About a month ago in an area of Baghdad not far from where I am now a little known engagement took place out in the street between an arhabi sniper team and a group of Soldiers from the Louisiana Army National Guard's 256th Brigade Combat Team. They are appropriately known as the Tiger Brigade, and as someone who as served in the active Army in Airborne and Ranger units before coming to the National Guard, from what I have seen, these guys are pretty damned good. This story is one example. To my knowledge it has not made the MSM, but everyone around here knows about it. I have omitted operational and TTP (Tactics, Techniques and Procedures) details for reasons of operational security:
During a routine patrol in Baghdad, these Soldiers were engaged by a sniper team. Several shots were fired at the patrol. One shot was direct hit center mass of the chest of one Soldier. This Soldier fell, only to rise again immediately (probably cursing quite a bit) and returned fire in the direction of the sniper. It was his lucky day. Underneath his body armor, this Soldier had one heck of a large contusion on his chest, but the bullet did not penetrate. Having identified the location of the sniper, the squad used fire and maneauver to close with the sniper team and capture them, wounding the sniper in the process. Upon securing the location, the same soldier who had been hit in the chest, fell to stabilizing and dressing the wounds of the terrorist who shot him minutes before. After loading the wounded sniper on to a MEDEVAC, they shifted into CSI mode, tagging and bagging all of the evidence of the attack, the weapons used and photographing the scene. All the while they maintained 360 degree security against other attacks. Their battalion section circulated a report on the engagement TTP's so that everyone could learn from it.
What composure. What discipline. What courage. What presence of mind. Being able to be around Soldiers is what keeps me in the Army. I am amazed that I am allowed to wear the same uniform as this guy.
Major K:
Check out http://www.romad.com/main.htm.
There is a link to a video of the sniper shooting the medic, knocking him down and then hopping back up.
Posted by: Don Miguel | August 08, 2005 at 11:26 PM
The terrorist scum were videotaping the attack and the video circulated through mil e-mail. It was frightening to see him drop, but seeing him get back up was amazing. Stay safe. All you guys downrange are awesome. God Bless.
Posted by: Theresa | August 08, 2005 at 11:30 PM
Actually we DID see that incident, FOX news showed it and other MSM outlets did pick it up- seems the ahrabi were videotaping the incident themselves... that's where the video came from. It was an amazing thing to watch and an equally amazing story to hear. I'm glad to hear your voice again and sorry you've had some difficult days. You stay low and watch your six out there!
Posted by: Sharon | August 08, 2005 at 11:31 PM
Major K - Believe it or not, this incident that you speak of was captured on video tape and shown on TV. I am sure of it. Your description fits so closely with what I saw about a week or so ago. It was on one of the cable channels but as I watch them all, I can't really tell you which one I saw it on.
Posted by: Marilyn | August 08, 2005 at 11:31 PM
I knew they had filmed it but did not know that detail had leaked already.
Posted by: Gregory Krappman | August 09, 2005 at 12:08 AM
http://gojackarmy.blogspot.com/2005/07/plate-and-bruise-body-armor-works.html
Posted by: Johan | August 09, 2005 at 02:01 AM
I heard about it from American Daughter. Click "WEBCASTING" and then click "MILITARY VIDEOS.". However, I could not get it to download from here. There are some other cool military video that DO work from there though.
I would like to see the whole film.
Thanks, ya'll!
---Dan
Posted by: Dan | August 09, 2005 at 02:40 AM
I saw the video on the internet a few weeks ago. I can only imagine the shock on the sniper and spotters mind when that soldier got back up. Something along the lines of "oh shit" might be reasonable. Last spring a Marine gave a guest lecture at my college, and told us that some Iraqis had been told by Saddam that US uniforms and humvees were bulletproof.
Glad they got the bastards, and our soldier walked away.
You guys are doing a great job over there. Thank You!
Posted by: Brett | August 09, 2005 at 03:23 AM
My bud is in tha 256th (Brad commander), and yer rite......they kick butt!
Us coonasses spend our spare time wrasslin' 'gators, and sneakin thru tha bayo. Iraqi insurgents got NUTTIN on tha 256th!
*wink*
I have "after" pics of Steve (the sniped medic), and an interesting story if ya interested.
God bless ya Major, and stay safe!
Posted by: Lil Toni | August 09, 2005 at 06:17 AM
I too have seen the video a couple of times. Each time I watched tears came to my eyes when the shot was fired...even though I knew the outcome (that is really tough to watch). While I don't speak Arabic, I suspect the interpretation of what the terrorists are saying in the video is the following...
Before the sniper fires the shot - God is great, God is Great
When the soldier goes down, then jumps up - WTF, holy sh*t, We are soooo screwed!
That soldier IS one tough guy!!
Posted by: Annette | August 09, 2005 at 06:57 AM
I had great pride the moment I saw that soldier bounce back up immediately scanning his horizon for them. I don't know that I could take a hard hit (kevlar or no) and instinctively get up looking for a target.
What a great soldier!
HH6
Posted by: Household6 | August 09, 2005 at 09:19 AM
There's a great post on this over at Mudville Gazette:
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/archives/003174.html
Posted by: LotharBot | August 09, 2005 at 12:00 PM
He'd make a helluva Marine [lol]. Semper Fi!
Posted by: `devildog6771 | August 09, 2005 at 01:00 PM
That is impressive. I love to hear stories like that. Sounds like training has paid off unh?
Posted by: Katy | August 10, 2005 at 12:36 AM
Annette, et al,
One of the enemy gunmen was speaking Dutch, not Arabic. Oy!
Maj. K.,
Keep up the good work, brother.
Posted by: Pedantius | August 10, 2005 at 08:28 AM
As the others mentioned, the video of this incident and the subsequent report of the capture and first aid rendered is SUCH a tribute to the professionalism of our troops! What a proud moment! And one the MSM actually picked up and ran with, which is just as amazing as the original story itself!
Posted by: AFSister | August 10, 2005 at 10:30 PM
Pardon me, but why send the sniper to the hospital? Won't he just go back to sniping? But I guess when he heals, he gets to sit in jail and be tried, right??
THANK YOU for stories we almost never read or see via the MSM......
Posted by: LC_NotShuttingUp | August 11, 2005 at 05:22 PM
Where my Ragin' Cajuns at?!!
We support Our Troops! Geaux 256th!
God Bless "Doc" Tschiderer, even if he's a yankee!
God Bless our troops! We CARE!
Posted by: louisiana.edu | August 12, 2005 at 08:18 AM
Be careful. I'm glad to see what appears to be a US escalation. Apparently rumors of a drawdown were smoke and mirrors-- I certainly hope so.
You may be interested in my blog on insurgency warfare and the war in Iraq, the WOT and other things. I've got a rather long article on there about platter charges.
http://organicwarfare.blogspot.com
If you like it, link it!
Posted by: Jeremiah | August 15, 2005 at 10:24 AM
I am sentimental about this unit since being from New Orleans, I have know those in this unit. With permission and reference, I posted this on my blog today. Truly inspiring and I hope to post more and more stories like this since we need to hear about the uncommon valor you and all of our men and women proivde to make us free. Thank You.
Posted by: patd95 | October 04, 2005 at 06:47 AM