Operation Ithaca

On July 1th, 2007 Rob's unit (82nd Airborne, 3rd BCT, 5/73rd Cav, C Troop) participated as a recon unit with Task Force 300 in Operation Ithaca. Below are some comments about the mission and a description of some of the successes of TF300.

For those who know me, contact me and I will forward video of the battle, which may contain a clip showing Rob.

As described by Captain Dobbins:

Execution:
As soon as we hit the ground we began clearing the three separate objectives simultaneously, locating the enemy quickly through various sensors; Paratroopers on the ground, Paratroopers in two Black Hawk Helicopters flying overhead as the Aerial Reaction Force (ARF), Aerial Weapons Team (AH-64 Apaches), F-16 fighters, and Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (TUAVs).
We cleared from house to house, chicken coops, canals, and palm groves rooting out the enemy. Along the way we discovered three large caches of RPGs, Heavy Machine Guns, AK-47's, AQIZ propaganda, Iraqi Army/ police radio's, military uniforms and over 17 IEDs. The significance of the IED cache is that they are unable to put them on the street, which equals saving coalition and Iraqi lives.
Through the night into the early morning we fought the enemy, dominating them with impunity. The end result was we saved eight severely tortured civilians being held captive. The hostages told us that they had been sentenced by the Islamic State of Iraq to be executed later that day, and we saved them from certain death. All eight hostages who were from all over Iraq are now safely at home with their loved ones.
Our Paratroopers with all of their heavy gear and body armor covered four sq km of ground, clearing over 250 homes, many canals, and palm groves non-stop for eight hours, all while taking fire from a disciplined and determined enemy.
No civilians were killed or injured during this operation, nor any of our Paratroopers. As we were preparing to extract on our helicopters the hostages broke out in tears thanking us over and over. Security was given back to this region, allowing the repatriation of hundreds of families that had been threatened daily, lost family members, and lost the homes that had been in their families for over a hundred years.
STRIKE FORCE 300 (Bravo/ 5-73 CAV, 82nd ABN DIV)
Operation Ithaca is just one of many operations conducted by TF 300 on a regular basis. The determination and aggressiveness of this Squadron would make the original Paratroopers of WWII pleased that today's Paratroopers continue to uphold the standards and traditions of the 82nd Airborne Division.