BAGHDAD - The sun has yet to crest the horizon as Soldiers of A Troop "Dawgs," 1st Battalion, 150th Armor Reconnaissance Squadron, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, move out to begin their mission.
The day's mission was to travel to the village of Arab Jasim and link up with Iraqi Army Soldiers of 1st Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Bde., 17th IA Division, to conduct a sweep of the area for weapons caches.
"Our mission was to cordon off the area of Arab Jasim in order to search all the local houses and look for caches," said Capt. Mark Houk, a native of Mullens, W.V., and commander of A Troop, 1st Bn., 150th Armor Reconnaissance Sqdn., 30th HBCT.
The search took the A Troop Dawgs through a mix of arid dustbowl and lush, verdant farmland. They jumped across canals that crisscrossed the land frequently. The A Troop Soldiers swept the outside, leaving houses for the IA to take care of.
"We sort of sit back as a supporting force, providing some enablers that they don't have, such as the Raven [unmanned aerial vehicle] and metal detectors," said Houk. "We're basically like a big brother to them."
The Security Agreement, which limits Coalition force operations inside the major cities in Iraq, has little effect on the Soldiers of A Troop, who normally operate in the rural areas outside of Baghdad. "Since we don't operate in the city, our mission really has not changed," said Houk. "We still are doing the exact same things with the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police as we operate under the security agreement."
Soldiers of A Troop, who have been in theater since April, have a good working relationship with their Iraqi counterparts, according to Houk. "They want us here, they want us to go out on missions with them," he said. "The partnership has been really successful."
Overall, the search turned up no weapons but the mission furthered the development of A Troop's relationship with the IA, Houk explained. "We cordoned off the area, the IA did all the searches through the houses, searched for caches and possible sites," he said. "I felt it went well; everybody made it back and nobody got hurt."
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