From MNF-I, Army Engineers Open Road in Mosul.
MOSUL — Soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment’s 43rd Combat Engineer Company (CEC) worked to clear one of the many impassible roads in Mosul as part of Operation Thunder Reaper IV, Dec. 13.
The 17-hour mission incorporated construction assets from the 43rd CEC, as well as several other elements from the regiment’s Thunder Squadron.
Soldiers set out to open a section of Route Tampa, one of the city’s main roads that had been closed to traffic.
“When we got here, a lot of these routes were blocked,” said Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Larue, the Assault and Obstacle platoon sergeant with the 43rd. “Now our mission is to go in and reopen them for regular traffic.”
Larue, of Copperas Cove, Texas, said route clearance will be a major role for the 43rd, which recently arrived in the battle space. The mission, which started at sunrise and ran well into the night, opened more of the route than was expected, Larue said.
The operation consisted of several phases. The first was route reconnaissance, searching for roadside bombs and other hazards. After the route clearance phase, Bradley Fighting Vehicles and M1A2 Abrams tanks provided overwatch and security in the area so the engineers could work with relative safety to clear the roads. During the operation, there were no casualties and no notable enemy contact. ...
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