The Iraqi army and U.S. soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, collected a weapons and explosives cache on Feb. 7 in Ninawa province.
The combined forces acted on a tip that led them to a house in the Al Zuhuer neighborhood of Mosul. When they discovered the extent of the cache, however, they called an explosive ordnance disposal company.
Members of the 38th EOD, attached to the 2nd Brigade Heavy Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Stewart, responded, and discovered more weapons and bomb-making materials in the house and behind false walls.
The following items were discovered in the cache: 26 AK-47 assault rifles, four Russian RPK/RPD 7.62mm squad automatic weapons, four long rifles of unknown origin, one bolt-action rifle of unknown origin, one sterling 9mm machine gun, one .22 cal. hand gun, 700 60mm mortar rounds, 125 82mm rounds, 100 mortar primers, 35 rocket-propelled grenade motors, three rocket launchers, seven RPG launchers, 40 grenades of unknown model and 50 Russian RGE-5 grenades.
The troops also confiscated several thousand Iraqi dinar, an Iraqi gas mask and American military products, including a pair of night vision goggles, several optical weapon sights, five military-issue bulletproof ballistic armor plates and four body armor vests.
The cache also contained infrared sensors, wiring and IED electronic components, nine Iraqi license plates, more than 10,000 rounds of 7.62mm machine gun ammunition, several thousand feet of detonation cord, several thousand feet of explosive time fuse, seven boxes of projectile fuses, 30 pounds of rocket propellant and 10 boxes of 14.5mm ammunition.
“I was amazed at how much work they had actually taken to plaster the walls up to make them look like the rest of the room. That’s a lot of work to hide something,” said 1st Sgt. Jerimiah Raemhild from 38th EOD. “It definitely was a longterm storage site for the weapons.”
It took about six hours for the Iraqi army and soldiers to move the ordnance and weapons to waiting trucks, said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barker, 38th EOD.
“We pulled out hundreds of pieces of ordnance, mortar tubes, AK-47s, projectiles, and improvised explosive device materials,” he said.
The Iraqi army collected the equipment they could use. The rest, including all the electronic components and cell phones, was tagged, recorded and sent away for analysis. Specialists will look them over to answer questions, like where the weapons came from, or what current techniques bomb-makers are using.
“We’re trying to get Mosul back to a state of normalcy,” said Sgt. Jeremy Robinette, 38th EOD. “Taking the weapons from this cache off the streets will create a better environment where Iraqi kids can grow up.”
During Robinette’s first deployment to Iraq, his team leader lost part of his arm and leg to an IED. Finding the cache was a big payoff, and he said it was a reward for all of the hard work his EOD Company is doing.
Robinette said the unit is making a difference.
“We saved lives that night,” he said. “We took assets away that could have been used in complex attacks or indirect fire, with minimal risk and loss. We’ve made Mosul a safer place.”
The combined forces acted on a tip that led them to a house in the Al Zuhuer neighborhood of Mosul. When they discovered the extent of the cache, however, they called an explosive ordnance disposal company.
Members of the 38th EOD, attached to the 2nd Brigade Heavy Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, out of Fort Stewart, responded, and discovered more weapons and bomb-making materials in the house and behind false walls.
The following items were discovered in the cache: 26 AK-47 assault rifles, four Russian RPK/RPD 7.62mm squad automatic weapons, four long rifles of unknown origin, one bolt-action rifle of unknown origin, one sterling 9mm machine gun, one .22 cal. hand gun, 700 60mm mortar rounds, 125 82mm rounds, 100 mortar primers, 35 rocket-propelled grenade motors, three rocket launchers, seven RPG launchers, 40 grenades of unknown model and 50 Russian RGE-5 grenades.
The troops also confiscated several thousand Iraqi dinar, an Iraqi gas mask and American military products, including a pair of night vision goggles, several optical weapon sights, five military-issue bulletproof ballistic armor plates and four body armor vests.
The cache also contained infrared sensors, wiring and IED electronic components, nine Iraqi license plates, more than 10,000 rounds of 7.62mm machine gun ammunition, several thousand feet of detonation cord, several thousand feet of explosive time fuse, seven boxes of projectile fuses, 30 pounds of rocket propellant and 10 boxes of 14.5mm ammunition.
“I was amazed at how much work they had actually taken to plaster the walls up to make them look like the rest of the room. That’s a lot of work to hide something,” said 1st Sgt. Jerimiah Raemhild from 38th EOD. “It definitely was a longterm storage site for the weapons.”
It took about six hours for the Iraqi army and soldiers to move the ordnance and weapons to waiting trucks, said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Barker, 38th EOD.
“We pulled out hundreds of pieces of ordnance, mortar tubes, AK-47s, projectiles, and improvised explosive device materials,” he said.
The Iraqi army collected the equipment they could use. The rest, including all the electronic components and cell phones, was tagged, recorded and sent away for analysis. Specialists will look them over to answer questions, like where the weapons came from, or what current techniques bomb-makers are using.
“We’re trying to get Mosul back to a state of normalcy,” said Sgt. Jeremy Robinette, 38th EOD. “Taking the weapons from this cache off the streets will create a better environment where Iraqi kids can grow up.”
During Robinette’s first deployment to Iraq, his team leader lost part of his arm and leg to an IED. Finding the cache was a big payoff, and he said it was a reward for all of the hard work his EOD Company is doing.
Robinette said the unit is making a difference.
“We saved lives that night,” he said. “We took assets away that could have been used in complex attacks or indirect fire, with minimal risk and loss. We’ve made Mosul a safer place.”