Story and photos by Spc. Ben Hutto, 3rd HBCT, 3rd Inf. Div. PAO
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Scouts assigned to Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment detained one suspect and confiscated a small amount of contraband during an early morning search Jan. 17 in Jurf Al Nadjaf which cleared 22 buildings.
The Soldiers took a small handgun, AK-47 magazines, part of a rocket-propelled grenade and extremist propaganda back to Combat Outpost Cashe for further examination.
“The reason for the mission was to search for extremists,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Smith, from Gaithersburg, Md., fire support officer for Troop C. “We caught two extremists who lived there last week and wanted to come back and do a follow-up. We didn’t find any explosives or IEDs, but we let the extremists working in the area know we were there.”
Smith explained that the people in the area are much more comfortable working with them since the arrest of the two extremists last week.
“It was important that we got out and talked to them to let them know we are there to keep the area safe,” Smith said.
Sgt. Kenneth Storts, from Corning, Ohio, a scout in Troop C, agrees with the assessment and believes last week’s arrest will lead to even more cooperation with the residents of Jurf Al Nadjaf.
“The people here were very scared of those two guys,” he said. “We know they were responsible for planting two IEDs along the main route here. The people here aren’t as scared now and I think they’ll start cooperating with us even more now.”
The 3-1 Cav. Regt. is assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 2007.
The Soldiers took a small handgun, AK-47 magazines, part of a rocket-propelled grenade and extremist propaganda back to Combat Outpost Cashe for further examination.
“The reason for the mission was to search for extremists,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Smith, from Gaithersburg, Md., fire support officer for Troop C. “We caught two extremists who lived there last week and wanted to come back and do a follow-up. We didn’t find any explosives or IEDs, but we let the extremists working in the area know we were there.”
Smith explained that the people in the area are much more comfortable working with them since the arrest of the two extremists last week.
“It was important that we got out and talked to them to let them know we are there to keep the area safe,” Smith said.
Sgt. Kenneth Storts, from Corning, Ohio, a scout in Troop C, agrees with the assessment and believes last week’s arrest will lead to even more cooperation with the residents of Jurf Al Nadjaf.
“The people here were very scared of those two guys,” he said. “We know they were responsible for planting two IEDs along the main route here. The people here aren’t as scared now and I think they’ll start cooperating with us even more now.”
The 3-1 Cav. Regt. is assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 2007.
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