FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE: ON THE DANGER TO OUR SOLDIERS.

I’ve told you repeatedly that the Iraqi’s respect action. So our rules of engagement are written with that in mind and they heavily favor our side.

For instance the rules of engagement allow a soldier to fire upon anyone pointing a weapon at the soldier. Merely pointing it.

And our response is heavy. They may get one bullet off, but we will return fire with a hundred bullets. We exhibit strength through action.

Our foot patrols consist of 9 – 12 soldiers each. We teach situational awareness at all times…seeing what is in front of you, and, importantly, on the second and third stories, as well as roof tops. And we have procedures to cover each others backs. And it is working. No one has taken on our foot patrols in a while.

As to vehicles, well, frankly, our policies on moving our vehicles in the city are a pain in the butt…because it takes three vehicles to move one. No vehicle is permitted to travel alone. There will be a heavy gun vehicle in front and one behind. You heard about the Humvee that got lost and the soldiers (from another division) kidnapped and killed. That vehicle was out by itself.

And it didn’t take too long to find that Humvee once it went missing. See, nobody in Baghdad makes a cell phone call that we don’t listen to. We know their strategies and their tactics.

With regard to the airport road where there has been trouble of late, we have changed our tactics there to better ensure the security along that main supply route.