08/06/2026
I talk a lot about Sadr City because of what happened there. Most don't understand just what happened there. And to be honest, most never will. The general public will never understand what we had to do to stay alive in that city. Our methods & tactics would not be accepted and we for sure would be ridiculed. Combat reshapes a man down to his core. For better or worse, when you go to war you don't come out the same. How you move forward after the violence will determine your fate when you get out into the civilian world.........(more to follow)
Picture left to right. "X", "V" & Myself.
I’m the only one left alive in the pic.
THE MEN
Bull Comany, 1/2 SCR
The story of "Bull" Company and the entire 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment (1/2 SCR) began with their first deployment to Iraq as the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment (1-5 INF) in 2004. There, in the streets of Fallujah and Mosul, the future leaders of 1/2 SCR cut their teeth learning the hard lessons of block-to-block urban combat. After 12 months of fighting, they returned home to take on a new class of privates and teach them the skills necessary to survive in house-to-house fighting.
One year after returning home from Iraq, the men of 1-5 INF re-flagged and moved to Germany, where they applied their extensive combat experience training with America's NATO allies in Europe. In mid 2007, they received orders to deploy once more to Iraq and serve a crucial role in the surge as a front-line element securing the eastern districts of Baghdad.
It was in the streets of Sadr City where the men of Bull Company -- along with the entire 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment -- would face the true test of their skills. For fifteen months, they served as a quick reaction force element and the only unit authorized to carry out conventional kinetic-action raids against high value targets of the Ja'Ish Al-Mahdi.
Upon their return from Iraq, the men of 1/2 SCR ultimately received a Valorous Unit Citation for their critical role in Operation Stryker Denial and Operation Gold Wall during the 2008 Battle of Sadr City.
Mission:
Due to the relentless and ongoing indirect fire missions raining down hell on American and Iraqi troops along the border of Sadr City, it was virtually impossible for an allied advance to hold their ground without sustaining heavy casualties along the way. In addition to those attacks, however, every route into the city had been wired to the hilt with hundreds of roadside bombs. The Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi had spent nearly half a decade preparing for this attack, and they had long since proven to be a well-trained militia with superior numbers and a modern arsenal of weapons on every block in the city.
If an American advance was going to hold any weight, somebody would have go into the hornet’s nest ahead of the main force and put a stop to the endless rain of mortars, rockets, and improvised explosives on friendly positions throughout the town. To that end, the men of “Bull” Company were the clear choice. In the months leading up to the battle, they served as the only conventional task force running kill-or-capture missions into the heart of Sadr City, with an obective to hunt down the leaders of the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi on their own terrain. As such, they were the only unit on the ground who knew what it takes to fight the militia in a head-to-head fight, beyond the limits of the Coalition advance.
Their orders were simple: venture forward behind enemy lines to assault and capture an enemy stronghold known as “Objective #608″ – a walled in compound overlooking the primary staging ground for the Ja’Ish Al-Mahdi’s rocket and ground attacks in the area – and hold that ground “for as long as it takes.”
Little did they know that would turn into a fight for their very lives.
Ex*****on:
On the morning of the 29th of March, the men of Bull Company loaded up into a convoy of twenty-five light-armored Strykers and ventured forward into oblivion. After a twelve-hour firefight, they had finally captured the objective, and settled in for the night to await the enemy counter-attack that was sure to come. Just a few hours into the following morning, they were fully engaged on all fronts – alone, outnumbered, and surrounded – caught in a precarious fight for their very lives.
This is the story of the Mahdi Army Uprising of 2008: a three month struggle that would leave thousands dead, a whole city in ruin, and pave the way for the end of the Iraq war.
…a story our media neglected to tell.
www.strykerbook.com
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