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A Soldier’s Story First Sgt. Robert Jennings |
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PHOTO BY STAFF SGT. VALENTINE FLETES
Encounters with the local children are common when Alpha Company conducts its patrols. Most patrols, however, are spent searching for pockets of resistance.
Members of 25th Division
continue to come under fire
March 6, 1918 hours >> A loud explosion is heard 250 meters from 3rd Platoon's traffic control point. At the patrol base we heard and felt the explosion. Sgt. 1st Class Austin Brown, of Irvington, Ky., platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon, immediately investigates. Capt. Todd Moe, of San Diego, orders for back-up soldiers to reinforce 3rd Platoon's effort. Eleven minutes later we arrived at the scene to discover that a rocket was shot from the riverbed to Kirkuk Airfield.
These attacks have been no more than a nuisance to our efforts. We are close to catching the individuals responsible for the almost nightly indirect attacks. As the week continued, we started winding down our compliance checks on the political offices. This has been a major task for our troops in the last week. Unlike the United States, which has two major parties with satellites, Kirkuk has many more. Some have satellite offices throughout the city. We even discovered numerous new political buildings we weren't tracking before. The compliance checks have been successful. Most cooperated, although there are a few that had to be persuaded.
March 8, 1740 hours >> I just got word that three soldiers from Bravo Company had been wounded about 30 minutes earlier. I try to find out names, but all the details have not been released. Who could it be? I have a lot of friends in Bravo; I have soldiers that used to work in Alpha in Bravo. In my mind I can picture all the soldiers I know.
That night I found out the names of the soldiers. Staff Sgt. Santiago Frias, Staff Sgt. Timothy Pollock, and Sgt. Israel Burks were now hospitalized, getting ready for further treatment. I don't know the exact details on their wounds, but all three will be returning home after they are stable enough. I can't imagine what's going through the other soldiers' minds. I know that we'll overcome this incident and carry on the mission. I'm sure of it.
On a better note, the Iraqi government approved their interim Constitution on March 8. This is a huge step toward taking control of their country. Of course, this created a busy night for coalition forces. The Iraqi people don't celebrate good news by having barbecues and beer in Waianae; they go into the street and shoot AK-47s in the air. Needless to say there was a lot of celebratory fire throughout the city because the majority of Iraq wants change. We responded by sending mounted patrols along with the police to congested areas to calm this down. We started to enforce a 8:30 p.m. curfew to clear the streets and everything was quiet again. The count for confiscated weapons that night: 14 AK-47s, two pistols and one 9mm machine gun.
The next couple of days we were supporting the battalion during offensive operations throughout the city. We tried to concentrate on the problem areas that are suspected of housing the majority of the resistance we have encountered. After the third day of these operations, we were successful at removing some people and munitions that didn't need to be there. We also had a number of tips for future operations. This is a good feeling because the fear of the unknown is the hardest thing that the soldiers must overcome. If they know what, where and who, the confidence will double.
March 11 >> We just received a radio message that one of our fire teams was under fire while they were on an observation post in the city. The commander immediately calls for the reaction force to load the vehicles. After getting all the details, we rolled out the gate. One of our traffic control points also reacted and was on the scene as we arrived. Thankfully no soldiers were injured and the bad guys fled into the darkness. This has happened in the past. They will fire a large burst of rounds, and then run. Their measure of success is not whether they hit anything; it's whether they live to do it again. They were successful tonight, only because they got away.
First Sgt. Robert Jennings is deployed in Iraq with 4,000 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers from Schofield Barracks. He writes a weekly column for the Star-Bulletin.
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Sergeant finds patrols satisfying
Sgt. Jesus Navarro from Yakima, Wash., is a fire team leader in 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, and has been in the Army for nearly three years.
Navarro has led numerous combat patrols throughout the city of Kirkuk. "I feel good that we're here," he said. "I know a lot of people are happy with us here. They seem to be getting their lives on track."
Most intense and satisfying parts of the deployment: "Intense, every time I get ready for a mission. The adrenaline rush is incredible. Satisfying, when I see the kids playing in the street. They seem to not have a worry in the world when we are around."
Message home: "I want to say hi to my wife, Gloria, and my two daughters, Ruby and Yasmin. I love and miss you very much."
First Sgt. Robert Jennings
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.
