ALPHA COMPANY SEEMED TO BE DOING everything right. After a soldier in a nearby unit got wounded by a mortar attack, the platoon entered the city of Medina Jabal in textbook fashion. The soldiers went to the chief of police and asked him to accompany them on a search for the insurgents. Working through a translator, they respectfully interviewed the locals. After spying two villagers trying to hide a rifle, the soldiers gave chase in the 110F heat. They captured the men and brought them in for questioning. Soon after, things took a deadly turn. An improvised explosive device (IED) hidden in the street exploded, killing two Alpha Company soldiers and three of their Iraqi Army colleagues. The Americans quickly established a security perimeter and called for a truck to evacuate bodies. But before it arrived a car bomb went off, killing two more U.S. soldiers. "They failed to put a distance between them and the IED," said Sergeant First Class John Placentia, noting that insurgents often set off several explosions in a row to kill people who respond to the first one. "This platoon is now combat-ineffective. The enemy was successful." Fortunately for all involved, it was only a training exercise.
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