‘Wolverines’, Apaches engage, kill terrorists

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq — A combined operation between ground forces and Apache attack helicopters engaged and killed a platoon-sized element of enemy fighters west of the Baghdad International Airport Complex on Iraqi Highway 1 at approximately 9 p.m., March 7.
A patrol from Troop A, 1st Battalion, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division reported enemy tracer fire in the area known as Az-Zaidon. As they moved toward the firing, they detected armed insurgents in an ambush position along both sides of a canal road. A truck was parked nearby.
After clearing the area of friendly forces, the patrol called for close air support from nearby AH-64 Apache attack aircraft.
The helicopter engaged the enemy fighters, killing 12 and destroying the truck, which had an anti-aircraft heavy machine gun mounted in the bed.

Civil affairs team, ‘Allons’ battalion aid wounded pilgrim

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi police brought an injured woman traveling to the holy sites during Arbaeen to a civil affairs team inspecting a hospital here Mar. 7.
The Soldiers, of the 413th Civil Affairs Battalion, were checking up on the facilities at the Mahmudiyah Hospital when a patrol of Iraqi police brought a local woman with a gunshot wound to the chest in for treatment.
The woman said she had been shot by a sniper who was apparently targeting people walking south in the village of Dora.
The hospital did not have the capability to treat the woman, and the civil affairs team contacted the 2nd “Allons” Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), based at the nearby Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah.
Soldiers from 2-15th requested air medical evacuation for the woman, who was taken to the 28th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad. She is currently undergoing treatment for her wound.
Many roads in the 2nd BCT’s area of operation are filled with pilgrims traveling south to the shrines at Karbala for the Shia Muslim commemoration of Arbaeen - the martyrdom of Husayn bin Ali.

‘Triangle of Death’ now a safe passage for pilgrims

From Stars and Stripes
By Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, March 11, 2007


MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq — They called it the “Triangle of Death,” a bloody, 330-square-mile expanse of canal-veined farmland and low-rise towns that hosted the wedding of terrorist Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and saw cash bounties paid for the murder of local officials, foreign journalists and Iraqi and American soldiers.

Today however, this infamous piece of real estate straddling the Sunni-Shiite fault line south of Baghdad has earned the reputation of being Iraq’s most secure passage for Shiite pilgrims marching south to Karbala for the Arba’een holiday.

It is also the proving ground for the U.S. military’s new method of training and shepherding Iraqi army troops. Whereas previous efforts involved the embedding of 12-man training teams with Iraqi army units, U.S. forces now are devoting entire battalions to supporting and training Iraqi soldiers, launching routine patrols and massive operations on a joint basis.

While scores of pilgrims traveling through Hillah and Baghdad were killed last week by suicide bombers and drive-by gunmen, this area immediately south of the capital has, so far, escaped any serious incident.

After an aggressive and costly campaign waged by units from the 101st Airborne Division roughly a year ago and the arrival of thousands of new and well-equipped Iraqi army soldiers, both U.S. and Iraqi commanders here say the old Triangle of Death label no longer fits.

“Three years ago they called this the Triangle of Death, but that is the past,” said Col. Ali Jassim Mohammed Al Frajee, an Iraqi army commander here. “Iraqi army and coalition forces paid a lot of sacrifices here over the last three years and now we have 4 million pilgrims passing through here without anything happening. That is awesome.”

To be sure, cells of militants still salt the lush fields and palm groves that skirt the Euphrates River, but commanders with the Fort Drum, N.Y.-based 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, and the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division say they have all but cleared enemy fighters from the towns of Mahmudiyah, Yusafiyah and Latifiyah, known collectively as the “fiyahs.”

In the last six months, overall attacks have dropped, commanders say, and the lethality of these episodes has plummeted. Most significantly, enemy rocket and mortar attacks have been cut in half and commanders credit an aggressive, joint Iraqi and American campaign of air assaults, river landings and foot patrols for uncovering significant caches. In one week alone, U.S. and Iraqi troops uncovered more than 100 stashes of rockets, mortars, bombs and other weapons.

Previously, Iraqi army units were prone to defending static patrol bases or checkpoints, a posture that virtually invited attacks, U.S. commanders said. Now, Iraqi troops under Ali are far more aggressive and have taken to searching for insurgents and weapons stashes beyond their bunkered positions.

“They see what effect it’s having,” said Lt. Col. Bob Morschauser, commander of the 10th Mountain’s 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment. “They see how being offensive has reduced indirect-fire attacks.”

Iraqis making progress with new training

From Stars and Stripes

By Monte Morin, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Monday, March 12, 2007

LATIFIYAH, Iraq — When Staff Sgt. Barry Belles stumbled unwittingly into a sniper’s kill zone in this Sunni town south of Baghdad, it was an Iraqi army soldier who grabbed his body armor and yanked the 33-year-old Wilkes-Barre, Pa., native to safety.

It was, he said, just one of many episodes in which Iraqi army soldiers have risked their lives to help U.S. soldiers who are training them to one day assume full responsibility for Iraq’s security.

A member of Bravo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, a unit of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Belles is part of the U.S. Army’s new approach to training Iraqi Army units.

Instead of embedding a 12-man Military Transition Team or “MiTT” with an Iraqi unit, the 2-10th Mountain has devoted an entire artillery battalion to the effort.

U.S. and Iraqi commanders say that the new strategy has speeded up the development of Iraqi army units, like the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, and focused on joint operations. While the 4-6th Iraqi Army Division participated in only one brigade-level operation prior to the 2-10th Mountain’s arrival in Iraqi seven months ago, it has participated in roughly two dozen since.

“We don’t see ourselves as advisers, we see ourselves as partners,” said Maj. Matt Zimmerman, operations officer for the artillery battalion. “It’s a true partnership.”

While top U.S. commanders have long discussed “partnerships” with the Iraqi military, U.S. soldiers on the ground have often looked toward their Iraqi counterparts with equal parts of hope and mistrust.

That however, is not the case for soldiers like Belles, who say they view their Iraqi counterparts as members of their own unit.

“I honestly believe they care about us,” Belles said recently. “They’ve saved our lives at least a dozen times. We call them ‘our guys’ because they are.”

Belles, like many Iraq veterans who have served previous tours here, recalls working with soldiers of the Iraqi National Guard, a precursor to today’s Iraqi army. It was not a good experience, Belles recalls, and it left him somewhat sour on efforts to train up Iraq’s new military.

He was amazed, he said, when he returned to Iraq and saw Iraqi army soldiers driving up-armored Humvees and Russian-made armored personnel carriers known as BMPs. He said he was also surprised to see how organized the new force had become since his last visit, and how Iraqi soldiers and commanders were launching their own operations based on intelligence they had gathered.

“I was skeptical at first, I admit it,” Belles said. “But I have a better respect for the Iraqi people after working with these guys. I would trust any one of them with my life.”

The Iraqis’ initiative was on prominent display recently during the Arba’een pilgrimage, when millions of Shiite faithful trekked to Karbala. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense drew up its own security plan, and Iraqi army soldiers were out in full force.

While suicide bombers and gunmen killed scores of pilgrims to the north and south, the 4-6 Iraqi Army Division’s area of operations did not experience any significant incidents.

The unit’s gains have come at a price. Many Iraqi soldiers died in efforts to combat insurgents in this mixed Sunni-Shiite area once dubbed the “triangle of death.”

“When we first got here it was tough,” said Bravo battery commander Capt. Andrew Visser, 30, of Indianapolis. Visser said that Iraqi army outposts to the west, near the Euphrates River, saw frequent attacks and U.S. supply runs to the stations encountered many powerful roadside bombs.

The threat has tapered off tremendously though, due in part to numerous joint operations that have uncovered hundreds of weapons caches in this largely rural area.

“Now they’re using more trickery instead of brute force,” Visser said of the enemy. “Now the enemy says, ‘I’m going to make you go through all this debris along the road and see if there’s an IED.’ Maybe we’ll just find one, where we used to find six.”

Wolverine Squadron finds cache near Radwaniyah

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

RADWANIYAH, Iraq — Coalition soldiers discovered a weapons cache along the main highway into Baghdad, Mar. 5.
Troop A, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, “Wolverines” found the cache near the village of Radwaniyah, adjacent to the western side of the Baghdad International Airport.
The cache contained ten fragmentation hand grenades, 165 mortar primers, eight 12.7 mm machinegun rounds, two bags of bulk explosives with blasting caps, a box with 100 blasting caps, 1,000 9 mm pistol rounds, six hand grenade fuses, a bag of plastic explosives, 1,000 AK-47 rounds and an improvised explosive devise.
The ammunition and explosives were collected and destroyed by an explosive ordinance detachment.

Golden Dragons defeat IED cell

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

SADR AL-YUSUFIYAH, Iraq — Coalition soldiers killed four terrorists planting improvised explosive devises near a village near the banks of the Euphrates, Mar. 5.
The Scout Platoon of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, “Golden Dragons” discovered five terrorists emplacing IEDs and engaged them with small arms fire, killing four of them.
Found with the dead terrorists were two AK-47s.
The bodies of the terrorists were turned over to the local authorities and the weapons confiscated.

Iraqi Army, Commando Brigade find rockets, mortar tube

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

YUFUFIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi Army and Multi-National Division – Baghdad troops found a series of caches containing weapons and ammunition, two miles southwest of Yusufiyah, Iraq, March 4.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd “Commando” Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) discovered the three weapons caches at approximately 11 a.m. while conducting security patrols.
The caches, hidden in blue air-tight buckets, buried and camouflaged, contained 22 rockets, 13 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, a 60mm mortar tube, 2 full drums of PKC medium machine gun ammunition and 12 rolls of detonation cord.
“This is another significant find in our area of operations,” said Maj. Web Wright, brigade spokesman and resident of Annapolis, Md. “We find lots of mortar rounds in this area, but finding the mortar tube is important because the tube is the only way to launch the rounds. Without the tube, the enemy loses a not just a weapon, but a capability.”

Golden Dragons discover six more caches in operation

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn.
Div. (LI) Public Affairs


YUSUFIYAH, Iraq - Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers continue to find weapons caches along Mullah Fayad Highway during an ongoing operation southwest of Baghdad, Feb. 28.
As reported earlier, Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) found a massive cache along the highway as part of Operation Commando Viper, an operation intended to deny terrorists' freedom of movement in southwest Baghdad.
After continuing to scour the area, the 'Golden Dragons' found an additional six caches along the highway, just west of Yusufiyah, March 1.
The first cache consisted of 12 mortar warheads, 28 tear gas grenades, 150 cassette tapes, a 200 round ammunition drum, 20 feet of wire, 29 mortar charges, three rocket propelled grenade sights, a rifle scope, an AK-47 magazine, four chest-rigged AK-47 kits, four small cloth bags of gun powder, 250 loose 7.62mm rounds, a battery charger, an alternating current adapter, three rifle slings, and various bomb making materials.
The second cache, smaller than the first, included 22 rocket propelled grenade rounds, 300 feet of detention cord, a 62mm high-explosive anti-tank rounds and a 106mm anti-tank round.
The third cache had two unknown aiming tools, three AK-47 magazines (two full and one empty), 100 7.62mm rounds, a box containing 1,000 7.62mm rounds, 11 cloth bags filled with gun powder, 20 feet of time fuse, 20 feet of detonation cord, two RPG-7 rounds, 10 blasting caps, a 57mm warhead, an AK-47, a bottle of unknown liquid, a spotting scope, four cell phones, two mortar sights, an RPG sight, an unknown electronic site, various digital and paper archival equipment, and initiators for improvised explosive devices.
In the fourth cache were four RPG-7 rounds, 22 81mm warhead rounds, 39 60mm warhead rounds, 25 mortar charges, an 81mm mortar round, three high-explosive assembled warhead rounds, two RPG-9 rounds, 55 various grenades, 16 blasting caps, five AK-47 chest kits, six AK-47 magazines, a set of binoculars, an RPG sight box, a machine gun rod, an unknown aiming device, a mortar sight and a test light.
The fifth cache had three AK-47 magazines, a two-way radio, a plastic grenade, 300 7.62mm rounds, a spool of wire, a camera bag, a tripod, a hand drill and an improvised explosive device kit.
The last cache included five RPG-9 rounds, two 81mm mortar rounds, three blasting caps, a mortar site, a warhead, a homemade rocket launcher, 22 boxes of mortar charges, an 81mm warhead, two 60mm warheads, a ammunition can, 20 feet of detonation cord, a set of binoculars and a cell phone battery.
"The Soldiers of 2-14 are putting a huge dent in the terrorists' capabilities," said Maj. Brock Jones, the 2-14 Inf. executive officer and native of Lakewood, Ohio. "Each large caliber round is one less (improvised explosive device) the enemy can emplace."
The Soldiers will continue to search the area in hopes of finding more caches.
An explosive ordnance detonation team destroyed the contents of the caches and the operation is still ongoing.

Soldiers search roadsides after explosions

Command Sgt. Maj. Clyde Glenn (foreground), and the senior noncommissioned officer for 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), and Staff Sgt. Laurencio Lopez (background), and a medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-14th, emerge from the reeds along a canal near the village of Sadr Al-Yusufiyah, Iraq, after checking the canal for terrorists and weaponry after two improvised explosive devices exploded near their convoy March 3. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Chris McCann, 2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs)

Task Force Iron Claw finds booby-trapped vehicle

2nd BCT PAO, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

YUSUFIYAH, Iraq — A burned-out vehicle on a rural Iraqi road proved to be a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device when it was investigated by Soldiers March 1 near here. The vehicle was found along a road outside Yusufiyah, Iraq, near a settlement known to coalition forces as Janabi Village.
Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry)’s Task Force Iron Claw noted wires leading out of the trunk of the vehicle at approximately 1 p.m. and called for an explosive ordnance disposal team to investigate further.
The vehicle was destroyed by EOD with a controlled detonation. The ordnance in the trunk could not be identified.
“This vehicle was rigged to detonate for no other reason than to kill the Iraqi security forces or U.S. Soldiers,” said Maj. Web Wright, 2nd BCT spokesman. “Attention to detail by the Soldiers of Task Force Ironclaw saved lives today.”

Men captured while emplacing explosive device

2nd BCT PAO, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq — Two men were arrested while attempting to emplace an improvised explosive device on a major Iraqi highway Feb. 27 near Camp Striker, Iraq.
Soldiers of Troop A, 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) were patrolling Route Tampa, the main highway running in and out of Baghdad, at approximately 10:30 p.m. when they spotted two men crawling in a canal on the south side of the road.
The troops stopped the men and searched them, discovering that they had a U.S.-made night-vision tool. A further search of the area revealed an IED ready to be emplaced.
IEDs are commonly placed on Route Tampa due to its central location south of Baghdad and the heavy traffic, both civilian and military, that it supports.
The IED consisted of six 57mm rounds in a white bag about 200 meters from the road, as well as a video camera, a washing-machine timer, a pressure plate and a blasting cap.
The men were detained for further questioning.

Iraqi, U.S. troops unearth large weapons caches

2nd BCT PAO, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

YUSUFIYAH, Iraq — Military operations southwest of Baghdad snared extensive weapons caches March 1 near Yusufiyah, Iraq, hindering terrorist activity.
Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division conducted search missions into an area known to coalition forces as Janabi Village, uncovering multiple caches and detaining several Iraqis suspected of being involved in or having knowledge of terrorist operations.
The caches included five AK-47s and 19 magazines, 60 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, four bandoliers for ammunition, a flare, an unknown type of machine gun, an Iraqi Army-issued radio, a radio tuned to the Iraqi national police frequency, four false identification cards, three rolls of copper wire, a garage-door remote control, a log book and paperwork documenting terrorist operations, a collapsible baton, two sniper rifles, an 82mm mortar system with 64 rounds and 400,000 Iraqi Dinar – about $312 in U.S. currency.
Also found were two 155mm rounds, 46 105mm rounds, a directional charge, a roll of detonation cord, eight 120mm rounds, three 60mm rounds, an Iraqi soldier’s load-bearing vest, a bag of unidentified powder, a remote timer, altered identification papers, a camera, two lengths of crush wire, two long-range cell phones and command detonation wires.
The Iraqi and U.S. troops also found a Dragonov sniper rifle with telescopic sights, 800 rounds for a PKC machine gun, a pressure-wire improvised explosive device, a rifle with a telescopic sight, two shoulder-fired rocket launchers, a receiver for a Dishka machine gun, a bipod, a bottle of homemade explosive, 20 shotgun shells, two gas masks, two air-delivered bombs, 70 unidentified fuses, a used rocket shell, two Katyusha rockets, 44 60mm mortar rounds, three small artillery charge bags and one large artillery charge bag, two 70mm rockets, two video cassettes, two hand grenades, five electric switches, a Japanese-made grenade, 46 mortar charges, 19 155mm mortar fuses and a destroyed camera.
“The caches found by the 4/6 and the 2-15th Soldiers will definitely have an impact in the Sayyid-Abdullah corridor,” said 2-15th executive officer Maj. Douglas Mayzel.
The two units are working together as part of Operation Commando Viper, said Maj. Web Wright, a spokesman for the 2nd BCT.
“The mission is being conducted to deny the enemy freedom of movement in southern Baghdad,” he said. “We have found multiple caches throughout the area of operations.”

Mosque opens for first time since terrorist attack

By Staff Sgt. Angela McKinzie
2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

YUFUFIYAH, Iraq – To most Iraqis, a mosque is a sacred place, but to terrorists it can be a target for sectarian violence.
Iraqis celebrated the re-opening of a Yusufiyah mosque as Soldiers from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division and the Iraqi Police secured the area for the event Feb. 23.
The mosque had been closed since it was attacked by terrorists last October. Since then, the Iraqis have been working diligently to reopen the mosque.
“This is a good day for the people of Iraq,” said 1st Lt. Ali Kudair, an Iraqi police officer. “There are a lot of mosques opening in the area and it shows that we are progressing as a nation.”
Although the Yusufiyah area is primarily Shia there has been tension with neighboring Sunnis. The opening signifies the unity of the sects.
“Both tribes are welcome to the mosque,” Kudair explained. “This opening shows that we can get along since we are brothers.”
With the history of the violence in the area, the opening of the mosque was conducted under tight security. Soldiers of Company A., 4-31 secured areas around the mosque ensuring the safety of the Iraqi people.
As the mosque opened, Iraqis began to pour in and begin worship. A couple of fist fights broke out, but the scene was otherwise peaceful.
“This is good for the Iraqi people,” said Capt. Chris Sanchez, a 4-31st staff planner and native of Los Angeles. “I hope this (the unity) continues and in time things will get better.”

Golden Dragons discover massive cache southwest of Baghdad

2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

YUSUFIYAH, Iraq — Multi-National Division – Baghdad troops found and seized a massive weapons cache along one of Baghdad’s main highways Feb. 28.
Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment “Golden Dragons,” 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) discovered the cache while conducting a combat patrol along Mulla Fayad Highway, west of Yusufiyah.
The cache consisted of two Sanger missiles with launch tubes, 200 meters of fuse, 1000 12.7mm Dishka rounds, two 122mm rockets, 18 60mm mortar rounds, 80 hand grenades, six rocket stabilizers, 10 120mm mortar tail fins, 100 60mm mortar fuses, five 106mm artillery rounds, one 57mm rocket, one rocket-propelled grenade, one 57mm anti-aircraft round, two RPG-9s, 60 120mm mortars, two unknown mortar rounds, one RPG launcher, one 60mm mortar illumination round, one Dishka heavy machinegun receiver, 20 canisters, 10 cylinders of homemade explosives, 2000 7.62mm rounds, 14 57mm rockets, 40 pounds of homemade explosives and 200 ZPU-1 anti-aircraft rounds.
“The (find) will put a dent in the terrorists’ ability to make improvised explosive devices,” said Maj. Brock Jones, the executive officer with the Golden Dragons and a native of Lakewood, Ohio. “The Soldiers did well today – their familiarity with the area of operations allowed them to locate the cache”
The battalion continues to search the area for more caches. The cache was destroyed during a controlled detonation conducted by an explosive ordnance team.

Food service specialists keep Soldiers mission ready

By Staff Sgt. Angela McKinzie
2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div. (LI) Public Affairs

YUSUFIYAH, Iraq — On every forward operating base, the dining facility is the center of a Soldier’s life. No matter what operational specialty or job they perform, there’s only one place to sit down to a hot meal. Oftentimes overlooked by the troops as they pass through meals times are the people who put the food on the table – or on the serving line, at least.
Food service specialists from the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) work each day to prepare food for their fellow Soldiers at the base camp here, and while their job is not always glorious they enjoy what they are doing for their brothers and sisters in arms.
“Getting to cook for the Soldiers makes me feel like I am contributing,” said Pfc. Tiffany Batiste, a food service specialist with 4-31st and a native of New Orleans. “I think it is great that I get to feed the Soldiers who just come off of missions and who are getting ready to go on missions.”
Food service specialists like Batiste can spend up to 15 hours each day in the kitchen.
“While most Soldiers are asleep, we are busy cooking,” said Pfc. Chris Reeves, a food service specialist from New Smyrna Beach, Fla. “We are awake each morning before dawn preparing breakfast for everyone.”
These food service specialists do more than just cook. Their job is more complex since they do not have “kitchen police” to help them run the DFAC.
“We do it all – take out the trash, order the food, download food and clean all the dishes,” Batiste said as she prepared dinner for the Soldiers.
The food service specialists make sure there are three hot meals every day and send two hot meals to locations near Yusufiyah where there are no DFACs.
“The food service specialists are doing a great job – they are hard working people,” said 1st Lt. Joe Nussbaumer, a platoon leader and native of Dalton, Ga. “The food is delicious.”
Nussbaumer was one of many Soldiers who ate at the DFAC before going on an air assault mission.
After one day of cooking, cleaning and ordering food is over, the food service specialists wake up to do it again, but they know they are doing something good for their fellow Soldiers.
“It makes me feel good to know that I am helping them,” Reeves added.