Active Unit News

Ed Timms: Danger lies in wait for soldiers in Iraq
Hussein loyalists kill 2 more U.S. troops in postwar ambush
05/28/2003 By ED TIMMS /
The Dallas Morning News
TIKRIT, Iraq – It's a dangerous game of cat and mouse. U.S. patrols roam through neighborhoods and the countryside, armed to the teeth. Iraqi gunmen periodically take potshots at them, then quickly vanish into the darkness. Other soldiers come under attack while manning checkpoints. Typically, only a few shots are fired. But the stakes are high. Early Tuesday, gunmen opened fire on U.S. troops at a checkpoint in the town of Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding nine others. U.S. troops returned fire, killing two attackers and capturing six Iraqis for questioning. On Monday, an American soldier was killed and another wounded when their convoy was ambushed near Hadithah, 120 miles northwest of Baghdad. In all, seven American soldiers have died in attacks or accidents in Iraq in the last three days. Soldiers with G Troop, 10th Cavalry – part of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas – came under attack while on patrol late Sunday. In a matter of seconds, multiple gunmen fired more than 150 rounds at two Humvees. That ambush, however, was not a testament to Iraqi marksmanship. No U.S. soldiers were hit. "It was well-planned but poorly executed," said Sgt. 1st Class Rick Michaud, 37, platoon sergeant for G Troop's 2nd (Black Sheep) Platoon. "I definitely think it was an established ambush." The ambush was in an area on the east side of the Tigris River that has been a hotbed of suspicious activity. Soldiers with G Troop's "Strikers" (3rd Platoon) recently discovered a large quantity of ammunition near a bridge. And in the early hours Sunday, an Iraqi gunman fired two shots at close range as a patrol passed by a row of homes, the bullets sparking off the road's asphalt near the Humvees but causing no harm. Patrols targeted Sgt. 1st Class Michaud of Lewiston, Maine, suspects that die-hards who oppose the U.S. presence in Iraq may have monitored the activity of patrols in the area and waited for their opportunity to strike along a road often traveled. Pvt. Kevin Hays, 23, of Ocala, Fla., was manning the gun turret of one of the Humvees as it rolled down the isolated road. "There was no electricity on, so it was dark," he said. "You couldn't see much. I remember looking around, and the next thing I know, shots were being fired." As the Humvee sped away, out of the direct line of fire, Pvt. Hays recalled seeing a flicker of light in the corner of his eye, probably the twinkling muzzle flashes of the Iraqis' weapons. He'd also been on the patrol that had two shots fired at it earlier Sunday. "I saw the sparks from that right under the truck," he said. "I thought at first, maybe we'd run over something." But the second time, when automatic fire ripped through the night for several seconds, he had no doubts about what was coming his way. Pvt. Brandon Ellis, 18, of Wichita Falls was driving the lead vehicle in the patrol. He quickly killed the vehicle's lights so it would be less of a target, as had the second Humvee. Until the firing started, Pvt. Ellis said, "It seems like just a routine patrol." Then, he said, "just out of the blue they started firing. It sounded like there were at least four AKs [AK-47 assault rifles] there." An AH-64 Apache attack helicopter scanned the vicinity but couldn't locate the gunmen. The two Humvees, reinforced by other G Troop soldiers and vehicles in the area, also returned to the area but found no one. Sgt. 1st Class Michaud said the ambushers had chosen a good location. A field crisscrossed with large irrigation ditches lay between their probable firing position and the road, which effectively would have prevented the Humvees from turning and assaulting them. By concentrating their fire on the last Humvee, the attackers reduced the likelihood that the first Humvee could effectively fire back. And they attacked when electricity in the area was out. Sgt. 1st Class Michaud said it may not be a coincidence that none of bullets fired at his troops were tracers, which can show both where bullets are being fired and where they are fired from. The attack was just one of several against U.S. forces in recent days.

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