From TransFormaTion To CombaT The First stryker brigade at War

Operating 1,500 yards from the scouts, Company B encountered
similar circumstances when it carried out the second of the two raids.
Although Captain Mason’s men established a perimeter around their
objective without detection at 0759, a search of the house produced no
suspects, contraband, or weapons. Instead, the troops detained eight Iraqis
from the immediate area for further questioning. The situation changed,
however, as they were preparing to leave. Insurgents nearby fired an RPG
that hit near a truck carrying Iraqi soldiers, killing one and wounding
three. The small force soon found itself under increasingly heavy fire.
With Company B fully involved in evacuating the wounded Iraqi
soldiers, Reed ordered the Scout Platoon and cavalry section to consolidate
at his location rather than risk isolation by the insurgents. During the
platoon’s movement to the linkup, the enemy fired at least four RPGs at
its vehicles. The Strykers from Troop A meanwhile came under heavy
small-arms fire and recorded a near miss from another RPG.
The increasing enemy activity prompted the two Kiowa Warriors
accompanying the operation to fly low to better see the narrow alleys
crisscrossing the area. As the scouts and Troop A neared Reed’s position,
an RPG downed one of the helicopters. Reed directed the downed pilots
to remain with their aircraft until his command element, McChrystal’s
scouts, or Troop A reached them. At that point, Mason’s unit and the Iraqi
detachment accompanying it were still involved in the initial firefight.
Reed, the scouts, and the cavalry section all arrived at the crash
site within a few minutes. To put some distance between themselves
and their smoldering helicopter, the pilots had moved behind a nearby
rock wall. Both had been injured, one severely. The scouts dismounted,
immediately began securing the area, and loaded the two pilots into a
medical evacuation vehicle that had accompanied the cavalry section.
Reed sent Sergeant Hanner and several members of the Scout Platoon
to secure the downed aircraft’s sensitive items.
The insurgents celebrated their success in bringing down the aircraft
with a gale of steadily mounting fire. Concerned that an attack was
building, Reed instructed McChrystal to secure all terrain dominating
the crash site and hold off the enemy until reinforcements arrived. The
Strykers belonging to the section from the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry,
were to assist. When Reed’s battalion operations officer, Maj. Harold
D. Baker, reported that a medical evacuation helicopter was standing
by to pick up the wounded pilots, he directed Company B and the Iraqi
detachment to relocate to his location.
As Company B made its way to the crash site, Baker learned from
the battalion command post at sykes that a crash recovery team was
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