Task Force Thunder cleans up grove in Panda Garden

By Staff Sgt Scott Wolfe

2nd BCT PAO, 1st Armd. Div., MND-B

BAGHDAD - Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers continue to build upon their working relationship with the Sons of Iraq and Iraqi Army elements during Operation Panda Garden in the Jabour area, south of Baghdad. Company B, 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, Task force 4-27, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, MND-B, had over all control of the mission. They coordinated with the 4th Company, 2nd Battalion, 55th Brigade, 17th Iraqi Army and Sons of Iraq from the Jabour area for perimeter security during the operation.

The missions' intent was to clear prime, arable farmland suspected of being filled with mines and IEDs before completing cache sweeps through the area. The exercise was designed to deny suspected caches to al-Qaeda Iraq elements during the upcoming elections and provide useable farmland to the village. "We've got our engineer assets and our tanks.

1st Lt. Andrew Schlaf, the fire support officer for Company B, 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, Task Force 4-27 "Thunder", 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, directs a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle onto a temporary bridge in the Jabour area, south of Baghdad. The bridge enabled all the vehicles involved in Operation Panda Garden to reach the staging area, by covering a canal that would have otherwise obstructed movement. Schlaf is from San Diego, Calif.

They're going to clear that palm grove and make it usable for the local farmers," said 1st Lt. Andrew Schlaf, from San Diego, Calif. He is the fire support officer for Company B and coordinated all communication from the tactical operations center during this mission. "We just want to make sure that the Iraqi citizens don't get hurt when they go out to farm." On a clear, sunny day with blustery winds, members of the explosive ordinance detachment from the 447th ECES searched what would become the command post during Panda Garden, first with a robot, then with suited-up personnel.

An Abrams tank from Company B, 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, Task Force 4-27 "Thunder", 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, is seen from a palm grove in the Jabour area, south of Baghdad. The grove surrounds farmland suspected of being mined and containing unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices. The tank has a roller attachment at its prow used to uncover mines and other explosive devices. Operation Panda Garden, under the direction of this company, is intended to clear the area of explosive devices and search for any caches buried in the area. The cleared farmland will then be used by local villagers and the grove will be tended for its dates.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Kathleen Lee and her military working dog, Cezar, inspected the rooms that would soon house the TOC for the duration of Panda Garden. Lee and Cezar are members of MND-B's "Striker Kennels", the K-9 working dogs attached to the Iron Brigade for this mission. After the house was cleared by machine, man, and beast, Company C, 40th Engineer Battalion, working at the request of TF 4-27, started clearing the palm grove wind breaks on either side of the fallow field at the near end of the objective.

Spc. James Gaudio, from Shabbona, Ill., is a combat engineer with Company C, 40th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad. He remotely controls the VNU-4 while clearing large-open spaces between the palm trees in the Jabour area, south of Baghdad. The grove was being searched by the engineers at the behest of Task Force "Thunder" for Operation Panda Garden. The mission's intent is to deny any caches found in the grove and the farmland it surrounds. The area is suspected of containing mines, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices.

Spc. James Gaudio, of Shabbona, Ill., is a combat engineer with the company and guided a remote-controlled vehicle, called a VNU-4, through the larger spaces between trees. The vehicle has a mine roller attachment he used to clear lanes through the groves. The roller plates weigh approximately 300 pounds each. The remote uses a hand-held controller much like that of a gaming console, even with the squares, circles and triangles on the buttons. Gaudio said that another configuration of the VNU-4 utilized that portion of the controller.

"I find it funny that I don't play video games, and yet I get a joystick from one to run an Army robot," said the combat engineer. Other members of Company C cleared the areas around trees and locations where the remote vehicles could not reach using a combination of mine-detectors and careful probing by hand.

Spc. James Gaudio, from Shabbona, Ill., is a combat engineer with Company C, 40th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad. He remotely controls a VNU-4 mine clearing vehicle with a gaming console-style controller while searching large-open spaces between the palm trees in the Jabour area, south of Baghdad. The grove was being searched by the engineers at the behest of Task Force 4-27 "Thunder" for Operation Panda Garden. The mission's intent is to deny any caches found in the grove and the farmland it surrounds from insurgent or AQI forces during the upcoming elections. The area is suspected of containing mines, unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices.

Spc. Aaron Laperna, a native of Dorr, Mich., explained that the mine detectors are a combination metal detector and small ground-penetrating radar array. When the detector goes off, it is because it has observed a change in the density of the ground underneath, coupled with metal content. The empty field itself would be cleared by the tanks of Company B, with mine-roller attachments prominent on their armored behemoths. These tanks would prowl throughout the plot of land, trusting in their armor to protect them from an IED or mine.

Later, the field was searched by a Husky from the engineer company. It is a single-Soldier vehicle that uses radar detection panels to look beneath the surface of the ground. When the vehicle operator would register an anomaly, he marked the location for a follow-on team with ground-penetrating radar mounted on a two-wheeled cart for further investigation. The operation lasted until the Dec. 19th and coordinated many different elements to ultimately make life better for local Iraqis.

An Abrams tank from Company B, 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, Task Force 4-27 "Thunder", 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, clears fallow fields surrounded by an untended palm grove in the Jabour area, south of Baghdad. The farmland is suspected of being mined and containing unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices. The tank has a roller attachment at its prow used to uncover mines and other explosive devices. Operation Panda Garden, under the direction of the company, is intended to clear the area of explosive devices and search for any caches buried in the area. The cleared farmland will then be used by local villagers and the grove will be tended for its dates.

When the mission was declared over, the village leader had the ability to have his people plant more valuable farmland and harvest the dates from the palm grove. Before TF 4-27 planned to clear the area of both hazardous obstacles and possible caches, the field and grove were resources in reach, but unavailable to the village of South Arab. The wide range of systems utilized shows that MND-B forces are committed to denying caches from criminal elements who would wish to disrupt the upcoming elections and to bettering the lives of the Iraqi people.