Shek

New York Post
March 6, 2006

Infantry Patrol

By Ralph Peters

CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ -- Capt. Jeremy Gwinn's In fantrymen had a very good day. It started early, with Bravo Company's 2nd Platoon nabbing an insurgent tied to several assassinations. But as midnight approached there was still one mission to complete.

Acting on tips from local Iraqis, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry from Fort Drum had been rolling up a murder- and roadside-bombing-ring for weeks. In a violence-free raid, they'd just apprehended the elder member of a terror cell. Now the prisoner had to be transferred back to the headquarters compound for processing.

Capt. Gwinn spoke with me on a dark dirt road outside of the Abu Ghraib prison complex - where the detainee might or might not end up. Guarding the facility's outer perimeter is just one of the battalion's many missions. Bravo Company pulls that duty - and patrols a vast suburban sector, too.

Gwinn (of Lititz, Pa.) had plenty of experience to draw on. He'd already led his company through a year in Afghanistan. He has the aura and composure of a true combat leader.

One of his patrols had been hit with a roadside bomb an hour earlier. No injuries, no damage. Gwinn shrugged off the incident. "Most of the IEDs out here are ineffective," he said. "You don't hear much about that, though."

IT hadn't always been that way. After assuming control of their sector, 1-87 had cleaned up Dodge City.

The battalion has an elite reputation, earned the hard way. Its parent outfit, the 1st Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, is the most-deployed brigade in the U.S. Army.

Covering a notoriously dangerous swath of western Baghdad and its suburbs, and working in partnership with Iraqi Army units, the brigade's losses over the last six months have been only six soldiers killed - one of whom died in a tragic accident while on leave in Texas.

A low casualty rate measures not only a unit's progress, but the quality of its leadership. The brigade's performance speaks for itself.

WE stood under a crescent moon, with the floodlights of Abu Ghraib glowing on the horizon. Black Sheep 6 - Capt. Gwinn - took a radio call. His 2nd Platoon was about to link up with us. I was hitching a ride on the tactical convoy delivering the prisoner to Camp Liberty.

First Lt. Scott Treadwell's men had made the collar early that morning, but they were still on duty late at night. The hours in Iraq are long, and the work remains dangerous enough. A few months ago, a serious IED had sheered off part of a Humvee along our route. There had been no severe injuries, but the driver of the wrecked vehicle didn't like the route much after that.

He was driving it again tonight.

As for prisoner mistreatment, it just doesn't happen in this Army, and it certainly doesn't happen in 1-87. The insurgent was blindfolded, flex-cuffed and given a well-protected seat - to keep him safe from roadside bombs that his own kind put in place.

THE ride into headquarters was another non-event. No civil war in sight. Just another jolting journey in a dusty Humvee, listening to soldier talk and the rasp of the radio. Our gunner stayed alert, though.

Instead of collapsing into sectarian strife, the brigade's area of operations had become quieter since the Samarra bombing. The people do not want any part of more violence.

The zone's big event had been a thousand-man demonstration by Sunnis and Shias together at the al-Rahman Mosque - to protest the media's overreaction to the flurry of attacks that followed the bombing of the Golden Mosque.

Forget the self-importance: Journalists are just fleas on the military dog. I was one more responsibility for 2nd Platoon's soldiers. Yet they were as gracious as they were weary. They treat us far better than most of us treat them.

OUR convoy took a jagged route through villages that were fast becoming suburbs, past ratty shanties and the odd row of up-market homes. Soon enough, we pulled into camp and the disciplined routine began. Our vehicles passed checkpoints, stopping to unload weapons. The base was still busy in the small hours. I had a bunk waiting for me. 2nd Platoon's soldiers had to get back on the road after their prisoner drop-off.

Inside the 1st Brigade's austere headquarters, a few staff officers and NCOs remained at work, monitoring reports from units in the field and preparing for the next day's ops. The relative calm let the ghosts slip in from the darkness with their tales of heroism and tragedy.

Like the City That Never Sleeps, 1st Brigade has endless tales to tell: How, during a firefight, Spec. Andrew Suchanek, a medic, shielded a wounded Iraqi policeman with his own body as he treated him, or any number of other anecdotes of valor under fire.

THERE have been tragedies, too. There are in every war and conflict. On Feb. 27, Staff Sgt. Dwayne P. Lewis, a "mountain of a man," fell in the line of duty. Grenada-born, Lewis loved three things: His family, lifting weights and the Army.

His scout element was moving through a rural yard at night. Fearing bandits, the Iraqi homeowner shot blindly into the darkness. A bullet pierced Lewis' throat. He "bled out" in three minutes. His comrades were still mourning him as I spent my too-short spell with the "Climb to Glory" Brigade.

AND then the vivid life al ways returns. Shortly after I showed up, the brigade presented me with a face that said, "I'm from New York City - you got a problem with that?" Staff Sgt. Adam T. Navarro, an Army Reservist serving in Iraq, is a member of New York's Finest in "real life." Born in Manhattan, raised in The Bronx and now a resident of Brentwood, Officer Navarro works in Queens.

He could serve as a symbol of NYC's heart and soul: A big-fisted bear with a great sense of humor, strong opinions and a fan not only of the Yankees, but of Yankee Stadium itself. (He's a Post fan, too. Back home, his morning ritual begins with the sports section.)

His police experience has been a great advantage in Iraq (as he puts it, "Never underestimate the value of a New York City cop"). A veteran of Bosnia, as well, he sees a common threat: No matter what the elites or the media say, "The poor are always happy to see U.S. troops."

He worries that the people back home aren't getting a true picture of Iraq. Navarro's a firm believer in the mission. "We just need to give it enough time," he insists.

Who am I to argue with a New York City cop?

Ralph Peters is with our troops in Iraq.

__________________
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3