NTC okay I drove 200 yards onto it so have been there now

Working at Edwards AFB now.







Old Tankers Never Die they just go around taking stupid photos of old tanks.

The XO at Fort Sill "Check or Hold" 2010 and a walk through 2005

The man, the myth, the legend, he sweet talked the Iraqi women from being suicide bombers with his charm, then he hardened the Balad Ruz ING HQ, built the only live fire range used during the entire deployment to include grenading bunkers, got out the vote, and like Patton he was with J.E.B. Stuart in another life, previously as a cannoneer, unfortunately back then the rifles outranged the cannons so he was tragically shot dead at Chickamauga, he came back as Union mule skinner though. Currently he fires the said cannon seen here at the daily flag raising at Fort Sill, the honor goes to the those older than the cannon, or closest to that mark.

He re-enlisted only those that would take the Oath on the Iranian border within rifle fire range of the Iranian "elite" border patrol militia who screamed "Jihad" "Death to America" as the oath was adiministered, Hooooahs and Rebel yells being returned by the Tennesseans providing overwatch.

He sat inconspicuosly on the Tank main gun for the unit photo, and in the MiTT photo on his Hummer, A65 "always looking for trouble".

He commanded the elite secret American motorcycle assault team in Iraq, he is currently in training for the 20th Group bicycle attack sapper team, the bike frames are actually filled with high-explosives and magnetized so you can stick them to a metal bridge, or 550 cord them, this innocent looking model he is sitting on in a secret location is actually a weapon of mass destruction. Specialized now has a whole new meaning. (Special Forces had to have the word "Specialized" of course yielding the new "Specialized Special Forces" monikor).

Graduation Photo of the Field Artillery Career Course now included, truely a renaissance man, farmer, warrior, poet, lover, and athelete.

SPC Light and Simms(? spelling) Athens Park 2010

Athens Park 2010, and Iraq 2005, that is Light in between Rios and Dalton on the other end of the stretcher and humping the MK19 40mm Grenade launcher outside our CHUs at "Battle Position Caldwell" FOB Caldwell/KMTB.

Simms is going back a-gain, Godspeed to bold and the brave! Sergeant Simms already has survived one fight, April 4th 2005.

Balad Ruz 2007-2009

They can thank the Texas Engineers for that sweet HESCO barrier barricade along the main drag, and SFC Lowe/XO Andrews. now someone go get the gravel from FOB Knott and put it down and the job will be done.

SFC Bobbit, 1st PLT PSG

Outskirts of Balad Ruz, Iraq 2005, NC Guard mounting up, 2004. Top left first operational week for 278th RCT December 2004, day after Christmas. SFC Bobbit and RTO looking GI Joe Vietnam Backdrop Style. All they need now is a napalm strike on the palm trees.

Satellite Map Link to Iraq

http://www.maplandia.com/iraq/diyala/balad-ruz/

A good link may be better than the one below.

I guess once again Baldruz is still not took, even in 2009!

You know these guys were bored to death this place had a whole Iraqi Army Division operational by 2007. The town is probably looking great by now though it was booming before we left it in 2005, lots of construction and people were out on the stoop at night, traffic etc. Dee-ja-jay for everyone!

Area swept of al-Qaida in grueling battle

By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Friday, December 4, 2009

Ben Bloker / S&S

Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Company A, Task Force 3-66 Armor and the Iraqi army wait through gusting winds before heading out on patrol in the village of Tahweela. The Iraqi army, supported by soldiers from Company A, kicked off Operation Dark Wolf Pursuit One to execute the “clear, hold and build” strategy in the southern Balad Ruz District of Iraq’s Diyala province.

Ben Bloker / S&S

Pfc. Marc Capo, with 1st Platoon, Company A, Task Force 3-66 Armor, provides watch as Iraqi army soldiers raid a house in Tahweela. The Iraqi army was searching for a “high-value target” but came up short.

Ben Bloker / S&S

First Lt. Javier Avila, 3rd Platoon leader for Company A, Task Force 3-66 Armor, and Lt. Zafer from the Iraqi army are reflected in the glasses of Iraqi army Pvt. Raad Gabar as they coordinated a patrol in February in the village of Tahweela.

Ben Bloker / S&S

Iraqi children smile and giggle as soldiers from 1st Platoon, Company A, Task Force 3-66 Armor and the Iraqi army pass by during a joint patrol in February in Tahweela.

Ben Bloker / S&S

Sgt. Joseph Prince, from 3rd Platoon, Company A, Task Force 3-66 Armor, pulls security while Iraqi army soldiers search a house during a patrol in February in Tahweela.

Related stories:

1-77 brought the big guns, but rarely fired them

Bringing back Balad Ruz: Area swept of al-Qaida in grueling battle

Road warriors of Gila

1-2 soldiers tasked with getting Iraqis autonomy

Despite new restrictions, battalion kept traveling to supply troops

With Iraq violence down, 2-28 focused on training, rebuilding

GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Members of Task Force 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment found themselves in a hard-fought battle against dug-in insurgents after the battalion split from the rest of the 172nd Infantry Brigade to fight in Diyala province, Iraq.

Lt. Col. Lou Rago, the 3-66 commander, said his men were assigned to forward operating bases Hammer and Caldwell and fell under 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division during the yearlong deployment to Diyala.

“Our mission was to clear an area in South Balad Ruz that had been an al-Qaida safe haven for about six years,” he said.

Since the U.S. invasion in 2003, American coalition forces had operated in the area for only a few weeks at a time. Al-Qaida fighters had run off Shiite farmers, who once made up half of the population, and destroyed irrigation systems to stop the farmers from coming back. The insurgents fortified villages with double- and triple-stacked anti-tank mines and resisted strongly from late January until May, Rago said.

“We were there to clean that area up once and for all,” he said. “We were probably the last unit to do a battalion-sized fight in Iraq. We were doing combat operations akin to what was seen in 2004 using Bradleys and tanks, firing artillery and using close air support to get after al-Qaida, who were in bunker complexes.”

Equipment such as heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles allowed engineers to break through insurgents’ defenses and the infantry to spot the enemy and kill him with close air support, Rago said.

“We killed at least 60 al-Qaida in the area and effectively cleared South Balad Ruz,” he said.

The victory came at a cost. On April 5, Spc. Israel Candelaria Mejias, 28, of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, was killed when he stepped on the pressure plate of a homemade explosive booby trap in a house. Several other members of the unit were injured by roadside bombs, Rago said.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Rogers, 29, of Charlotte, N.C., a squad leader with 3-66 in Iraq, found himself in the thick of the fight during a foot patrol outside Wawhilla patrol base in April.

“About 500 meters down the road, an Iraqi army Humvee got hit with an anti-tank mine,” Rogers said. “The vehicle was totally destroyed, but we medevaced the Iraqi soldiers from the Humvee with minor cuts and a broken shin.”

Rogers said his unit was hit by several anti-tank mines but armored vehicles protected soldiers from injury, except for concussions.

In March, 3-66 broke the back of al-Qaida in Balad Ruz during a 12-hour engagement in which 16 to 20 insurgents were killed after an unmanned aerial vehicle spotted them attempting to load ammunition from a bunker into a truck, Rago said.

“We were able to engage them with close air support and helicopters and then go in and clear with the infantry,” he said. “Based on the exploitation of the scene, we knew we had really taken out the entire

middle management and leadership of the operational cells in South Balad Ruz. From that point on, all our engagements were with al-Qaida ex-filtrating the area. We had no IED (improvised explosive device) emplacements or snipers after that.”

The low point of the deployment came May 11 when two 3-66 soldiers — Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, and Pfc. Michael Yates Jr., 19 — were shot dead, allegedly by another U.S. soldier, during a visit to a combat stress clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

“Whenever we have soldiers injured or killed in action, that is obviously a bad day and affects the organization, but guys accept that a lot more because that is one of the unfortunate consequences of the job we have,” Rago said. “Losing Bueno and Yates at the mental health clinic was probably the worst day we had. It was just not what you expect. It took everybody from me down to the junior privates by surprise.”

From May, the task force focused on the same things that most other units were doing in Iraq this year — making sure Iraqis in their area of operations received essential services and supporting local government, he said.

Capt. Dritan Xhakolli, 29, of Queens, N.Y., and a platoon leader with 3-66 in Iraq, said he was impressed by the progress of Iraqi security forces during the mission. That was hammered home during a mission to clear the town of Shannanah alongside an Iraqi company, he said.

“We didn’t find anything, but they (the Iraqis) searched every house,” Xhakolli said. “It was good seeing them in action, doing what they were supposed to do, not us telling them what to do.”

By the end of the deployment, 3-66 had conducted every aspect of the Army’s counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine, Rago said.

“We did COIN doctrine from soup to nuts, starting with the clear (clearing the enemy from the area), positioning the Iraqis to properly hold villages in that area and prevent re-entry of al-Qaida, and we transitioned to assisting local government with provision of essential services,” he said.