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Last 101st convoy leaves Iraq, I Corps sets flag

Feb-10-2004 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

[Link to Full Article] (Photos included)

By Pfc. Thomas Day and Sgt. Jeremy Heckler

NAVISTAR, Kuwait (Feb. 10, 2004) – The last 101st Airborne Division convoy rolled across the Iraqi border just before 5 a.m. Kuwaiti time this morning, leaving behind a mission that spanned almost a year...

Last week, with hundreds of regional Iraqi leaders and coalition partners looking on, the 101st Airborne Division transferred authority and operational control of Ninewa, Irbil and Dahuk provinces to “Task Force Olympia.” The ceremony Feb. 5 took place at the palace headquarters complex in northern Mosul.

The ceremony marked the culmination of several weeks of transition operations and regional handovers in Tall Afar, Qayyara and Mosul, as many units under the operational control of Task Force Olympia, including 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), worked in conjunction with 101st Airborne Division Soldiers to ensure a seamless transition of authority...

As the Screaming Eagle colors departed, a covered and furled guidon appeared and took its place in the color guard. Brigadier Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia, and Sgt. Maj. Patrick Pacheco uncased and unfurled the Task Force Olympia colors – the colors of I Corps - before the color-bearer raised them to the heavens...

Task Force Olympia is a sub-element of 1st Corps headquarters based at Fort Lewis, Wash. The unit includes representatives from all three components of the U.S. Army (Active, Reserve and National Guard) as well as United States Marine Corps and Australian officers. Task Force Olympia’s subordinate units include the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (SBCT), from Fort Lewis, four Iraqi Civil Defense Corps battalions, three Iraq Border Police battalions and several thousand members of the Iraq Facility Protection Security Forces and will soon include an Iraq Armed Forces battalion.

The ceremony marked the first time that 1st Corps command elements have forward deployed in combat since the end of the Korean War.


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