From the ruin, an Iraqi Army is fabricated - Part III

Day 3: Cleaning house

The Iraqi troops lost men yesterday because they rushed headlong into a hostile room. Today, the instructors would help them rectify that mistake.

I worked alongside two instructors to show the soldiers the safest way to clear buildings. We stacked beside a doorway before aggressively rushing into the room. The troops observed as I darted in first, rifle aiming forward at the ready, before breaking away. The other two instructors followed afterward.

"Right side clear," shouted Mckine.

"Left side clear," echoed Tim.

After a quick scan of the ceiling, I shouted, "Overhead clear. All clear!

"You have to be aggressive and loud when you go in there," Tim instructed the Iraqi troops afterward. "The enemy is already scared because he knows you're coming in, so you want to set him further off balance by intimidating him with your intensity."

Heeding Tim's advice, the Iraqi soldiers then started practicing their own room clearing scenarios. My team members supervised the troops as they tackled a variety of tasks, such as working around obstacles inside rooms and aiming at insurgents hidden in corners.

Over their lunch break, the soldiers discussed the merits of the training. It had been an intense few days, but the Iraqi troops began to acknowledge the value of their newfound combat skills.

"We see the strongest army in the world performing, and we try to perform as they do," stated Capt. Tariq Muhammad, the senior-ranking member of Class 8-05. "This training will help us provide security to our area and our citizens. We are law enforcement men, who serve to protect the local people and safeguard their rights."

The day's training concluded with a class delivered by Cpl. Tim. He taught the troops how to form different offensive and defensive positions as a squad.

I followed with an introductory course to what Marines call the five-paragraph order. In the course, the Iraqi soldiers learned how to plan out patrols and operations exactly the way U.S. troops do: by outlining what the mission objectives are, how they will be carried out, and what communications and logistical assets they may count on during operational execution.

Now, when you patrol with Marines here, you can understand exactly what's going on, I said. You now know what your mission is and how you should prepare for it.

To be continued-

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