Combat Engineers find, destroy enemy weapons

[SR-25]

Submitted by: 2nd Marine Division
Story Identification #: 20059621820
Story by Cpl. Tom Sloan



AR RAMADI, Iraq (Sept. 5, 2005) -- Marines with 4th Platoon, A Company, 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, supporting 1st Bn., 5th Marine Regiment, uncovered several large weapons caches buried in fields on the southern outskirts of the Al Anbar capital here during an anti-insurgent operation Aug. 15.

According to the Marines’ tally, they discovered a mortar tube, more than 200 artillery shells in sizes ranging from 60 mm to 155 mm, four .50 caliber machine gun barrels plus more than 2000 rounds of ammunition and approximately 1000 7.62 mm rounds, 600 of which were armor piercing.

“We saved Marines’ lives today because we found enemy rounds and explosives,” said platoon commander 1st Lt. Douglas R. Orr. “The explosives would likely have been used by insurgents to make IEDs (improvised explosive devices), so this was a good find today.”

The Marines made the significant discovery while supporting 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in Operation Bullard II, which was carried out in and around a small community on the edge of Ramadi.

The infantry battalion conducted the operation in an effort “to rid the city of insurgents and weapons,” explained 23-year-old Orr from Ridgefield, Conn. “The mission was a chance for the battalion to get into an area that’s known to have a lot of insurgent activity.”

The undertaking kicked off at 4 a.m. and involved multiple elements of the infantry battalion. Infantrymen with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines searched scores of houses, vehicles and personnel.
Orr’s platoon was tasked with sweeping several acres of nearby farmland for enemy weapons.
Armed with shovels, metal detectors and a keen knowledge of their job, the Marines worked in teams of two and combed the search area. After two hours of trudging through the loose soil, the Marines started uncovering caches.

Lance Cpl. Brandon C. Jordan, a combat engineer, is credited with discovering the largest amount of munitions. The 20-year-old from Hubert, N.C., found four .50 caliber machine gun barrels and more than 2000 rounds of ammunition buried in a field.

“Well,” Jordan said after making the large find, “I can say I found the most rounds.”
Jordan said he knew he’d stumbled upon something big when he passed over the cache spot. The shape patterns from his metal detector indicated the size of what was buried, he said.

“We found out just how big a cache it was when we started digging down,” Jordan said.

Lance Cpl. Matthew F. Tripp, Jordan’s partner, dug up the cache with help from other combat engineers.
“We just kept pulling rounds out of the ground,” said the 21-year-old from Fort Myers, Fla. There were so many, and I needed help getting them all. It seemed like there was a never-ending supply buried.”

Similar episodes unfolded for the Marines at other locations in the fields. The Marines discovered and dug up six caches after four hours of hunting. Each cache was buried approximately two feet down.

The finds didn’t surprise the Marines.

“We’ve been out here before and found large amounts of rounds and explosives,” said Orr. “We knew we’d probably find more today, and we did.”

The Marines inventoried the munitions they found and consolidated them all in one mass cache. They rigged the cache with plastic explosives and destroyed it with a controlled detonation.
The spectacular explosion could be seen and heard from miles away. The plume of smoke rose several hundred feet in the air and formed a mushroom cloud. Orr reflected on the morning’s events.

“It’s good that we found and destroyed the caches,” he said, “but we still need to find the source. We need to find and stop the insurgents who’re doing this.”

Marines with Company C did capture 14 insurgents during the undertaking. Three of the men the infantrymen detained while searching houses, according to officials with 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, were high value targets. One was believed to be an intelligence source for the insurgency, officials said.

“The more weapons we find and insurgents we capture,” Orr said, “the less attacks on Marines and the safer the city becomes.”

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...F?opendocument

[Curt]

Good work