Divisions Leave Insurgents With Nowhere To Hide

A Soldier from Company A, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment restrains one of six suspected insurgents during an air assault mission southeast of Baghdad Oct. 25 that resulted in the detention of six men. (Photo by Sgt. Timothy Kingston)

By Maj. Joe Sowers, 3rd HBCT Public Affairs Officer

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq - It's not every day that you realize you've caught half your most wanted in less than two weeks. That's just the kind of day the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team had this week.

The man on the middle of the list had been at the forefront of attacks on Coalition and Iraqi forces, until the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Brigade got on his track. He ran, but an AH-64 Apache helicopter brought him down, and the Cavalry brought him in Oct. 17.

The next day, it was the number two most wanted, a smuggler and kidnapper from Nahrwan.

"The capture[s are] the result of great teamwork between the brigades," said Maj. Dave Fivecoat, from Delaware, Ohio, 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, operations officer. "With teamwork like this, the insurgents will have no sanctuary anywhere in Iraq."

Number 10 was a Shia extremist linked to a rocket attack on FOB Hammer that killed one Soldier in July. He was the first one the brigade brought in, but it started the movement. Since his detention on Sept. 30, others on the list began to flee the Mada'in Qada. Coalition surge units, however, were ready for them.

"The capture of these insurgents is severely disrupting multiple extremist networks - both Sunni and Shia - in the Mada'in Qada," said Maj. Wolfgang Biggerstaff, from Pinehurst, N.C., a 3rd HBCT staff officer.

Intelligence and operations officers from both the Multi-National Division - Baghdad and the Multi-National Division - Center share information to ensure insurgents don't slip through the seams between battalions, brigades and divisions, according to Fivecoat. He further explained that through good "cross-talk" with neighboring brigades, 3rd HBCT has been able to conduct several raids to kill or capture insurgents from Baghdad who have tried to hide in the Mada'in Qada.

It was on Oct. 11, Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., detained the 3rd HBCT number four. He ran to northern Baghdad, near Adhamiyah. The individual is believed to have coordinated multiple attacks on Coalition and Iraqi Security Forces.

Then came number five, the middle man on the list, was captured west of Baghdad by the Cavalry and their Apache helicopters, Oct. 17.

The next day, the Coalition detained the 3rd HBCT's number two in eastern Baghdad. He had a history of leading extremist elements in Nahrwan, weapons smuggling and kidnapping.

Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, currently attached to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, captured the brigade's number seven on Oct. 22, in the Karada district of eastern Baghdad. The man is suspected of conducting rocket attacks against Forward Operating Base Rustamiyah.

"These detentions are another success story of the surge," Fivecoat said. "Before the surge, insurgents would have had sanctuary in some of these areas. Now, surge units capture them instead"

The 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, is out of Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March. The 2-69th Ar. Regt. is also out of Fort Benning.