First Lt. Jared Carter trades phone numbers with Iraqi National Police Capt. Tarik Kiri on Monday before a patrol in Baghdad’s Rusafa district to catch a man suspected of stealing cars. The Iraqi National Police planned the raid and only told Carter and other soldiers about it when the Americans stopped by. Such independence may have been accelerated by the Americans' decision to leave many outlying bases. (James Warden / Stars and Stripes)
BAGHDAD — Life used to be worse for the soldiers of Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment. They spent six out of every nine days at a joint security station in Baghdad’s Rusafa district, where 54 soldiers slept on dirty mattresses in a single room with one insufficient air conditioner.
The men had hot food only when a patrol could swing by one of the larger bases, and they had an eight- to 12-hour shift of guard duty on top of their two patrols a day.
"120- to 130-degree days, you did not want to sit in the hot sun 12 hours a day," said Sgt. 1st Class Allen Medley, a Troop C platoon sergeant.
The rough living was necessary as American units throughout Iraq pushed their men out to hundreds of small sites in Iraqi communities, a reversal after years of patrolling from massive, isolated forward operating bases.
Troop C soldiers and most of their squadron comrades now spend six of every nine days on relatively plush FOBs.
The remaining three days they’re on a combat outpost, where they only have to pull guard duty.
The U.S. drawdown and increasing strength of the Iraqi security forces have prompted the squadron to pull many of its men back and trim the number of outlying bases. The experience is a pattern that units across Iraq are likely to follow if leaders continue to cut troop levels and hand over security responsibilities to the Iraqis.
And negotiations between Iraqi and American officials could see most U.S. troops out of urban areas by next summer.
The 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry began its tour with two joint security stations and a combat outpost, said Col. Craig Collier, the squadron commander. The number of stations peaked at four after a neighboring unit — one of the first "surge" brigades — returned home.
At that point, some of the squadron’s soldiers saw their areas double, while Rusafa as a whole had less than half the troop strength it once had. The increase forced the squadron into what Collier describes as an "overwatch" position — placing more security responsibilities onto Iraqi forces because the American unit didn’t have the manpower on its own.
The growth didn’t stop there. The squadron added even more land and people when another unit moved elsewhere, bringing the total population under its control to about 850,000 people. This new area included a district JSS that had to remain open.
The writing was on the wall.
The squadron handed over some of the existing stations to the Iraqis, bringing its total back down to two stations, although they’re now spread over a much larger area. On one of these facilities, the Americans are there only to secure the site.
"We couldn’t possibly run them all, so we’re keeping the ones that give us the best bang for the buck," Collier said.
The manpower shortages forced leaders to put more responsibility on the Iraqis faster than they might otherwise have. Collier said the Iraqi army and National Police units probably wouldn’t be as far along if they hadn’t had so much responsibility.
"We had to partner," Collier said. "There was no other way — and that was good."
The extent of the Iraqis’ progress was evident when a Troop C platoon showed up at the 3rd Battalion, 8th Brigade, 2nd National Police Division headquarters Monday to see if they wanted to do a joint patrol. In many places, the Americans would have had to cajole idle Iraqis into venturing into the community.
In this case, though, Lt. Col. Salah Na’eem Ghadad, the battalion executive officer, politely declined a joint patrol because he’d already scheduled three raids to catch kidnappers and car thieves. The Americans weren’t needed, he said, but they were welcome to could come along.
Such independence would not have been possible just a year ago, Ghadad later said.
"As the security situation in the street improves, we just need the coalition forces to support us and provide oversight for us. That’s it," he explained.
That’s something Rusafa residents are happy to see. Sarmad Khalid, a Ministry of Interior employee, has noticed the increasing presence of the National Police and the Iraqi army around his neighborhood. He said he sees them much more than the American soldiers.
Asked whom he’d rather have in the community, Khalid’s answer was clear: "The Iraqis, of course, because we can understand them and they can understand us."
Troop C soldiers are happy to see the Iraqis take on ever more responsibility.
"The new schedule is very lax," said Spc. Ismael Perez. "I like it."
