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U.S. unit wins praise for tactics

Feb-22-2006 » Filed Under: TF Band of Brothers

The 3rd Armored Cavalry, which has operated as part of Task Forces Freedom and Band of Brothers in Tal Afar, recently handed control over to another coalition unit in preparation for redeployment. The 3rd ACR has been praised by the town's mayor, among many others.

Link to Full Article
By Thomas E. Ricks, The Washington Post

TALL AFAR, Iraq — The last time the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment served in Iraq, in 2003-04, it was distinguished by a series of abuse cases growing out of its tour of duty in Anbar province.

But its second tour in Iraq has been very different, according to specialists in the difficult art of conducting a counterinsurgency campaign — fighting a guerrilla war but also trying to win over the population and elements of the enemy.

In the past nine months, the regiment has focused on breaking the insurgents' hold on Tall Afar, a town of 290,000.

U.S. military experts conducting an internal review of the three dozen major U.S. brigades, battalions and similar units operating in Iraq in 2005 privately concluded that of all those units, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment performed the best at counterinsurgency, according to a source familiar with the review's findings.

The regiment's campaign began in Colorado in June 2004, when Col. H. R. McMaster took command and began to train the unit to return to Iraq.

The entire article is worth reading in full.


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