Between the Bombs, U.S. Soldiers Pass Baton

On his fourth day in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Jason Dene ventured for the first time outside his unit’s fortified base near the densely packed Sadr City slum and plunged into its mud-slicked streets.

Dene manned an M-240 machine gun on an armored Humvee, scanning the garbage-strewn pavement for roadside bombs. He had been warned to expect the worst -- car bombs, rocks and ball bearings flung from slingshots.

“I’m paying close attention, believe me,” Dene said, a loaded shotgun at his elbow and a medical kit at his feet.

Dene and fellow soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division were out with members of the departing 1st Cavalry Division to learn about patrolling hostile neighborhoods in Sadr City.

The 3rd Infantry, which led the assault on Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, during the 2003 invasion, is back in charge of the capital. It will have a different mission, placing equal emphasis on combat operations, training the Iraqi army and rebuilding infrastructure.

About 65% of the 3rd Infantry’s 20,000 soldiers fought face-to-face battles in 2003 against Saddam Hussein’s army, Republican Guards, fedayeen militiamen and Arab jihadis. Today the enemy is a network of Iraqi and some foreign insurgents waging a classic guerrilla war of hit-and-run and sabotage.

“The last time the 3rd Infantry was here, they were in the business of fighting a war,” said Brig. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the 1st Cavalry’s assistant division commander. “Now they’re in the business of developing Iraqi security forces and the essential services of Iraq.”

This week, the joint patrol was on a mission that included delivery of a thousand frozen Brazilian chickens to Sadr City residents. Five armored Humvees and a flatbed truck of Iraqi army trainees plowed through raw sewage and rotting vegetables. The soldiers were met by cold stares, flying rocks, posters of the Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr and graffiti in English: “No No USA. Yes Yes RPG,” referring to rocket-propelled grenades.

Hundreds of children and a smattering of adults waved wildly and flashed thumbs-up signs. At every stop, young boys mobbed the soldiers, grinning and mugging for the troops’ digital cameras.

Along the way, the 1st Cavalry veterans pointed out roadway gouged by recent roadside bombs, known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

The 1st Cavalry arrived last spring in time to fight a bitter, weeks-long battle with Sadr’s Al Mahdi militia. The division’s soldiers fought a second round against the militia in August and September. Their bases were pounded regularly by mortar rounds and rockets. Members of the unit say the situation in Sadr City has improved markedly since October, though roadside and car bombs are a constant threat. Soldiers on patrol are required to wear shatterproof goggles and earplugs.

Capt. Brendan Ormond of the 3rd Infantry said his convoy had been hit by a roadside bomb as it entered Baghdad for the first time three days earlier. From the front seat of a Humvee, listening to 1st Cavalry voices over the radio, Ormond warned Dene to stay alert in his rooftop perch.

“You need to watch for rocks 360 [degrees],” he said. “And don’t let any civilian vehicles into the convoy.”

Dene lowered a plastic riot shield over his face for protection against slingshot projectiles.

On patrol, the most prosaic items can pose a mortal threat -- a parked car, a donkey cart, a pile of garbage, a taxi that suddenly pulls alongside a convoy. The 1st Cavalry soldiers recounted how they survived the explosion of a bomb hidden in a vegetable cart this month.

Two 3rd Infantry soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Baiji, north of Baghdad, less than two weeks after arriving in Iraq. Even though Sadr City is less violent than it was last summer, the 1st Cavalry soldiers warned the newcomers that the neighborhoods could explode at any time.

“Right now it seems easy, with just IEDs and rocks to worry about,” said Capt. Josh Davis, commander of the 3rd Infantry company on the patrol. “But we know from the 1st Cav guys that you have to be ready for the other shoe to drop.”

The 3rd Infantry spent eight months preparing to take over Baghdad. Commanders made several visits to the city last fall to confer with their 1st Cavalry counterparts. Their troops built ersatz Iraqi towns at U.S. training bases and brought in Iraqi Americans to portray insurgents and civilians. They trained for counterinsurgency and urban combat.

“We had the luxury of being able to watch this from a distance and be able to prepare for it,” said Brig. Gen. Mark O’Neill, the 3rd Infantry’s assistant division commander.

Maj. Doug Winton, a division planner, said the new troops would have to learn new political and religious dynamics.

“The key is going to be learning who has control of the local population -- imams, tribal leaders, local councils -- and working with them,” he said.

On the joint patrol, soldiers visited an Iraqi police station and a kerosene distribution center, which 1st Cavalry troops recently handed over to Iraqis. An occasional rock bounced off the Humvees’ armor as the convoy rolled past slaughtered sheep, wandering horses and fly-specked strips of raw goat meat on hooks. Down a narrow alleyway, the convoy lurched to a stop and soldiers began unloading the frozen chickens.

A throng of men and women emerged, forming separate queues between twin coils of concertina wire set up by the soldiers. Hundreds of children, just out of school, began chattering and touching the Americans.

The soldiers were wary. At the kerosene center, a pickpocket lifted $100 from a soldier. Another soldier lost a Motorola two-way radio to a young man who snatched it from his vest and disappeared into the slums.

As soldiers thrust icy chickens into the hands of men and women, the women’s queue surged forward. Women in black robes grappled and shoved one another, fighting to reach the front. Interpreters shouted at them, and soldiers struggled to hold the line back

The soldiers managed to restore some order to the women’s queue. But when the chickens ran out, the women began surging forward again.

The children broke out into lusty chants, which the soldiers initially assumed were school songs. But their interpreters revealed that the children were singing the praises of Sadr, mocking the Americans.

The chicken drop completed, the soldiers piled into their Humvees, swatting away flies that made the vehicles’ tan armor appear black.

“Now that was what I call a patience-builder,” said 1st Sgt. Michael Howle, a 3rd Infantry soldier spending his first week in Sadr City. “I was worried about my soldiers staying patient with all these crowds and kids.”

His Humvee lurched to a start. Children cheered and waved. As soon as the convoy pulled away, splashing through pools of raw sewage, a fusillade of rocks rained down, clanking off the heavy armor.