News From the Front

Since Operation Ithaca, there has been very little news regarding the actions of C-Troop Recon, 5/73rd Cav. I only know that I spoke to my son on July 22nd after his return from the last operation. I did receive through my FRG contacts, a link to Black Anthem News Service regarding an Operation Woodshed, in the Balad Ruz area (east, southeast of Baqubah, closer to Camp Caldwell than the current position of the 5/73rd, C-Troop, at FOB Warhorse). I cannot find any corroborating evidence that my son's platoon/team was involved in this action.

As always, it is very hard to tell exactly who is involved in various conflicts. In operation Ithaca, most of the posts were attributed to the 1st Cav division, with support from B-Troop, 5/73rd, Cav, 3rd BCT, 82nd Abn, but also supported by C-troop Recon. This group was called TF300. I cannot tell from any of the postings or discussions with my son (and things may change daily) what portion of C-Troop operates as a recon unit in support of B-Troop, in support of the 1st Cav.

Is it a conspiricy by the Military to change the functions and support alliances, so the loved ones and the press cannot figure out who is doing what, or doesn't the army really know what type of force is required and be able to organize and train a specific unit that can cover all functional needs of an operational unit. Or, in all fairness, it may be to the commands strength that they are able to mix and match whatever type of force is required to accomplish the mission. Whatever the purpose, it frustrates the soldier's families and loved ones trying to figure out why we haven't heard from our soldier for a week or more, especially in the age of vastly improved communication.

Regardless, it is obvious that major conflicts are going on, as it was reported that 11 terrorists were killed and 13 suspected terrorists were detained in an effort to secure the Turki Village region and provide stability to the local population.

No injuries or kia's were reported as a result of Operation Woodshed.

Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of Coalition Forces in Diyala province,was quoted to say: “As I’ve said before, the terrorists have no where to hide. In our eyes, there is no such thing as a safe haven,”.

As I have no confirmation that the 5/73rd, C-Troop Recon was involved I will leave further details to my source, Black Anthem News.

I am too small in the news reporting scheme of things, to try to be a force in reporting the war for all the families who crave news of their loved ones. But the process of listening and researching often requires viewing references to units outside of my sphere of interest. The links I provide, in many cases, have additional information that may be useful to the info-search of others that are concerned enough to try to get to the truth.

Dennis

Operation Ithaca - See Al Qaeda Go Down

I think I have figured out how to link the YouTube video of Operation Ithaca. Approximately at 1:05 (time shown is time remaining) of the feed is a closeup of a soldier, that I believe to be my Son.



I will include further links and pictures of the joint 1st Cav / 5/73 Cav Recon(known as Task Force 300) operations in the future.

Dennis

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.