The War in Iraq

04:16 PM EDT on Friday, October 17, 2003

BY MICHAEL CORKERY
Journal Staff Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Specialist Daniel Lantagne checked his weapons one more time. He lit a candle and some incense and reclined in a folding chair in the corner of his tent.

Lantagne, of Riverside, wore a brown T-shirt, with his blood type written across the front in large black letters. Around his neck hung a St. Christopher medal. "I'm not really that religious, but I started getting religious out here."

There was an hour to go before Lantagne's military police platoon from the Rhode Island National Guard would drive west of Baghdad International Airport into the so-called Sunni Triangle, a volatile area stretching from Baghdad to Fallujah.

Specialist Brian Savoie's eyes widened when he talked about the upcoming mission. His family has fought in every war since World War I. A plasterer from Attleboro, Savoie wants to be an Army Ranger. He uses an antiaircraft shell for an ashtray. "I'm not thinking about home," he said. "That's the last thing I'm thinking about."

Journal photo / John Freidah Spc. Daniel Lantagne, of East Providence, foreground, is the point man on a nighttime patrol for Iraqi insurgents. The photograph was taken by placing a military night-vision device in front of the camera lens, with the ingenuity of Sgt. John Caetano, of Seekonk, Mass.

It was a new type of mission for the 4th Platoon. These MPs have almost always patrolled in their Humvees, but on this night they would be doing what the infantry does: They would walk nearly five miles through fields and past villages, looking for the enemy.

As the troops readied around him, Martin said a prayer.

THE 4TH PLATOON spent that morning running through drills at the airport. Under a hot sun, weighed down by 40 to 50 pounds of gear, the MPs practiced walking in the shape of an arrow and fanning out in a circle to provide cover.

Lt. Greg Rezendes, 30, of Warwick, and Sgt. 1st Class Shaun Mulholland, of Allenstown, N.H., led the platoon.

Some guardsmen discussed quietly with each other that this was work for the infantry, not for MPs.

But Martin, 35, watching the drills nearby, said that part of the MPs' mission is to provide "area security." And in this area -- a Sunni neighborhood near the Abu Gaibi prison -- the only way to secure the fields around the villages is to walk through them.

One goal of this patrol is to disrupt the insurgents who are planting roadside explosives that have killed dozens of Americans, including two Rhode Island guardsmen.

The sight of 23 soldiers walking along the road with machine guns will show an American presence in the area, Martin said. The MPs want to meet local people, develop contacts and deter the insurgency -- just like a beat cop walking the street.

Most MPs were trained in dismounted infantry techniques in basic training and again at Fort Drum, N.Y., before they left for Iraq.

At Fort Drum, they also trained in urban search and entry techniques, something they haven't done much of in Rhode Island because they lack an appropriate training facility, Martin said.

The platoon went over the drills again at the camp.

The 23 soldiers on foot would be supported from Humvees with mounted machine guns traveling behind them.

Bradley fighting vehicles and tanks from the 1st Armored Division control the area. The guardsmen asked how to protect against friendly fire. The platoon would have radio communication with the 1st Armored units, Rezendes, the platoon lieutenant, said.

"No one is being left behind tonight," said Rezendes. He and his wife are expecting their first child in December.

"Any other questions?" Rezendes said.

"Can I go home?" a guardsman joked. The platoon laughed.

THE PLATOON loaded up at 8:30 p.m. The squads got into 2 1/2-ton trucks -- the "deuce and a half" truck the Army has used for decades.

One by one, the soldiers helped each other onto the two green flatbed trucks.

Savoie carried a radio, ammunition and extra water -- a load that nearly doubled his 125-pound weight. Sgt. James Resendes, of Johnston, braced himself to pull Savoie on board.

Once loaded, they sit on wooden benches under a starry sky. Their cigarettes glowed red in the darkness.

Lt. Col. James E. Keighley, the battalion commander, accompanied the platoon. Keighley, 49, goes on all dismounted missions. He needs to be there if his soldiers take fire from a mosque.

He's the only one who can assess whether there's evidence to fire back on these sensitive sites.

A Fall River Police officer, Keighley carried three guns, an M16, a 9mm handgun, and a British machine gun with a silencer, known as the whisperer. He glanced into the sky. The moon had ducked behind black clouds.

"The moon is doing us a favor," he said. A moonless night would better conceal his troops.

Martin climbed into his Humvee with his driver, Brian Levesque, a West Warwick native; Sgt. Ken Diggle, of Warwick, manned the gun in the turret.

The Humvee had a cooler filled with soda and water, a computer that pinpointed the platoon's exact location on a map and sandbags on the floors for protection from a blast.

None of the Rhode Island MPs' Humvees are "up-armored," with reinforced doors, windshields and floor boards. The Pentagon has promised the 118th Military Police Battalion 43 of these new vehicles. The MPs are still waiting for them to arrive.

THE CONVOY of Humvees and two flatbed trucks, carrying the 4th Platoon, rolled out of the airport gate and onto the highway leading west.

Martin ordered every vehicle to shut off its headlights. Using night vision goggles, the platoon navigated through the darkness.

A scattering of headlights flashed in the distance. The MPs passed other military vehicles without lights.

The night-vision capability gives the soldiers a distinct advantage at night. They can see in the dark, while most Iraqis cannot.

After about 20 minutes, the MPs pulled off the highway, just before an overpass. One by one, the squads climbed down from the trucks.

Lantagne, the "point man," leading the group, jumped over the guardrail and crouched in the dirt. The other squad members took positions in the dirt next to him.

With the whole squad assembled, the guardsmen walked single-file along a dirt path. Keighley trailed behind them.

Bats, the size of pigeons, darted above a palm tree grove. Dogs barked wildly in the distance.

Through night-vision goggles, the glow sticks affixed to their helmets were visible bouncing along the trail. Without the goggles, the guardsmen were all but invisible; their special glow sticks are not visible without the goggles.

Martin walked up to the overpass, his command center. He set up a perimeter of Humvees around him and monitored the radio, as the platoon advanced.

This area has been a hot spot in the past. Martin says insurgents from Fallujah, a Sunni city to the west, will use this highway to attack convoys and then retreat home. Guardsmen from the Warwick-based 119th got into a firefight with some insurgents at this overpass. Martin said they hit three of the four attackers. A guardsman found a blood trail, but no bodies, he says.

Martin monitored the radio and scanned the highway.

Shortly after 11 p.m., a car crossed the overpass. It was past the curfew imposed on all vehicular traffic.

The car approached Martin's Humvee, its interior illuminated and hazard lights flashing.

Martin knelt next to the front tire, clutching his M16, his finger on the safety.

An Iraqi man drove the car, with two women in the backseat and a woman in front.

Martin approached the driver's window. Levesque came up behind, with his M16 pointed at the driver.

"You know you are out past the curfew," Martin said.

The man did not understand much English. He pointed at the woman next to him. "You are not supposed to be driving at this hour, there's a curfew," Martin repeated. "Be careful."

Martin waved the driver on, telling him to move in Arabic. He said that many drivers ignore the curfew. Martin cannot stop them here because he did not set up a checkpoint or block the road.

The squads radioed from the field. They've reached the first marker, dubbed Warwick; from there they will walk to points Johnston, Smithfield and finally, Providence -- more than two miles.

The moon appeared in the sky. The landscape glowed a dull white.

Another car approached. Martin and his Humvee team took up positions. It was a pair of Volvo station wagons, traveling quickly. They did not stop.

THE SQUADS were making good time and encountering a few people, but no resistance.

They came across a house party. They saw a man sleeping on a roof. Another man told Atheel Andrews, one of the 119th's two interpreters, that he saw a suspicious car.

At 11:30 p.m., the squads reached Providence and walked past a village crowded with houses.

Nothing.

Then shots crackled in the distance. The soldiers in the squads reported later that they heard three shots. They all stayed low in the dirt, but did not return fire.

Rezendes, the platoon leader, figured it was a resident warning the strangers not to come near his home. "Everyone has a gun here," he said. Night time robberies are common in Iraq. Every Iraqi is allowed to keep one AK-47, a Russian-built assault rifle.

The squads returned quietly up the hill, their shirts drenched with sweat. They climbed back into the trucks and headed back to the airport.

They found no one setting improvised explosive devices. They made no arrests.

Martin said the mission was successful nonetheless. "We showed our presence," he says. Earlier in the day, Martin said showing this presence will not only deter the insurgents, but help gain the Iraqis' trust. Earlier in the day, he said this was a key part of establishing a functioning democracy -- neighborhood by neighborhood.

The platoon pulled into the camp at about 2 a.m., more than five hours after they left. Sgt. 1st Class John Cianci had pepperoni pizzas and cold sodas waiting for them.

Cianci, of North Providence, runs the company's convenience store, which he calls Cumberland Farms, Baghdad. His wife sent him the pizza dough. On the satellite TVs, the Red Sox and Yankees were tied Wednesday.

All of the 4th Platoon made it back in time to see Boston advance to Game 7 of the American League Championship Series.

DIGITAL EXTRA: Catch up with previous Journal dispatches and photos featuring Rhode Island National Guard military police units in Iraq and Kuwait, at:

http://projo.com/extra/2003/iraq/