Dear Interested Reader,
Of all the personal stories read about Sept. 11, Kelvin Surgener's words have touched me the most, and will leave a lasting impression. The troops know why they are fighting this ruthless enemy, and I hope we the people never forget.
Over 30 terrorists captured in the successful Op Viper Pursuit, while large weapons caches continue to be seized. PM al Maliki opens Justice Palace in Rusafa, as rule of law progresses.
Joanna
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Sept. 16, 2008
Blackanthem Military News
MND-B Soldiers, Sailor turn horror of 'Pile,' Sept. 11 into motivation to serve
By Staff Sgt. Brock Jones
Sgt. Juan Vega (middle) reaches up to hand off an FDNY flag to Victory Base Complex firefighters so they can attach it to the side of their fire truck prior to the 4th ID and MND - Baghdad Patriot Day Observance held in front of the division HQ, Sept. 11.
CAMP LIBERTY - "During 9-11, I was a first responder," said Juan Vega. "I was in Tower Two during the initial attacks. World Trade Center Tower Two was the first building that fell, that collapsed, and I just managed to be one of the lucky ones to escape. My wife is a paramedic with the fire dept, so the whole time that I spent trying to run from this damn building, I'm trying to run back because I knew that my wife was somewhere in there," he said. It wasn't until four days later that he ran into his wife, alive and well.
Vega and his wife escaped the fall of the giant towers but lost friends and Family that day. One of Vega's closest friends had been on vacation. "It just happens to be he came back on the 11th and went to work. When I called him that morning, it was too late. I came to look for him."
Many New Yorkers and Americans who weren't firefighters or paramedics also came forward that day, compelled to do whatever they could to help. Kelvin Surgener, a native New Yorker, was one of them. Surgener worked in an office with a view of the Twin Towers, and on the morning of 9-11, he could not believe what he was seeing on television and through the window. "I get to work and everyone is hysterical. People were losing their minds," he said. "I can't really believe what I'm seeing and right before my eyes that first building fell out of the sky. I look at it falling and look at it on TV and it's falling, and I look back. It's gone. Gone. What was always there, always there, was now gone." After gaining his composure, he reacted in the only way he knew how. "My first thought was someone's going to need help. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do, but I'm going to do it."
Surgener found a way to get to Ground Zero, waiting 16 hours outside the Jacob Javits Center, where a volunteer collection area had been set up for those wanting to lend a hand. "Some guy comes along with a clipboard and he looks at us and he goes, 'Are you coming? Let's go. Get on the bus.'" Surgener jumped at the opportunity and soon found himself staring in disbelief at the rubble that had once been the World Trade Center. "At this point, I'm stepping in probably 10 inches of soot and silt everywhere," he said. "What used to be 210 stories, 2 buildings, would look to me reduced to about 8 stories. The building fell so hard it fell through the street where there was a parking garage. I remember looking down a crevice and seeing cars stacked up on top of each other," Surgener said.
"I spent eight months in 'The Pile.' That's what we called Ground Zero," said Vega. "There was no way that I was going to leave that 'Pile.' "If somebody found something, everything stopped on 'The Pile.' Everything: all construction, all movement, all noise. It just became total silence. We'd have a little ceremony there, or a memorial with the chaplain, a brief moment. (We would drape the remains) with the flag, say a prayer, and then we'd march to the ambulance," he said. "We ate and slept with dead people. This guy hands me a bucket, and he hands me a shovel and he says, 'Start shoveling.' That's all I did was shovel soot," Surgener said. "I never dug so hard in my life. At one point, I looked and there was something in my shovel. I couldn't figure out what it was and I stopped; I froze. Someone came up behind me, putting his hand on my back, and he said, 'Don't look, just shovel. Don't look at it, just shovel.'"
The force with which the planes had hit the towers and the eventual collapse of the buildings had literally ground everything to bits and pieces, including the civilians and rescue workers who were inside them at the time.
Surgener kept working until that reality was too much to handle. "I stayed down there about 18 hours and I couldn't take it. I left. I had to walk out. It crushed me, broke me. It snapped me like a straw." He made his way home, covered from head to toe in gray soot. "I've never washed those clothes," said Surgener. "That jacket still has those people on it."
Of the thousands who died that day, less than 300 bodies were found intact at Ground Zero. They had literally been turned to dust and smoke, becoming mixed into the very air breathed by those who were there trying to find them and into the dust that stained their sweaty brows.
Patrick Dowdell was at college, north of Manhattan, when the planes hit the towers. On September 12, he went back home to wait with his mother and brother for word on his father. When it was obvious that his father was not going to emerge alive from the stories-high pile of rubble, he returned to college to finish his application to West Point, then quickly returned to help his father's surviving friends and firefighters with the search. "In the following months, I worked as part of the recovery op at Ground Zero, digging for my father and the other firemen that were killed," said Dowdell. "I also had the privilege of playing the bagpipes with the FDNY (Fire Dept N.Y.) bagpipe band at some of the memorials and funeral services for firemen that were killed."
Vega, who had served in the Army during the Gulf War, enlisted again in 2003 as a medic and found himself in Iraq with the 101st Abn Div during the initial invasion. Sgt. Vega is now in the Army Reserve, deployed as a combat medic with Co D, 404th CAB, attached to 7th Sqdrn, 10th Cav Regt, 1st BCT, 4th ID. "I put on the uniform because I love this country," said Vega.
Surgener also felt the need to serve in the military. He had passed the age limit for many of the service branches but discovered he would still qualify for the Navy. He joined and eventually became a combat photographer, specializing in both still and video photography. Petty Officer 2nd Class Surgener is assigned to Navy Expeditionary Combat Command out of Norfolk, Va., and is currently attached to 4th ID as a combat camera operator in support of the Army and its mission in Baghdad. "I am here doing what I feel is best to serve my country. My attitude is if you are able, you should serve," he said. "I am able, and I have something to contribute, so I chose to serve. I'm glad and proud to be here on this day."
Dowdell also found the military to be the means to satisfy his need to do more, finally being accepted to West Point, an accomplishment his father had always encouraged him to achieve. 1st Lt. Dowdell currently serves as a plt leader with 4th Bn, 42nd FAR, 1st BCT, 4th ID, currently attached to 2nd BCT, 101st Abn Div.
All 3 of these men continue to serve with the same zeal and fervor that drove them to "The Pile" 7 years ago, and there are thousands serving with them in the military, who out of the sadness, felt the same silent need to do something more.
"I decided to join the Army because it's all about helping people and doing the right thing when it comes down to it. You've got to look yourself in the mirror and feel like you're doing something good," said Dowdell.
1st. Lt. Patrick Dowdell stands in front of a N.Y.C. Fire Dept flag.
Sgt. Juan Vega (center) stands with Victory Base Complex firefighters in front of their truck.
Sgt. Juan Vega answers questions about his time serving at Ground Zero with FDNY.
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Multi-National Corps - Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342
CF, IA Forces complete Op Viper Pursuit, capture over 30 terrorists
TIKRIT - Soldiers with Bravo Co, 1st Bn, 87th Inf teamed up with 1st Bde, 10th Mtn's VIPER MiTT and elements of the IA, conducted Op Viper Pursuit to disrupt local terrorist cells within the Sulayman Bak area, Aug. 1-30.
Op Viper Pursuit combined air and ground assaults to cordon and search specific parts of local villages. Because of the combined efforts of the IA along with B Co, 1st Bn., 87th Inf., more than 30 terrorists were detained during the month-long op.
"We really took them by surprise by establishing an extended presence in Sulyman Bak. That's something we've never tried before," said Spc. Sean Bizarres, a radio telephone operator with HQ Plt, Bravo Co.
The joint effort has helped in paving a way for the ISF to take over op in the area. B Co has worked especially close with the 4th Div., QRF, by conducting many joint ops in the area ranging from cache searches, cordon and searches of urban areas, to air assaults and raids. "They're the best group of Iraqi soldiers I've worked with during my 2 deployments to Iraq," said Sgt. Jeremy Walker, a squad leader in 3rd Plt.
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Local citizen's tip leads IA to large cache in Sadr City
BAGHDAD - A local citizen's tip provided info that led IA soldiers to a substantial munitions cache in the Sadr City district of Baghdad, Sep. 13.
Based on info provided by a concerned citizen, IA soldiers seized a substantial munitions cache believed to be used to construct EFPs and IEDs at approx. 1 p.m.
The munitions seized included 32 copper plates, 20 pounds of M-112 Iranian-manufactured C-4 plastic explosives, 200 pounds of ball bearings, 31 retaining rings, 8 PVC casings used for manufacturing EFPs, 5 hand grenades, 100 meters of firing wire, and a large array of bomb-triggering devices, to include electric blasting caps, passive infrared triggering devices, digital circuit boards, more than 70 rechargeable batteries and various additional materials.
Later, at approx. 5:30 p.m., Soldiers from Co B, 52nd Inf Regt, 2nd Stryker BCT, 25th ID, discovered a cache northwest of Baghdad, consisting of 3 RPG rounds, 4 grenade fuses, 10 sticks of TNT and 30 Dishka rounds.
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NP, MND-B Soldiers seize weapons caches throughout Baghdad
BAGHDAD - Iraqi NP and Soldiers from Co A, 2nd Bn, 30th Inf Regt, 4th BCT, 10th Mtn Division seized weapons caches throughout Baghdad, Sept. 13, consisting of 18 grenades, 10 AK47s, 15 AK47 mags with ammo, more than 1,700 rounds of 7.62 mm ammo, 8 load-bearing vests, a 60 mm mortar round and a RPG in the New Baghdad area of Baghdad.
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IA, MND-B Soldiers detain suspected Special Groups leader in Baghdad
FOB FALCON - Sep. 12, at approx. 10:20 a.m., IA soldiers and Soldiers from Co A, 1st
Bn, 22nd Inf Regt, 1st BCT, 4th ID, arrested a suspected Special Groups leader in the Jihad community. The suspect is responsible for an attack on Baghdad Int'l Airport, Jul. 10.
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Prime Minister al-Maliki opens Justice Palace in Rusafa
FOB LOYALTY - Justice and the institution of law in Iraq took a large step forward when PM Nouri al-Maliki officially opened a new courthouse in the Rusafa district of eastern Baghdad, Sept. 10.
Iraqi Chief Justice al-Mahmoud, along with Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, and Gen. David Petraeus, comm. gen. of MNF - Iraq, joined al-Maliki and other distinguished visitors for the courthouse grand opening. Al-Maliki spoke about the importance of re-establishing the rule of law in Iraq.
"This is rightly called the Palace of Justice. It was built by Iraqis for Iraqis," said Crocker. "But as great as this building is, what this building will be used for is even greater. It is in this place that the common man will receive justice." The justice laid out in the courthouse will help write the future of Iraq.
The courthouse is a new, 2-story facility, said Navy Lt. Benjamin Dunford, U.S. Army Corp of Engrs dep. officer in charge of the courthouse project. "This is a state of the art courthouse that is the prototype for all courthouses in Iraq," he said. "The courthouse will benefit the community of over a million people in Baghdad and a hundred judges."
Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki addresses guests.
(Army photo by Sgt. Grant Okubo)
Ryan Crocker, the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, addresses attendees.
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Gen. Petraeus tours Shorja Market
FOB LOYALTY, Iraq -
Gen. David Petraeus selects fresh vegetables during a tour of Shorja Market in eastern Baghdad, Sept. 10. Petraeus toured the market with Patriot Bde Soldiers of 3rd Sqdrn, 89th Cav Regt, 4th BCT, 10th Mtn Div (Lt), who operate in the area. Petraeus toured the market as part of his final battlefield circulation as MNF-I comm. gen., as he prepares for his new assignment as the comm. gen. of U.S. Central Command.
(Army photo by Sgt. Grant Okubo)
Sgt. Micah Backer watches pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the streets as he provides security for Gen. Petraeus.
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MND-B Soldiers find two caches
BAGHDAD - Sept. 14, Soldiers from Co C, 1st Bn, 21st Inf Regt, 2nd BCT, 25th ID, were led to a cache west of Baghdad by a concerned citizen at approx. 5:45 a.m. The cache included a 60 mm mortar, 19 82 mm mortars, 100 40 mm grenades, an SA-14 missile, a GPS system and various bomb-making materials.
Soldiers from the same company found a 60 mm mortar during an op to capture a suspected Special Groups member in the same area at 6 a.m. "It is the American Soldier whose daily selfless service and sacrifice is making a positive difference in the lives of all Iraqis," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman, MND - Baghdad and the 4th ID. "Each day they put themselves in harm's way to protect the people of Iraq and increase stability and security in full partnership with their Iraqi brothers and sisters."
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IA soldiers seize IEDs, rockets inside attack vehicle
BAGHDAD - Sept. 14, after receiving a report of a rocket being fired from a vehicle in the Muthana-Zayuna area of Rusafa, IA soldiers tracked down the vehicle and uncovered rockets, IEDs and equipment used to handle them inside the vehicle.
The IA soldiers seized 3 57 mm rockets with timing devices (a fourth rocket already had been fired), 2 IEDs and the attack vehicle.
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