#miltwitter Because of my OIF experience, I now associate Muqtada al Sadr with Easter. Bear with me. I was a Company Commander at FOB Chosin in Iskandariyah during the rise of the Mahdi Army across large swaths of southern and central Iraq during April, 2004. 1/

FOB Chosin was constructed at the Musayib Power Plant—at this time, the biggest threat we faced were IEDs across the AO—and the rockets/mortars emanating from Jurf al Sakhr (below), which the nascent insurgency used to operate with impunity as it would take 45 minutes.... 2/

for a patrol to move through Musayib (below), cross the Euphrates, and arrive at the point of origin. We were also hampered in that we had a company detached to 1-505 PIR in Fallujah, and therefore did not have the combat power to allocate to Jurf. It was an economy of force. 3/

As a result, we conducted a lot of counter-mortar patrols on both sides of the Euphrates. To add to the complexity, the week of Easter 2004, saw every patrol that left the FOB come into sustained direct fire contact with JAM. 4/

Easter night 2004, my 1SG and I went on a patrol with 2nd Platoon. The PL was now LTC Mike Farmer and MSG (Ret) Ken Leslie. Leslie (left) and 1SG Saupp (right) remain to this day two of the finest NCOs I have ever known. 5/

They were incredibly competent, quiet, direct. Both were like EF Hutton, if you remember the ad. We established an overwatch position along the Euphrates, had BN Mortars in place, and waited. After a couple of hours, the BN FSO began directing unplanned Mortar Illum. 6/

These fires silouhetted our position, making it untenable. I tried to "coach" the FSO on the BN CMD Net on how Fires support Maneuver—we planned to depart, when our sister company led by LTC (Ret) John Walton reported contact along ROUTE JUNE (HWY 9) at CP3. 7/

John was leading a Company (-) back from Latifiyah and made contact at the Teapot in Iskandariyah, a roundabout. Right after slowing down and coming out of the chokepoint, there were numerous homes and apartments from the large Saddam-era Hateen complex to the west. 8/

2nd Platoon began to move to CP2, the intersection of the FOB access road and HWY 9 (ROUTE JUNE), while I asked the BTL CPT to displace from our ineffective counter-mortar position, to support John's Company as they passed. We were 1/2 way there when we gained approval. 9/

Arriving at CP2, the PL immediately had a squad traverse over the embankment of the railroad tracks that paralleled the MSR as it was dead space. SFC (Ret) Lightner soon reported finding an IED—he found a battery, connected to wire running over the tracks. 10/

Later EOD would find 4 x 155mm rounds already emplaced. This pic is of Lightner earlier in the deployment—the boys called this his Stryker. Soon after Lightner's report, and with our sister company still in contact 2kms down the route....11/

a rocket was shot at our patrol from across the tracks and 2km+ of farm field—terrain that we could not traverse via vehicle, or traverse fast enough on foot. Our C-M patrol had an ITAS and the JTAC at the BN TOC got CAS on station. 12/

The TOW Gunner reported seeing several individuals run into a building after the rocket was fired and I cleared him to engage the building with a TOW. His first shot missed the building, hitting a large berm to the west... 13/

But it had effect as an individual providing overwatch along the berm literally went flipping head over heels upon TOW impact. The next TOW shot hit the building and also marked the OBJ for CAS, which dropped several GBUs, destroying the building. 14/

The effects achieved from the GBUs pretty much ended our contact, as well as the contact our sister company was in. We remained in overwatch until John's company passed. Morale was high—after never having the initiative, the boys felt like they won a fight. 15/

So, that is my long-winded story of why I always think of Sadr at Easter. Of course, things have changed. I would go back to Iraq twice more, last leaving in May 2019. While enroute from Amman to Baghdad this last time, the Embassy-Air flight began to descend. 16/

I looked out the window in an attempt to identify where we were. As we crossed the Euphrates, I knew. Despite last leaving Iskandariyah 14 years prior, some things you just don't forget. I saw the Hateen apartments (below), then I saw the teapot, and the canal to its north... 17/

that my HMWWV rolled over into earlier that year. I saw the connector between Iskandariyah and Haswa where 2LT Rich Torres (left) and PFC Kerry Scott were killed on 06 OCT 2003. MSG (Ret) Buddy Lerch (right, 1st pic) would earn the BSM-V. We lost 5 Battle Company Soldiers. 18/

We also lost Salah, one of our linguists (he was killed with Rich and Kerry). His claim to fame was that while serving in the Iraqi AF, he was shot down by Americans on the first night of both ODS and OIF. We also lost Colonel Raheem, the Iskandariyah Police Chief. 19/

He was a good man and I enjoyed his friendship. Every meeting with him was like talking with my uncle. He always offered me Kufa Cola. I met his son who is probably a decade younger than me. I often wonder how his life turned out. 20/

And Muqtada is still there, leading the Sairoon Coalition and its 54 seats in the COR. END/

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