Troops prepare
for replacements
after election

The feeling from the citizens on election day has spilled over into the week. We continue to patrol the city in order to keep enemy activity to a minimum. Things seem to have quieted down this week; we are just hoping this is the new trend and not a pause to regroup.

As we patrol, we are continually greeted with smiles and handshakes. There are still those who give us the dirty look, but you just can't please everyone.

» Feb. 1, 8:30 p.m. B Company's patrol base was receiving fire from AK-47s in the Kirkuk riverbed. Soldiers on the roof at their complex returned fire immediately and dispatched a patrol to pursue the enemy. The enemy broke contact and disappeared into the complex road network.

» Feb. 2, 9 p.m. We received a phone call from one of our police chiefs about an explosion in his sector. I, along with the commander, deployed the ready squad.

We determined it was some type of no-fragment explosive device. It was placed under the rear of the vehicle and caused pretty extensive damage to the car and windows of the house.

COURTESY 1ST SGT. ROBERT JENNINGS A car was damaged in Kirkuk on Wednesday by about two pounds of explosives placed under the back of the vehicle. The front door of the house and 22 windows also were blown out.

The resident works for the State Department, and his brother works on the airfield. This is a classic case of targeting someone working for coalition forces. We think it's more of a scare tactic than anything else, because of the device used and where it was placed.

» Feb. 3, 11:31 p.m. While orienting the new unit, we came upon some police officers who had blocked the road because of a roadside explosive. They had already called the Iraqi bomb unit to disarm the 130 mm artillery round with a radio detonator.

This goes to show that just because we have completed a successful election process and have our replacements on the ground, our job is not over, and the danger is still out there looming around every corner.

» Feb. 4, 9:30 p.m. Spc. Austin Brown and 3rd platoon arrived at the patrol base with the first of three platoons that will replace us. Uncertainty from one set of soldiers, smiles from another as they began to unload their equipment.

Over the next three days, we will be rotating soldiers and orienting E Troop, 2-116th Armor from Montana, to their new area of operation. For A Company soldiers, it's a light at the end of the tunnel after a long year of ups and downs.

Most of the soldiers from A Company won't be home for Valentine's Day, but should be home for the annual Aloha Run.