Sunday, 20 July 2008 ~ By Sgt. Daniel T. West
41st Fires Brigade

Editor’s Note: The names of individuals interviewed for this article could not be published due to the nature of the unit’s mission.

An Iraqi Army scout fires from cover during a live-fire exercise designed to simulate a raid and pursuit of a terrorist target in an urban environment on Forward Operating Base Delta, Iraq, July 15. Photo by Sgt. Daniel West.

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA — A platoon of Iraqi Army scouts took part in a live-fire exercise last week designed to simulate a raid and pursuit of a terrorist target in an urban environment.

U.S. Soldiers from Operational Detachment Alpha 7236 trained the IA scouts and supervised the exercise.

“In six years of training with (American) Special Forces, we have never done training like we did today,” said the commander of the Scout Company, 1st Battalion, 32nd Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division.

The training exercised the movement techniques the scouts have learned and updated their skills with the newest training, he added.

“They did fairly well,” said the U.S. Advisor from ODA 7236 in charge of the training. “This is what we built up to with two months of training, and I’m very pleased. They have improved a million times over.

“We’ve instilled the idea of being special,” he added. “They want to be here and are very motivated and ready to train.”

The IA Scouts’ mission is to pursue terrorist and criminal elements, said their commander. “We raid the locations of elements that target Iraqi citizens, Iraqi Security Forces and the Multi-National Force,” he said.

In pursuit of that mission, the scouts have worked side-by-side with Multi-National Force - Iraq and ODA teams for several years.

American forces hand-picked the team members from IA training; they were named scouts after a three-month selection course during which more than a third of the candidates dropped out, said a U.S. advisor.

Their effectiveness has not received much publicity, but the responses of the terrorist elements they target may be a better measure.

The previous commander and three of their Soldiers were killed by terrorists while home on leave, but the scouts “did not give up,” said their commander.

The current commander continues to receive threats and has had three assassination attempts against him. Their resolve remains strong.

“We’re here to keep Wasit and al Kut safe, to help make Iraq a safe place for families and children,” he said. “They are here for [a short time] training us, but it’s our country. We’ll be staying. We need to train, so we thank the Soldiers for passing the training along. As warriors, we are motivated to always do better.”

Their motivation and effectiveness has not gone unnoticed among the teams that train them, either.

“They do large operations, and no one ever knows about them,” said a warrant officer of ODA 7236. “They’re quiet professionals. They don’t need credit; they just want to accomplish the mission.”

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