New climate in Iraq, says 81st Brigade commander

[David]

The Tacoma News Tribune


The 81st Brigade Combat Team arrived for its first deployment in Iraq in early 2004 at a crucial time: Much of the country was wrecked after the U.S. invasion, and the insurgency was gaining strength.
The brigade of 2,400 Washington National Guardsmen returned to Iraq for its second combat tour last month, and its commander said he sees a big improvement compared with last time.

“There is no comparison between Iraq in 2004 and what it is today,” Col. Ronald Kapral told The News Tribune during a phone interview Wednesday from his office at Camp Ramadi, in Anbar province west of Baghdad.

“I’ve been outside the base numerous times,” said Kapral, who lives in Graham when back home in Pierce County. “I’ve seen a definite improvement in Iraqi police. I’ve dealt with an Iraqi general about security and about integration of the Iraqi army.”

The 3,500-person brigade – which includes some soldiers from California but mostly Washington – is spread across eight locations in Iraq.

Its primary task is providing security for long-range supply convoys that crisscross the desert highways of Iraq.

The citizen-soldiers are driving Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs. The vehicles are the military’s answer to roadside bombs that have plagued convoys in years; they’re armored and have a V-shaped hull that helps deflect explosions away from the vehicle.

Other members of the 81st are running day-to-day operations, such as securing and making improvements to American bases.

The headquarters company of the 81st had a similar task in 2004-05, when it was stationed at Logistical Support Area Anaconda near Balad. At the time, Kapral was a lieutenant colonel and commanded the 1st Battalion, 303rd Armor Regiment.

On Wednesday, he said one of the biggest differences this time is the professional level at which Iraqi forces are operating.

“They’re in control,” he said. “They’re taking responsibility for security. They’re taking responsibility for actively going after terrorists.”

The Iraqis will have to take on even more responsibility when the United Nations mandate authorizing American troops in Iraq expires Dec. 31. Baghdad and Washington have been working on drafts of a status-of-forces agreement. The latest version puts Iraq in a much stronger leadership position.

“We believe the status-of-forces agreement will be passed, and we’ve started planning how we are going to integrate our operations with the new agreement,” Kapral said. “But if the agreement doesn’t pass, it’ll likely be business as usual until we receive orders from our higher headquarters.”

Violence is still a danger in Iraq, Kapral said, but it’s nothing like what gripped the country in 2007 before a variety of factors dramatically reduced the bloodshed this year. Ninety-two soldiers from Fort Lewis were killed in 2007, compared with 12 so far this year.

The 81st Brigade lost nine soldiers during its tour four years ago.

“My boss equates some of the things going on here to an urban setting,” Kapral said. “You see some of the things you see in a city – the crime, the accidents that happen every day in the United States. But it makes the news because they come from (roadside bombs).”

It took plenty of training to get the soldiers ready to serve in Iraq. After nearly a month at the Yakima Training Center – followed by farewell ceremonies across the state in August – the brigade spent two months at Fort McCoy, Wis. Soldiers went through additional medical and dental checkups, filled out paperwork and participated in training missions corresponding to their assignments in Iraq.

Many lived and worked on mock forward operating bases on the Wisconsin post’s sprawling grounds.

“When we started in Yakima, it was a bunch of individuals starting to form teams,” Kapral said. “We left Yakima with the basic structure of a squad. When we left McCoy, we were operating as a unit.”

The brigade then spent about two weeks in mid-October receiving more specialized training at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. The unit the 81st Brigade replaced in Iraq flew 125 soldiers to Kuwait to advise the National Guardsmen about working at the bases across Iraq. The Guardsmen began flying into the war zone in late October and are expected to come home in August.

Kapral said they were eager to get to work after months of training.

“Training is great, but conducting a mission is what all soldiers wait for,” he said. “You can’t practice all the time without going into the game and playing. They were tired of training, they wanted to get over here, they wanted to conduct their missions, and now they want to do their jobs and come back home.”