Then the first sergeant of Charlie Company, 2-187 Infantry, Sergeant Major Eric Crabtree relates his experiences during Operation Iraqi Freedom, focusing especially on his participation in Operation Rifles Blitz during November 2003 in the Al Qaim border region with Syria. Attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment for Rifles Blitz, Crabtree explains that his unit brought something different to the operation. "3rd ACR is not prone to dismounting very often; they stay in their vehicles," he said. "We were dismounted every day. We cleared every building, every house, every shack, everything in a systematic manner." In the process of searching an extensive urban area, Crabtree's company employed the tactic of withdrawing from the town in the evenings but leaving a platoon behind in an empty building to prevent infiltration into those areas just searched and to maintain a presence the enemy had to respect. He describes the program of giving $20 to each Iraqi family, explaining, "We had an amount of money and every home we went into that was in compliance … got $20. They were very happy about that." In dealing with civilians, he says, "We were as good as we could be to the kids because if you win them over, that's the future right there. Women we avoided at all costs. We separated them and tried to be as respectful as we could." Crabtree notes that one important factor in their success was their interpreters, saying, "We were really lucky with the interpreters we had." They were "definitely combat multipliers for us." He reports that his unit was able to find several weapons caches, including a concrete bunker but, frustratingly, many were in reeds along the Euphrates River or in open farm fields, and all the locals would claim, "It's not mine. I don't know whose it is." As lessons learned from Rifles Blitz, Crabtree says that rehearsals were important to working well with the 3rd ACR, which also allowed them to see "the capability and what mechanized infantry can bring to the fight." Speaking of Rifles Blitz's results, "We disrupted any type of movement they had from west to east, from Syria into Fallujah. We made the anti-Iraqi forces incapable of mounting any organized resistance or offensive operations…I think for the people of Sadah, they saw that if they complied with the US and did what we asked them to do, we would not cause them any harm. I think it was a positive experience between us and them from my perspective."

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited