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U.S. Army division prepares to leave Iraq

Jul- 4-2004 » Filed Under: General Military

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By JIM KRANE, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The Army's 1st Armored Division stowed its flags Sunday and prepared to head home after the longest tour in Iraq of any American combat command - 15 months.

Even though it arrived after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, the Germany-based division saw 135 of its soldiers killed - mostly fighting Iraqi guerrillas. It was in the midst of pulling out of Iraq in April when a pair of violent guerrilla uprisings halted its departure.

The division's dead make up about 16 percent of the 858 U.S. troops killed since the war started in March 2003. More than 1,100 1st Armored soldiers were wounded.

"We have learned a lot about the price of freedom," 1st Armored commander Maj. Gen. Martin Dempsey said during a 4th of July ceremony for the division and its companion 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment.

"We learned that people experiencing freedom for the first time may not understand how fragile it can be and how much sacrifice may be required to earn it and preserve it," he added. [...]

They are being replaced by about 12,000 fresh troops, including a brigade combat team from the Army's Fort Drum, N.Y.-based 10th Mountain Division and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif., and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The next U.S. troops scheduled to leave Iraq are the Army's Stryker Brigade - 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, Wash. - followed by the Germany-based 1st Infantry Division.


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