Fort Bliss Monitor

1st Lt. Scott Pharis

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment pull out buried ordnance at a weapons cache site they discovered in Baghdad’s Ghazaliya district. More than 400 different pieces of explosive material and munitions were found at the site and were destroyed by an explosive ordnance disposal team. The blast of the controlled detonation could be felt at Camp Liberty, more than six miles away.

2-12 Cav. Regt. finds
muddy weapons cache

Sgt. Michael Leonhardy
2nd Bn., 7th Cav. Regiment

BAGHDAD – During a night patrol in the farm fields of western Ghazaliya, Soldiers from Multi-National Division-Baghdad found what they thought to be an improvised rocket launcher. This small find led to a very large cache buried nearby.

While moving through a field, observers from the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 2nd Battalion,12th Cavalry Regiment, who are currently attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, noticed three pieces of ordnance with the improvised rocket launcher in a cinder block shack. The Soldiers secured the area and waited for daylight to excavate the site.

When sunrise came, the observers linked up with the rest of their Scout Platoon and started investigating the site. 1st Lt. Scott Pharis, on advice from his platoon sergeant, called in an explosive ordnance disposal team to help with the live ordnance. Initially, all the Soldiers found was a wooden box, about the size of a coffin, buried next to the shack.
Further investigation found mounds of dirt that looked like they had been recently disturbed.

“Initially, we thought there was a small cache, maybe only ten rounds. Every time we picked up one round, we would find three more buried in the dirt around it,” said Pharis.

As the Soldiers began to dig, they realized they could not even see how deep the cache went. The Scout Platoon and EOD worked vigorously for 14 hours straight to remove all the ordnance out of the deep mud holes of the cache.

What they found were: 178 120 mm mortar rounds, 126 57 mm rockets, 108 unidentified rounds, four homemade bombs, seven shape charges, three initiators, two 81 mm mortars, two cell phones, three hand grenades, two rocket-propelled grenade warheads, one 130 mm mortar round and one 155 mm artillery round. After all the dust had settled, the Scout Platoon uncovered more than 400 different pieces of explosive material and munitions. This marks the biggest cache found by 2-12 Cavalry since the battalion took over their sector of the Iraqi capital in early November. EOD conducted a controlled detonation to blow the ordnance in place. The explosion was so big it was felt by Soldiers at Camp Liberty, more than six miles away



www.bliss.army.mil	Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso, Texas Community	July 19, 2007

	1st Lt. Scott Pharis Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment pull out buried ordnance at a weapons cache site they discovered in Baghdad’s Ghazaliya district. More than 400 different pieces of explosive material and munitions were found at the site and were destroyed by an explosive ordnance disposal team. The blast of the controlled detonation could be felt at Camp Liberty, more than six miles away. 2-12 Cav. Regt. finds muddy weapons cache Sgt. Michael Leonhardy 2nd Bn., 7th Cav. Regiment BAGHDAD – During a night patrol in the farm fields of western Ghazaliya, Soldiers from Multi-National Division-Baghdad found what they thought to be an improvised rocket launcher. This small find led to a very large cache buried nearby. While moving through a field, observers from the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 2nd Battalion,12th Cavalry Regiment, who are currently attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, noticed three pieces of ordnance with the improvised rocket launcher in a cinder block shack. The Soldiers secured the area and waited for daylight to excavate the site. When sunrise came, the observers linked up with the rest of their Scout Platoon and started investigating the site. 1st Lt. Scott Pharis, on advice from his platoon sergeant, called in an explosive ordnance disposal team to help with the live ordnance. Initially, all the Soldiers found was a wooden box, about the size of a coffin, buried next to the shack. Further investigation found mounds of dirt that looked like they had been recently disturbed. “Initially, we thought there was a small cache, maybe only ten rounds. Every time we picked up one round, we would find three more buried in the dirt around it,” said Pharis. As the Soldiers began to dig, they realized they could not even see how deep the cache went. The Scout Platoon and EOD worked vigorously for 14 hours straight to remove all the ordnance out of the deep mud holes of the cache. What they found were: 178 120 mm mortar rounds, 126 57 mm rockets, 108 unidentified rounds, four homemade bombs, seven shape charges, three initiators, two 81 mm mortars, two cell phones, three hand grenades, two rocket-propelled grenade warheads, one 130 mm mortar round and one 155 mm artillery round. After all the dust had settled, the Scout Platoon uncovered more than 400 different pieces of explosive material and munitions. This marks the biggest cache found by 2-12 Cavalry since the battalion took over their sector of the Iraqi capital in early November. EOD conducted a controlled detonation to blow the ordnance in place. The explosion was so big it was felt by Soldiers at Camp Liberty, more than six miles away