101st Airborne Screamin' Eagles Update

~Snooper~

They are on the prowl folks. We present these in the hopes that if any of our readers have loved ones in the mix, they can be spotted here via the pics and vids. These stories, pics and vids are brought tom us by DVIDS.

Baghdad - Operation Marne Courageous kicked off in the early morning of Nov. 16 with more than 600 coalition forces and Iraqi army soldiers moving into two villages near the border of Anbar province to drive out al-Qaida in Iraq, and lay groundwork for a sustained coalition presence.

Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), were joined by about 150 Iraqi army soldiers in the air assault on the Sunni villages of Owesat and al Betra, west of the Euphrates River and approximately 15 miles southwest of Baghdad.

Troops were transported in four helicopter lifts across the Euphrates, utilizing two CH-47 Chinook helicopters and eight UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. A Marine reconnaissance platoon, as well as Soldiers of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, stationed in neighboring Anbar province, secured the landing zone.

Once on the ground, the U.S.-Iraqi force was supported by an air weapons team of Apache and Kiowa helicopters, while approximately 70 Iraqi Concerned Local Citizens assisted in securing the outlying perimeter.

While U.S. and Iraqi forces moved through the villages, other troops set to work constructing a bridge across the Euphrates to allow for the transport of materials and supplies to build a patrol base in the area. The base will allow for a sustained coalition presence in the area of Owesat, part of Baghdad’s southwestern "belts."

No enemy fighters were killed or captured during the assault.

Prior to the air assault, U.S. F-16 fighter jets dropped two 2000-pound bombs on an island in the Euphrates that was believed to be used by AQI as a staging ground for attacks. The bombardment was part of a "terrain denial" strategy, cutting off a potential AQI escape route and denying the enemy a location to regroup.

Marne Courageous' main strategic thrust is to clear AQI extremists from the area of Owesat, establish a coalition presence, and develop a concerned citizens program in the area as a bulwark against further enemy activity.

Army Col. Dominic Caraccilo, commander of the 3rd BCT, 101st Abn. Div., described the mission to journalists Nov. 11. "We're going to put a footprint there. We're going to establish a forward operating base," he said. [...]

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