvee."
Dikeman calls the first large fight his MAP was involved in, "a combined arms ambush." The team had gone to a hospital to see if the staff needed any supplies. When their mission was complete, they had to leave the small town, the same way they came in, which Dikeman says can be dangerous.
Sure enough, the insurgents attacked. "They began mortaring us and firing RPGs at our convoy, and a lot of machine gun fire. We're in the kill zone," which Dikeman explains, is the roadway, that the insurgents are firing upon. One of the mortars blew out the headlights on their Humvee.
"We had a driver who had a helmet-mounted camera and he was able to catch most of what's going on," Dikeman explains.
In the video, you see the Marines load up and try to speed away from the kill zone, until the driver identifies the spot where the mortars are being launched. He's yelling that the mortar tube is to the gunner's 3 o'clock about a hundred meters out. Dikeman says "That was to his 9 o'clock and that was about 1500 meters out, but he was saying 3 o'clock 100 meters. It was just part of the confusion."
The gunner waits to make sure he's firing at the right spot and then launches the tow missile, right on target. "It was still very exciting at the moment," Cody remembers. "There was nothing like firing a tow missile in the middle of combat. There was a lot of gunfire going on but when we fired that 70 pound missile down range and destroyed one of their buildings, it changed the tone of the fight."
"We blew that building up and the mortars stopped," Dikeman says, but his Marines continued to fire their guns, "It's good to shoot bullets at anybody who is left." The insurgents were all killed, but his Marines all made it out safely.
A few months later, Cody's team was sent on what's called a direct action mission. "We're going to capture high value targets, bad people, at a specific location, most likely a building or a house and they would assign me to orchestrate the assault on the house and get the people."
They went in at night to take down a house that Intel said was an insurgent stronghold, with many armed men inside. Dikeman had brought in a team of 4 engineers to blow the door, "because the doors in Iraq are generally metal."
It turned out, no one was inside the house, but as the Marines left, they were ambushed. RPGs and machine gun fire were coming in from two different directions. Dikeman's team had to fight their way out, but his breaching team, the 4 engineers, were all killed. Two were shot in the face, the others died in an explosion. None was over the age of 24.
Dikeman's team had to fight their way out, but his breaching team, the 4 engineers, were all killed. Two were shot in the face, the others died in an explosion. None was over the age of 24.
Dikeman says it's a horrible feeling when people die, but it's part of the job and something you have to prepare for before heading into combat. "People are going to die, because it's war and that doesn't make it easy," But, he says, "You're going to be able to deal with it and drive on, and you'll mourn them later." He says there are always people out there trying to kill you, "so you have to focus, you have to push that out and focus."
Constantly being in a danger zone, "can get a little nerve-wracking," but Dikeman says, "My faith in Jesus Christ basically took all my fear away. I was very accepting and I know that he will protect me, if I believe that he will, and it's not my time to go." He says that doesn't mean he was never scared, but he didn't have a lot of fear every day. "Because that could eat you up and I've never slept better than when I was in Iraq... you you only sleep 3 or 4 hours, but it was a good sleep."
Dikeman is especially proud of his team's work on what could've been just a typical day of stopping vehicles at a checkpoint on an Iraqi road. One of the cars they stopped had two men inside. One turned out to be a foreign fighter, and the other was a suicide bomber-to-be. "He actually had his suicide note to his family in his back pocket."
Those captures led to the take-down of an entire terrorist cell in another country. "That was great, to do something that directly affects another country and people that are innocent, is a good feeling."
Dikeman thinks about his time in Iraq every day, not only the challenges, but the success, too, and he says there were a lot of good days. "When nobody dies and nobody gets shot, it's awesome. I mean, it's the greatest feeling in the world. It's like catching a touchdown pass." He says the bonds he formed in Iraq will last a lifetime.
He says his experience there "will be one of the most important things I've done in my life," adding that it will probably overshadow anything he does at the Scottsdale Police Department, where he is a 7-year veteran and member of the SWAT team.
"Nothing would compare to combat," he says.
To view video follow link and to your right
www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/sgtdikemanstory05072007-CR-CP-CP.html#
Ellie
SGT Cody Dikeman
Combat Caught on Tape
Jill Hanks
12 News
May. 7, 2007 03:52 PM
Desire and a feeling of obligation compelled Cody Dikeman to join the military.
"I had to listen to my heart and it told me that I needed to go out and I needed to serve my country," he explains.
Some 4 years later, the Marine Sergeant went to Iraq. He arrived in August 2004 and was based at Haditha Dam in the Al Anbar Province.
His mission included not only securing the routes that Coalition Forces used, but trying to capture or kill the people who were putting IEDs and mines on the roads. Dikeman and his Marines would often lie in wait, hiding off the roadway, to lull the insurgents into a false sense of security, allowing them to try to place a bomb.
His team was called a Mobile Assault Platoon, or MAP. "We are mobile and we can be used to assault things, " Dikeman says. He was the vehicle commander and assisted the patrol leader for their MAP. "My vehicles were all tow-gunners, which is a tube-launched, optically-sided wire-guided missile system. It's a big missile that we fire off the top of our Humvee."
Dikeman calls the first large fight his MAP was involved in, "a combined arms ambush." The team had gone to a hospital to see if the staff needed any supplies. When their mission was complete, they had to leave the small town, the same way they came in, which Dikeman says can be dangerous.
Sure enough, the insurgents attacked. "They began mortaring us and firing RPGs at our convoy, and a lot of machine gun fire. We're in the kill zone," which Dikeman explains, is the roadway, that the insurgents are firing upon. One of the mortars blew out the headlights on their Humvee.
"We had a driver who had a helmet-mounted camera and he was able to catch most of what's going on," Dikeman explains.
In the video, you see the Marines load up and try to speed away from the kill zone, until the driver identifies the spot where the mortars are being launched. He's yelling that the mortar tube is to the gunner's 3 o'clock about a hundred meters out. Dikeman says "That was to his 9 o'clock and that was about 1500 meters out, but he was saying 3 o'clock 100 meters. It was just part of the confusion."
The gunner waits to make sure he's firing at the right spot and then launches the tow missile, right on target. "It was still very exciting at the moment," Cody remembers. "There was nothing like firing a tow missile in the middle of combat. There was a lot of gunfire going on but when we fired that 70 pound missile down range and destroyed one of their buildings, it changed the tone of the fight."
"We blew that building up and the mortars stopped," Dikeman says, but his Marines continued to fire their guns, "It's good to shoot bullets at anybody who is left." The insurgents were all killed, but his Marines all made it out safely.
A few months later, Cody's team was sent on what's called a direct action mission. "We're going to capture high value targets, bad people, at a specific location, most likely a building or a house and they would assign me to orchestrate the assault on the house and get the people."
They went in at night to take down a house that Intel said was an insurgent stronghold, with many armed men inside. Dikeman had brought in a team of 4 engineers to blow the door, "because the doors in Iraq are generally metal."
It turned out, no one was inside the house, but as the Marines left, they were ambushed. RPGs and machine gun fire were coming in from two different directions. Dikeman's team had to fight their way out, but his breaching team, the 4 engineers, were all killed. Two were shot in the face, the others died in an explosion. None was over the age of 24.
Dikeman's team had to fight their way out, but his breaching team, the 4 engineers, were all killed. Two were shot in the face, the others died in an explosion. None was over the age of 24.
Dikeman says it's a horrible feeling when people die, but it's part of the job and something you have to prepare for before heading into combat. "People are going to die, because it's war and that doesn't make it easy," But, he says, "You're going to be able to deal with it and drive on, and you'll mourn them later." He says there are always people out there trying to kill you, "so you have to focus, you have to push that out and focus."
Constantly being in a danger zone, "can get a little nerve-wracking," but Dikeman says, "My faith in Jesus Christ basically took all my fear away. I was very accepting and I know that he will protect me, if I believe that he will, and it's not my time to go." He says that doesn't mean he was never scared, but he didn't have a lot of fear every day. "Because that could eat you up and I've never slept better than when I was in Iraq... you you only sleep 3 or 4 hours, but it was a good sleep."
Dikeman is especially proud of his team's work on what could've been just a typical day of stopping vehicles at a checkpoint on an Iraqi road. One of the cars they stopped had two men inside. One turned out to be a foreign fighter, and the other was a suicide bomber-to-be. "He actually had his suicide note to his family in his back pocket."
Those captures led to the take-down of an entire terrorist cell in another country. "That was great, to do something that directly affects another country and people that are innocent, is a good feeling."
Dikeman thinks about his time in Iraq every day, not only the challenges, but the success, too, and he says there were a lot of good days. "When nobody dies and nobody gets shot, it's awesome. I mean, it's the greatest feeling in the world. It's like catching a touchdown pass." He says the bonds he formed in Iraq will last a lifetime.
He says his experience there "will be one of the most important things I've done in my life," adding that it will probably overshadow anything he does at the Scottsdale Police Department, where he is a 7-year veteran and member of the SWAT team.
"Nothing would compare to combat," he says.
To view video follow link and to your right
www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/sgtdikemanstory05072007-CR-CP-CP.html#
Ellie