Iraq - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly!!

The Good:  I believe military leadership is based on a trust between leaders and subordinates. Subordinates rely on competent engaged leaders to do their best in building military missions. There exists a kind of implied trust between them. The leader trusts that the subordinate will do the assigned task to the best of his/her ability and the subordinate trusts that the leader has done his homework in creating a plan that will get the job done while managing risk. The good news is, it works! The vast majority of the soldiers under my command were fantastic.  They were mission focused professionals who were engaged 24/7.  They were flexible and did their best to accomplish the mission and take care of each other.  I am proud to have been their commander.  I worked hard to earn and keep their trust.  I felt they had my back and I had theirs.  I still keep in contact with most today and would do anything I can to help them.

 

The Bad: As a new commander I found myself in a hostile environment with higher command as well as the enemy.  I felt comfortable leading my men against the enemy.  But the fight against higher command was daunting and cost us big.  It was an uphill fight that I didn't want.  I was outnumbered and out ranked by a group that didn't have our best interests at heart - we were their cannon fodder!  My unit was known as "Team Bulldog".  At the high water mark, we had about 155 personnel.  We enjoyed a overwhelming advantage in capabilities since the beginning of the war in March 2003.  However in the fall of 2003 the enemy began to counter aggressively.  The weapon of choice was initially the AK-47, then the Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG), then the Improvised Explosive Device (IED).  Thereafter, the tactics morphed but the IED was always the centerpiece.

The Ugly: As an incoming commander in the fall of 2003, I arrived on the heels of the death of our battalion Command Sergeant Major - James Blankenbecler.  He was an inspirational leader that was ambushed with 6 Rocket Propelled Grenades as he slowed down around Samarra driving towards Al Taji.  He is missed by his family and military brothers.. he is not forgotten.

As I prepared to assume command the enemy shifted aggressively towards IED attacks.  The rapid proliferation of these attacks caught everyone off guard.  In the two months that I was preparing to assume command everyone witnessed an explosion in the numbers of IED attacks.  This tactic became active in Bulldog area quickly destroying two of our Bradley Linebackers.  Among the casualties was SPC Genaro Acosta, a well liked young soldier whose death shocked and saddened the men.

The second IED rendered a Bradley useless and caused some injuries but thankfully no one was killed.

   

The enemy get a vote...  They were successful in changing the game.  It made all of our jobs more difficult.  That didn't change our approach.  We reacted to this ugly development.  How we did so is another post.

 

I never met SPC Acosta, he as killed before I assumed command but he has become a small part of my life as I wonder how much better our country would be if he would have survived.  I guess I am kind of moved by that fact that this good man is not here.  This is what screams out to me.

 

I only briefly met CSM Blankenbecler, but as they say first impressions are everything and he made a great one on me.  I volunteered to be the escort officer (escort his coffin back to the USA) but one of his brothers in arms stepped up.  I still get teary eyed when I remember his daughter reading the last letter she would write to him at the funeral.

 

God Bless the USA and our fighting men and women!