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News Call
06/01/2005
June 2005
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IRAQ UPDATE
Iraq’s new prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, was sworn in on May 3 along with most of the new Iraqi Cabinet, some of whom are temporary. As we went to press, some of the key ministry posts had yet to be filled.
Despite the political progress, violence continues. On May 4 in Erbil a suicide bomber set off explosives in a crowd seeking jobs with the police force, killing at least 47 people and wounding 100 others. On May 1, Task Force Baghdad soldiers rescued a man from his car, which was rigged to explode. The man had been blackmailed by terrorists to explode the car in order to protect his wife and children, whom the terrorists had kidnapped. On April 29 several car bombs rocked Baghdad, killing at least 24 Iraqis and wounding at least 80.
On April 11, members of the Iraqi Army and elements of 4th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), raided the Baghdad neighborhood of al-Dora. They detained at least 67 suspected terrorists in the largest round up for the 3rd Infantry Division since it returned to the country. On April 12, multinational forces swooped in on a known foreign-fighter and weapons-smuggling ring near the Iraqi border town of Al Qaim, five miles east of the Syrian border. One foreign terrorist was killed in the ensuing firefight. No coalition forces were injured in the operation. On May 2, U.S. forces killed nine terrorists during a firefight east of Al Qaim. Six coalition troops were wounded in the exchange. Also around the country, coalition soldiers continue to find weapons caches, often pointed out by local Iraqis.
At least 33 U.S. Army soldiers were killed in the month of April from car bombs, improvised explosive devices, small-arms fire and vehicle accidents.
AFGHAN INSURGENCY
Afghan National Police (ANP) and U.S. soldiers killed as many as 40 insurgents on May 3, in an insurgent ambush in Afghan’s Zabul province. Six U.S. servicemembers were wounded while an ANP officer was killed and five other ANP officers were wounded. The attack began when an Afghan man told police he had been beaten by a group of unknown individuals. The man led the ANP and U.S. forces to the location of the beating, where they came under small-arms fire.
Elsewhere, more than a dozen insurgents were killed on April 19 as coalition helicopters, aircraft and artillery responded to a rocket attack at Forward Operating Base Salerno. On April 11 two Americans were wounded during a firefight between coalition and insurgent forces near Khost. About 12 insurgents were killed in the engagement, which began when the enemy attacked 30 to 35 Afghan security forces with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
Afghan forces are acting in conjunction with American forces in raids to keep the country stable. On May 2, the ANP captured six insurgents while on a joint patrol with members of the U.S. Army’s 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, outside a small village north of Kandahar. There was a brief fire fight before the ANP made their capture.
April saw a spike in American casualties, mostly from a helicopter crash near Ghazni on April 5 that killed 15 soldiers. Three other soldiers were killed in the month. Spc. Robert W. Defazio, 21, of the 23rd Ordnance Company, died on April 24 in Kandahar of noncombat-related injuries. SFC Allen C. Johnson, 31, of the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group, died April 26 in Khanaqin from injuries sustained in a fire fight with enemy forces that attacked his patrol. Pvt. Robert C. White III, 21, of the 864th Engineer Battalion, 555th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade (Provisional), died April 23 at Kandahar Airfield of noncombat-related injuries. The names of those killed in the helicopter crash were listed in last month’s issue.
NEW COMBAT BADGE
The Army will soon be issuing the Combat Action Badge (CAB) to soldiers who engage the enemy in battle. Originally, the Army had been considering a Close Combat Badge, limited to combat arms soldiers, but input from soldiers and commanders in the field widened the eligibility parameters.
The CAB may be awarded to any soldier, regardless of branch or military occupational specialty, performing assigned duties in an area where hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay is authorized, who is personally present and actively engaging or being engaged by the enemy and performing satisfactorily in accordance with the prescribed rules of engagement. Commanders at the rank of major general will have award authority for the CAB.
Infantry and Special Forces soldiers will continue to be recognized for their ground combat role with the Combat Infantryman Badge.
SOLDIER SENTENCED TO DEATH
On April 28, Sgt. Hasan Akbar of the 101st Airborne Division received a death sentence for killing two officers and wounding 14 others in a nighttime grenade attack on fellow soldiers on the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The sentence will be reviewed by Maj. Gen. Virgil L. Packett II, who can approve or reduce the punishment.
On March 23, 2003, two days before the division headed into Iraq, Akbar threw hand grenades into officers’ tents in Kuwait and proceeded to shoot them as they ran from the burning tents. Soldiers originally suspected it was an Iraqi attack.
The jury, made up of 15 members of the military, deliberated for seven hours before concluding with the death sentence. Akbar was sent to military death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where he will be held during the appeals process.
TROOPS OUT OF HEIDELBERG
The Army is cutting the number of soldiers it has in Europe and consolidating troops around four hubs—Grafenwöhr, Kaiserslautern and Wiesbaden, Germany, and Vicenza, Italy, according to Gen. B.B. Bell, commander of U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR). The headquarters for USAREUR will move from Heidelberg, Germany, to Wiesbaden, where the 1st Armored Division is stationed.
In addition, the 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) could be sent back to the United States as early as next year and the 1st Armored Division could return in 2008. The moves are part of an effort to reduce the number of troops in Europe from 62,000 to 24,000.
Heidelberg has been home for approximately 16,000 American military and civilian employees since the end of World War II, 60 years ago. It was one of the few towns after the war that had not been devastated. Grafenwöhr, near the border with Czechoslovakia, will be the home base for a Stryker brigade, according to Bell. Theater logistics and medical support will be concentrated in Kaiserslautern.
IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN MEDALS
The Department of Defense announced on April 7 the creation of campaign medals for service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan Campaign Medal is for servicemembers who have served in direct support of Operation Enduring Freedom on or after October 24, 2001, to a future date to be determined by the Secretary of Defense or the cessation of the operation. The area of eligibility encompasses all land areas of the country of Afghanistan and all air spaces above the land.
The Iraq Campaign Medal is for servicemembers who have served in direct support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on or after March 19, 2003, to a future date, also to be determined by the Secretary of Defense or the cessation of the operation. The area of eligibility encompasses all the land area of the country of Iraq and the contiguous water area out to 12 nautical miles and all air spaces above the land area of Iraq and above the contiguous water area out to 12 nautical miles.
Servicemembers must have been assigned, attached or mobilized to units operating in these areas of eligibility for 30 consecutive days or for 60 nonconsecutive days or meet one of the following criteria:
• Was engaged in combat during an armed engagement, regardless of the time in the area of eligibility.
• While participating in an operation or on official duties, was wounded or injured and required medical evacuation from the area of eligibility.
• While participating as a regularly assigned air crewmember flew sorties into, out of, within or over the area of eligibility in direct support of the military operations; each day of operations counts as one day of eligibility.
Individuals may receive both medals if they meet the requirements for both awards; however, the qualifying period of service for one award cannot be used to justify eligibility for the other. |
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