IA, MiTT Conduct Successful Cordon, Knock

By Spc. Ryan Stroud

Two Iraqi soldiers stand guard outside a house in Hadid, Iraq, April 21, during a cordon and knock mission. The 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army , with support from their military transition team, led the mission to find information about al-Qaida in the area. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

Dust and dirt flew from under the tires into the air as a long row of Iraqi Army and Coalition Forces' humvees and Bradley Fighting Vehicles cordoned the dirt roads of the city of Hadid, Iraq, April 21.

With little updated intelligence about the area, both IA and U.S. Soldiers had to use past information they had learned about the town.

The last time these Soldiers traveled the roads of Hadid, they discovered 11 improvised explosive devices on a small section of the road into town, placed there to attack both the IA and Coalition Forces.

But this past experience would not shake the determined fighters of freedom. They had a mission - make their way into the city to conduct a cordon and knock, and go door-to-door; meeting every citizen they could and gather as much information about the presence of al-Qaida in their city.

With the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army leading the way into Hadid, Soldiers from different units of the 3rd "Grey Wolf" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, combined forces to form the 1-2-5 Military Transition Team to help guide the young group of Iraqi soldiers into the city.

A 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army soldier begins to climb the steps of a home in the town of Hadid, Iraq, to support a fellow brother-in-arms during their cordon and knock mission, April 21. The mission was a chance for the IA to take the lead in finding information on al-Qaida in the local area by talking to citizens of Hadid. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

The job's of those in the MiTT is to travel with the IA and make sure they are carrying out their missions to the proper standards, and with the mission they faced, the IA soldiers were about to learn about a different way to gather information.

"The purpose of the mission was to capture and defeat Iraq insurgents in the town of Hadid in order to make it a safer place to live," said Capt. Brian Slotnick, a native of Tom's River, N.J., and a member of 215th Brigade Support Battalion.

"The mission was to help clean up the town," he said.

While searching for a weapons cache, Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army and members of the 3rd "Grey Wolf" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, travel through palm groves in the city of Hadid, Iraq, April 21. The mission was an IA-led cordon and knock to gather information about the presence of al-Qaida in the local area. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

"We conducted a cordon and knock mission," said Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Gage, a native of Fort Wayne, Ind., and a member of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion.

"We didn't have any hard intelligence about what was happening in Hadid, but we knew from previous missions that the village was starting to become a hot-bed for insurgent activity," he said.

"The main reason the mission was [a cordon and knock and not a cordon and search] was because we didn't have specific targets," Maj. Dominique Dionne, a native of Harker Heights, Texas, and a member of the brigade's Headquarters and Headquarters Troop.

"When we have no intelligence driving an operation, we inform the [IA] leaders that this is more of a presence-type mission," Dionne, the MiTT Leader, said. "You knock on the doors, you talk politely to the people, you conduct your search and you find out what they know and what information they can give you."

"We were starting to see a lot more IEDs while traveling down [the roads toward the village] and the last time we were down there, we found 11 IEDs and they were all in one major spot," Gage said. "Our mission was to go down there to see if there was anybody down there who didn't belong there and just let the people know we're here to help them out."

Capt. Brian Slotnick, a native of Tom's River, N.J., and a member of the 215th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, travels with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army during a cordon and knock mission in Hadid, Iraq, April 21. The mission placed the IA in the lead with support from the 1-2-5 Military Transition Team, made up of Slotnick and other members of 3rd BCT, in search for information about the presence of al-Qaida in the local area. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

The IA and MiTT made their way into the streets of Hadid early in the morning, pulling their vehicles into the town to begin their mission of going door-to-door. With the IA leading the way, Slotnick quickly followed into the houses, hoping to get some greater information about terrorist activity in the city.

The IA soldiers knocked on the doors to homes, checked identification and asked if the citizens had any information they would like to share about the area. The cordon and knock was beginning to become a success when information about two abandoned cars in the town, believed to be al-Qaida related, and a small cache in the palm groves, were discovered through the citizen's help.

"[Through the help of the citizens] we did capture some good intelligence as well as some weapons and ammunition," said Slotnick. "That's one less thing the insurgents will have in their hands."

"We found, as well as received, a lot of helpful information from the mission," added Gage. "A lot of our suspicions were confirmed that a lot of insurgent activity is not necessarily being conducted out there but it is being planned out there."

As the mission drew to a close, the members of the IA and MiTT headed back to their patrol base to catch a few hours of sleep and prepare for the next day's mission. With another successful mission behind them, the MiTT feels the IA is one step closer to providing security to their local cities without Coalition assistance.

A 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army soldier shares information he has gathered with a member of the 1-2-5 Military Transition Team, made up of Soldiers from the 3rd "Grey Wolf" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, during a cordon and knock mission in Hadid, Iraq. The mission allowed the IA to talk with the local citizens to find out any information they had on al-Qaida in the area. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Ryan Stroud, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs)

"I felt the mission was a success," said Gage. "We got some people who we think are bad guys and we were able to show some community support. I think this was a good day for us."

"The situation has changed the past few years in Iraq," added Slotnick. "It used to be busting down doors, but for [the day's mission], the intelligence we had wasn't at a specific target, so we were very respectful with entering the houses.

"We knocked; we talked to the leader of the house, searched the house and just went from there," he said.

"The big thing is to put the IA in the lead," Dionne said. "We want the people in the villages and towns to actually see the Iraqi soldiers actually going through and conducting the missions and searches. We used the Coalition Forces to provide the outer cordon, which enabled more of the Iraqi units to get their feet in the city to conduct the search.

"It was a lot more successful mission than I thought it was going to be," said Dionne, who mentioned problems in Hadid included IED emplacers, snipers and possible al-Qaida influence.

"But when we got in the city and talked to many of the community leaders and teachers, they were saying the people do not like the al-Qaida and the majority of the people want the IA and the [Iraqi Police] in there patrolling to keep the bad people out," he said.

"That was a good thing for us to hear and it will help convince the IA to conduct more patrols in the town now that they know the population does support them," Dionne said.

"The Iraqis are a lot better than I thought they would be and they've only gotten better," said Gage. "When we first got here, they had a lot of problems with discipline. Since we've gotten involved with them, there have been very few incidents that I've heard about.

"The Iraqi NCO corps is starting to step up and take charge of things they never did in the past," he said. "That's really helping them out and making the mission an even greater success."

Since the MiTT has been working with the IA battalion, Dionne said they are helping the IA understand how important it is to interact face-to-face with the local population.

"[If the IA conducted missions without talking to the people], the soldiers would get the impression that all the people are all bad," he continued. "It's never that black and white.

"If we get [the IA soldiers] to see that these are real living, breathing, bleeding people on both sides, they start to get the common bond that they are all Iraqis, they all have problems and they need to work together to come up with the solution," he concluded.

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