Attack on 507 Maintenance Company
The 507 Maintenance Company planned and executed a plan to engage in fighting the Iraqi soldiers. However, they ended up suffering many casualties after the company was heavily attacked by fire from the enemy camp. The 507 maintenance Company was part of the US Marine Corps and Coalition Ground Combat forces that crossed Kuwait into Southern Northward to move northward and launch attacks at An Nasiriyah. Three days from departure at Kuwait, the ground forces had advanced more than 200 miles and were an estimated130 miles away from their target (An Nasiriyah). This was an unprecedented move in regards to speed of execution and depth of penetration. It was a worthy course and an indicator of their success in unhinging the Iraqis’ ability to mount a coherent defense. Success in the rapid penetration of the coalition ground forces in thousands of vehicles happened as a result of the excellent support of the maintenance, logistics, and medical units. The maintenance units moved and maintained steady contact with the forces to make the mission a success. The 507th Maintenance Company was one of the groups that was assigned with the role of supporting a vitally important asset – a Patriot missile battalion.
The attack on this maintenance unit was an ambush, which happened on the 23 March 2003, as the team moving through the outskirts of the city of An Nasiriyah, which is located in southeastern Iraq. The attack was launched by a group of Iraqi military forces and irregulars. At the time, there were an estimated 33 soldiers who were in the 18-vehicle convoy. The fierce attacks conducted by the Iraqi forces against the convoy led to many casualties. In this context, an estimated 11 soldiers lost their lives in the exchange; another seven were captured by the Iraqi forces, with only the remaining 16 who were able to rejoin the friendly troops. Whereas 22 soldiers made it to survive, nine soldiers were heavily wounded in the attack launched against their convoy. Whereas a few challenges were present in the battlefield leading to the losses, all the soldiers were said to have been brave to play their part. An analysis of the attacks launched against the 507 maintenance Company reveals that the soldiers did their best during the fight and tried to minimize the casualties in the exchange.
Whereas the soldiers played their role in dealing with the attacks launched on them, there were challenges on the ground, which affected their effectiveness as they engaged the enemy-Iraqi forces. For instance, there were critical challenges of the poor road network and infrastructure as a result of the massive sand that made it a challenge to maneuver on the roads and for vehicles to keep pace with each other effectively. This challenge began way earlier as the 507 Maintenance Company left BULL to ATTACK POSITION LIZARD. The convoy traveled off-road. Some of the heavier vehicles were said to have bogged down in the soft sand. This challenge was worsened by the darkness, causing confusion and some vehicles to separate from their March columns. Besides, it was established that poor trafficability and sustained mechanical problems made it a challenge for the 507th convoy to keep as one group and ended up into two groups. In this regard, the first group were vehicles that did not collapse in transit nor got stuck. The other group was the vehicles that experienced intense mechanical problems or otherwise got stuck in the sand. The latter group of the vehicles were the ones used to tow or pull other vehicles free.
Another major challenge that faced the 507 Maintenance Company was the tact employed by the Iraqi soldiers as the first team arrived at Lizard. The team led by CPT King, who saw Iraqi soldiers at two checkpoints. However, these soldiers didn’t fire or appear to have any hostile intentions against the convoy. They even went on to wave to the convoy. A few civilian trucks with mounted machine guns passed convoy a few times but didn’t indicate any hostile mission. The US soldiers didn’t fire as well for they had to observe the statements from 507th Soldiers, which indicated the need to observe rules of engagement issued by higher headquarters, which permitted firing on personnel with hostile intent. The expectation was that Iraqi soldiers would possibly engage in “happy fire shots” in celebration. Besides, the team was warned that carrying of weapons by civilian personnel should not be treated as hostile intent. Whereas the 507 Company did their best to observe the rules of engagement, they didn’t know attacks underway, until when 1SG radioed CPT King that their convoy was being fired. In this regard, 1SG directed all vehicles at the end of the convoy to accelerate speed in line to unit procedures of dealing with the ambush.
This led to the other major challenge of increased spacing of the vehicles in the convoy as a result of dissimilar vehicle size and acceleration rates. The confusion and speed of the vehicles made CPT King, who led the convoy to pass the intersection with Highway 7/8. As indicated, 1SG Dowdy notified CPT King that he had missed the turn. They had to turn. However, this was not an easy work since some of the large vehicles had to move to closely 3 km to find enough space to take on a U-turn. As they attempted to make the turns, they continued to receive fire. First casualties became the 1SG’s HMMWV, which was then hit by direct fire and crashed into the rear of the stopped tractor-trailer killing 1SG Dowdy on impact. Piestewa survived but died in captivity. Lynch was captured with serious injuries. The circumstances of Buggs’ and Anguiano’s deaths remain under investigation. CSGT Riley and PVT Sloan truck was disabled by enemy fire. Sloan was killed. Occupants of HMMWV appeared dead or beyond help. SGT Riley riffle malfunctioned, and tried to use to fire Johnson’s and Hernandez’s M16s, but with no success. With no means to continue resisting, and consistent with Code of Conduct, Riley made the decision to surrender himself, Hernandez, and Johnson. PFC Miller tried to fight but was captured after being surrounded. He may have been killed with other combatants. In essence, infrastructure challenges played a major role in leading to the high casualties of the attack on 507 Maintenance Company.