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Schofield soldiers enter harm's way

Sep-13-2006 » Filed Under: 3/2 SBCT

The following article confirms that operational control of northern Iraq has been transferred from Task Band of Brothers to Task Force Lightning, with Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon of the 25th ID in command. The 3/2 SBCT will be part of TF Lightning.

By William Cole, Honolulu Advertiser

[...] Mixon's force includes four maneuver brigades, including the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, a Stryker vehicle unit, in Mosul; the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division in Tikrit; the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Infantry Division in Diyala Province east and north of Baghdad; and the 3rd Brigade out of Schofield in and around the oil-producing city of Kirkuk.

The 45th Sustainment Brigade out of Schofield is based at Qayyarah West airfield, or "Q-West," south of Mosul, and the aviation brigade with Kiowa, Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters operates across northern Iraq.

"The primary mission, unquestionably, is to train the Iraqi security forces so they can conduct operations on their own," Bednarek said. "That's kind of Mission Job 1."

The task works to Task Force Lightning's strong suit "because our soldiers are superbly trained," Bednarek said.

But getting the growing forces equipped through the Iraqi Ministry of Defense is just one of the challenges.

"You name it, (they need) uniforms, weapons, vehicles, gas, small arms, rifles, pistols, machine guns," Bednarek said. "They are getting better (at providing equipment). I would say probably at a marginal to medium level. Some are a little better than others as far as their total equipment capabilities, but we're getting better at it every day."


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