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Fort welcomes Task Force Olympia home

Feb-14-2005 » Filed Under: TF Olympia

I apologize for not posting this until today. Welcome home and thank you!

Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT AND BILL HUTCHENS; The News Tribune

Fort Lewis offered a formal welcome home Friday to the men and women of Task Force Olympia, back from a year of running U.S. military operations across northern Iraq.

The 100 or so soldiers arrived in Iraq in January 2004 in time to replace a much larger division headquarters, and left as Iraqis held their historic election last month.

Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the Fort Lewis commanding general, praised the task force for assembling on short notice to replace several hundred soldiers who’d been doing the same job with the 101st Airborne Division.

The task force had less than 30 days to plan its move from the local post to Iraq.

“Time was a luxury that this task force did not have,” Dubik said, later adding, “They demonstrated that we are an Army that’s relevant, an Army that’s ready.”

The Army plucked the task force commander, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, from his post as deputy commanding general for training and readiness at Fort Lewis.

The task force comprised mostly senior officers and noncommissioned officers from the post’s I Corps staff, covering an array of specialities: legal, finance, engineering, contracting, security, civil affairs, communication, training and others.

They were the headquarters for U.S., coalition and Iraqi units, the largest of which were the two Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigades. It was the first combat since the Korean War for the I Corps headquarters.

Ham is still in Mosul, handing over duties to his replacement. He is expected to return to Fort Lewis in the next week or so, but he won’t stay long. He’s been assigned a new job at the Pentagon.


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