Land Warriors
Wired magazine takes a look at some of the high-tech Land Warrior gear the 5/2 SBCT will be deploying with soon.
The soldiers of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are shipping out to Afghanistan this month — equipped with a controversial array of infantryman gadgets: electronic maps, GPS beacons, wearable computers, and digital radios. The troops are wondering just how useful the eight-pound, $48,000-per-soldier “Land Warrior” gizmo collection will really be, and whether the benefit will really be worth the extra weight.It’s not the first time G.I.s have expressed concerns about the Land Warrior system. Nor is it the first time the technology array has proven its its value, despite its doubts.
Double Deployment
The News Tribune profiles a military family with two children as both parents prepare to deploy at the same time.
If Tara Schneider can steal a few minutes during her lunch break, she’ll rush to her Steilacoom home and fire up her webcam. On the other end are her two daughters, 3-year-old Autumn and 6-month-old Teagan, both now living in Miami.Schneider, an Army sergeant at Fort Lewis, admits this bit of bonding can’t compare with hugging them and talking in person. “It can be kind of tough,” she said. “I miss them, and the webcam really just isn’t the same.”
But with yearlong deployments looming for Tara and her husband, Sgt. Brandon Schneider, the couple doesn’t have much choice. Their daughters are living in Florida with Tara’s father and stepmother, and the family is preparing for the stress of being apart.
Stryker Brigade Trains on Unmanned Aircraft
Story by Pfc. Victor Ayala, 49th Public Affairs Detachment (Airborne)
Nearly a mile in the sky, a 400 lb. bird of steel flies in deliberate, careful patterns, watching the world below with an unblinking eye. It can tell the living from the inanimate, the friendly from the enemy, and relay that information back to its controllers instantly without ever giving up its position. Armed only with its camera, the unmanned aerial surveillance vehicle, Shadow, is a weapon of intelligence, and it's giving Soldiers with Fort Lewis's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, the edge they need at the Joint Readiness Training Center here.
Since the training began at the JRTC in early June, the Soldiers of Darkhorse Troop, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, have been sending these UAVs into the air to support the many training missions undertaken by the brigade. While Soldiers may not even realize the Shadow is in the air during many of their operations, they have all benefited from its capabilities at one point or another.
"The Shadow is the commander's eye on the battlefield," said Spc. Eric Myles, a UAV operator with Darkhorse Troop. "It's surveillance, target acquisition and route reconnaissance all in one."
Transition in Diyala
According to The New York Times the transfer of certain combat outposts to Iraqi control in the Diyala Province did not happen as smoothly as expected.
In Diyala Province, where the Americans closed 11 of 18 bases or outposts before Tuesday’s deadline, the transfers did not go entirely smoothly. An official in Mr. Maliki’s office showed up early at a camp near Baquba and complained that the Americans had not left behind generators and air-conditioners for the Iraqis — something the American commander in the region said had never been part of the agreement. The dispute on Sunday delayed the formal transfer.“You can’t treat your partners that way,” the commander, Col. Burt K. Thompson of the First Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, said in Baquba.
Related:
Strykers turn control of combat outposts to Iraqi forces - News-Miner
Update on Injured Stryler Soldier
The Carlsbad Current-Argus has an update on a soldier with the 56th SBCT, SSG Michael Leach, who was injured recently in Iraq.
CARLSBAD — For Staff Sgt. Michael Leach, an army reservist fighting in Iraq, June 17 was a day both lucky and unlucky. It is also a day that will be forever burned into his memory.Leach, who in civilian life serves as director of surgical nursing at Carlsbad Medical Center, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire with al-Qaida suicide bombers. They were flushed out by the Iraqi army during a raid on a house where al-Qaida insurgents were believed to be hiding.
Leach said he is blessed to have survived taking three bullets from an AK-47 two in his right arm and one in his right side and to be able to talk about it.
Stryker Soldier Awarded Soldier's Medal
The News-Miner profiles Spc. Ricardo Farrell, who was recently awarded the Soldier's Medal.
FAIRBANKS — A Fort Wainwright soldier has been awarded the Soldier’s Medal for rescuing a trapped soldier from a flooding Stryker vehicle.Spc. Ricardo Farrell, of Annandale, Va., a member of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, was part of a convoy on combat patrol Dec. 22 when the Stryker he was riding in swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle. [...]
The Virginia native dove into what soldiers call the “hell hole,” a small opening between the compartment and driver’s seat, to rescue his comrade.
Baqubah ceremony highlights transition in security in Diyala
Multi-National Division – North
DIYALA, Iraq – A ceremony to celebrate the transition of security in the cities from Coalition forces to Iraqi Security Forces was held in Baqubah on June 25.
The ceremony was attended by senior government officials in the Diyala province along with Coalition leadership from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team and the 25th Infantry Division.
During the ceremony Diyala governor Abd-al-Nasir al-Mahdawi spoke of the transition in security and the efforts by many to gain and hold stability in Diyala. Former Diyala Governor Ra’ad, Brig. Gen. James Nixon deputy commanding general for operations 25th Infantry Division, and Col. Burt Thompson, commander of the 1/25 SBCT also spoke about progress in the province and goals for the region.
The ceremony, which included a dinner for the guests, was one of two being held in Diyala in the days leading up to the June 30 deadline for U.S. combat forces pull out of Iraqi cities, villages, and communities. On June 29, a transition ceremony is scheduled to occur in another city in Diyala province, Muqdadiah, which will focus on the progress made towards peace and stability in that community and region.
“This event certainly displays the high degree of cooperation made by the Iraqi Security Forces and the Coalition in recent history,” said, Maj. Chris Hyde, 1/25SBCT public affairs officer. “The Iraqi Army and Police Force have improved dramatically in their ability to provide security for the people and communities of the province. As Coalition forces pull out of the region’s cities, we leave the people of Diyala in the strong, capable, and energetic hands of the Iraqi Security Forces.”
PA NG Soldiers Deliver Food to Abu Ghraib Orphanage
Story by Sgt. Philip Schratwieser
BAGHDAD – Soldiers of Company C of the 2nd Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, "Paxton Rangers", 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad conducted a combined patrol through Abu Ghraib June 25 to disrupt insurgents in the area and improve their relationship with their Iraqi counterparts.
The area they patrolled is called the "1st of June" as Iraqis often name areas after significant dates in their history.
Leading the patrol was a platoon from the 24th Brigade, 6th Iraqi army Division. As a result of the agreement between coalition forces and the nation of Iraq all combat operations are now conducted jointly.
One of the goals of these joint operations is training, another is to show the people that there is a transition happening as coalition forces begin pulling back.
Labor of Love
The Northwest Guardian also has a nice piece on the upcoming release of the book "Last Journey" by Darrell Griffin Sr.
The bond between a Fort Lewis Soldier and his father has survived death and become tangible in a unique book. The volume will soon join the growing number chronicling Iraq combat experiences, but “Last Journey: A Father and Son in Wartime” is different.The author sets the accounts of his son’s concurrent military, intellectual and internal lives in the biography of a truly exceptional Soldier, adding his own narrative to his son’s original e-mails and journal entries.
In a literal labor of love, Darrell Griffin Sr., the father of a former 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division staff sergeant, finished the book he started in collaboration with the son he lost in Iraq. For his research and seeking closure for his grief, he made an improbable trip to Iraq to the Sadr City street where his son died. Atlas & Company Publishers will release “Last Journey” Monday, co-authored by Griffin Sr. and his son, Skip, who was killed by a sniper’s bullet March 21, 2007. He was riding air guard in the rear hatch of his Stryker vehicle when he was struck from behind, between his Kevlar helmet and the top of his flack vest – a tragically perfect shot.
Related:
Last Journey - Book website
5/2 SBCT Deployment
The Northwest Guardian has two new articles regarding the pending deployment of the 5/2 SBCT to Afghanistan.
