From MNF-I, ‘Bandits’ uncover weapons cache in Saklawya.
FALLUJAH — Soldiers scoured the orchard of a small Iraqi village with local community watch personnel. Moving with weapons at the ready and armed with the latest bomb finding material, the troops looked for a weapons cache used by the enemy.
The Soldiers of ‘Bandits’ Troop B, 5th Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment and Iraqi Community Watch personnel patrolled along a road south of Patrol Base Texas where recent intelligence reported individuals were uncovering weapons in a nearby field.
They seemed calm as they methodically searched around trees and shrubs until one Soldier yelled that he found something.
“We received information from a local that people were coming in here, removing weapons from a cache and then transporting them on the back of a truck,” said Spc. Josh Sones, a cavalry scout with Troop B. “They obviously had more stuff still here, so we took a patrol here today to find out.”
The 21-year-old, Picayune, Miss., native said that upon arriving in the area, they began looking for signs that someone was in the area looking to find the cache.
“This cache wasn’t hard to find,” Sones said. “It was between two fig trees in an apple orchard. Finding something like this makes you feel like your making a difference here because you get a real good sense of accomplishment from finding it.”
Although the cache was not a large one, Soldiers are grateful to confiscate anything used by insurgents.
“It wasn’t a big cache but every bit helps out here,” Sones said. “Without weapons and munitions they can’t do anything to us besides peaceful protests.”
Capt. John Owens, Troop B commander added, “My Soldiers here are more than dedicated to establishing a safe and secure environment for the people living in our area of operations. They do their job everyday and do it well. This cache find is just another example of our dedication to re-establishing security.”
Uncovered from the weapons cache were items commonly used to build improvised explosive devices such as: gunpowder, fertilizer, copper wire spools, a timer, blasting cap initiators, batteries and a couple 120 mm artillery rounds.
In an effort to keep the materials out of insurgents’ hands, an explosive ordinance disposal team destroyed the cache in place.
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