Battle Company Makes Presence Known

18-Jun-07
By Army Sgt. Brandon Aird
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Public Affairs.

KORENGAL VALLEY, Afghanistan — The paratroopers were keen for the mission despite their rough conditions. The difference between a tan line and dirty skin has long since passed. Bites from sand fleas and mosquitoes just add to the problem. Electricity, toilets and running water (a 45 minute patrol away) are long forgotten conveniences.

The paratroopers are Sky soldiers from Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.

For the last month, 2nd Platoon and a platoon from the Afghan National Army have been operating out of Firebase Phoenix — the southern most firebase in the Korengal Valley, which is located in Afghanistan’s Kunar province.

The living conditions for the soldiers are the least of their problems. The Korengal Valley is a support area for Taliban extremists.

“The towns here are neutral at best,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Mathew Piosa, 2nd Platoon leader, “In the last eight days we’ve had five (enemy) contacts.”

Within days of interviewing, Piosa his platoon had two more enemy engagements- one being a coordinated ambush.

“We take steps to prevent the enemy from having the upper hand,” explained Piosa.

Even with precautions soldiers still get hurt. During a night patrol, June 5, Army Pfc. Timothy Vimoto was killed during an ambush by insurgents.

The platoon has not allowed the loss to deter them and they continue to conduct reconnaissance, counter improvised explosive device and security patrols daily.

When the platoon isn’t out on patrols they pass their time by improving individual soldier skills to improve their combat capability.

“We’ve had classes on all the weapons out here (on site) and today were training on the LLDR (Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder),” said Army Pfc. Sterling Dunn, 2nd Platoon.

Even though the LLDR is used for indirect fire support, it is also being used to scan for enemy personnel, said Piosa.

Battle Company is working to improve the situation for 2nd Platoon by getting a generator to Firebase Phoenix.

For now, 2nd Platoon is going to have to make due with what they have, said Army Pfc. Matthew Moreno, a paratrooper in 2nd Platoon.

Second Platoon plans to stay in the area to help the Afghan people for the next 15 months until they are relieved by coalition forces or the ANA.

Photo - U.S. Army Pfc. Mathew Moreno, 2nd Platoon, Battle Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), looks through a Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder at Firebase Phoenix in Korengal Valley, Afghanistan, June 10, 2007. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Brandon Aird.

Army's Newest Modular Combat Team Makes Mark in Iraq

May 31, 2007
BY Fred. W Baker III
Armed Forces Press Service.

WASHINGTON - In its first deployment to Iraq, one of the Army's newest modular light infantry brigade combat teams is making its mark under the president's troop plus-up plan, the brigade's top officer said in a May 25 briefing to Pentagon reporters.

The 1st Infantry Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team from Fort Riley, Kan., is deployed as part of the troop plus-up to the east and west Rashid security districts in the Multinational Division Baghdad area. It is partnered with the 2nd Infantry Division's 3rd Stryker Brigade from Fort Lewis, Wash., and three Iraqi security force brigades. Together, the troops are clearing an area about 58 square miles, roughly the size of San Francisco, home to about 700,000 Iraqis.

In the past three weeks, under Operation Dragon Fire, the troops have cleared 45 neighborhoods, detained 94 terrorist suspects, freed two kidnapped citizens and captured 397 explosive munitions, 245 weapons systems, 150 IEDs and enough components to make 3,000 more IEDs, said Col. Ricky Gibbs, commander of the BCT and Task Force Dragon.

They've also destroyed two torture houses and a terrorist safe haven, Col. Gibbs said. It has not come without loss to the units, though. Seven U.S. Soldiers have been killed in the plus-up to clear the area. Initially, attacks were high against the troops as they moved in and secured the area. Now, direct attacks are down, but the use of IEDs against the troops has increased, Col. Gibbs said.

The troops man five joint security stations and 20 coalition outposts in the area. They live at the outposts until rotating back to the forward operating base. Col. Gibbs said living in the communities allows the troops to gain the trust of the Iraqi people. This reaps big dividends in the fight, he said. "The tips that are coming in from the people are astronomical, and that's allowing us to find these terrorists, or the Takfir, as the locals call them, and take them off the street," Col. Gibbs said.

The joint security stations are similar to local police stations and are located in the neighborhoods. There has been a decrease in violence, he said, primarily because of the nearly doubled troop presence. Col. Gibbs said his troops are working side by side with an Iraqi army brigade and two police brigades. He said they co-plan, rehearse and share intelligence, and in some cases the Iraqi forces lead the operations.

Even so, Col. Gibbs said, the Iraqi police forces have yet to earn the full confidence of the people there to the level that the Iraqi army has. Col. Gibbs said one of his biggest concerns was the ability of the Iraqi police force to hire enough to fill its ranks. The task force also is working to restore essential services in the area. Priorities have been to restore sanitation services and electrical power, with 127 active projects throughout the districts and another 62 projects planned.

Photo - Spc. A.J. Jackson looks for snipers during a cordon and search in Baghdad on May 16. Spc. Jackson is assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Photo by Sgt. Tierney P. Nowland.

Found one MIA, now KIA, others unknown

The other day the news came, and I could not write about it. I don't know how to spell his name, and this is Memorial Weekend. The headline says it all, though, doesn't it? And the fight goes on, as it should. Rest in peace, my dear neighbor. Godspeed, comfort and healing to your family.

Two Lima Co. Marines to receive awards for valor

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH.

Every day threatened the lives of Lima Company Marines in Iraq. Insurgents planted roadside bombs. They ambushed squads on patrol.

In the end, they killed 23 members of that Columbus-based company. More would have died if not for the Marines routine acts of bravery. And then there were a few whose courage went beyond what anyone could have expected.

Today, two of them will be awarded the Silver Star.

The award is the third-highest for military valor and the highest that any member of Company L, 3 rd Battalion, 25 th Marines received for their sevenmonth deployment last year.

One of the recipients, Cpl. Mark A. Camp, grew up in Maine and attended Ohio State University. He joined the reserve unit in July 2003, in part because he didn't know what do to with his life, in part because he wanted to serve his country.

The other, Sgt. David N. Wimberg, grew up in Louisville, Ky. His enlistment surprised his parents, but his older brother was a Marine, and Wimberg looked up to him. He was on active duty first, then joined the reserves. He had decided to leave the reserves just before Lima Company was mobilized, but he decided he couldn't let the company go over there without him.

Camp will accept the award himself. Wimberg's parents will accept his.

The company had come from New Ubaydi near the Syrian border, where, on May 8, 2005, two of its members were killed clearing a house in Operation Matador. On May 11, they rode in amphibious assault vehicles, called Amtracs, to clear a small village of insurgents.

Lance Cpl. Mark Camp stood in the top hatch of one, providing security, making sure things looked safe. He put his goggles over his eyes, but he had left his fireproof gloves in his pack.

At first he saw children playing, which is usually a good sign. But as the "trac" rolled on, everyone seemed to disappear. It got quiet.

Then ... boom. A roadside bomb launched the trac into the air, throwing a Marine standing with Camp into a nearby field. Inside, shrapnel tore through the men.

The explosion lit Camp's hands and face on fire and knocked him back into the vehicle. He beat on his face with his arms and put out the flames. The goggles probably saved his eyes.

His hands took longer to extinguish. He waved them, he hit them against his uniform and, finally, they went out, too, horribly burned. He yelled for someone to open the back door.

Someone did, and most of the 17 Marines who had been inside tumbled out. Everyone was hurt. Some were on fire. Camp remembers asking one if he was OK.

"No," the Marine said.

Then he heard yelling from inside the vehicle. It was Pfc. Christopher Dixon, 18, of Obetz, a member of Camp's fire team. Camp knew his voice. He crawled back into the vehicle to save him.

"He was my friend," Camp said.

Camp banged his leg, felt pain and noticed for the first time that he had taken shrapnel in his right thigh. He kept going. The heat was cooking off ammunition all around him. Bullets flew. He tried to keep low.

He grabbed Dixon with his burned hands, but he was weak. He kept telling Dixon that he was going to have to help him.

Then there was another explosion. Camp fell back out of the vehicle, on fire again. Once more, he put himself out. Dixon was still inside.

"I got back up. I crawled back in the trac," he said.

Sgt. David N. Wimberg was killed in an ambush while protecting others in Lima Company from insurgents? gunfire.

Now, Dixon wasn't moving, and he wasn't talking. Camp tried to grip his pack, his helmet, anything, but by then the skin was melting from his hands. The heat inside the vehicle grew. Ammunition fired off everywhere.

"I'm screaming for someone to help me," he said. "I'm screaming for someone with fresh hands."

Finally, some Marines pulled Camp away and Dixon free, too. The second explosion had killed Dixon.

Outside the vehicle, Camp tried to move.

"All of the sudden, I can't walk anymore," he said. His right leg, the one with the shrapnel, gave out. Lima Company Marines told that story over and over again, said Gunnery Sgt. Shawn Delgado, as an example of how heroic someone can be. "Camp was a guy that everyone wanted to emulate," Delgado said. Camp won the Silver Star for his rescue attempt on May 11, and for his actions on May 8, when insurgents who were hiding in a closet and in an underground crawl space of a house shot four members of his squad. Camp was outside, but ran inside the house three separate times to clear the insurgents and recover his squad members.

Camp spent a month at Brooke Army Medical Center getting skin grafts for his hands and recovering. He spent some time in Maine, where he grew up, and now is back in Columbus, still on active duty. He's been promoted to corporal.

The backs of his hands are all big scars; he can shake your hand, lift weights, button a shirt. You don't notice the marks on his face until he points them out. He married in July.

Camp, 25, has one more operation scheduled on his hands in the fall. He's a senior history major at Ohio State. After the operation, he wants to finish school.

Sgt. David Wimberg is not around to tell his story. But Sgt. Maj. Dan Altieri, who was with Wimberg on May 25, 2005, in Haditha, can.

About 45 Marines, including Wimberg's squad and Lima Company's commanders, walked in a column down a road, patrolling early that morning. Altieri heard what sounded like a bolt being back pulled on a gun. He turned to find a man holding an assault rifle aimed at the Marines. Altieri fired.

"All hell broke loose," he said.

It seemed the column was being fired on from everywhere, but most of the shots were coming from a house to the left, about 35 feet away. The Marines were exposed. It was an ambush.

"Cover me," Wimberg yelled at Altieri. Altieri fired in the direction of the house, and Wimberg ran and jumped over the wall just in front of it.

The insurgents aimed at Wimberg. He needed three tries to open a gate in the wall because of the fire, and his squad was able to come into the courtyard.

They moved around to the door. A squad member tried twice to kick the door in, but couldn't. Then Wimberg did. In front of him stood four insurgents, all armed with AK-47s.

They fired at him, and he fired at them. He wounded one. They killed him. But he had stunned them, Altieri said. His squad members were able to drag him away and kill the insurgents inside.

By running into the fire, Wimberg broke the ambush, Altieri said. He took the bullets for those dozens of men standing in the road.

"I don't know how many Marines we would have lost without him," Altieri said.

Wimberg's parents, Tricia and Dennis Wimberg, will accept the Silver Star for their son today, who died at 24 years old. They'd rather have him than the medal, Tricia Wimberg said, but they are proud that he's being recognized this way.

"This is a response to the final act," she said. "The last thing he did in his life was protect his Marines."

E-mail Jeb Phillips.