This page www.a-1-8.org: /Docs/activeunit/01-06hearing.php last modified on April 12, 2005 10:42 AM
| A-1-8 Chapter of the 4th Infantry Division |
Active Unit News
Bob Babcock - "Deeds not Words"
President, Americans Remembered, Inc. - http://www.americansremembered.org
President, 22nd Inf Regt Society - http://www.22ndinfantry.org
Past President/Historian - Nat'l 4th Inf Div Assn - http://www.4thinfantry.org
babcock224@aol.com
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It appears that all the reporters who swarmed over Tikrit and the 4ID AO after Saddam was captured have either lost interest or gone home. News is at one of the lowest levels I can recall in several months. That is good because that means we don't have major casualties. But, you would think the press could bring themselves to report on all the other great things the 4ID and TF Ironhorse soldiers are doing in Iraq. Fortunately, we still have an embedded reporter with the Stryker Brigade, that story is included in this update.
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DoD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was
supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Capt. Eric T. Paliwoda, 28, of Texas, was killed on Jan. 2 in Balad, Iraq. Paliwoda was in his command post when it came under mortar attack. He died of injuries sustained in the attack. Paliwoda was assigned to 4th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), based in Fort Carson, Colo.
This incident is under investigation.
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Tributes to a Fallen Soldier - CPT Eric Paliwoda
Mr. Babcock, we lost our Captain, sir, this Friday when their base in Balad came under mortar attack. Once his family was notified, we all were as well.... Sir, when DoD releases his name, if you have room, will you please put this in your newsletter? All of us in the Bravo family receive it, and I think his family gets it. I'd like them to know that he mattered. Thanks.
When through one man a little more love and goodness,
a little more light and truth comes into the world,
then that man's life has had meaning.
Alfred Step
On Friday, in Iraq, Bravo Company 4th Engineer Battalion lost their leader, Captain Eric Paliwoda. Cpt. P. took command of the Beast a couple of months after they were in Iraq. I remember sitting here at home, worrying, thinking about how my husband as well as the rest of the troops would have to get used to this new Commander and the way he would run things. I was wrong to worry. They quickly grew to admire and respect him, more importantly, to trust him. I know this to be true. I know this from my own soldier who frequently spoke about him, his genius, his humor, his genuine respect and concern for the men under his command. I know this from the friends I've made in the Bravo family; friends who come together to get through this deployment one day at a time. I've heard stories of Capt. P. writing to wives who were having a hard time. I've even heard stories of him personally calling family members of deployed soldiers. I've heard stories about how he personally took care of soldiers' problems. He even sent us pictures of our soldiers and a note for Christmas. I know that he not only cared for his soldiers, he cared for the families of his soldiers who were waiting here at home. I want his family to know...I want his fiancée, the woman he loved, to know that he will never, ever be forgotten by us. I want them to know how deeply we feel their tremendous loss. I want them to know that what he did, who he was, how he lived, made a difference to the people in Iraq, to the men under his command, and to their loved ones here at home.
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And another email from the mother of one of his soldiers: I am writing because unfortunatly the mortar attack on Friday hit close to home. CPT Eric Paliwoda was my son's Captain and when my son came home for R&R he talked of how his CPT was one that the guys could all talk to. The guys always felt that whatever they had to do they knew that The CPT was with them. He was a commander that was involved and really cared for his men. I pray that his family would hear that he was a Great Captain and that his men really cared for him and were proud to serve under him. My prayers and thoughts are with them thru this ordeal.
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And from the wife of one of the officers who served with CPT Paliwoda: On behalf of my husband and I, we give our thoughts, prayers and hugs to Captian Paliwoda's parents and his fiance. My husband is a platoon leader who has worked hand-in-hand with Captain Paliwoda. In all my conversations with my husband on the phone, he has always commented on what a strong, devoted and sincere leader he was. That he always put the needs of not only his soldiers, but their families in the forefront of his mind. I am forever grateful that your loved one was one of the ones that has led my husband through this war. To you all and Captain Paliwoda I am forever grateful.
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And from his driver's fiance: As a member of Captain Paliwoda's Bravo Company "family," I never had the pleasure of meeting him. However, I understood how important his entire family was to him - soldiers and their families. My fiance was his driver, and I knew from him that he held Captain "P" in the highest esteem. He admired his intelligence, his compassion, his leadership, and, very importantly in a battle environment, his sense of humor. I know this has deeply affected not just the soldiers under his command, but the families who entrusted their soldiers to him. He will be sorely missed by all. Our prayers and thoughts go out to his family and fiance.
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>From a Central Command news release on 1-5-03:
WRAP-UP OF 4TH ID’S ACTIVITIES
TIKRIT, Iraq – In Dibis, 173rd Airborne Brigade soldiers discovered an ammunition cache during the evening of Jan.2. The cache appeared to have been at the location since before Operation Iraqi Freedom began and consisted of 163 60-millimeter mortar rounds, 17 hand grenades and 17 flares. All the munitions were secured and are scheduled for future destruction by an explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment raided a building south of Balad in the early morning of Jan. 3, targeting former regime elements suspected of attacking a forward operating base with mortars. As the soldiers approached the building two men armed with AK-47 assault rifles aimed their weapons at the patrol. Soldiers took a defensive posture and responded to the threat by firing at the armed men, killing them both. The patrol continued with the mission and captured 11 individuals and located and confiscated 30 AK-47 assault rifles at the site.
173rd Airborne Brigade soldiers killed a suspected criminal who was the target of a Jan. 3 dawn raid in Mastul as he came at the patrol with an AK-47 assault rifle. Soldiers took defensive positions and fired at the armed man after he attempted to fire his weapon at the soldiers. Following the confrontation soldiers continued the raid, capturing five enemy individuals and locating four AK-47 assault rifles.
Working with Iraqi National Police, soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade searched a KDP building in Kirkuk in the morning of Jan. 3 and found numerous weapons. The confiscated items included two rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, two AK-47 assault rifles, one SVD automatic weapon and two 107-millimeter rockets. A senior KDP official was detained. The soldiers and police continued their search at an adjacent PUK building. They located and confiscated one AK-47 assault rifle and five RPGs.
In another incident illustrating police and soldier cooperation, Kirkuk police Jan. 3 turned over a person targeted by the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The individual was a colonel in the former regime’s military.
Arrowhead Brigade (This is the Stryker Brigade from 2nd Infantry Division that is attached to 4ID) soldiers searched a number of locations during the afternoon of Jan. 3, five kilometers northeast of Ad Duluiyah and discovered weapons and ammunition. The confiscated items included three AK-47 assault rifles, one rifle, one SKS automatic weapon and a small amount of AK-47 ammunition.
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Iraq police chief says US army gunned down family
By Robin Pomeroy
TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - The police chief investigating the deaths of an Iraqi family gunned down in their car in northern Iraq said Monday he was convinced U.S. troops were responsible, although the army has denied involvement.
Tensions have been rising in Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussein, since the bodies of the family were found on a nearby highway Saturday. Coalition forces said the bodies were of a man, a woman and a child.
General Mazhar Taha al-Ganaim, police chief of Salahaddin province, said four people were killed -- two men, a woman and a nine-year-old boy.
A fifth man who survived and was taken to Tikrit hospital has told local soldiers the car was fired on by a U.S. Army convoy. Mazhar said he had interviewed other witnesses and was "100 percent" sure this was true.
"The civilian car tried to by-pass the convoy. Because they tried to by-pass, they (the army) opened fire," Mazhar said, through an interpreter. The machine gunner on the rear vehicle of the convoy must have suspected the car posed a threat, he said.
The Army's 4th Infantry Division (4ID) which patrols the area has denied any of its forces were involved in the attack. But a spokeswoman for the 4ID said other troops could have been involved.
"Is there a possibility that this could have happened? Yes," Major Josslyn Aberle told reporters. "It could have been someone else passing through our area. It could have been Iraqi on Iraqi."
Under normal military rules, if U.S. soldiers open fire they are supposed to stop and investigate on the spot and report the incident immediately. No such report has yet been made, Aberle said.
Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, the chief military spokesman in Baghdad, said Sunday there had been no reports of any coalition forces firing on anyone or any vehicle in the area.
The incident has increased tensions in Tikrit, according to a U.S. commander in the town.
"It was definitely more tense yesterday," Lieutenant Colonel Steven Russell said.
One of his soldiers was shot in the leg Sunday as he patrolled the town, which may be a sign of increased hostility in a town where anti-U.S. activity has dropped off in the last few weeks, he said.
Russell said he had spoken to the local tribal elders and police heads to express sadness over the incident and tell them his troops patrolling in the area were flagged down after the shooting and provided assistance.
"We went out and talked to several people on the streets," Russell said. "I stood before several of the popular restaurants and said we came to provide assistance and that it was a sad thing that happened.
"Whether or not they accepted that, I don't know."
01/05/04 09:29 ET
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.
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Stryker crews finish first major mission
Associated Press
The Army's Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade has completed its first major mission in Iraq, delivering troops with the 4th Infantry Division into Samarra. The brigade pulled out of the city a few days ago, having captured at least seven suspected guerrilla leaders, and confiscated weapons and ammunition, The News Tribune of Tacoma reported Sunday.
The newspaper has a reporter embedded with the Stryker troops. "Our ability to saturate an area with dismounted soldiers was awesome," said Maj. Adam Rocke, the operations officer with the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. Brigade officials said the two-week Operation Arrowhead Blizzard validated many of the concepts from the three years spent developing the Army's first brigade of Stryker combat vehicles at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma.
For instance, they showed they could quickly move large numbers of heavily armed infantrymen. A Stryker company is more than twice the size of a typical mechanized infantry company. They showed that they can handle a mission in a tight urban environment without taking heavy casualties. To date, no brigade soldiers have died since three were killed in a Dec. 8 incident in which two Strykers fell into an irrigation canal.
Stryker troops in Samarra captured at least seven so-called "high-value targets" -- Iraqis on the 4th Infantry Division's list of suspected planners, financiers and organizers in the areas north of Baghdad up to Tikrit. They detained another 50 or so men for possession of weapons and bomb-making equipment, according to a brigade press release, and discovered at least 26 weapons caches.
During the mission, the closest the brigade came to taking any casualties was when an improvised bomb went off under a Stryker driven by Spc. Christopher Byers. Byers was ferrying his squad to a raid in Samarra when a bomb buried in the road blew up beneath his driver's compartment. It demolished the left front wheel and filled the vehicle with dirt and debris, but no one was seriously hurt and the vehicle was still drivable.
"It was like sitting inside a small car with all the windows rolled up, and you fired off a .12-gauge shotgun inside," said Byers' buddy, Spc. Kenneth Rickman. "It rang everybody's bell pretty good." Byers, 21, of Lewistown, Mont., suffered a concussion and still has a hard time hearing out of his left ear, the one closest to the blast.
Back at Camp Pacesetter, medics gave him a shot of Demerol. He said his headache lasted five days. The battalion is recommending him for a Purple Heart.
Now it's haircut, shower and laundry time as the Stryker soldiers refit for their next mission, a move from Camp Pacesetter. It will be their first big relocation since crossing from Kuwait and rolling into north-central Iraq a month ago. The first units have already headed out. For security reasons, the brigade won't allow reporting on the timing and destinations.
©2003 The Olympian
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Family Readiness Group (FRG) Fund Raising
As our FRG's continue to raise money for welcome home parties for our troops, I will be happy to include a short (one or two paragraph) advertisement in a future update to help make people aware of what you are offering.
To include your fund raising effort in an update, I need the unit that is benefitting from the service, an email address that you don't mind for the world to see, or a web address, and/or a postal mailing address that is not a residence - I don't want to publicize anyone's home address over the internet. Also, I need a statement that all profits go to the benefit of the FRG - soldiers and families. I am not going to advertise commercial ventures, just those that benefit our troops and families. If a FRG has questions, have the FRG person in charge of fund raising send me an email with the questions. This will be a public service for our FRG's only and offered on a space available basis - no guarantees of any kind are implied.
Here is the first one you can help with:
Save $4 off orders of $35 or more at www.4id.warherogifts.com by using the coupon code ILOVE2004 when you check out. Coupon expires January 16th 2003. There are a few Oval 4ID Ornaments left, and they are on sale for $5.99. We'd like to thank everyone who placed orders over the holidays in support of the 502d PSB Family Readiness Group. Happy New Year!
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59 Years Ago Today - 4ID in Luxembourg - Battle of Bulge:
6 January 1944 - D+215
An enemy patrol of twenty men was observed shouting and firing a machine gun into the air. After our artillery was directed at the patrol, shouts of, "Heil Hitler" were heard. Additional artillery silenced the shouting.
Thanks to Philippe Cornil at www.revive-it.com.
(Remember, the after action report was summarized for 1-14 Jan 45, not daily updates as is the norm for periods before and after those dates. More detailed daily summaries will resume on 15 January).
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What Our Families Are Hearing From Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) An email from a soldier in 1-12 Infantry: Hi mom everything is going good here. We will be moving soon back with our company. Hopefully we will start preparing for redeployment because its going to take about 90 days to get ready to come home. I would like to get out of here before the heat comes back. Talk to you later, love you.
2) I have been fortunate in hearing from my husband both on Christmas morning and New Years Eve. (1/68AR) In fact, I rang in the New Year in front of my computer screen in an IM chat with him! It may not have been a real kiss but to send the "kiss" emoticon was enough for me! He is the most amazing husband and father. Despite being in Iraq, his biggest concern was to hear our daughter on Christmas Morning! He woke us up so he didn't get to hear about all her presents, but when we think of the true meaning of Christmas, his telephone call was the best part of our
day! Our daughter told him that she secretly prayed that he would call and if he did then her prayers would be answered! What amazing intellect from a six year old! Although this holiday was by far the hardest part of this deployment, he got us through by his truly wonderful spirit! We met again on line, he has discovered that he can text message our cell phone, so whenever he can get to the internet he sends me a message to meet him in "IM Land"! We are so much better off as families then those of wars past, and I am ever thankful that we have the luxury of the internet, better flowing mail and more frequent telephone calls!
3) My heart is heavy today. I want to share with you that my son (1-8, 3BCT) is in Dover, DE as I type this note. He escorted the soldier who died in Balad on Friday back to the United States. My prayers are with the family and friends of this soldier. I also will not use names since the DoD has not made the official announcement. My son refers to him as his "big brother". They were classmates at West Point and have worked together for most of the last two years. I pray for all those who have lost their loved ones in Iraq and also pray for the safe return of all those who remain in Iraq. Thank you for printing the list of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice. It was a good way for us to all remember those who are grieving and pay tribute in our own small way.
4) My husband who is in C Co 1-22 was very excited to have discovered a cache of weapons including some RPG's over the weekend. He even had someone take a picture of him the the other guys with all of them so I could show it to our friends and family! He said everyone there is getting excited since their time is getting shorter everyday and they also have internet now so the morale there is definitely up. I have been sending him your updates and he loves seeing the countdown at the top of the page getting smaller each day! It's hard to believe that it's been 9 months, in some ways it feels like it has dragged but in others it has gone by fast.
5) I wanted to share something about my neighbor. Her husband is deployed and his father passed away the day after Christmas. He flew back to California for the funeral. His wife flew from Ft. Hood to meet him. I felt so bad for her with 4 small children and 3 car seats, carry ons, and luggage. Can you imagine? She is a trooper though. But when she arrived in Los Angeles she said she was really struggling to get through the airport with all the kids and their belongings. She was wearing her 4th ID pin and her husband's picture we made into buttons and 2 soldiers helped her get where she needed to be and were so kind. Again in Sacramento, strangers just jumped in and helped her. I wanted to pass along how moved she was with the compassion from complete strangers and the kindness that is sometimes lost in our world today. I was thankful someone was there for her, and her husband was too. Just wanted to share this Another Army Wife, Ft. Hood, TX
6) One of your writers (#5) was looking to buy a 4 ID flag. I bought one from Valley Views, PO Box 340, Flourtown PA. 19031-0340. It's a very high quality flag and the cost is $75.00. They are listed under vendors on the 4th ID web site.
Also, a 2'x3' 4ID flag is available on the 4ID Museum gift shop web page, price is $39.95 - web page is: http://4thinfantrydivisiongiftshop.com/catalog/index.php - you will find the flag under the "Gift Items" tab. Another reader sent the following comment: "Just wanted to let the writer who was asking for a 4th ID flag that they are available at the 4th ID museum on Ft. Hood. They are nylon and beautiful."
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Families Sharing R&R Moments
1) Our son (B/1-10 Cav) also surprised us on New Year's Day for two weeks R&R. We also had no idea he was coming. His first stop, of course, was Ft. Hood where he lives with his wife. He will be coming home to us (Mom, Dad, 2 brothers, 1 sister, and a new born niece) for a few days this week before having to go back. Just like one of the messages I read about another family did not have any idea that their son was coming home either. Oh, what an awesome surprise! I am glad that I didn't take down the Christmas decorations yet. When he gets here it is going to be Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all over again. When I talked to him the Monday before New Year's he never mentioned that he was coming -- he wanted to surprise us, and that he did! When he called Monday last week to say Happy New Year, I told him that, "in 2004 he will be knocking on my door." I had no idea that it was going to be so soon. .... When he called to tell us that he was home, his father said to him, "he sounded so good," then he asked his father, "did you look at the caller ID?" My husband was so happy to find out that his son was back on American soil. We are so thankful for this opportunity to see our son again, of whom we are so well pleased. We are proud of all our soldiers. God bless all of them and their families. I hope that another soldier's family will also have a similar story to tell.
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