Pathfinders in the News:

Pathfinders Watch The Iraq-Syria Border

By Pfc. Joshua Hutcheson
June 10, 2003

Sgt. Bryan Beville, rifleman, Pathfinder Company, 6th Bn., 101st Avn., Rgt., 101st Airborne Division, checks the Syrian-Iraq border 500 meters away for illegal or suspicious activity with a spotting scope.  PFC Joshua Hutcheson

NEAR THE SYRIAN-IRAQ BORDER (Army News Service June 10, 2003) - In a fort near the Syrian border, many kilometers away from the nearest U.S. military outpost, and surrounded by nothing but hills, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division watch the frontier region for prohibited activity.

"We're watching the Syrian border for personnel moving across," said Staff Sgt. Kevin Wettschreck, team leader, Pathfinder Co. 6th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment. "We're watching for illegal activity."

The Pathfinders are the first line of notification in case anything happens at the border. Their mission is to watch and record without engaging in combat.

"We're just observing, we'll let (people) go and try to get their routine," Wettschreck said.

The 10-man team lives in an Iraqi border control point, where they have a 360-degree view of their environment. The other 30-40 soldiers in the company operate out of an Iraqi television station on top of a mountain a few kilometers away.

Every three days the team at the fort rotates with another team from the TV station. Once a team goes out to the border, they're on their own. They bring a supply of MREs, water and fresh fruit, Wettschreck said.

At the border, the Pathfinders work on two-hour shifts, which doesn't give them much downtime, Wettschreck said.

At night, the routine varies just enough to keep anybody watching on the Syrian side on their toes.

"In the evenings I tend to put teams out on the border to watch any persons trying to cross, or any movement," Wettschreck said.

The area is sparsely populated. Villages are located many kilometers apart, with nothing in between but dirt, rocks and grass. It's easy to feel small and alone amidst the sweeping vistas, a soldier said.

Because the fort is centrally located along the border, the Pathfinders can better control the whole mountainous range where the two countries meet, Wettschreck said.

The job is in no way glamorous, often days go by with no activity at the four outposts on the Syrian side. At those times it's an exercise in patience and stamina, Wettschreck said.

"It doesn't feel bad at all," said Sgt. Bryan Beville, a rifleman in the Pathfinder Co. "I've got my teammates here, it gives me ample time to think of good things: my home, my wife and my kids."

In the middle of a hot, languid afternoon a black car is spotted on a road one kilometer away on the Iraqi side. It's headed toward the Pathfinder's lonely outpost.

When the car arrives at the fort three Iraqis emerge, and in halting English, tell the Pathfinders that a local man responsible for cutting down about 20 telephone polls the previous day will be driving close to them with a truck to collect his booty.

The description of the truck changes several times during the conversation, confusing the soldiers. First it's a white pickup truck, then it transforms into a white flatbed semi. The inaccuracies make the Pathfinders' job of identifying and halting the person harder.

Within five minutes a truck is seen on the road, but from the lookout's information, they're able to conclude that it isn't the vehicle the Iraqis were talking about.

Ten minutes later, another truck is spotted. The Pathfinders send a team of four in anticipation of intercepting the truck at its destination. In less then a minute, the team is on the road. They're back 10 minutes later, slightly disappointed; it was the wrong vehicle.

The incident with the truck was a welcome distraction for the Pathfinders, but it isn't typical of their watching experience. Soon it's in the past, as they return to their posts and continue to watch: the road, the border and everything in between.

(Editor's note: SPC. Joshua Hutcheson is a journalist with the 101st Airborne Division's PAO).

Story as originally posted on Army News Service.