AJC.com > Iraq coverage > Blog > Archives > 2005 > October > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USHunting for insurgents
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lutayfiyah, Iraq — The mortar round was barely detectable as it sailed over the soldiers’ heads this afternoon. It whistled slightly and made a low humming noise — “Vip!â€?
Louie Favorite/AJC
A soldier from the 48th interrogates a young man living in a farm house outside Lutayfiyah. Mortar rounds fired from the area had just hit FOB Lutayfiyah a few miles away.
It landed about 25 meters from some Georgia National Guardsmen. The blast shredded a plastic water reservoir for their showers and punched holes in two hot water heaters.
“Mortars!� Get in the truck!� Sgt. Jess Weatherholt, 28, of Douglasville, yelled to his buddies. The men scrambled into the Humvees they had just driven from another base in the neighboring city of Mahmudiyah.
Seven more 82 mm mortar rounds hit their base and the adjoining Iraqi Army camp. One U.S. soldier was slightly wounded. Two Iraqi Army soldiers were also hurt, one seriously.
Soldiers at Forward Operating Base Lutayfiyah are used to such attacks. Since the end of August, insurgents have mortared them four times. The attacks were more frequent before then. They lessened after soldiers from Georgia’s 1st Battalion of the 108th Armor Regiment started ambushing the insurgents.
After the last mortar round exploded this afternoon, Weatherholt rolled out in a Humvee to hunt the insurgents with other soldiers in his “Red Dogs� platoon as well as some troops from the Fort Campbell, Ky.-based 101st Airborne Division.
A U.S. military radar identified the location where the insurgents fire the mortars. Within minutes, Weatherholt and his buddies reached that location. It was on a dirt road beside a deep canal in the countryside. The area is called the “Triangle of Death,� because it includes three cities south of Baghdad where a robust insurgency persists.
An unmanned reconnaissance plane spotted some people running into a house near the mortar site. Weatherholt and the others hustled into the house and found two women and five children cowering in a bedroom.
Louie Favorite/AJC
Sgt. Daniel Carroll, a 24-year-old college student from Dalton, questions a woman outside Lutayfiyah. Mortar rounds fired from this area had hit FOB Lutayfiyah a few miles away.
Sgt. Daniel Carroll, 24, of Dalton, turned to his Arabic interpreter and asked him, “Did they see any vehicles?�
“La. La. La,� one of the women responded in Arabic, signifying no. Carroll asked her several more questions. He was polite but direct. The woman claimed her family did not witness anything.
Staff Sgt. John Conley eventually stepped in and took over the questioning. He typically plays bad cop, while Carroll plays good cop.
Conley set his sites on the oldest boy in the family. The boy said his family didn’t see anything.
Conley grew frustrated. He knows that some Iraqis refuse to cooperate with U.S. soldiers for fear insurgents will kill them.
Conley warned the boy to be on the lookout for insurgents and to turn them in if he sees them. Otherwise, he said, U.S. artillery could accidentally hit his house while responding to the mortars.
“I don’t want to see anyone’s house get blown up, but they have to do something for themselves. Nobody ever sees anything. It’s always a ‘safe area,’� said Conley, 40, an intense, shotgun-wielding soldier who lives in the Atlanta area and works for the Department of Homeland Security.
As the troops pulled away from the boy’s house, Conley spotted where the insurgents dug a hole in the dirt road for their mortar tube. A nearly identical hole from a previous attack was next to it. Moments later, a report came over Conley’s radio about a roadside bomb.
Fellow U.S. soldiers found the improvised explosive device on another route to where the mortar was fired.
They suspected the insurgents set the bomb there, expecting to hit soldiers hunting them. U.S. bomb experts safely destroyed it.
The Red Dogs were starting to head home after four hours of hunting their attackers, when Conley growled, “I hate this place.�
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Martin's Mom
October 21, 2005 02:08 PM | Link to this
SSG Cory Martin is my son and with the 1st Platoon at Roe. I want to thank Jeremy and Louie for your magnificent reporting. Your bravery in visiting our troops at the more austere and dangerous FOB’s is comendable. Your the first Reporter’s to do so! This Mom is highly grateful to hear what’s going on…since her son never gives her the real low-down but just says everythings “FINE” Mom. :0) We love you Cory and are pryaing for you and all the guys at 1st Platoon. GIVEM’ HECK! XO MOM, Eddie, & ALL!
By Tedd Vine
October 21, 2005 04:36 PM | Link to this
John Conley,
I understand your frustration being a Vietnam Veteran and experiencing some of the things you are going through in Iraq. You and your fellow soldiers are in my prayers. Stay alert and safe.
By christine Conley
October 21, 2005 06:35 PM | Link to this
You Go Baby! The kids and I love you…
By Linda Cunningham
October 24, 2005 01:47 PM | Link to this
We think of you, and your family here, often. You are in our thoughts and prayers. Come home safe.
By CW4 Michael J. Conley
October 26, 2005 05:16 AM | Link to this
It is refreshing to see, finally, that someone has taken the time to get the perspective of the soldier on the ground right. Having done a tour of duty in Iraq as an aviator in support of ground troops, we didn’t see the battle as “upclose and personal” as do these guys. SSG John P. Conley is my younger brother, and I am proud of what he and his unit are doing over there and the sacrifices that they are making on a daily basis. I am in the regular army and have been for nineteen years, so this is my full-time job, a professional soldier. Comparatively, these guys do this for the most part, as a part time job, which has now become a completely different ball game. Not only did they leave their “real jobs”, to answer the call and serve their country, but they left husbands, wives and kids as well. This kind of selfless service is what these quiet professionals are all about. They stepped up to the plate and are handling business seemlessly. You would be hard pressed to find soldiers more professional than that! Georgia, and this country can and should be proud of these sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers that have sacrificed so much in order that we may live in the relative safety of our home towns.
PS… SSG John P. Conley is one of ten kids, all five brothers and our father have served in this countrys’ armed services in some capacity. May God Bless all you guys over there and keep you safe.
By Pam
October 26, 2005 03:00 PM | Link to this
This sounds like the same type of stories I have heard from my son during his time in Iraq. God Bless and Keep Our Soldiers Safe, Mentally and Physically!
By SSG John Conley
October 28, 2005 06:01 AM | Link to this
Thank you all for your encouraging words. The Red Dogs are quietly proud of what we have done and accomplished here in Iraq. We owe the highest debt of gratitude to all who continue to support us from home and on other fronts as is the case with my brother CW4 Michael J. Conley who is currently serving overseas. Mike I will forward your comments to all of the Red Dogs. We will see you all soon in Georgia.