Jim Spiri in Iraq

Tonight is for sure one of those times that I want to be able to explain in words the sights, sounds, smells, and footsteps to all those that are reading this. It is not an easy task. But for the moment, it is my task at hand, and I shall try my best to bring the readers into the experience of traveling with some troops from Ft. Richardson, Alaska, into the most dangerous parts of Iraq, at night. Although I am really tired, I must attempt to write while it is fresh in my mind. And besides, as I mentioned earlier, the chow hall is not open yet.

I have become accustomed to change these days. For the past couple months, I was used to going into the cities in northern Iraq and dealing with the urban terrorists. Here, I am slowly experiencing the rural side of this war, yet it is in close proximity geographically speaking, to Baghdad, the most populated part of Iraq. One would not know it though, especially at night, under a bright moon-lit sky, walking stealthily down canal dirt roads looking for high value targets in their own back yards.

The Captain who is my POC here, got hold of me the other night and told me I had been set to go on a night air assault mission and that I would need to go to a briefing at 1300 hrs on Monday. The previous day, I had done a mission with Apache Troop which kept me occupied most of the morning into the afternoon.

That same night, I went on a mission with some troops that provided security during a meeting with a local leader and some Army folks. I had spent a great portion of that night, underneath a giant date palm tree getting bitten by some kind of bugs and having dates fall out of the sky landing all around me. That was an uneventful night, but it prepared me for night walking and adjusted my sleep pattern. It also taught me what to eat and what not to eat before going on night missions. Lesson well learned.

So, by the time this mission came across my plate, I was more or less prepared. I would be traveling with Bravo Troop, of 1/40 Cav. They too are all stationed stateside in Alaska, and I have had many conversations about the Northern Lights, an event I have yet to scratch off the list of things to do. The list I'm speaking of has shrunk dramatically lately, and I think it's down to just a couple things or so left to do that I will figure out a way to talk my wife into joining me on.

It would be my first night time air assault mission.

We would gather after sundown and go over a few things. In the briefing I was able to get a heads up on the paths we would take. I was prepared and figured that keeping up the pace would not be a problem. The night sky was very illuminated which helped me much, considering I do not carry NVG's. I figure that would be just one more item for me to keep track of. I've always found that following the guy in
front of me works fairly well.

We assembled at the heli-pad as five UH-60 helicopters touched down and shut down for cold loading rehearsals. The soldier I would be attached to would be Sgt. Robertson, 35-years-old, from West Virginia.

I would learn that Robertson has been in the Army 10-years, and had previously gotten out of the Army twice. Seems as he is for sure a born soldier and is in the exact right place that he should be. He is a wonderful guy to be assigned to and I learned a few things about him on patrol this night. The first thing I learned is he knows exactly what he is doing and once again I've been hooked up with exactly the right person.

Once the helicopters were shut down, we all lined up in our order of boarding and proceeded to do a run through of how we would load and exit the aircraft when the mission began. With this part all under control, we went back to the staging area and waited a brief time for the helicopters to spin up. I now realized that air assault missions are of course extremely serious, yet it has a bit of an excitement rush to it just by the nature of the deal. With helicopters spun up, it was time to go. We briskly proceeded to the helicopters and we all loaded into our assigned seats, fastened seat belts and in short order the five black hawk helicopters lifted off in perfect synchronized fashion headed into the night sky to the assigned objective. I had not experienced this before and needless to say it is quite breathtaking.
I was on board with professionals once again.

As we approached our landing zone, the word was passed "TWO MINUTES", which meant everyone was geared up ready to exit. As we came in, the helicopter did a flaring maneuver to slow it down and in extremely short order we were on the ground, door was opened and we all took three steps out, hit the deck, face down lying in prone position as the five helicopters lifted off just as fast as they landed. So the scene I'm trying to covey is this: there are five helicopters landing in some field, in the rural area to the Southeast of Baghdad, at night under a moon lit sky with stars above, about 50-airborne soldiers all lying face down in the dirt three steps away from their respective helicopters as the five helicopters take off in under 30-seconds. My grandson Jakob would have loved it.

After the birds left, we all proceeded to a dirt road close by and lined up all taking a knee as those in charge coordinated the movement to the objective. It was a beautiful scene, with all these soldiers wearing NVG's, stealthily moving about in perfect order with me in tow. Of course, I could not take any photos as the flash would have given our position away. We began our march with no one saying a word. We would walk a couple klicks and come upon a farm home that was our objective. In recent days, there had been some activity here with coalition forces having killed three AQI members. This place is a known hot spot of activity and the Sunni insurgency has a strong presence in this area. Moving about via vehicles is out of the question as too many IED's have taken a toll on previous units in through this area.
Basically, this area is the most dangerous part of Iraq, more or less, as it has been told to me.

As we came upon our objective, word came over the comms that five males had been seen running from the area and the hunt was now on to locate them. Sgt.
Robertson and some of his men were directed to go in a particular direction, and I was assigned to remain with Capt. Braman and his commo guys as he directed the mission from his spot. I was instructed to take cover near a small structure with another soldier who was a dog handler. From here I would watch as the night unfolded.

Things began to move quickly in an orderly fashion. I watched and listened as Capt. Braman coordinated the hunt for the suspects. Apache AH64 helicopters were soon overhead and swooping low over the terrain relaying information on the whereabouts of the bad guys. As I listened I observed these helicopters swooping ever so low under the near full moon as soldiers all around me were in positions awaiting anything that could happen. This went on for some time and the scene was exquisite to say the least.
The soldier next to me and I spoke quietly at how all this was before our very eyes. In the distance we heard large explosions where other soldiers from another troop were carrying out their mission to eradicate some positions the AQI had been using to move about. We would see this bright flash and then a short while later here this loud boom that sounded not too far off in the distance.

Then we would hear in the distance automatic weapons fire from a patrol base a couple klicks away that was receiving fire from the enemy. So now the scene is
this: Apache helicopters flying nearly on the deck searching for the enemy, Sgt. Robertson and his men hunting them down, explosions in the near distance of the enemy's places they operate from and weapons fire in the further distance engaging. All this under the moon lit sky with me surrounded by soldiers from Alaska awaiting anything that could go down. I would love to have taken a photo of it all, but, it was not going to happen. Sometimes one just has to describe it all instead of photograph it.

Eventually, the enemy was captured. They had been hiding in some canals and made the mistake of looking up once too often. They were spotted and subsequently detained. Later we moved forward and cleared three or so homes where many locals were bedded down for the night, most outside. Here was mostly women and children, but a couple males were found. One was detained. The houses were searched by Iraqi Army personal, from a scout platoon. Once this was secured, I was able to snap a couple photos of the scene there as we prepared to mount back up later and hike it back to our pick up zone.

We moved out in quiet fashion with one of the detainees, and meandered through farm land to a pre determined pick up location. It was again done smoothly and quietly and we all had linked up at the right time with the other platoons. It had been a night to remember.

As the helicopters were in bound, word was given once again, "five minutes" till pick up. We lined up, helicopters landed, we all moved fast to our assigned birds, boarded, and once again we lifted off to return this time to FOB Falcon. I was looking at the soldiers around me and realizing that this is what they do here in Iraq. Air assaults at night in the most dangerous areas of Iraq, to capture and detain known AQI members. The roar of the helicopters is such that talking inside the birds is needless but looking and realizing where I had just been and what we had just done, was exactly what I had come to Iraq to witness. And I was among the finest.

Once the birds landed at the LZ, we all exited the helicopters, took three steps, hit the deck, face down, all lying on the ground as the birds lifted off almost immediately to extract the other teams. Once they lifted off, we gathered at the staging area and I began to speak with Capt. Braman, the leader of Bravo Troop.

I learned that Capt. Braman, 28-years-old, from Rhode Island, has been here about a year now. We talked about some of his troops that were lost in battle in months past. He is a man small in stature, but huge in tenacity as well as leadership. He informed me of the area we had just been in and explained the reason for air assault missions into the area as opposed to moving about by vehicle. Too many have been lost to IED's. The enemy at this point in time, AQI, has a bit of a foothold in the area we had just come from.
No one usually goes there. This had been the beginnings of a new push, little by little to eradicate the strongholds of AQI as the days go on. I learned more about this young leader who explained to me humbly how he had been injured severely back on April 12 and was sent to Ramstein to heal up for over six weeks. He had been at a patrol base, similar to the one we heard engagement from this night, when a VBED slammed into it, killing some of his men and injuring many more. There had been sustained engagement. He spoke of how well the remaining soldiers performed under extreme conditions and saved others from being killed. I asked him if he had been given the opportunity not to return to duty here in Iraq. Capt. Braman told me in fact that he had to fight hard just to return. He came back to be with his men when he did not have to. He is well respected and still suffers much pain physically in the daily performing of his duties. One would never know it watching him. These are the kind of men that are fighting the war on terrorism that allow me to accompany them into battle. Once again, I am humbled and realize how blessed I am on this journey.

This night had netted seven of the enemy. The high value targets we were searching for may have eluded capture for the time being. But their day will come.
This I am sure of. Seven others were captured.
No one among us had been hurt or lost. The mission was now complete.

Captain Braman, leads Bravo troop, 1/40 Cav, 4BDE
(airborne) 25th ID, here at FOB Falcon, Iraq. He is stationed at Ft. Richardson, Alaska. He graduated from college with a degree in computer science. He is just one of the men here that I've met, but he is an exact sample of the quality of all the men I've met here doing their jobs. I will not forget this experience, but more so, I will not forget the men who do this as their job.

As I was leaving the landing zone I spoke briefly with Sgt. Robertson, from West Virginia. I told him that I doubt I'm ever going to grow up. He smiled and told me, "Me neither. I love this job. I love working with my soldiers. They are my family."

I seem to have found quite an extended family here in this Army of One.

Jim Spiri
FOB Falcon, Iraq
jimspiri@yahoo.com