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TAL AFAR, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 29, 2005) – As a career infantryman, 1st Sgt. Matt Splechter has missed four Christmases away from family due to deployment overseas serving his nation.
He figured his current deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom would be no different, but on Christmas Day in a land far away from home, Splechter was proven wrong.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
As deputy director for operations on the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham sees most of what the U.S. military is doing around the world each day. It’s one of those ringside-at-history jobs.
But it’s nothing like the time he spent leading Fort Lewis-based soldiers across northern Iraq – an assignment he once called “the defining period of my life.”
“It’s going from command in the field, where you’re out and about with soldiers all the time, actively engaged in operations, to a staff job,” Ham said last week. “An important staff job, but nonetheless a staff job.”...
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 27, 2005) – Over 500 soldiers from the Coalition Forces and the Iraqi Army came together for a battle-space assumption handover ceremony.
For the first time within the Nineveh Province of Iraq, the 3/3/2 Iraqi Army assumed military control of battle-space. The Iraqi Army is fully engaged in the fight, and Iraq’s leadership will bring security and stability back to the nation and ultimately defeat the insurgency.
Winds of Change has published its weekly Iraq Report, with links to news and analysis of recent events there.
In addition to her regular news stories, Margaret Friedenauer of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is maintaining a weblog while she is embedded with the 172nd SBCT. She is adding entries almost daily. Today's entry is titled: "Mail, Cigars and Serious Coffee Drinkers". Her weblog also has links to her news stories, other Iraq news and opinion, Iraq maps and weather and a number of photos not seen elsewhere.
Here are three photos of 172nd SBCT soldiers that were recently posted on Army Images.
4-14 CAV photo #1, photo #2
2-1 INF photo
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Norma Melo will have a special memorial Mass celebrated today for her late husband Julian, as she has each month since losing him in Iraq a year ago.
But otherwise, Fort Lewis will not formally observe the anniversary of a day that shook the post like no other in these past four years of war.
It was a year ago today that a suicide bomber detonated himself inside a busy lunchtime chow hall at Forward Operating Base Marez, in Mosul, Iraq. Twenty-two people died, including six Fort Lewis soldiers, and more than 70 were wounded.
Even before the identities of those killed and wounded were made public, those at Fort Lewis braced for the worst. About half of the 4,000 Stryker troops then in northern Iraq lived at FOB Marez....
Image Gallery 1856 and Image Gallery 1854, on the DVIDS site, contain recent photos of the 172nd SBCT, FOB Courage and Mosul.
Here's a follow up to a press release we posted last Thursday.
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER
MOSUL, Iraq--Spc. Lucas Crowe didn't know what to expect Saturday when he arrived at the home of 2-year-old Muhammad.
Two days earlier, Crowe revived the boy after he nearly drowned in a flooded basement. He hadn't gotten word on whether Muhammad was still alive or suffering lasting effects after he was taken to a hospital by Iraqi paramedics.
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, Staff Writer
MOSUL, Iraq--With only a handful of attacks that caused no damage or injuries, Lt. Col. Chuck Webster said the cooperation between U.S. and Iraqi forces to secure Iraq's parliamentary elections Thursday was success.
"The coalition forces were responsible for preparing against a catastrophic event," said Webster, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment of the 172 Stryker Brigade Combat Team. "And luckily, nothing happened. Maybe we did something right."
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
“Gently used” they’re not.
Some, like the engineer-support models that plied the highways each morning in search of roadside bombs, logged more than 70,000 miles. The average mileage across the fleet of 285 or so vehicles is more than 20,000, officials said.
Stryker-maker General Dynamics Land Systems, Inc., has begun work on a $69 million Army contract to restore the battle-tested trucks to “pre-combat, like-new condition.” About 120 company mechanics are doing the work at Fort Lewis and at a company yard in Auburn.
The Strykers arrived home by ship in late October, after a year in Iraq with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, then another year with their successors from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division....
Link to Full Article
By Margaret Friedenauer
HAMMAN AL AIL, Iraq—This area was a hive of terrorist activity a year ago. Now, this community south of Mosul is getting ready to open The Northern Iraq Regional Training Center in an effort to continue strengthening the Iraqi Army for the fight against terrorism.
"Twelve months ago it was the most dangerous area in Iraq and now it's the most safe area in Iraq," Iraqi Army Col. Haje Maher Alzebari said Thursday.
Here are some recent photos we found posted on various sites:
4-23 INF Photo #1
4-23 INF Photo #2
172nd Photo
This Defend America Photo Essay shows Iraqi soldiers in Mosul exercising their right to vote.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Cpt. Matthew Arbogast
172nd BSB
MOSUL, Iraq — Since assuming control from the 25th Brigade Support Battalion, the 172nd Brigade Support Battalion has not only assumed its doctrinal support mission of providing maintenance, medical and supply support, but also a wide range of other critical roles.
The 172nd BSB, also known as the “Opaheys,” provides support to more than 3,000 Soldiers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Sgt. 1st Class Leonard Strickland
A, 4-14th Cavalry
MOSUL, Iraq – The 1st Platoon of A Troop, 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry, conducted a route recon mission one morning in November to confirm or deny enemy activity.
We were clearing and searching for any improvised explosive device emplacements or any anti-Iraqi forces planning an attack on coalition forces on this specific route.
As the platoon moved along we noticed there was no traffic on the route like there usually is.
Link to Full Article
Task Force Freedom
MOSUL, IRAQ — Iraqi Security Forces along with Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches in northern Iraq Dec. 5-12.
In Mosul, Iraqi Army soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Division, along with Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, seized a cache of AK-47s with multiple loaded magazines, a sniper rifle with loaded magazines, an anti-aircraft missile launcher with four missiles, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, 500 more linked rounds of ammunition, a semi-automatic pistol, an automatic rifle, hand grenades, rocket propelled grenade launchers with ammunition and high explosives during a raid Dec. 12.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Tracey Murray
Fort Wainwright PAO
“Where do you sleep?”
“Do you eat good food?”
“Do you take breaks?”
Questions like these come from the third graders at Longview Elementary School in Hickory, N.C. They have been writing to 12 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team Soldiers since November.
Sminklemeyer has posted an email he received from an officer in Mosul regarding election activity yesterday. Good read.
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 16, 2005)-Soldiers from Task Force Freedom distributed a truckload of over 40 large boxes of gifts to Iraqi children at St. George’s Church in the Bartella neighborhood Dec. 14.
About 300 kids were seen smiling with hands full of new clothes, toys, soccer balls, basketballs, and numerous other treasures. Children were also excited about receiving keepsake McDonald’s toys. Not one child left the church empty-handed.
(The following is a letter we recently received from Susan Preston Raybon)
Dear Editor:
There are hundreds of small, personal humanitarian efforts that go on daily, for the most part invisible to the public. These projects are usually tiny and involve one or two special people. The holiday season is a perfect time to tell this story and showcase two really special soldiers, one starting and the other continuing a heartfelt legacy.
Almost everyone has a Heart List even if they have never put a name to it. For the most part, it is an unconscious thing. Usually, it includes our family, our friends and our acquaintances that we admire and emulate. They are the ones whose traits and philosophies either mirror ours or shine above our own mirrors.
You now have the opportunity to vote for Michael Yon's gripping photo from last May as Time Magazine's photo of the year. Visit his site for the details.
Welcome home to the 113th ENG (Indiana National Guard), which spent the past year in Mosul operating as part of Task Force Freedom.
Link to Full Article
By Steve Walsh, Post-Tribune staff writer
INDIANAPOLIS — Birthdays by e-mail and early morning calls from Iraq ended at last for half of the families of the 113th Engineer Battalion.
The first contingent of soldiers from the Indiana National Guard unit from Gary, Hammond, Valparaiso and LaPorte touched down late Tuesday at an armory here after nearly a year in Iraq.
Link to Full Article
By U.S. Army Spc. Stephen L. Proctor
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii, Dec. 12, 2005 – The 5th Stryker Brigade acquired an antitank unit when Company B, 52nd Infantry Regiment, was activated in a ceremony here Dec. 6.
Link to Full Article
By Claude D. McKinney, American Forces Press Service
MOSUL, Iraq, Dec. 12, 2005 – Whether the key to a bright future for a country is to educate the children of the present will be tested in northern Iraq over the next generation, based on the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region North.
Link to Full Article
MARIAM FAM and SINDBAD AHMED, Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq - Power outages and gunfire are daily fixtures in this northern city. But so are election posters, talk of this week's vote and a new freedom to criticize authorities.
Across Mosul, one of two Iraqi cities President Bush cited last week as improving, residents paint a complex picture of life and violent death, progress and decline, hope and despair.
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 12, 2005)- Iraqi Security Forces along with Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 46 suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches in northern Iraq Dec. 5-12.
Winds of Change has published its weekly Iraq Report, with links to news and analysis regarding recent events.
A Joint Tactical Air Controller with the 5th Air Support Operations Squadron at Fort Lewis was recently selected for the 2005 Lance P. Sijan Air Force Leadership Award.
Senior Airman Grailin Blamer earned this recognition for his quick and cool-headed thinking while providing air cover for Soldiers in Iraq. He will receive the award in Washington, D.C., early next year....
U.S. Army Alaska provides us with these two photos and accompanying narratives:
Honoring Fallen Soldiers - from the Ft. Wainwright memorial service for Pfc. Alcozer
Try This on For Size - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reporter Margaret Friedenauer gears up for Iraq.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Spc. Thomas Evenson
C, 2-1st Infantry
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM — I was sitting in my shack surfing the Net and planning on chilling out after a 12-hour detainee guard shift. Some friends came in and asked if I was going to dinner.
“No, I’m just grabbing some pogy bait and taking it easy.” Pogy bait is a term used to describe snacks and candy sent to the Soldiers by family and friends.
“Do you know it’s Thanksgiving?” they asked.
Link to Full Article with Photo
MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi security forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Nov. 27 - Dec. 4.
Iraqi Army soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division, along with Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul Dec. 4.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Spc. Dale Sweetnam
Fort Wainwright PAO
FORT WAINWRIGHT — Coalition forces including Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team recently completed an extensive isolation and containment mission in Ramana, Iraq.
Lt. Col. Mark Freitag of the 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, said nearly 1,000 individuals from the Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force and the Iraqi Army worked together to clear 11 towns encompassing close to 230 square kilometers during offensive operations from Nov. 18-22. The offensive maneuvers were apart of the larger Operation Steel Curtain.
Here are several new images of 172nd soldiers conducting operations in northwestern Iraq.
4-23 INF Photo
4-14 CAV Photo
2-1 INF Photo
Members of the 2-1 INF and 4-14 CAV can be seen conducting operations in this Defend America Photo Essay.
I don't know about you, but I've received a fair amount of email spam recently from senders using our domain name (styrkernews.com). I've seen various addresses used, including info, administrator, webmaster, service, support, and mail @strykernews.com. If you receive an email with an attachment from one of these addresses it is NOT from us. DO NOT open the attachment - simply delete the email. The only time we send out emails is through the forum when people register, or if they have automatic notifications turned on in their profile. Those emails all come from admin (at) strykernews (dot) com, but NEVER contain attachments.
Thanks,
Todd
The following is an informative article profiling an officer with the 139th MPAD, which was deployed to Mosul as part of Task Force Olympia.
Link to Full Article
By Dennis Hines, The MidWeek
Several local students and school officials recently received some important information about cultural diversity.
Captain Angela Bowman of the Illinois Army National Guard gave a presentation during the 16th annual DeKalb County Partnership for a Safe, Active and Family Environment (DCP/SAFE) assembly in which she talked about her experiences in Iraq and about the Iraqi culture.
Winds of Change has published its weekly Iraq Report, with links to news and analysis of recent events there.
Here are some links to recently released photos:
562nd Engineers (Photo One, Photo Two)
2-1 INF Photo
MNF-Iraq Photos (scroll down to Dec. 2 and 3 for photos of the 562nd ENG and 4-14 CAV)
SPC Jason Crews and a fellow soldier from the 4-23 INF can be seen in this Army Images photo.
Photo by SSG James J. Harper Jr.
Here are two recent image galleries featuring the 172nd SBCT:
Iraqi Army NCO Graduation
Shukran Water Facility - 4-11 FA
Cindy McGrew and her Operation Second Chance organization are profiled in the following article. Cindy has also helped a number of Stryker Brigade families, including Michael Oreskovic.
Link to Full Article
by Paul Gordon
War is hell! No one knows that better than those caught in its midst.
This column is not about politics of war. It is about the brave men and women who have returned to this country, physically and mentally shattered, fighting a second battle to pick up the pieces of their lives. [...]
The documentary Kiowa Down, which profiles the efforts of the 3/2 SBCT, is now available on DVD at the Discovery Channel store.
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (December 4, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 64 suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq Nov. 27 - Dec. 4.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained two individuals suspected of attacks on Coalition Forces in Mosul Nov. 27. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and confiscated a weapons cache during operations in Mosul Nov. 30. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during operations in Mosul Dec. 1. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division along with Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Battalion detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul Dec. 4.
Link to Full Article
By Kelly Bostian
The News-Miner is about to send a reporter to Iraq.
Our reporters have traveled long distances to cover local-interest stories over the years. We've written from all corners of Alaska, and most places in-between. [...]
On Tuesday, military reporter Margaret Friedenauer leaves for a six-week stay in Iraq. If all goes well, she will be in Mosul before the Dec. 15 elections, spend the holidays with our troops, and return at the end of January.
She will be embedded with the 172nd Stryker Brigade soldiers from Fort Wainwright and Fort Richardson. The reason for this is simple. It's because those 3,000 soldiers from Fort Wainwright are roughly 10 percent of the Fairbanks population. This is an intensely local story and she will be there to cover the daily activities of our troops, to tell their stories and to help our community understand and share in their daily challenges.
U.S. Army Alaska provides us these photos with captions, titled Honoring Injured Soldiers and Thanks for Your Service.
Photos by SPC Dale Sweetnam, U.S. Army
Link to Full Article with 3 Photos
Chaplain (Capt.) John Grauer
4-23rd Infantry Chaplain
MOSUL, Iraq – A 1,600 year old Christian monastery located eight miles to the northeast of Nimrud or the ancient city of Kalkh, is a gathering place for Christians in a Muslim-dominated area.
The Saint Behnam Monastery was built in the last half of the 4th century and renovated during the 12th and 13th centuries.
It thrives among a Muslim-dominated population and carries on many of the ancient Christian rituals.
In October, I made arrangements for the baptism of two Tomahawk Soldiers at the monastery.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Sgt. 1st Class Jason Arneson
4-11th Field Artillery
FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST, Iraq — Local leaders from the Tigris River Valley came together Nov. 20 to sign a “Contract Against Terror” to signify their opposition to terrorism.
After traditional greetings were exchanged, the ceremony started with Lt. Col. Scott Wuestner, Task Force Thunder commander, thanking the leaders for coming.
Link to Full Article with 5 Photos
Spc. Jeremy Crisp
Army News Service
MOSUL, Iraq — They’re not hard to spot.
Not because they rumble through the streets in their Stryker vehicles; those have been here before.
It’s a new attitude; it’s a new uniform on smiling faces with determination to get the job done.
“We are out here doing what we like to call PR – public relations,” said Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Pickerel, platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon, Company B, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. “Our patrols are designed to let the citizens of Iraq know we are here for them, and we are out here every day.”
Link to Full Article
Sgt. 1st Class Jason Arneson
4-11th Field Artillery
FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST, Iraq — “I swear to God that I will be faithful for my people and protect my country.”
These words marked the solemn oath of 22 students who graduated from Iraqi Police Proficiency Training class 06-01.
This iteration was the first class of an 11-day course taught at FOB Q-West in a joint cooperative effort between the 4th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, Soldiers of Task Force Thunder and the Iraqi police.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Tracey Murray
Fort Wainwright PAO
FORT WAINWRIGHT — Having a baby while a member of the family is deployed can be a difficult part of being military. Knowing it will be a difficult birth can make it worse.
But Ashley and Capt. Timothy McCulloh looked forward to his impending Rest and Recuperation break from the combat zone in Iraq as a time to be together as a family for the first time.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Capt. Christopher Todd
Co. A, 1st Bn. 17th Inf.
MOSUL, Iraq – The Soldiers of Company A, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, didn’t know what to expect before conducting the unit’s first medical screening in the neighborhood of Tal al Ruman here.
Not only was the company concerned about efficiently using the medical staff, we would also be sending an Army chaplain, a civil affairs team and a company of Iraqi Army soldiers.
To top it off, we weren’t even certain any of the locals would show up.
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (November 29, 2005)- The Ninewa Middle School for girls in the Al-Faisaliya neighborhood in Mosul accepted school necessities from Operation Iraqi Children Nov. 29.
Teachers from the Ninewa Middle School received supplies from the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion to hand out to their children. Prearranged by the Department of Education and Mr. Mohammed S. HajRamathan, Provincial Council Chairman for Education, five classrooms with about 150 children received school supplies. Iraqi Security Forces along with the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion provided security for the delivery of the supplies. Each child in the classroom received a kit containing pencils, an eraser, folders, rulers, and other items needed to help them with their studies. The smile on their faces showed the excitement as the supplies were handed out. Spc. Joselyn Bowen, Education Team Leader, Civil Affairs stated “the kids were very excited to get the supplies, and the mission was a great success”.
Operation Iraqi Children was started to help school children and last year gave out supplies to over 2000 children.