Last modified: Friday, March 2, 2007 1:04 PM PST Training was key for local Guard unit in Iraq By Pat Caldwell - Argus Observer Training and the unique structure of the Army National Guard paid off in Iraq for Ontario’s citizen-soldier unit during its rare one-on-one encounters with enemy guerrillas. Staff Sgt. Armando Estillore, Fruitland, can attest to that fact. Estillore, a squad leader in Ontario’s Army National Guard unit when it deployed to Iraq in December 2004, found out how important the combination of good training and a cool head can be when a routine mission suddenly turned dangerous. The mission occurred in January 2005, just after Ontario’s Guard unit, Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team, deployed around the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The 3rd Battalion — which was one of the major combat maneuver elements of the Idaho Guard’s 116th Brigade — contained citizen soldier units from across Eastern Oregon. The early January 2005 mission kicked off when Alpha Company dispatched a group of citizen soldiers to support Army Special Forces in a village raid. “We were attached to the SF (Special Forces) to do a blocking position for them. We got there (to the village) and did a cordon and blocked a road,” Estillore, 33, said. In the darkness, Estillore and the soldiers in his section — eight men — stood by their Humvees several hundred yards from the village and kept watch as the Green Berets entered. They did not have to wait long. “While the SF are doing the raid, we can hear shots in the village. This is around 2 a.m. in the morning. We had NVGs (night vision equipment) but you’re limited in what you can see,” Estillore said. Another method used by Coalition forces, especially at night, to keep soldiers from firing on other soldiers are “IRs.” How the system works is simple: American soldiers carried a reflective IR strip on their bodies, where it can be seen easily through night vision devices. If soldiers saw someone with reflective tape moving around in the darkness through a night vision device, they could be fairly certain that person was friendly. As Estillore and his section waited at the roadway blocking position, they soon spotted people moving around on the roof of a building several hundred yards away, just inside the village. None of the shadows had IR strips. The Guardsmen then saw one of the shadows shooting at the Special Forces moving into the village. “We see a guy shooting. Then he sees us and starts shooting in our direction,” Estillore said. In an instant the deployment to Iraq transformed from a long 18-month excursion away from home into a life and death episode. “We hear ping, ping, ping,” Estillore said, describing the sound of the bullets impacting into his Humvee. Estillore said his section reacted in a split-second. “I didn’t have to tell my gunner. He just started popping,” Estillore said. In an instant the dark Iraq night erupted. Another individual joined the first one on the rooftop and began to fire on Estillore. Off to the right of Estillore’s position, another Alpha Company element quickly joined the firefight, sending tracer rounds flying toward the rooftop. Estillore said he quickly realized the rounds from the rooftop were not as effective as he had feared. “They were not hitting us, but hitting toward us, if that makes sense. Some were hitting the Humvee,” he said. Estillore said within the first few seconds of the firefight the fear disappeared. “By that point the scared part is gone. You’re in business, you’re working, all the adrenaline starts pumping and you’re not scared anymore,” he said. After several minutes of pouring bullets onto the rooftop, Estillore’s section ceased fire. The firing from the rooftop had also stopped. “We lighted it (the rooftop) up like a Christmas tree. At some point the guy quit firing,” he said. Very soon, though, they faced another problem. “A high-value target was trying to exit the village, trying to escape by vehicle,” Estillore said. As the vehicle departed, Special Forces fired on it. When they did, Estillore said his section was suddenly caught in the middle. “They light it (the vehicle) up, but the bullets are coming toward us. We got down on the ground and took cover,” he said. The crossfire incident was a hard early lesson for Estillore and his section. “We were getting fire from the enemy and friendlies. So communication is important,” he said. In a few more minutes the firing stopped as the Special Forces captured the high value target, Estillore said. The rooftop remained silent and, after an hour or more, the operation quickly wound down. Estillore and his section, though, did not know why the individual on the rooftop was firing at them and the Special Forces. And they were unsure what happened to the gunman. The next morning, though, they found some clues. “The next day our 3rd Platoon went back to the village and there was massive blood on the rooftop,” he said. The firefight with the individual or individuals on the rooftop lasted, perhaps, a few minutes. While the adrenaline kept Estillore and his section vigilant, afterward he said the impact of the incident hit hard. “At first, as you’re adrenaline goes down, you can’t believe that really happened. You train for something like that to happen,” he said. The extensive amount of training the Ontario Guard unit endured — at regular drill sessions, at Fort Bliss, Texas, and later in Louisiana — before it deployed to Iraq paid off during the firefight, Estillore said. The fact Estillore had also done a stint in the U.S. Marine Corps also helped a great deal when the bullets started to fly, he said. When the firefight erupted, Estillore said he had to adapt to being a leader quickly. “I had to fight my squad, rather than me fighting. They train a squad leader to fight with your capabilities, fire control, fighting the squad through your eyes,” he said. Alpha Company’s training pattern proved crucial not only in the January 2005 firefight, but also later on in the unit’s tour of duty, Estillore said. “Training was a big part of it. You need all the training you can get. Everything (in combat) goes so fast. You don’t have time to think, ‘what am I going to do?’ With training it is embedded in your mind,” Estillore said. Training also enhances teamwork, which proved to be crucial during the firefight, Estillore said. “It’s a team where everything has to click, where you are proactive, proactive, proactive,” he said. Alpha Company, like all Guard units, consists of part-time soldiers who reside in the local community. That type of familiarity also proved to be a critical ingredient in the cement that helped the unit be so successful in Iraq, Estillore said. “We are localized and I think that has a big impact because you know the guys, you train with them,” he said. Estillore said his section and the rest of Alpha Company was successful in Iraq for a variety of reasons. “I think we did good. There is always improvement, you always want to improve the squad,” he said. The lessons from the split-second firefight stayed with Estillore throughout his tour. “You have to be flexible, you have to adapt,” he said.