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BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 31, 2006 - In Iraq, soldiers have to veer away from complacency; they have to anticipate the unforeseen. At any moment soldiers have to react to the unexpected and the leaders have to make sound and timely decisions to ensure everyone's safety. The 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, 258th Military Police Company showed a fine example of what to do when they reacted to an Improvised Explosive Device Friday. The squad was headed to train the Iraqi Police in Ninenissan, eastern Baghdad, and then ride on a joint patrol with the IP's afterward. Every member of the team was alert, the company already lost one soldier and two others were wounded when an explosive-fueled projectile hit a convoy a few weeks earlier. Everyone was communicating with each other during Friday's convoy, whether it was SPC Steven Noriega, rear vehicle gunner, blowing his whistle and telling the civilians walking in and around the streets to get back, or SGT Joshua Jock, team leader, and SGT Jennifer Dow, team leader, checking each others status or receiving mission updates or orders from SSG Francis Murphy, squad leader. The mission had a feeling of routine, but that all changed without a moments notice as the convoy moved onto Route Florida. "Boom!" Orange and black sprayed in all directions, leaving a crater in the ground roughly four feet wide and three feet deep, and a trail of black smoke that lingered only for a moment. "Is everyone okay?" Jock asked everyone in his vehicle. He then radioed the other two vehicles to give them the vehicles status and to inform them they were not driving through the kill zone. "We are too far back to drive through it," Jock said. "I am not going to risk a secondary charge going off." The explosion was detonated as the lead vehicle drove past. "We swerved to the right hand side of the road," said Murphy, "We were as far away from the blast as we could be." The second vehicle followed the same path as the first, both making it through the kill zone unscathed. Jock's vehicle remained behind, setting up security near an overpass approximately 150 meters from the explosion. The other two vehicles lead by Murphy and Dow pulled security on the other side of the blast. It only took about 10 minutes for the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor to arrive, giving extra strength to the squad's security perimeter around the blast site. The 3-67th Armor strengthened the perimeter, and held their positions until the Explosive Ordnance team, secured by 4th Brigade, 506th Regimental Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, finished clearing the area. When everything was cleared, the 258th continued on with their mission, training the IPs how to conduct vehicle searches. "We are in an area that has seen a lot of activity in recent weeks," said Murphy. "Luckily no one was hurt and we were able to continue on with our mission." CPT Karst Brandsma, commander, 258th, believes the timely reaction from all that was involved was, in part, due to training. "You can train for random attacks," said Brandsma. "With training focused on mass casualties, mortar attacks and IEDs you can get the Soldiers to overcome the unexpected. They know what to do in these situations because they trained for it." Dow believes the training and rehearsing helped out a lot too. Before the mission, the squad talks about the days conditions, said Dow. If the convoy is going in to an area were it is hostile or IEDs have been reported recently, then the squad will talk about what to do if one of the situations occur. Dow said it all boils down to communication. "Communication is the key," said Dow. "We are a very tight squad, and it is because we can talk to one another, and the leaders always keep the subordinates informed." Murphy was proud of his squad and their ability to take action and complete what they set out to do. "It was unexpected," said Murphy. "We didn't see it coming, but we reacted well, no one was hurt and we were able to carry on with our mission. This is a great group and I love working with them." The 258th is currently acting as a Police Transition Team in charge of training the IP's in the Ninenissan area. Hostility in Ninenissan has increased over the last couple of weeks, but it doesn't keep the company from doing its job and helping the IPs and Iraqis secure their own country.  US Army photo by SPC Brian James Anderson (Multi-National Corps-IRAQ PAO)
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