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Stryker troops face big task

Sep-19-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT , 172nd SBCT

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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner

Col. Robert Brown gave some insight Wednesday into what the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team may face during the next 12 months of its deployment in Iraq.

Brown is the commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which will return to Fort Lewis, Wash., after 11 months in Iraq. The 172nd is taking over operations and duties in northern Iraq from the 1/25th.

Brown spoke from Mosul via teleconference during a special Defense Department operational update briefing at the Pentagon on operations in northwest Iraq.

Brown said that during the last year, the 1/25th has fought from Fallujah, Baghdad and the Euphrates River valley, up the Tigris River valley, in Mosul and out to the Syrian borders.

U.S. Army Alaska said Friday that the 172nd is already operating in northern Iraq, primarily in the Mosul area. Four soldiers from the 172nd sustained minor injuries last week in skirmishes around Mosul and Rawah.

Brown's soldiers faced tumultuous times and suffered 33 fatalities. The brigade experienced both pre-election and post-election Iraq and weathered the changing tide of public opinion.

"Prior to the elections last January, we faced a very well-trained foreign fighter and some very intense battles. And what we've seen is a population that was on the fence at that time, to post-election, a population that has absolutely understood that their government, their Iraqi security forces support them and the terrorists offer no hope for the future," Brown said.


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