39th’s soldiers in line to protect VIPs in Iraq
By Amy Schlesing (Contact)
NORTHERN KUWAIT - Staff Sgt. William Dye shifted back and forth behind the line of humvees, directing a one-sided firefight.
“Send me dismounts!” the Crossett native yelled at his soldiers. “Dismounts! Move, move, move!”
In the distance, two target dummies wrapped in Arab head scarves popped up amidthe dunes. Dye yelled at his machine-gunners to focus. Bullets tore through the sand and neighboring plywood shacks in the makeshift village as they fired at the dummies.
“Well-placed shots! Come on!” he criticized.
A couple of soldiers scoopedup Rescue Randy, a legless 180-pound dummy and hauled him into a shack, where they began first aid.
The platoon fought on until the ammunition ran out and the smoke from the simulated roadside bombs dissipated.
Here on this sandy ridge near the Iraq border, Alpha Troop, 151st Cavalry Regiment of Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade, practiced for a mission unlike any they’ve done before. Soon, these soldiers will be working for the U.S. State Department, escorting U.S. and Iraq diplomats and dignitaries wherever they need to go across the war zone.
It is a unique mission, one where everyone fights for one person rather than each other. The diplomat’s life is all that matters. The mission is not typical because it’s not about holding ground or chasing down attackers.
“This is not about us as soldiers fighting. We don’t matter here,” said Sgt. Jermell Heath. “It’s about the [dignitary].”
Those are words echoed by the trainers and Army leaders alike. A personal protection team’s role is to keep one person safe. It’s a job that was filled by civilian contractors like Blackwater USA, a North Carolina-based security company,earlier in the war.
The U.S. military took over the job last year after a Sept. 16 shooting by Blackwater employees in Baghdad left several Iraqi civilians dead.
The State Department’s chief of diplomatic security resigned amid a wave of criticism for using private civilian contractors to guard State Department employees in Iraq.
The unit Alpha Troop is replacing took over the job last year, protecting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visited Baghdad, as well as members of the Iraq parliament - among other big names with big prices on their heads.
“That’s all it is, a thinking man’s game,” Sgt. 1st Class Tim Roachell of Benton told his group of soldiers after running through the training scenario. “That’s what [personal security] is, a thinking man’s game. You can’t just jump out of the truck and run around. Think.”
They call Roachell “The Preacher” for his commanding lectures and smooth Southern drawl. He rests his hands on ammunition magazines strapped to his body armor as he speaks.
“That’s what I’m trying to get through to them,” said Roger Headrick, one of the civilian trainers at the range. “When you’re going through Dora [a district] in Baghdad, you don’t know whenyou’ll get hit. They went through this canned; they knew what was coming.”
The group headed back to the beginning of the range to watch another group move through, but it was delayed because camels had wandered into the impact area. Headrick and other trainers herded the camels back so they were no longer at risk of being shot during the training.
The next group ran through the village, with 39th Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Veazey acting as the dignitary needing protection.
First came an ambush at a soccer field, its bleachers filled with target dummies wrapped in Arab cloaks. As the soldiers escorted Veazey across the field, enemy targets popped up. Soldiers opened fire and one grabbed Veazey and ran with him back to cover.
Time and again, through simulated bombings, firefights and complex attacks, the soldiers practiced protecting Veazey like they would a dignitary.
It was a role that Veazey and Lt. Col. Brad Cox, 1st Battalion commander, both found uncomfortable playing. They are used to being in the fight, not protected from it.
“It freaked me out a little,” Veazey said with a laugh afterward.
But this mission will be about protecting those who are not in the fight.
“That’s your job, to stay between him and what may harm him,” Roachell told his soldiers when it was over. “It’s not about you.”
Other trainers gathered around and critiqued the soldiers’ tactics. They harped on communication and maneuvering. They talked about how to best carry a wounded soldier. Rescue Randy, they said, probably wouldn’t have faired well if this were real.
“We could train monkeys to drive up through here,” one trainer, who asked to identified only as “Mitch,” told the soldiers. “What we want is to hear on-the-spot leadership decisions.”
Roachell gathered his soldiers.
“Don’t let a little bit of criticism make you hang your head.This is all about getting your brothers and sisters home safely. When your brother falls down, pick him up, right?”
The soldiers nodded in agreement.
Time and again, they ran through the scenario, protecting a practice dignitary and firing live rounds. They started at dawn and worked into the afternoon, the temperature reaching 102 degrees as the day wore on.
“You can’t practice this,” Veazey told t he weary soldiers at the end of the day. “You have to experience it. But you got a taste of it today and you did good.”
This article was published Sunday, March 30, 2008.
Front Section, Pages 1, 9 on 03/30/2008
