From TransFormaTion To CombaT The First stryker brigade at War

morning was uneventful. Hensler’s Strykers sped along the eastern bank
of the Tigris until they found a bridge at An Numaniyah, a moderate-size
town just north of Al Kut. The company then mounted guard on the span
until the rest of arrow arrived.
After crossing the Tigris, Hensler’s company again took the lead,
heading toward the 13th Corps Support Command’s Convoy Support
Center (CSC) scanIa, near Nippur, sixty miles west of Al Kut along
Highway 1. TF arrow encountered only minor delays, most due to the
need to cross canals spanned by small bridges unable support the weight
of a fully loaded HET. The trucks had to unload, cross the bridges with
the Bradleys they had carried trailing behind them, and then reload on
the other side.
Reed was aware he had to cross the Euphrates River after departing
scanIa. To minimize any opportunity for insurgents to delay the task
force again by blowing bridges, he directed Hensler to halt at scanIa
only long enough to take on fuel and then to head northwest to secure
a potential crossing site near Al Hindiyah, a small town twelve miles
southeast of Karbala. The main body of TF arrow would stop at scanIa
for fuel and one hour of sleep before moving on. The force had to head
northwest for fifty miles before it reached even the Euphrates. After
crossing the river and turning south, TF arrow would be required to
travel another thirty-five miles before linking up with Colonel Pittard’s
brigade at FOB duke.
When Company A entered Al Hindiyah late that evening, hundreds of
Iraqis emerged from their homes to watch as its Strykers drove down the
main street to the bridge. Hensler observed that the people “crowded the
streets and looked like they were not the least bit afraid of us.” Fanning
out, the company’s men secured the bridge in the center of town and a
second one farther north. Hensler positioned the remainder of his men in
a ruined fort and an abandoned oil storage depot atop a hill on the west
bank of the river where they could observe both crossing sites.
Major O’Steen, who was still with the 3d Brigade command post
outside An Najaf, had contacted Reed via satellite telephone for a regular
update. Learning that the lead element of TF arrow was en route to Al
Hindiyah, he informed the brigade operations officer, Maj. Fred I. Nutter,
that the Strykers would probably arrive during the predawn hours of
14 April. Since the vehicles would need refueling before they arrived at
duke, he asked Nutter to set up a refueling site on the west bank of the
Euphrates south of Karbala.
By then Lieutenant Hicks’ Scout Platoon was nearing the positions
occupied by Hensler’s company in Al Hindiyah. As TF arrow
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