IRAQI FORCES STEP FORWARD
Coalition forces are continuing to turn over security to Iraqi troops. On May 2, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), turned over responsibility for much of Kirkuk’s battle space to the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division. The American and Iraqi units will, however, continue to train together and the U.S. unit will still support the Iraqis as they take control of the area.

On April 15, Iraqi soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, assumed control of part of Iraq’s Salah al Din Province from the Army’s 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion. The area encompasses Balad, Duluyah and Yethrib, as well as the smaller villages surrounding these cities.

Iraqi troops are also performing well in the field. On April 27, Iraqi security forces quickly responded to a series of attacks in Baqubah in eastern Diyala province, after several locations came under mortar and small-arms attack. The security forces killed 21 insurgents and captured 43. Seven Iraqi soldiers were killed and 10 were wounded. Two civilians were also killed and four were wounded during the fighting.

American and coalition forces continue to fight the insurgency, make arrests and help civilians. On April 27, American forces rescued a kidnapped Iraqi civilian in Samarra. Soldiers on patrol from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, stopped the kidnappers’ vehicles after witnessing an exchange of weapons between two cars. The vehicles took off, but the soldiers radioed a different patrol which stopped the cars and released the bound and gagged kidnap victim.

On April 25, coalition forces killed 12 terrorists during a raid on a safe house in Yusifiyah. After taking direct fire from the house, they returned small-arms fire and called in fire from helicopters.

On April 16, coalition forces in Iraq killed seven terrorists, five in another safe-house raid in Yusifiya and two who were planting a roadside bomb in Kirkuk province. In the Yusifiyah hideout, the troops assaulted the building after being fired on. During the assault, five terrorists, three of them wearing suicide vests, were killed; five others, one of whom was wounded, were detained. Two of the suicide bombers were killed before either could detonate his vest, and the third did detonate his vest, killing only himself and injuring no one else. No coalition members were killed in the raid.

On March 27, coalition and Iraqi forces killed a wanted extremist, Rafid Ibrahim Fattah, also known as Abu Umar al-Kurdi, during an early morning raid March 27 near Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib district. Fattah had ties to Taliban members in Afghanistan, Pakistan-based extremists and al Qaeda senior leaders, including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. He also had ties to an Iraqi resistance group.


MOUNTAIN LION IN AFGHANISTAN
On April 11, coalition forces and the Afghan National Army (ANA) launched “Operation Mountain Lion” to establish security, deter the reemergence of terrorism and enhance Afghanistan’s sovereignty. Coalition forces killed six insurgents while conducting offensive operations in the Marawara district. Operations began with predawn air-and-ground assaults in the Pech River Valley, an area notorious for terrorist activity. Soldiers from 3rd Brigade of the Afghan National Army’s 203rd Corps fought alongside servicemembers from the coalition’s Task Force Spartan, made up of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and marines of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment from Task Force Lava. More than 2,500 Afghan National Army and coalition personnel were involved.

In other operations, on April 18 Afghan and coalition forces detained eight insurgents in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and thwarted two terrorist attacks the day before in Kunar province. The eight insurgents were detained during a combat operation in the Maywand district of Kandahar province. The joint operatives raided a compound in Dukah village, detaining suspected narcotics traffickers and confiscating weapons. A U.S. attack helicopter provided close-air support during the mission. On April 17 coalition forces in Kunar province killed five enemy fighters west of Asadabad.

On April 6, Afghan and coalition forces killed a senior Taliban commander and destroyed a Taliban district headquarters in southern Afghanistan. Joint coalition forces killed the senior Taliban commander in the Musa Qaleh District in northern Helmand Province. He was tied directly to dozens of improvised explosive device attacks since 2001 and was responsible for the deaths of many Afghan and coalition soldiers.

To improve the fighting skills of the ANA in joint combat operations, Afghan and coalition forces participated in platoon-level training missions in Jalalabad on April 5. About 20 soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, joined 30 soldiers from the Afghan National Army for the joint training session to reinforce squad-level tactical skills and prac-tice coordination among the coalition forces.

Capt. Clayton L. Adamkavicius, 43, died from injuries sustained after he came under enemy small-arms fire during combat in Abu Ghurayb on April 21. He was assigned to the Kentucky Army National Guard’s 35th Infantry Division.


NG AIDS IN STORM RELIEF
Servicemembers of the Iowa Army National Guard helped local police maintain security after a wave of storms blew through the eastern part of Iowa and a tornado hit in the heart of Iowa City on April 14.

Members of the 109th Area Support Medical Battalion and 67th Troop Command, both based in Iowa City, responded after Gov. Tom Vilsack declared a state of emergency.
The troops provided security, helped control traffic, kept people away from dangerous areas and helped assess damage.

They also provided 145 cots and 275 blankets for displaced residents. More than 100 buildings were damaged in the storms.


JOINT INTELLIGENCE BATTALION
The Army’s first joint interrogation and debriefing battalion has been established at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

The 201st Military Intelligence Battalion will conduct detainee screening and interrogation missions in support of military operations throughout the world, such as Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. It is the first of four joint interrogation battalions—two active and two reserve—to be activated in the next several years.

The 201st Military Intelligence Battalion is made up of 147 active duty soldiers, all specializing in interrogation and intelligence. The battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. John Strycula, previously served as chief of intelligence operations for U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army in Heidelberg, Germany.


DARPA GRAND CHALLENGE
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will be holding its third Grand Challenge competition on November 3, 2007. The Urban Grand Challenge will pit different teams using robot ground vehicles driving through a mock urban area to win $2 million. The vehicles will have to operate safely through traffic to win.

There are two ways teams can qualify and compete. One is for teams to submit a detailed proposal for up to $1 million of technology development funds. The other is to submit an application and participate in a series of qualification activities. Participants from both tracks will come together at the National Qualification Event (NQE) and progress on to the final urban challenge event—safely completing a 60-mile urban area course in less than six hours, obeying traffic laws while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles.

The top three prizes are $2 million for first place, $500,000 for second and $250,000 for third. Each team that participates as a semi-finalist in the NQE will be awarded $50,000. Each team that is successful at NQE will be qualified to compete in the urban challenge final event.

For further information, check out the DARPA Grand Challenge web site at www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge.

JTRS STRATEGY REVISED
The Joint Program Executive Officer (JPEO) for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) has unveiled a program designed to realistically deliver JTRS communications capabilities to the warfighter at lower cost, on schedule and within acceptable performance risk.

Since its establishment in February 2005, the JPEO has been conducting a series of program assessments and performance trade-offs designed to synchronize program requirements, budgetary support and approval authorities.

According to Dennis Bauman, JPEO JTRS, “JTRS is going to bring full mobile ad hoc networking capability to that first tactical mile. If you like what you’re seeing in SINCGARS, EPLRS and Link-16, you’re going to really like the Internet protocol networking capabilities in JTRS. It will be like the difference between your dial-up computer and full broadband.”

JTRS was formerly organized as five service-centric radio clusters supported by a joint program office (JPO). The clusters had focused on producing hardware while the JPO focused on the software waveforms that would be applied to the radios.

The former clusters are replaced by domains under the new structuring. The new JTRS program structure is also proceeding in an Increment 1 format that meets the modified needs of a revised requirement.

“The warfighter can now be assured that we’re going to deliver the product in a timely manner,” Bauman emphasized.


ONLINE STRESS ASSISTANCE
Military members and families coping with the stress of overseas deployments and other potential health-threatening issues can log onto the Mental Health Self-Assessment Program to get help.

People who are logged onto the site are asked to answer a series of questions. The program “grades” the completed survey and gives people an evaluation of their present mental health, and provides assistance with resources if deemed necessary.

Reserve component members returning from overseas deployments also are authorized to use the web site and have two years of health benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Mental Health Self-Assessment Program can be found at www.militarymentalhealth.org/welcome.asp. There is no charge for accessing the site.


PODCASTING THE PENTAGON
The Pentagon Channel has added video podcasting as a means of distributing military news and information to servicemembers.

The channel’s video podcasting include a daily military news and information show; programming showing an in-depth look at real-world military operations, missions and events; and a weekly round-up of news and information important to servicemembers stationed around the world.

Video podcasting is a method of publishing video broadcasts via the Internet. There is no cost to subscribe, and broadcasts are delivered straight to the subscriber’s computer desktop. Files can be viewed either on a PC or on a mobile video device, such as a video-enabled iPod.

For more information on video podcasting, as well as to view the Pentagon Channel streamed live, visit www.pentagonchannel.mil.