On the frontlines with the Bandits

12.13.07

Greetings, Waterbury. I trust this will reach you all well and safe and hopefully enjoying a beautifully white holiday season.

I recently took command of Bravo Troop (Bandits), 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment from FT Riley, KS, currently deployed to FOB Falcon, in Baghdad, Iraq. I thought with the holiday season coming and the emphasis always placed on deployed soldiers during the holidays by the media that I might take the opportunity to write “from the front” about my Bandits and the incredible job they have done thus far in Baghdad as part of “the surge.”

The U.S. Cavalry is an interesting organization as it is not a branch unto itself. It is comprised of a mixture of soldiers from armor and infantry. It is my first experience with cavalry in 15 years of service. Our squadron commander, Lt. Col. James Crider, is an infantryman, while his executive officer is Maj. Timothy Baer, an armor officer. I am an infantryman and command Bandit Troop, one of two CAV troops (there is a third that is infantry) while my executive officer, 1st Lt. Andrew Rinehart, and three platoon leaders, 1st Lt. Travis Myers, 1st Lt. Clinton Merritt, and Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Wheeler are all armor. In fact, there is only one other infantryman in my troop, Pfc. Nikel Badovinac, or “BAD” as we call him.

Commanding CAV Scouts sounded like an interesting challenge when I was first notified about it. The challenge has since proved not to be how to command armor soldiers, but more of how to do more with less, a challenge I lean solidly on my first sergeant, Samuel Roark, to help me accomplish.

Nearly all soldiers who traverse about in the city are being utilized as infantrymen, something I am overly familiar with as this is my second tour in the Rashid Security District. The cavalry is designed to be a reconnaissance asset and therefore has only about two-thirds the number of soldiers I would have if this were an infantry unit.

That has not stopped my Bandits from overcoming all obstacles that stood in their path. These men have fought and bled in places with names like Abu T’shir, Mechanix, Saha, Five Farms and are currently holding securely onto an area called Masafee on the eastern flank of the Doura Market. You may have heard of some of these places recently as Geraldo Rivera, and FOX and Friends recently broadcast live from Masafee and Doura.

Our task is to secure Masafee, on the eastern flank of Doura, which is the primary focus of the entire Army at this time. Securing Masafee was no easy task, but the troopers of this squadron pacified the area in three short months, business is beginning to thrive and displaced residents are returning to their homes again.

My Bandits are responsible for our entire squadron’s area of operation every night. While our two sister troops maintain law and order and restore essential services in one Muhalla (neighborhood) each during the day, we secure both those Muhalla’s at night and a third that we are responsible for restoring essential services to during the day.

As I said, we’re doing more with less. The soldiers in all three troops take great pride in the fact that when they first entered the Hayy (sort of like a borough) of Masafee, AQIZ (al Qaeda in Iraq) was fully entrenched in these neighborhoods. AQIZ was so entrenched that the squadron encountered eight improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in the first seven days. But with the insight of our leaders and the skill of our men at hunting down insurgents, we’ve all but routed AQIZ and other terrorists from Masafee and haven’t faced an enemy-initiated event in over two months. On top of that, we have nearly an 85 percent conviction rate for detainees — the highest of any unit in the brigade of over 4,000 soldiers.

I am hoping to continue this column to give you an insight to what’s happening here from a soldier’s point of view, and introducing my Bandits to you as I do so. I’d like to take this time to introduce my Bandits who are from Vermont.

First there is 1st Lt. Myers, an Air Force brat and graduate of Castleton, my 1st platoon leader. While he traveled around as the son of an Air Force lieutenant colonel, he considers Vermont to be his home and wants to get a job with the state of Vermont when he gets out of the Army.
Next there is … me!

As you enjoy your holidays with your families — and I stress that, ENJOY your time with family — take a moment to pray for my brave men and remember the three Bandits who have made the ultimate sacrifice: Pfc. Michael Pittman, 34, of Iowa; Pfc. Aaron Genevie, 22, of Pennsylvania; and Pvt. William Johnson, 22, of North Carolina.