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Fort Lewis soldiers to swap duty

Sep- 8-2004 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT , 3/2 SBCT

Since this article about the deployment ceremony has additional information about the transfer we thought we would post it separately.

[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune

At Fort Lewis these days they're either coming or they're going.

Family members with soldiers in the Army's first Stryker brigade, 10 months into a yearlong mission in Iraq, are counting the days until they'll be together again.

Meanwhile their counterparts from the second Stryker brigade are beginning to say their long goodbyes. The 4,000-strong brigade and some 3,000 well-wishers turned out for a formal departure ceremony Tuesday at Watkins Field.

"It's hard to believe, but it's been almost a year since we gathered on this field to say farewell" to the first of the two Stryker brigades, noted the post commander, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano.

In fact, it was last Oct. 30. By that date this year, both brigades will be in Iraq as troops from the first make a battlefield handoff to their replacements from the second.

Officials said the replacements - the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, known as the Lancers - will benefit from the experiences of their comrades with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, known as the Arrowhead Brigade.


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