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A Soldier’s Story First Sgt. Robert Jennings |
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COURTESY SPECIALIST MICHAEL DUTTON
Soldiers take cover as snowballs fly in the early evening. According to 1st Sgt. Robert Jennings, a great snowball fight broke out between soldiers and most of the kids in the neighborhood during a rare snowfall.
Calamity at school
follows respite of snow
This week has had been an adventure for the soldiers of Alpha Company. First of all, I would like to send our condolences out to the family of Sgt. Rington Kunst. He is on emergency leave back in Hawaii. His brother-in-law was killed in an auto accident on Valentine's Day. Our prayers are with you and we look forward to your return in a few weeks.
1st Sgt. Robert Jennings is deployed in Iraq with 4,000 25 Infantry Division (Light) soldiers from Schofield Barracks. He writes a Sunday column for the Star-Bulletin that began Feb. 1. Jennings, a 20-year Army veteran, has been assigned to Fort Riley, Kan., Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Lewis, Wash., and Camp Casey in South Korea. He is now on his second tour at Schofield Barracks. He has been deployed to Panama, Japan, Germany, Egypt and Thailand. As the first sergeant of Alpha Company, Jennings is in charge of 135 soldiers.
See the Columnists section for Jennings' earlier dispatches.
Feb. 21, 1300 hours >> A patrol just informed our company headquarters that they have found a rather large mortar cache. Children encountered along the patrol led them to the cache. After further investigation and a little digging, they uncovered 419 mortar rounds. This was a good find. The sad thing is we found these rounds in a playground. This just goes to show how ruthless these people are that we are battling.
We are continuing our adjustment to life here in Kirkuk. The day-to-day rhythm is becoming second nature to most soldiers. We are constantly conducting patrols throughout the city on foot and in vehicles. We want the people here to know that we are not going anywhere until the job is complete, but at the same time letting the police and government agencies take the lead in keeping the peace and conducting day-to-day business.
Feb. 22, 1700 hours >> Unbelievable, it's snowing! The weather started turning colder about 3:30 p.m. This may not be a big deal to our families on the mainland, but it's huge to Alpha Company and the local residents in the neighborhood. This is about as common here as a street without potholes in Hawaii. Our neighbors informed us that it has been 14 years since the last snow. Needless to say a great snowball fight broke out between some soldiers and most of the kids in the neighborhood. No one was safe from rooftop bombardment. It's amazing how something as simple as snow can let you forget about what is going on, if just an hour. I just laugh at some of our soldiers that have never seen snow before today. Pfc. Wilbert Herrera from Miami and Pfc. Edmund Gilo from Maui were two of the soldiers experiencing this for the first time. Both had the same reaction, "That was pretty cool."
The snow lasted a few hours and little was seen as the sun came up the next morning. Feb. 23 started off like any other day, vehicles rolled to pick up breakfast as usual as soon as the sun came up, and then ...
Feb. 23, 0807 hours >> An alarming call from one of our police stations. An explosion has just gone off and there are casualties. Our first report is vague and we call headquarters to let them know we are moving to investigate. As we were moving to the station about 10 to 15 minutes away, different reports were coming across our interpreter's radio. He tried to relay them to the commander, but as soon as one came across another was coming. I was trying to imagine what we were going to see when it dawned on me, there is a middle school right next to the station. Now my mind is wandering from fighter to concerned adult. What am I going to find?
Feb. 23, 0832 hours >> We have arrived at the station. The Iraqi emergency systems are in full force. The fire department is on the seen watering down the still smoldering vehicles caught in the blast area, the ambulances are leaving with the second load of casualties and there are Iraqi police everywhere. Quite a crowd of locals has gathered on the streets. I see a lot of pain in some of their eyes. The police in this area are liked very much. I think the community is feeling some of the pain. There is a lot of devastation here. At first glance, you would think the serious casualties might be at least 50 to 75. There are about 12 to 13 cars and SUVs damaged or destroyed. There is a lot of pain in some of the officers' eyes, but they are continuing on with the clean up.
After a quick assessment of the area, Sgt. 1st Class Woodruff of 2nd Platoon assisted the police that were establishing a security perimeter. This allowed the company commander and myself to move freely throughout the area to help assess the situation. They were able to push the local crowd further across the main road.
After Capt. Moe and the police chief linked up and started talking, we found out that a car drove up to the front gate and exploded right at shift change. I informed him that I was going to take a few soldiers and check on the school. What I saw broke my heart. I talked to the children that live at the school with their father, the janitor. They seemed scared but strong. I conducted a quick walk through to survey the damage. Every window had been blown out. I can't imagine my children sitting in class and all the windows explode. There was glass everywhere, along with a few paper towels and tissues with traces of blood. It is amazing how some people view their lives to be worthless enough to attempt to hurt innocent people with no remorse.
By the end of the day we knew that we had lost seven Iraqi police officers and more than 35 were sent to the hospital. This included two children from the school. There were more injuries to the police, children and bystanders, but they were treated either at the scene or at home. Most will recover, but we pray for those families that lost noble people who just want change.
COURTESY STAFF SERGEANT MARCOS MENDOZA
First Sgt. Jennings and 1st Lt. Oliver Hollis assess damage at the middle school after the blast from the police station.
Democracy and freedom, something most of us take for granted, are all most of these people are striving for. There are the small percentages that don't want change; these are the ones we battle day in and day out. We returned a few hours later to give plywood to the police department so they could board their windows. I took five soldiers with me next door and swept all the glass into piles so they could get started on getting back to normal.
On a higher note, the recruitment applications for the police force increased after the attack. This shows the willingness of this community. They want to continue their quest for a better life. This attack wasn't against one of the groups of people here. This attack was against all the people of Kirkuk. Arab, Turkomon, Kurdish, and Assyrian officers were killed and injured.
Feb. 27, 0745 hours >> Just received instructions for the day. We will depart at 0830 for VIP convoy security. We have Geraldo Rivera for the morning. As we're waiting, I see a SUV pull up and Geraldo stepped out and gave me a "Good morning, first sergeant, it's my pleasure to be here." We loaded up the vehicles and brought him back to the patrol base to discuss where he wanted to go. After making the route we moved out to the police station so he could survey the area and conduct some interviews with the police chief and some officers. After walking a dismounted patrol, our three-hour mission was over. We returned to higher headquarters to drop him off.
On the way back, he asked one of the soldiers what his home phone number was. "Hi Sara, this is Geraldo Rivera. I have your husband Jason Manchester here and he would like to say 'Hi.'" After a few minutes Spc. Manchester handed the phone back. When I talked with him later, Manchester said, "That had to be one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me."
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Soldier says success is learning
Pfc. Jonathan Beaird from Detroit is a M-203 grenadier for 1st Platoon and has been in the Army for 15 months.
His platoon is in charge of enforcing security at the main government building. He also has conducted numerous dismounted patrols throughout the city.
He says his definition of success here is making sure that all of the officers and security forces learn something every day.
About being deployed in Iraq, he said, "I think we should be here. I think with our guidance they will be successful when we are gone. While I'm here, I just want to help them as much as possible."
Message home: "I'd like to say hello to my wife, Jocelyn. I love you. Take care and good luck this semester at HPU."
1st Sgt. Robert Jennings
