1-15 Inf. Regt. Soldiers Conduct Air Assault, Bring Fight to the Enemy

By Maj. Joe Sowers
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment conducted an air assault mission near al Lej to gain additional information on insurgent activity near the town, southeast of Baghdad, March 24.

Soldiers cleared four buildings and found two buried refrigerators and one large hole that may have been used by insurgent elements to store munitions.

Company leadership directed attack aviation helicopters from 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, to a possible cache site that could not be safely cleared by Soldiers on the ground. Aviators engaged and destroyed the potential cache site with no injuries to Soldiers or civilians.

In the search, Soldiers discovered Sunni insurgent training literature containing depictions of coalition forces vehicles and aircraft.

The 1-15 Inf. Regt., assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Inf. Div., from Fort Benning, Ga., have been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 2007.