THE TENSION: Combat Camera: Paratroopers Push Through the Pain

Sgt. Dustin Slack, Company A, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, marks a military-aged man in Had Maksar, Iraq, during Operation Hoplite, Aug. 4. The Soldiers place markings on the citizens so they know who has been searched. Photographer: Pfc. Benjamin Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

As the Iraqi Army clears the house, Spc. Mario Mendoza, Company A, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, labels the gate to a compound during Operation Hoplite in Had Maksar, Iraq, Aug. 4. Photographer: Pfc. Benjamin Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

Staff Sgt. Adam Jeter, Company A, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, rests after eight hours of clearing houses in Had Maksar, Iraq, during Operation Hoplite, Aug. 4. The Soldiers spent two days searching for terrorists in 120 degree weather. Photographer: Pfc. Benjamin Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

Carrying an M249 squad automatic weapon, Spc. Mario Mendoza, Company A, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, clears palm groves near Had Maksar, Iraq, during Operation Hoplite, Aug. 4. Photographer: Pfc. Benjamin Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs

Paratroopers Push Through the Pain
08.09.2007
By Pfc. Ben Fox, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division

HAD MAKSAR, Iraq -- A CH-47 Chinook helicopter touched down in a small clearing outside Had Maksar, a village in the Diyala River Valley, Iraq.

Immediately, the ramp lowered and a group of Iraqi and U.S. Soldiers streamed out of the chopper to prepare for their mission.

The Soldiers were about to endure two days of Operation Hoplite, where they would clear houses and palm groves in and around Had Maksar – all while fighting temperatures in the 120s.

“There is a lot that goes through your mind,” said Staff Sgt. Adam Jeter, Company A, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, attached to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08. “You’re not sure what you’re getting into.
“As soon as the wheels hit the ground, your immediate thought is if you are going to make contact or not when you hit the (landing zone),” said Jeter.

“You don’t really know what to expect,” said Spc. Mario Mendoza, also with Co. A, 5-73 Cav. “When you hit the LZ you could take contact immediately, but that’s why you pull security,” said Mendoza.
After the Chinook took off, the Soldiers left the field and began clearing houses. Each of the men knew the harsh conditions of fatigue – referred to by many Soldiers as “the suck,” – they were going to face in the near future.

“The suck starts to hit after about two or three hours of clearing, even though we started at roughly two o’clock in the morning,” said Jeter. “It doesn’t take long because you’re wearing (Interceptor body armor), in other words, 40 to 50 pounds.

“Since we did an air assault mission, all the gear that you’re taking with you is on your back,” he said. “So you’re looking at carrying 110 or 120 pounds on your back.

“It doesn’t take long for that to set in,” said Jeter. “It gets rough. I mean it’s only a couple of hours until your body is wanting to give out on you,” he said.

“For this particular mission it just started to suck when it started getting hotter,” said Mendoza. “Your gear starts to weigh down and your water is all hot.

“You just want to get done with it,” he said.
With the harsh conditions, the Soldiers have to find ways to continue on and keep focus.

“It’s up in the head,” said Mendoza. “You just have to keep going. Sometimes I think of worse situations we’ve been in,” he said. “Some of the time, you just don’t think about it and just continue on with what you are doing.”

“The way that I have always gotten through and… maintain my focus is, first of all, my immediate situation – me and my men,” said Jeter. My goal from day one was to make sure myself and my men made it home alive,” he said. “I can pretty much deal with anything as long as I make sure that my guys get home alive. Secondly, my family,” continued Jeter. “I have a wife and three kids, and I want to make it home to them. Dealing with that short bit of pain is worth it to make sure I have my focus and stamina to make it through,” he said.
After all of their assigned houses had been cleared, the Soldiers found a house to stay in that night. The next morning, they had to complete the last stage of the mission, which was to clear the palm groves.

“We call the palm groves Vietnam,” said Mendoza. “The humidity is just (ridiculous) there.”
Getting up in the morning and knowing that they are going to go through possibly worse conditions than the day before did not faze Jeter.

“It almost becomes kind of comedic,” said Jeter. “You get up and you know it’s going to suck,” he said. “You know you are getting ready to go through hell, and you know your backs going to hurt … you’re going to get dehydrated and feel light headed. The palm groves are going to be humid, and you’re going to be bent over trying to walk down under the (vineyards),” said Jeter. “You get to the point where you know it’s going to happen one way or the other, so you may as well laugh about it,” he said.
Mendoza said it could have been worse.

“We did it when it was still relatively cool out, so it wasn’t that bad,” he said. “When it gets hotter in the day, it’s not dry anymore -- it’s humid,” said Mendoza, “which makes it that much worse.

“The vineyards are the worst because they are so low,” he said. “It sucks to be bent over walking around in the IBA.

“The only thing that was going through my head was ‘Last day of this (stuff),’” said Mendoza.
Jeter said that each mission gives him something to reflect on for future operations.

“It does get easier each time, because each time you can fine tune what you didn’t do perfect the last time,” he said. “With each mission comes that additional refinement that makes you that much better for the next one.”