War Story...Salman Pak (961 hits)
Category: Politics -> IraqRating: 2 on 22 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Strider <jesseisquite.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2005-04-08 13:54:51 EDT
After reading this:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63835
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I thought I would share this story I recieved from one of our security people:
AFTER ACTION REPORT: Raven 42 action in Salman Pak
On Sunday afternoon, 20 March 2005, in a very bad section of scrub-land called Salman Pak, on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, 40 to 50 heavily-armed Iraqi insurgents attacked a convoy of 30 civilian tractor trailer trucks that were moving supplies for the coalition forces, along an Alternate Supply Route. These tractor trailers, driven by third country nationals (primarily Turkish), were escorted by 3 armored Hummers from the COSCOM. When the insurgents attacked, one of the Hummers was in their kill zone and the three soldiers aboard were immediately wounded, and the platform taken under heavy machinegun and RPG fire.
Along with them, three of the truck drivers were killed, 6 were wounded in the tractor trailer trucks. The enemy attacked from a farmer's barren field next to the road, with a tree line perpendicular to the ASR, two dry irrigation ditches forming a rough L-shaped trenchline, and a house standing off the dirt road. After three minutes of sustained fire, a squad o f enemy moved forward toward the disabled and suppressed trucks. Each of the enemy had hand-cuffs and were looking to take hostages for ransom or worse, to take those three wounded US soldiers for more internet beheadings.
About this time, three armored Hummers that formed the MP Squad under call sign Raven 42, 617th MP Co, Kentucky National Guard, assigned to the 503rd MP Bn (Fort Bragg), 18th MP Bde, arrived on the scene like the cavalry. The squad had been shadowing the convoy from a distance behind the last vehicle, and when the convoy trucks stopped and became backed up from the initial attack, the squad sped up, paralleled the convoy up the shoulder of the road, and moved to the sound of gunfire.
They arrived on the scene just as a squad of about ten enemy had moved forward across the farmer's field and were about 20 meters from the road. The MP squad opened fire with .50 cal machineguns and Mk19 grenade launchers and drove across the front of the enemy's kill zone, between the enemy and the trucks, drawing fire off of the tractor trailers.
The MP's crossed the kill zone and then turned up an access road at a right angle to the ASR and next to the field full of enemy fighters. The three vehicles, carrying nine MPs and one medic, stopped in a line on the dirt access road and flanked the enemy positions with plunging fire from the .50 cal and the SAW machinegun (Squad Automatic Weapon). In front of them, was a line of seven sedans, with all their doors and trunk lids open, the getaway cars and the lone two story house off on their left.
Immediately the middle vehicle was hit by an RPG knocking the gunner unconscious from his turret and down into the vehicle. The Vehicle Commander (the TC), the squad's leader, thought the gunner was dead, but tried to treat him from inside the vehicle. Simultaneously, the rear vehicle's driver and TC, section leader two, open their doors and dismount to fight, while their gunner continued firing from his position in the gun platform on top of the Hummer. Immediately, all three fall under heavy return machinegun fire, wounded. The driver of the middle vehicle saw them fall out the rearview mirror, dismounts and sprints to get into the third vehicle and take up the SAW on top the vehicle. The Squad's medic dismounts from that third vehicle, and joined by the first vehicle's driver (CLS trained) who sprinted back to join him, begins combat life-saving techniques to treat the three wounded MPs. The gunner on the floor of the second vehicle is revived by his TC, the squad leader, and he climbs back into the .50 cal and opens fire. The Squad leader dismounted with his M4 carbine, and 2 hand grenades, grabbed the section leader out of the first vehicle who had rendered radio reports of their first contact. The two of them, squad leader Staff Sergeant and team leader Sergeant with her M4 and M203 grenade launcher, rush the nearest ditch about 20 meters away to start clearing the natural trenchline. The enemy has gone into the ditches and is hiding behind several small trees in the back of the lot. The .50 cal and SAW flanking fire tears apart the ten enemy in the lead trenchline.
Meanwhile, the two treating the three wounded on the ground at the rear vehicle come under sniper fire from the farmer's house. Each of them, remember one is a medic, pull out AT-4 rocket launchers from the HMMWV and nearly-simultaneously fire the rockets into the house to neutralize the shooter. The two sergeants work their way up the trenchline, throwing grenades, firing grenades from the launcher, and firing their M4s.
The sergeant runs low on ammo and runs back to a vehicle to reload. She moves to her squad leader's vehicle, and because this squad is led so well, she knows exactly where to reach her arm blindly into a different vehicle to find ammo-because each vehicle is packed exactly the same, with discipline.
As she turns to move back to the trenchline, Gunner in two sees an AIF jump from behind one of the cars and start firing on the Sergeant. He pulls his 9mm, because the .50 cal is pointed in the other direction, and shoots five rounds wounding him. The sergeant moves back to the trenchline under fire from the back of the field, with fresh mags, two more grenades, and three more M203 rounds. The Mk 19 gunner suppresses the rear of the field.
Now, rejoined with the squad leader, the two sergeants continue clearing the enemy from the trenchline, until they see no more movement. A lone man with an RPG launcher on his shoulder steps from behind a tree and prepares to fire on the three Hummers and is killed with a single aimed SAW shot thru the head by the previously knocked out gunner on platform two, who now has a SAW out to supplement the .50 cal in the mount.
The team leader sergeant--she claims four killed by aimed M4 shots.
The Squad Leader--he threw four grenades taking out at least two AIF, and attributes one other to her aimed M203 fire.
The gunner on platform two, previously knocked out from a hit by the RPG, has now swung his .50 cal around and, realizing that the line of vehicles represents a hazard and possible getaway for the bad guys, starts shooting the .50cal into the engine blocks until his field of fire is limited. He realizes that his vehicle is still running despite the RPG hit, and drops down from his weapon, into the drivers seat and moves the vehicle forward on two flat tires about 100 meters into a better firing position. Just then, the vehicle dies, oil spraying everywhere. He remounts his .50 cal and continues shooting the remaining of the seven cars lined up and ready for a get-away that wasn't to happen. The fire dies down about then, and a second squad arrives on the scene, dismounts and helps the two giving first aid to the wounded at platform three. Two minutes later three other squads from the 617th arrive, along with the CO, and the field is secured, consolidation begins.
Those seven Americans (with the three wounded) killed in total 24 heavily armed enemy, wounded 6 (two later died), and captured one unwounded, who feigned injury to escape the fight. They seized 22 AK-47s, 6x RPG launchers w/ 16 rockets, 13x RPK machineguns, 3x PKM machineguns, 40 hand grenades, 123 fully loaded 30-rd AK magazines, 52 empty mags, and 10 belts of 2500 rds of PK ammo.
The three wounded MPs have been evacuated to Landstuhl. One lost a kidney and will be paralyzed. The other two will most likely recover, though one will forever have a bullet lodged between second and third ribs below his heart. No word on the three COSCOM soldiers wounded in the initial volleys. Of the 7 members of Raven 42 who walked away, two are Caucasian Women, the rest men-one is Mexican-American, the medic is African-American, and the other two are Caucasian-the great American melting pot.
They believed even before this fight that their NCOs were the best in the Army, and that they have the best squad in the Army. The Medic who fired the AT-4, said he remembered how from the week before when his squad leader forced him to train on it, though he didn't think as a medic he would ever use one. He said he chose to use it in that moment to protect the three wounded on the ground in front of him, once they came under fire from the building. The day before this mission, they took the new RFI bandoliers that were recently issued, and experimented with mounting them in their vehicles. Once they figured out how, they pre-loaded a second basic load of ammo into magazines, put them into the bandoliers, and mounted them in their vehicles---the same exact way in every vehicle-load plans enforced and checked by leaders!
Leadership under fire-once those three leaders (NCOs) stepped out of their vehicles, the squad was committed to the fight.
Their only complaints in the AAR were: the lack of stopping power in the 9mm; the .50 cal incendiary rounds they are issued in lieu of ball ammo (shortage of ball in the inventory) didn't have the penetrating power needed to pierce the walls of the building; and that everyone in the squad was not CLS trained.
The following Monday was spent with the chaplain and the chain of command conducting AARs. Today, every news media in theater wanted them. Good Morning America, NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, Stars and Stripes, and many radio stations from Kentucky all were lined up today. The female E5 Sergeant who fought thru the trenchline will become the anti-Jessica Lynch media poster child. She and her squad leader deserve every bit of recognition they will get, and more. They all do.
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Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-06-23 11:14:00 EDT (#)
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YaY, my hits equal my user id#
Everything you ever wanted to know about strider
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Registered on or around: 2004-08-06 10:57:44
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In other news, one of the soldiers involved in this after action report recieved the Silver Star - the first for a woman since WWII. Article follows:
WASHINGTON, June 16, 2005 - For the first time since World War II, a woman soldier was awarded the Silver Star Medal today in Iraq.
Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., received the Silver Star, along with two other members of her unit, Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike, for their actions during an enemy ambush on their convoy. Other members of the unit also received awards.
Hester's squad was shadowing a supply convoy March 20 when anti-Iraqi fighters ambushed the convoy. The squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route. Hester led her team through the "kill zone" and into a flanking position, where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 grenade-launcher rounds. She and Nein, her squad leader, then cleared two trenches, at which time she killed three insurgents with her rifle.
When the fight was over, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded, and one was captured.
Hester, 23, who was born in Bowling Green, Ky., and later moved to Nashville, Tenn., said she was surprised when she heard she was being considered for the Silver Star.
"I'm honored to even be considered, much less awarded, the medal," she said.
Being the first woman soldier since World War II to receive the medal is significant to Hester. But, she said, she doesn't dwell on the fact. "It really doesn't have anything to do with being a female," she said. "It's about the duties I performed that day as a soldier."
Hester, who has been in the National Guard since April 2001, said she didn't have time to be scared when the fight started, and she didn't realize the impact of what had happened until much later.
"Your training kicks in and the soldier kicks in," she said. "It's your life or theirs. ... You've got a job to do -- protecting yourself and your fellow comrades."
Nein, who is on his second deployment to Iraq, praised Hester and his other soldiers for their actions that day. "It's due to their dedication and their ability to stay there and back me up that we were able to do what we did that day," he said.
Hester and her fellow soldiers were awarded their medals at Camp Liberty, Iraq, by Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, Multinational Corps Iraq commanding general. In his speech, Vines commended the soldiers for their bravery and their contribution to the international war on terror.
"My heroes don't play in the (National Basketball Association) and don't play in the U.S. Open (golf tournament) at Pinehurst," Vines said. "They're standing in front of me today. These are American heroes."
Three soldiers of the 617th were wounded in the ambush. Hester said she and the other squad members are thinking about them, and she is very thankful to have made it through unscathed. The firefight, along with the entire deployment, has had a lasting effect on her, Hester said.
"I think about it every day, and probably will for the rest of my life," she said.
Submitted by mikethescottish (user info) at 2005-05-27 21:26:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good stuff.
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2005-05-27 12:56:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent. And proof that many women are completely competent in combat.
Submitted by BobLobla (user info) at 2005-04-27 15:28:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/65174#1292749
Plus 2 for this, and a good post
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-04-08 18:24:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Agreed, the_mysterious_stranger. I was referring to the Afghanis that C mentioned, not the insurgents. They're just cowards, expecially killing civilians.
I recently read a very good book set in Afghanistan, by an Afghani. It really changes your perspective on, and changes your feelings towards, the Afghans. It's called "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. I HIGHLY recommend it.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/102-5442288-5021723
Submitted by the_mysterious_stranger (user info) at 2005-04-08 17:38:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Concerning Afghanistan, you are right, some incredibly brave people live there, but I have no respect for the insurgents in Iraq. Planting roadside-bombs and attacking an almost helpless convoy out of ambush with a force of 50+ men in order to take hostages whose execution can be broadcast on islamic propaganda sites is not heroic, it is cowardly. In this particular scenario, the US Soldiers are the heroes. They were greatly outnumbered, yet they managed to overcome the enemy, not because of better equipment, but because they were superior warriors.
Concerning the arab disregard for death: It's kinda understandable when you consider they get to drill 72 virgins when they die.
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:43:36 EDT (#)
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Caulaincourt - yeah, I get what you're saying. They certainly should be respected for holding out until the death like they do.
Submitted by the_mysterious_stranger (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:40:36 EDT (#)
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Hooray for women in the military, eh? Choke on that, Fat Tony ;)
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:34:32 EDT (#)
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"True, B is mostly true of our forces. But I wouldn't say it's not in our mindset. In the (U.S.) Revolution we fought against the British"
It does take some amount of balls to fight a war. I'm just saying westerners are a lot more dramatic about death than they are. It's even worse with our media.
Anyway, I'm just trying to echo what that american officer stationned in Afghanistan was saying on an interview. That the Arabs deserve a lot of respect TOO (not those who blow up civils) for fighting until death even when obviously overwhelmed. Showing another perspective, you know?
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:29:14 EDT (#)
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Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:10:21 (#)
Ranking: 2
Why Knucklesnelson ("who the fuck is that" you say) is a fag!
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Looks like you two are having your own little war.
Submitted by Sphagnum (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:10:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Why Knucklesnelson ("who the fuck is that" you say) is a fag!
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61115#1256681
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61329#1256679
http://www.ubersite.com/m/61565#1256677
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62301#1256676
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62430#1226313
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62619#1256666
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62762#1256675
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62805#1256673
http://www.ubersite.com/m/62932#1256671
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63273#1256686
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63353#1256691
http://www.ubersite.com/m/63513#1256669
It is also painfully clear that he is JohnnyX's alter.
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:07:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:41:05 (#)
Ranking: 2
Warriors or superior firepower/training.
I'll pick B.
To me the real warriors are the Iraqis. You have to admit that it must take balls to go against the US army in smaller numbers, with no armors and inferior weapons. It's not in the westerner mindset to fight like that.
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True, B is mostly true of our forces. But I wouldn't say it's not in our mindset. In the (U.S.) Revolution we fought against the British in much the same way (with French support, thx C).
Submitted by Mario (user info) at 2005-04-08 15:06:55 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Great post. Why we moved from .45 to the 9mm is beyond me, it's crap.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:41:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:20:58 (#)
Ranking: 0
And these were National Guard guys (and gals). Them's some real weekend warriors.
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Warriors or superior firepower/training.
I'll pick B.
To me the real warriors are the Iraqis. You have to admit that it must take balls to go against the US army in smaller numbers, with no armors and inferior weapons. It's not in the westerner mindset to fight like that.
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:25:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn, good post.
Submitted by strider (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:20:58 EDT (#)
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And these were National Guard guys (and gals). Them's some real weekend warriors.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:13:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Those seven Americans (with the three wounded) killed in total 24 heavily armed enemy, wounded 6 (two later died), and captured one unwounded, who feigned injury to escape the fight. They seized 22 AK-47s, 6x RPG launchers w/ 16 rockets, 13x RPK machineguns, 3x PKM machineguns, 40 hand grenades, 123 fully loaded 30-rd AK magazines, 52 empty mags, and 10 belts of 2500 rds of PK ammo. """
This paragraph sounds like my friends when they brag about their hunting seasons.
Good post.
Submitted by the_mysterious_stranger (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:10:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by BLITZKREIG_BOB (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:09:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You can do as almost as much damage with a 9mm by throwing it at the guy.
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:08:34 EDT (#)
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No Comment
Submitted by corporate_drone0723 (user info) at 2005-04-08 14:04:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
OOOOHHHH RAHHHH!!!
Each of them, remember one is a medic, pull out AT-4 rocket launchers from the HMMWV and nearly-simultaneously fire the rockets into the house to neutralize the shooter.
oooh snap!
Submitted by knucklesnelson (user info) at 2005-04-08 13:56:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
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