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JABOURI PENINSULA, Iraq, April 16, 2006 – Operation Cowpens concluded maneuvers here April 14 after nearly a month of discovering caches and hampering insurgent efforts in the area.
The joint operation included the 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion as well as two units of the Iraqi army's 4th Division: 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade and 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade.
"The people saw that their people were there," said U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Dailey, command sergeant major, 1-8 CAB, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers. "I don't think it could have been done without the Iraqi army's help."
The month-long operation included an air insertion and a ground assault to achieve a foothold on the peninsula. Once the foothold was attained, the joint force had a place to base operations and conduct searches of the peninsula to find insurgent supply havens.
The joint assault force killed seven insurgents, and two soldiers were wounded in action. The two American soldiers who were wounded have since been evacuated to the United States for further care.
Nineteen detainees were taken during Operation Cowpens.
"We've put a stop to a lot of the (improvised explosive device) making," said Sgt. Daniel Reinhardt, a team leader from 1-8 CAB. "The more we're (on the Jabouri Peninsula), the more stuff we bring out, the less the bad guys are here."
Following is a complete tally of all munitions and supplies seized during Operation Cowpens:
- 57 mm recoilless rifle: 1
- 105 mm rounds: 3
- 115 mm rounds: 5
- 120 mm rounds: 6
- 122 mm rounds: 4
- 125 mm rounds: 12
- 130 mm rounds: 4
- 155 mm rounds: 10
- 82 mm mortars: 4
- 14.5 mm ammunition in case: 15
- .50 caliber main gun: 1
- .50 caliber ammunition can: 1
- 57 mm and 68 mm rockets: 32
- 60 mm casings: 6
- 60 mm mortar system: 2
- 7.62 main gun: 1
- 82 mm rounds: 28
- AC adapter: 1
- AK ammunition: 2,225 rounds
- AK magazines: 1-
- AK-47: 18
- AK-47 drums: 1
- Aluminum tube with explosives: 1
- Antennas: 5
- Anti-personnel mines: 7
- Anti-tank hand grenades: 5
- Bandoleers: 3
- Bulk explosives: 51
- Batteries: 7
- Bayonets: 5
- Blasting caps: 146
- Bolt action rifle: 1
- Bottles of accelerant: 1
- Cell phone charger: 1
- Cell phones: 4
- Charging bases: 4
- Feet of copper wire: 500
- Feet of detonation cord: 4,580
- Electrical switches: 5
- Pounds of accelerant: 100
- Fragmentation vests: 2
- Gas masks: 5
- German main gun: 1
- Glue guns: 3
- Grenade launchers: 2
- Hand grenades: 23
- Iraqi army uniforms: 5
- Improvised explosive device making materials: 1
- IED paperwork: 1
- Improvised devices: 5
- Improvised mortar tube with aiming sights: 1
- Improvised rocket launcher: 4
- Long-range radios: 2
- Machine gun: 1
- Mortar fuses: 18
- Mortar rounds: 12
- Mortar sights: 3
- Rigged Motorola radios: 10
- Motorola rechargeable batteries: 25
- Other rockets: 4
- PKC rifle: 2
- PKC ammunition: 1
- Pounds of TNT: 35
- Rolls of tape: 3
- Rocket-propelled grenade fragmentation rounds: 5
- RPG launchers: 31
- RPG rounds: 52
- RPG sights: 1
- RPG triggers: 2
- SA-8 rocket: 1
- SA-14 rocket: 5
- SA-14 training round: 1
- SA-14 tracker head: 3
- Scope: 1
- Cordless phone base: 3
- Soldering guns: 2
- Soviet .50 caliber main gun: 1
- Soviet anti-aircraft artillery main gun: 1
- Spare main gun barrel: 1
- Switches: 3
- Talk-about radios: 19
- Unknown fuse: 1
While ridding this region of such a large amount of materials has helped secure the area for soldiers and Iraqi citizens to live and travel, Dailey noted, it's not the only benefit the peninsula has experienced.
"I think we've made great strides," Dailey said. "We're starting to do a lot of programs up there, building some things for them to better the area, doing some medical assessments in the area for them. I think the Jabouris are really going come around and be a part of the community and start to play a great role for the political scene of the Balad area."
(From a Multinational Force Iraq news release.)
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