WEBVTT

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uh The mission , what we called

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Operation Cougar Storm uh was a

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clearance mission into the villages of

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mullah It uh in the key uh which is

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along the Diyala river and the river

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road south

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of Diyala Media centre in the Barrett's

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district here in Diyala province .

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And the mission was designed with the

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Iraqi Army from the 21st Brigade which

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included elements from the third

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battalion of the 21st Brigade , in

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elements from the second Italian , the

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18th Brigade , all from the fifth Iraqi

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Army Division to go through and help

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clear those villages from enemy

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activity . Uh and then to establish

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a presence in those villages so that we

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could increase our security

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control in the area so that we can

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bring the essential services from the

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government Iraq and extend that line

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that the government has further south

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into those villages .

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We had , we had aged 64 patchy

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helicopters that we used

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along with our U . A . V .

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The shadow U A . V . That belongs to

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the regiment as well as a predator U A

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V . Which is an asset that we

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coordinated through the first armored

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Division for support with the Air Force

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provided airplanes , a different

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mixture of which of whatever assets

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that they had available throughout the

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operation in order to to help provide

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close air support if needed . And also

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to help us in surveillance and looking

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for I E . D . S or enemy activity .

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The initial part of the mission . The

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actual clearance of it lasted for two

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days . It took us two days to clear the

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villages and we're now in the hold

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phase of the operation were the I . A .

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Is living in both mullah it and the key ,

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they have built combat outpost there

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that they are expanding and doing

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patrols and operations out of those

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villages .

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Some of it is poverty and some of its

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enemy activity . Uh , Some of the

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buildings that were destroyed were

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destroyed by the enemy in part of their

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intimidation against the populists .

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Well ,

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we were able to get into two towns that

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have previously been affected by the

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enemy . And there's also a road that

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goes east west from what we call route

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line , which is the road that run along

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the river to route Detroit or what

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the Iraqis called the tourist wrote .

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So that allows us another way into the

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river instead of coming all the way up

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from Barrettes . Uh , so we have a

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little bit more freedom of maneuver to

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get in there . That east west running

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road also runs out towards where the

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Iraqi army has their battalion

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headquarters . So that allows freedom

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of manoeuvre for them by gaining a

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little bit more distance away from

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bullets and being able to secure that

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area . We can now expand the

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services from the Vancouver government

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further down to the people and help the

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people out with what they need .

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Uh ,

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I was in the village in the north

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Animal ID and spoke with some of the

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villagers that were there . They're

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very happy to see the Iraqi army come

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in and help liberate them and establish

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some better security . Uh , they do

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have issues with essential services

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waters . One of their concerns that

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they want to be able to have good fresh

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drinking water . They've got the river

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water there and they can pump that .

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But it's not , it's not possible .

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Water being able to get to the market

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was difficult for them . The road up

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towards the saga , which is the next

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village to the north was heavily

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guarded with I . E . Ds . So the

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villages cannot travel the most direct

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route north to bullets . They would

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have to go all the way down to the Kiev

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and then all the way up Detroit to go

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to the market . So this will allow them

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better ease of travel in order to do

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basic shopping and try and get jobs at

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the bullets in baqouba .

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Uh ,

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A U I uh , in that area

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had come in and intimidated the

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villages and it even used the villages

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as part of their uh , logistic notes ,

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uh , by moving in and taking over some

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of the homes and villages that deny the

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people who lived there who just want to

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be happy farmers and raise their cattle .

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You know , the easy freedom of

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manoeuvre to go up shop and do whatever .

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But by having the Iraqi army come in

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and help clear them out . I think we've

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paved the way for the local citizens of

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mullet and the key to a little bit more

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happily .

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Uh

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The palm groves allow uh the

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enemy a good place to conceal munitions .

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It's great camouflage and many places

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to hide things in their uh when they

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build their cash days uh They

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will oftentimes booby trapped them so

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that if other people come and try and

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find them and take them particularly

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Iraqi army and coalition forces uh the

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enemy booby traps and so that they will

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inflict casualties upon the idea . And

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the coalition forces uh to deny us

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getting up their cash checks . Um It's

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very difficult to see as the way they

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booby traps . Some of those they use um

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you know them fishing wire that you

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won't see in daylight . And the limited

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you know sunlight that does make it

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through the palm groves . Uh Plus

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there's just a lot of foil it in there

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that they can hide and bury stuff in .

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Uh that makes it very easy for them and

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difficult for us . So

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we

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on the first day we found

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uh and cleared four I . D . S .

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Uh and had eight detonations .

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Uh fortunately

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we had no U . S .

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Casualties from that along the road .

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Um The idea and local

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future sons of Iraq Volunteers

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did detonate an I . D .

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And one of the palm groves . Uh

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Unfortunately two of those uh local

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volunteers were killed while searching

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the palm grows .

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We

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did find some small caches um

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uh primarily small

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um mortar rounds . Uh a little bit

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of machine gun ammunition and some I .

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D . Making material .

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The mission went extremely well

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being planned and started

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at the Iraqi brigade level , with

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some coaching and mentoring by both the

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team and the second squadron

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staff . We helped them take

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their initial thoughts of the plan and

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help resources . They had a great plan

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of using their two battalions to go in

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and clear the villages and then we just

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helped enable them with about clearance

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teams , military working dogs , E . O .

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D . And the helicopters . But for

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a reasonably new brigade to do this

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large of an operation , they did

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extremely well

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okay .