An Introduction to Bravo Battery

I've begun my embedding with Third Platoon, Bravo Battery 5-25 FA, 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, a field artillery unit out of Fort Polk, Louisiana. Downtown Baghdad these days is no place for the U.S. Army to set up a line of 105mm Howitzers, so Bravo Battery is now designated as a "maneuver" unit.

Their role is not as infantryman per se, but each day they conduct patrols on foot or in humvees.  With their Howitzers miles away in storage, Bravo Battery's mission is to protect the citizens of their neighborhood.  The reality here, however, is far more complex than that single mission statement seems to dictate.

The battery's area of operations is Baghdad's Karadah neighborhood, a peninsula whose three sides are bordered by the Tigris River.  To the west sits the International Zone, or Green Zone.  To the north are the still restive streets of Sadr City where commanders here say militia leaders often left for the quiet streets of Karadah during periods of intense fighting with the Americans.

Karadah itself is normally considered one of the safer areas of Baghdad.  Since March, when Bravo Battery moved into Karadah (they arrived in Iraq this past December), the unit has managed to escape much of the intense fighting that often comes to mind when Baghdad is mentioned.  

"If Karadah ever goes to hell, then something's definitely wrong in Baghdad," said Sergeant Nicholas Otto, a Third Platoon team leader, on the area's reputation for stability.

The soldiers live in a JSS (Joint Security Station), a company-sized headquarters based within a Baghdad neighborhood to facilitate mutual access between the U.S. Army and the population it's tasked with protecting.  Also based here are representatives of the Iraqi National Police and the Army MP's who train them, the idea being U.S. and Iraqi forces are now working hand-in-hand—with the latter taking the lead.

Living conditions for the soldiers here are modest, but by no means uncomfortable.  There are bunk beds, air conditioners, free weights, and plenty of electrical plugs for the laptops nearly every soldier has.  Many are already veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, deployments which prepared them for the long days and nights of their fifteen-month combat tour here in Baghdad.  They tell me that 5-25 was one of the last units assigned a fifteen-month tour before the Army switched deployment lengths to 12 months.

 

In terms of morale, generally troops are in good spirits.  There's the usual complaining among the rank-and-file, but as the old saying goes, "If a grunt isn't complaining, then there's something wrong." 

Before they came to Iraq, many of Third Platoon's soldiers expected they'd encounter fierce fire fights and constant IED (Improvised Explosive Device) explosions.  Veterans of earlier Iraq deployments figured they'd find a similar situation the second time around.  

Despite the many complexities Bravo Battery faces in mentoring the various security forces throughout Karadah, for an average soldier the lack of action during these past eight months can be a mixed blessing.

"As much as I want to go home and see my family, and I'm glad we haven't had any guys killed, I'm starting to loose motivation," said Specialist Thomas Dorris.

"Yeah, man," chimed in PFC Brandin Patton.  "It's just the same thing day after day."