Master Sergeant Thomas Ballard

Soldiers Lauded for Courage Under Fire | A Soldier's Perspective

With that little bit of information and the belief they were facing a force of no more than 15 or 20 militants, 12 paratroopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division's Military Transition Team 0810, went to the aid of the soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 8th Iraqi Army Division, Jan. 28.

The paratroopers' initial mission was to help provide close air support and communication with the helicopters circling high above the fire fight taking place on the ground just north of Najaf.

However, the mission quickly changed as the team approached the site of the ongoing battle. Nearing the battle, the paratroopers saw an AH-64 Apache helicopter fall from the sky.

Immediately the MiTT's mission changed. They moved to the site of the downed chopper to protect the wreckage and look for the pilots.

"When I saw the Apache go down, it immediately changed everything. There was no (Iraqi Army), there was no 12 people, it was all irrelevant," said Master Sgt. Thomas Ballard, non-commissioned officer in charge of MiTT 0810. "Everything was focused on that crash site; nothing else mattered. That's where we had to go and that's what we did."

Once the small team of paratroopers reached the crash site, security became priority number one.

"As we reached the crash site – we were driving on a road parallel to the crash site – so I decided to have Master Sgt. Ballard's vehicle, the lead vehicle, pull onto the far side and the rest of our convoy would remain on the other side," said Lt. Col. Stephen Hughes, deputy commanding officer of the 4th BCT and the MiTT team chief.

"As my vehicle pulled into position in an open area, we started receiving contact with heavy machine-gun fire and an RPG was launched at us," he added.

It didn't take long for the paratroopers to realize they were up against more than a small 15- to 20-man force.

"We began engaging, and continued engaging. There were 265 bodies reported at the end, but I can tell you, there was more than that," Ballard continued. "Everything we shot was targets and collectively, we burned up about 11,000 rounds of machine gun ammo, M4 ammo, M203 grenade launcher ammo and 10 air strikes."

Once the fighting began, it didn't end for the 12-man team until nearly three hours later when backup finally arrived.

"There were a lot of bullets flying, we were only a small group of people and didn't know whether we could hold our position if the enemy made a concerted effort to get to the helicopter," said Maj. John Reed, MiTT operations officer.

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History, gazetteer, and directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight