Building leaders
Link to Full Article
By Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th MPAD
MOSUL — Low crawling through dust and dirt at the newly established Battle Academy on Forward Operating Base Marez, Mosul, Iraq, is one way to get 19 Iraqi Army Soldiers and 4 Iraqi policemen to focus on basic infantry survival skills.
U. S. Army Soldiers from Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash, are training weekly rotations from the IA and the IP’s basic individual and buddy movements for survival and recovery under fire.
”The purpose of us being here today is to train the Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi police on how to perform individual movement techniques,” said Staff Sgt. Steven Wertman, Co. B, 5th Bn., 20th Inf. Rgt., and resident of Milton, Wash.
According to Wertman, their week-long training starts out with basic individual Soldiering skills aimed at improving leadership by building better leaders.
An Iraqi Policeman moves toward the direction of gunfire using sandbags for cover. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.Additionally, the IA Soldiers and the IP’s will be instructed on how to conduct traffic control check points and other troop leading procedures.[...]
Mosul photos
BLOG-AH has posted a couple of photos of B. Co., 5-20 in Mosul.
Sgt. 1st Class Richard J. Henkes II
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who
was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. 1st Class Richard J. Henkes II, 32, of Portland Ore., died on
Sept. 3 of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations. Henkes was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
A Tribute to SFC Henkes - Ft. Lewis Ranger
Clackamas High graduate dies in Iraq - The Oregonian
Oregon soldier killed in Iraq - Associated Press
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq ID’d - The News Tribune
Funeral set for soldier killed in Iraq - The Oregonian
ISF, MND-B reach out to residents of Bakriya
Link to Full Article
By 2nd BCT PAO, 1st Arm. Div.
Blackanthem Military News, BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces working closely with Multi-National Division – Baghdad continued Operation Together Forward Monday with Operation South Sword Search in the Baghdad neighborhood of Bakriya.
Policemen of 1st Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, and Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, along with Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, MND-B, are working to clear the area of illegal weapons and put an end to terrorist activities.
“This was a totally combined operation with the 1st Bn., 5th Bde., 2nd NPD, and 1st Bde., 6th IAD,” said Maj. Jesse Pearson of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn. 23rd Inf. Regt. “They were extremely successful in helping us capture enemy personnel, and question them for intelligence.”
“We are capitalizing on successes of Operation Together Forward by denying terrorists the means to hide weapons,” added Capt. Miller of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Bn., 23rd Inf. Regt.
As well as securing the neighborhood, Lt. Col. Avanulas Smiley, commander, 1st Bn., 23rd Inf., Regt., took advantage of an opportunity to talk to residents about services offered in the neighborhood.
“With the Iraqi battalion we are working with, we are going to continue on the path to reduce violence and crime. One of the ways to do that is by cleaning up the neighborhood.” said Lt. Col. Smiley.
Since the launch of Operation Together Forward, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team has searched more than 27,000 buildings and seized more than 600 illegal weapons and detained 32 suspected terrorists.
In Memory of Sgt. Gabriel DeRoo
Written by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq (28 August, 2006) - - Soldiers, civilians and distinguished visitors gathered in the Community Affairs Center theater at Forward Operating Base Marez, Mosul, Iraq, to honor the memory of a fallen Soldier, Sgt. Gabriel DeRoo.
DeRoo served as a M-240-gunner, automatic rifleman and a team leader for Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
“Last night, as a family, we had our time together to share our experiences and celebrate the man and the life of Gabriel DeRoo,” said Capt. Jim Harbridge, commander, Co. A, 2nd Bn., 3rd Inf.
Regt., 3rd SBCT ‘Legionnaires’. “He would not dwell on the sorrow of leaving a young wife and son behind. He had recognized that what he had worked for in this life, he had obtained.”
DeRoo’s friend and squad leader, Staff Sgt. Nicholas Crosby, Co. A, 2nd Bn., 3rd Inf. Regt., 3rd SBCT ‘Legionnaires’, recalled DeRoo’s affection for the Army-issued black fleece cold weather jacket and pull-over watch cap.
“I know that if it was up to him, we would all be in our black fleeces and beanies right now. He once said that was the best thing the Army ever gave him,” said Crosby.
“If he had his black fleece jacket and his black fleece cap, he was good and everyone around him was good.”
Chaplain (Capt.) Tim McCort, 2nd Bn, 3rd Inf. Rgt., closed out the memorial service eulogy with a Bible passage from the 23rd Psalm.
“The 23rd Psalm was written during a time of intense pain and crisis in David’s life, when his life and kingdom were at risk. The psalm tells us that God provides all in life that we really need,” said McCort. “The journey is over for Sgt. DeRoo but it is the beginning of his eternal rest. Even though Sgt. DeRoo has passed out of our sight, he has not passed out of the Shepard’s hands. In fact, the Shepard now carries him in his arms and close to his heart.”
DeRoo’s Army awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge and the Expert Infantryman’s Badge.
Raid Captures Insurgent
Written by Spc Yolanda Moreno Leon, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq (August 28, 2006) –Soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division in conjunction with Soldiers of Co. C, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division conducted a joint raid in the villages of Al Mochat and Sayid Hamid, Mosul, Iraq. The search was named Operation Scorpion Hunt.
The IA conducted a house to house search looking for known insurgents that have targeted Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces. The purpose was to disrupt anti-Iraqi-force activity and operations in the Mosul area.
“We were there to assist the IA in capturing and detain some key personnel,” said First Sgt. Viriato Ferrera, Co. C, 2nd Bn, 3rd Inf. Rgt., 3rd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div., and native of King City, Calif.. ”For this Scorpion Hunt we had Soldiers of the 549th Military Police, a dog handler, and Civil Affairs”
According to Ferrera, the IA planned and executed the operation with support from U.S. forces. The IA found one person that was wanted in the Sayid Hamid neighborhood.
“The insurgent was recognized by an IA Soldier,” said Ferrera. “They did an excellent job preparing for and executing this mission.”
“The mission went very well,” said Capt. Brent Clemmer, commander Co. C, 2nd Bn, 3rd Inf. Rgt., 3rd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. “It would have been nice to catch more bad guys, we did capture one and we received confirmation from an Iraqi police major that he was a wanted AIF.”
Keeping the Supplies Stocked
Written by Spc Yolanda Moreno Leon, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq (29 August 2006) – In order for Soldiers to do their jobs on a daily basis, they need supplies. They need to be close, readily accessible and someone must be accountable for them.
One unit does just that, the 296th Brigade Supply Battalion is responsible for logistical support to units in Iraq so they can complete their jobs efficiently.
“We are responsible for requisitions and the issue of all class of supplies to the3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division units and supporting units’ throughout Theater,” said Chief Warrant Officer Mark Brown, warehouse accountable officer, Co. A, 296th BSB, 3rd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div., and native of Port Orchard, Wash.
The BSB is responsible for several different types of supplies including subsistence, gratuitous health items, clothing, individual equipment, fuels, construction material, major end items, (launchers, tanks and vehicles), and repair parts and components to include kits, assemblies, and subassemblies (repairable and non-repairable) required for maintenance support of all equipment.
All supplies the BSB deals with, enables Coalition Soldiers to perform their duties daily. One supply that the BSB always tries to have more of is water.
“What we do have on hand is class I water,” said Brown. “That is one supply class we never try to be short of for the troops; so they can survive in this heat.”
In order for a unit to request supplies they have to be enrolled in the Department of Defense Activity Address Code, without it they cannot get any supplies from the BSB warehouse. Once a DODAAC is established, the unit Supply Sgt. will go to the BSB and hand in a request form for what the unit needs.
“We use the Standard Army Retail Supply System for units to order supplies,” said Brown. “The Supply Sgt. will hand in a request form depending on the class; if we have the part, we will give it to them right away; if not, we process the order. Some parts such as from having to obtain the parts form United States.
The BSB has one Sgt. working with the Iraqi Army, trying to establish their own supply unit so their units they can supply their own Soldiers.
The daily inventory at the BSB runs about four million dollars. They are also responsible for retrograde, redistribution of serviceable and non-serviceable supply. They are responsible to keep track of files, and records of everything on their main computer system.
“I like the constant challenge of moving parts,” said Brown. “In logistics’ there’s always something new to learn.”
Better Than It Used to Be
Written by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th MPAD
Mosul, Iraq (30 August, 2006) - - When military vehicles breakdown, need maintenance or an engine overhaul, who does the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team turn to? The Brigade Support Battalion motor pool.
Thirty-seven wheeled vehicle mechanics from Fort Lewis, Wash. stationed at Forward Operating Base Marez, Mosul, Iraq, put in long days to keep more than 1200 pieces of equipment up and running for the 3rd SBCT and various other units.
“We do it all in support of the 3rd SBCT,” said Staff Sgt. Jesse Garcia, motor sergeant, Company B, 296th BSB. “We provide mechanical support for everybody.”
According to Garcia, after deploying to Iraq last July, Co. B was able to bring the overall operational rate of brigade assigned equipment from 64 percent to a current operational rate of 92 percent.
“This reflects on the hard work and dedication of the Soldiers that work here,” said Garcia who is a resident of Chicago, Ill. “What’s more amazing is that the unit is currently at 45 percent strength.”
Having an under-manned unit does not seem to deter Garcia and his crew. In addition to working six and one-half days a week, they also perform guard duty at FOB Marez’s front gate, instruct Iraqi Soldiers on vehicle maintenance, and will go as far as Fort Tal Afar to retrieve broken-down military vehicles.
“One of the biggest obstacles is going out to do recovery of vehicles and other equipment because it takes at least four or five Soldiers from the motor pool,” said Garcia.
A note of importance that helps the 296th run like a well oiled motor pool is the fact that Garcia and four non-commissioned officers and six lower enlisted Soldiers have been deployed to FOB Marez before.
“This gives the unit an advantage by having more control when reacting to situations,” said Garcia. “It also helps us reach our goal of making it a little bit better when we leave here.”
Deaths in Iraq leave intact bond between soldier roommates
Link to Full Article
BRENT CHAMPACO; The News Tribune
The bond between Cpl. Kenneth Cross and Pfc. Daniel Dolan was obvious even when the two weren’t in uniform, their fellow soldiers say.
They were once roommates. They attended each other’s parties. Friends often saw them joking together in the barracks.
The two men also died together Aug. 27, when a roadside bomb hit their Stryker vehicle in Baghdad.
On Tuesday, about 250 people filled the Fort Lewis Main Post Chapel to honor the pair.
Lt. Col. Chris Cieply, a Stryker brigade chaplain, said Cross’ and Dolan’s deaths are especially tragic because the two were so close. Cross, 21, was a resident of Superior, Wis. Dolan, 19, was from Roy, Utah.
“They lived together and died together,” Cieply said.
Cross and Dolan were the first Stryker troops from Fort Lewis to be killed in Baghdad. About 1,400 Fort Lewis soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are part of a beefed-up U.S. and Iraqi force that’s trying to put down sectarian fighting and violent crime in the capital.
The explosion that struck a 21-ton armored Stryker on Aug. 27 instantly killed Cross and wounded Dolan, who died hours later at a Baghdad military hospital, according to the Stars and Stripes newspaper.
The attack wounded seven soldiers, the newspaper reported. It included two roadside bombs, gunfire and a mortar attack.
The brigade has lost four soldiers since returning to Iraq in July. Sgt. Gabriel G. DeRoo, 25, was killed Aug. 20 by gunfire in Mosul, the northern city where the brigade is headquartered.
Another Stryker soldier was killed near Mosul on Sunday in a roadside bombing. The soldier’s name had not been released by Tuesday evening.[...]
Freedom Journal - Episode 468
The Freedom Journal is a multimedia newsletter distributed by Task Force Band of Brothers. Episode 468 features video of the 3/2 & 172nd SBCTs as they transfer responsibility in Mosul.
2-3 Receives Combat Patch
Written by Sgt. Dennis Gravelle, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq (August 28, 2006) –During a combat patch ceremony held at Forward Operating Base Marez, Mosul, Iraq, Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment received the 3rd Infantry Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Inf. Division combat patch.
The value of the patch is recognized as a means of building morale, camaraderie, and solidarity. Soldiers received the patch for their participation in combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“Since WWI, the Indian Head patch of the 2nd Inf. Div. has marked an American warrior,” said Col. Steven Townsend, commander, 3rd SBCT, 2nd Inf. Div. “Since WWII, the Indian head patch on the right sleeve marked a combat veteran.”
The evolution of the insignia began in March 1918, during WWI when vehicle markings were requested for division vehicles to identify themselves from French traffic in the Verdun sector of the front. An Indian head, painted red, and a war bonnet, painted blue, were stenciled on all 2nd division vehicles.
Maj. Gen John Lejeune, USMC, commander of the unit until 1918 proposed an Indian head embodied on a white star.
The Indian head would then be copied from that of the head of a five dollar coin. Lejeune justified the insignia by stating that the design had been used in the division for some time and had already been painted on all the transportation in the division. In November 1918, the division was given approval to wear the Indian head patch.
Most of the insignia used by the U.S. Army is based on historic facts or on some attribute of the organization concerned. All symbols, whether animals, birds or inanimate objects must face the honorable side or appear in full face. This is a carry over from the Middle Ages, when a Knight defended with his sword in his right hand.
After WWII, wearing of a unit patch on the right shoulder was approved to denote service in combat with that unit.
“Today, and forever more you are combat veterans of the 2nd Inf. Div,” said Townsend. “Be proud of that.”
Combined Forces Provide Medical Aid
by 2nd Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
BAGHDAD, Aug. 30, 2006 — Soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, along with U.S. Army soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad (MND-B), provided medical treatment to residents of Ghazaliya during Operation Ghazaliya Aid.
The medical operation in the Baghdad neighborhood attracted nearly 200 residents, who were treated for a variety of medical conditions.
“The medical operation was a great event that helped a lot of people in Ghazaliya,” said U.S. Army Capt. Robert Callaghan. “It showed what could be accomplished by the neighborhood
council, Iraqi police and the National police, when they work together in the best interest of the people.”
Iraqi army medical personnel, supported by MND-B soldiers, treated each person who waited in line and referred future medical concerns to the Ghazaliya Primary Care Clinic, which recently reopened in the neighborhood.
Along with medical aid, the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and MND-B soldiers worked to build support and cooperation with the local population. Sgt. 1st Class Cesar Valdez, HHC, was among the MND-B soldiers who worked with the ISF as Ghazaliya residents waited to receive medical care.
“The Iraqi Security Forces were instrumental in managing the long line of residents who showed up to take advantage of this opportunity,” said Valdez.
(via Defend America)
Camp Liberty soldiers hit hard by friends’ deaths
Link to Full Article
by Anita Powell, Stars and Stripes
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq — Spc. Kenneth Cross was a tall, lanky 21-year-old soldier who dreamed of getting out of the Army and starting a family with his young bride.
Pfc. Daniel Dolan, 19, loved apple-flavored chewing tobacco and talked incessantly of his snowboarding exploits and what he described as “the only girlfriend I need”: his Subaru STi sports car.
On Sunday, both were killed in a complex, coordinated attack in northwestern Baghdad.
They were members of 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, a Fort Lewis, Wash.-based part of the 2nd Infantry Division. According to Army records, Cross was a native of Superior, Wis.; Dolan was from Roy, Utah.
Both were posthumously promoted — Cross to corporal, Dolan to specialist. They were the first casualties for the battalion since it arrived in Iraq in early August to participate in Operation Together Forward, a mission to reduce sectarian violence in Baghdad.
For soldiers in Cross and Dolan’s platoon, the pain was still fresh Wednesday as they spoke of their friends. For some, the pain was more than emotional: seven soldiers were wounded in Sunday’s attack, which included two roadside bombs, several incidences of gunfire, and a mortar attack.
Cross and Dolan’s Stryker vehicle was destroyed by the first roadside bomb. The explosion killed Cross instantly and wounded Dolan, who died hours later at a military hospital in Baghdad.
Their friends struggled Wednesday to describe the two men, with whom they shared two large, crammed, messy tents on Camp Liberty.
Soldier leading by example
Link to Full Article
The Herald News
Sgt. Joseph J. Antole of Lockport wanted to teach his son about the importance of life and its choices.
That's one of the reasons he joined the U.S. Army, to make something out of his life and lead by example, doing something positive with his life.
Antole enlisted in 2002. He is assigned to Headquarters, 2nd Infantry Division, 3rd Brigade.
Antole and his unit have been sent to Iraq twice.
Antole was deployed to Mosul from November 2003 to October 2004 as a fire support specialist. He served as a forward observer and fire chief with distinction.
His job was to report back to higher command for fire support when it was needed against the insurgents.
Antole's unit was the first Stryker unit to be deployed to Iraq. During this deployment, he drove a "fast assault unit" as a fire support team driver. From what I'm told, this is one of the fastest moving vehicles the military has.
On one mission, Antole engaged the enemy during both direct fire and mortar attacks at a place called Forward Operation Base Marez. For his skill under fire, he was awarded a Combat Action Badge.
Antole's unit saw a lot of action on his first deployment and lost about 20 soldiers.
SPC Kenneth M. Cross
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Kenneth M. Cross, 21, of Superior, Wisconsin died during combat operations August 27, in Baghdad, Iraq, when his Stryker Vehicle came in contact with enemy forces using an improvised explosive device and small arms fire. Cross was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his loved ones. Articles will be added to this entry as we find them.
Baghdad-based Stryker driver killed in action - The News Tribune
Parkland soldier killed in Iraq - Green Bay Press-Gazette
Fort Lewis Soldier Killed In Iraq - KOMO News
Parkland man killed in Iraq - Superior Daily Telegram
Twin Ports soldier dies in Iraq - Minnesota Public Radio
Fort Lewis loses two in battle - The News Tribune
Camp Liberty soldiers hit hard by friends’ deaths - Stars & Stripes
Deaths in Iraq leave intact bond between soldier roommates - The News Tribune
A memorial for a fallen soldier - Duluth News Tribune
PFC Daniel G. Dolan
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
PFC Daniel G. Dolan, 19, of Roy, Utah died during combat operations August 27, in Baghdad, Iraq, when his Stryker Vehicle came in contact with enemy forces using an improvised explosive device and small arms fire. Dolan was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and fellow soldiers he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Utah family mourns soldier - Deseret News
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq - Seattle P-I
Fort Lewis loses two in battle - The News Tribune
Camp Liberty soldiers hit hard by friends’ deaths - Stars & Stripes
Deaths in Iraq leave intact bond between soldier roommates - The News Tribune
GI killed in Iraq laid to rest in Roy - Salt Lake Tribune
Fallen soldier is given a hero's farewell - Salt Lake Tribune
David Hardt: A Battle in Iraq
The Ft. Lewis Ranger newspaper has published Hardt's latest column online - he is serving with the 3/2 SBCT in Baghdad. They also have a number of short updates from embedded reporter J.M. Simpson, who is now in Mosul.
‘He knew the risks, but he wasn’t afraid’
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
It was harder for Army Sgt. Gabriel G. DeRoo to go to Iraq this time. He had a wife now, and a new son.
But he went. He had a profound sense of duty, and an abiding Christian faith that no matter what happened, God would take care of him, his wife and parents said.
Loved ones he left behind are taking comfort in their young soldier’s convictions and drawing on their own faith to get them through.
DeRoo, 25, was killed Aug. 20 when he was struck by small-arms fire in Mosul, the Defense Department said. He was the first soldier from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division to be killed since its return last month for a second tour in Iraq.
An overflow crowd of some 500 people gathered for a memorial ceremony Monday at the Fort Lewis Main Post Chapel.
Commanders, chaplains, soldiers and family members told of a man who lived by his principles, and above all was dedicated to his religious faith.
“He would kid … about having to do things the hard way, whether it was hoeing on his hands and knees in the garden, whatever it might be,” said his father, David, an eighth-grade teacher from Decatur, Mich.
“I said, ‘The Army is a pretty hard choice,’” he recalled. “He says, ‘Dad, I’m healthy. I’m a young man. And I owe it to my country, truly the best country on the face of the earth.’
“How could I argue with that?”
His wife, Hannah, read a brief statement to reporters that her husband returned to Iraq out of “a sincere love for this nation and for the Iraqi people and with a complete trust in God. … He knew the risks, but he wasn’t afraid.”
Related Article:
Family Mourns Death Of Fort Lewis Soldier - KOMO News, includes interview with Hannah DeRoo
Troops hear how to avoid culture clash
Link to Full Article
SEAN COCKERHAM; The News Tribune
U.S. soldiers in Iraq have to operate in a culture where it’s legal and routine to own an AK-47, family honor is restored through revenge, and showing a boot sole could start a riot.
“Showing the bottom of your feet is the equivalent of giving someone the middle finger,” Yvonne Pawelek, a Fort Lewis culture specialist, told a group of soldiers last week.
Her audience at a Fort Lewis theater included several soldiers new to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. They are weeks away from joining the rest of the unit already in Iraq.
One of them, Pvt. Scott Miller, said cultural training was among the most useful classes they were getting before leaving for the Middle East.
“It’s a lot different than here,” the 24-year-old from Tennessee said after the training. “A lot different.”
The success of U.S. operations in Iraq could hinge on how these young soldiers interact with the locals. It can be harder in a place where the OK sign is obscene, pointing with a finger is a sign of contempt, and people don’t share the Western concept of personal space.
“When someone is talking to you they are going to get right up into your face,” Pawelek said. “It’s going to drive you crazy. But you need to understand it’s just a different concept.”
J.M. Simpson Updates
The Ft. Lewis Ranger newspaper website, Blog-Ah!, has a number of new items from J.M. Simpson featuring the 3/2 SBCT (Cleaning up Iraq, Photos from Baghdad, More 'shout outs' from Baghdad). Simpson has been embedded with elements of the brigade in Baghdad, but will be traveling to Mosul soon to join the main force there. If you haven't already, bookmark the site and check in regularly for his articles while he is there.
Terrorist attack foiled in Mosul
Multi-National Force-Iraq
Iraqi Police and Task Force Band of Brothers' Soldiers thwarted a terrorist attack against a Mosul police station Wednesday.
The attack began with a terrorist, dressed as a police officer, approached the gate to the police station and detonated his suicide vest, killing himself and wounding six police officers.
Immediately following the explosion, two other masked terrorists attempted to attack the station with small arms fire. Soldiers from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division quickly identified and engaged the gunmen, killing both.
The wounded police officers were transported to a nearby coalition medical facility.
18th Engineers Break Down Barriers
Written by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq (18 August, 2006) -Less than a month after the 101st Airborne Division assisted with the turn-over of Forward Operating Base Courage to the newly elected government of Iraq, the 101st authorized removal of cement barriers that closed off a portion of access roadway to the former coalition forces operating base.
Under cover of darkness, the 18th Engineer Battalion removed nearly 65 barriers along a two-lane highway that will now give citizens of the Mosul area direct access to the newly acquired property.
“This route has been closed since the FOB was called FOB Freedom [approximately three years ago],” said 2nd Lt. John Beaty, engineer platoon leader, 18th Eng. Bn., 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division and resident of Arlington, Texas. “Re-opening this route demonstrates another step of confidence in the Iraqi people.”
The closed portion ran approximately two and one-half miles north to south, parallel to the former FOB.
Because there is a no-vehicles curfew between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., the 18th was able to quickly remove barriers using two U.S. Army front-end loaders to load the massive barriers and stock-pile them in a designated area close to the former FOB.
When not doing barrier removal, the 18th is engaged in other missions.
According to Beaty, horizontal engineers clear roads of Improvised Explosive Devices and construct new roads. They also maintain roads and install and maintain basic services like electrical and plumbing needs.
“We are tasked to use our IED search teams to clear routes,” Said Beaty. “We also conduct our horizontal mission by moving barriers. Recently, we did plumbing and electrical work for a Military Transition Team at FOB Resolve for more than 200
Iraqi Army Soldiers there.
DART Synchronizes Teammates
Written by Spc. L.C. Campbell, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq (August 18, 2006) – The Downed Aircraft Recovery Team rehearsed and synchronized procedures to recover critically damaged aircrafts at Forward Operating Base Diamondback, Mosul, Iraq.
The DART consists of the Company B, 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 1-10th Aviation, 352nd Corps Support Battalion, 706th Explosive Ordinance Disposal, and security elements from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
“Brigade will get a call from 1-10th Aviation saying they have a downed aircraft,” said Capt. Timothy Emig, maintenance officer, 296th Brigade Support Battalion, 3-2 SBCT. “Brigade then notifies the battalions, and I will call to the shop office and activate the DART team.”
“The goal is to synchronize every body’s efforts,” said Emig. “There are a lot of moving pieces, and we’re aiming for the best training value.”
In the event that an aircraft really does go down, the team needs to get to the crash site as soon as possible due to the value of the crew and the aircraft.
“Once the team hits the site of the downed aircraft, they will begin passenger extraction training and some basic helicopter safety training,” said Emig. “There are a lot of aircraft flying overhead providing security for the troops on the ground that it is imperative to have a response team if something were to happen, and our job is to recover the aircraft as expedient as possible.”
Gunbattles welcome Strykers back to Iraq
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Stryker soldiers from Fort Lewis are patrolling new territory in some of Baghdad's toughest neighborhoods, but they're also running down Iraqi insurgents in some old familiar places in Mosul.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division has two battalions' worth of troops – about 1,400 in all – in the capital as part of the big security sweep under way there.
The rest of the brigade is 225 miles to the north, where they've been joined by two other battalions to cover Mosul, Qayyarah, Tal Afar and Sinjar all the way to the Syrian border, officials said.
It's the same territory the Arrowhead brigade troops covered on their first deployment, from November 2003 to October 2004.
Lt. Joshua Johnson, a platoon leader in the 18th Engineer Company in Mosul, is on his first trip but said most of his men are making a return engagement.
"They remember a lot of the places where they were," Johnson said in an interview by phone Tuesday. "They said they remember certain places being pretty crazy, but a lot of those have calmed down."
This in-depth article continues...
Sgt. Gabriel G. DeRoo
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who
was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Gabriel G. DeRoo, 25, of Paw Paw, Mich., died on Aug. 20 in Mosul, Iraq, of injuries suffered when he encountered enemy forces using small arms fire during combat operations. DeRoo was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones he leaves behind. We will add any articles we find to this entry.
This entry will remain in top today - please scroll down for other news.
Fort Lewis soldier killed - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldier killed by gunfire - The Olympian
Fort Lewis-based soldier fatally wounded in Iraq - Seattle P-I
Soldier from Paw Paw killed in Iraq - Associated Press
Sgt. Gabriel DeRoo: A man of faith and courage - Detroit Free Press
‘He knew the risks, but he wasn’t afraid’ Christian faith, duty took soldier back to Iraq - The News Tribune
Family Mourns Death Of Fort Lewis Soldier - KOMO News, includes interview with Hannah DeRoo
'Our commander called Gabriel home' - The Olympian
In Memory of Sgt. Gabriel DeRoo - Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th MPAD
3/2 SBCT Greetings From Baghdad
J.M. Simpson of The Ft. Lewis Ranger newspaper shares numerous greetings from 3/2 SBCT soliders to their loved ones back home. Stop by and see if your soldier is among them. He also has a new photo up.
Hardt's Column
Blog-Ah! has published its weekly column from David Hardt, a solider serving with the 3/2 SBCT in Baghdad.
Qara Qosh Women’s Center Is Center of Attention
by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone
138th MPAD
QARA QOSH, Iraq -- The women’s center in Qara Qosh is a positive sign-post along the road of Iraq’s emerging democratic government.
The center’s goal is to teach domestic and community skills to the women of Qara Qosh and the surrounding areas.
At the center, women meet to learn or enhance their proficiency in hand and machine sewing, hair-cutting and styling, classes in computer-skills and learning English and studying the democratic process that allows Iraqi women to vote.
“The Qara Qosh center is a great place for women of this community to instruct themselves to be more knowledgeable citizens of Iraq,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Candace Eckert, human rights leader for Mosul’s Provincial Reconstruction Team, 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion. “Their efforts here are commendable.” Eckert is a resident of Phoenix, Ariz.
The hair-styling and cutting class caters to 20 women in the morning class and 25 in the evening.
According to Eckert, operating expenses are all self-funded. Fees are charged for taking a class and the center’s large conference room is rented for weddings and other social gatherings. The women that work for the center are volunteers.
The women who constitute the groups leadership are Kurdish Christians. Their elected leader is Taghreed Wahdee.
“She is very effective,” said Eckert. “She uses the centers rental and class fees to pay for operational expenses. They are the first women’s center that I know of that is self-funding.”
A matter of contention that Eckert is working to bridg,e falls on the altar of religious differences.
Kawther Mustafa is an Iraqi, Kurdish Muslim. She is also the provincial council chairperson for the human rights committee for the Ninewa district.
“Today’s meeting turned out to be a very powerful one. We invited Kawther and her people and other women from centers in her district,” said Eckert. “I didn’t know if she would attend, when she showed up it was a good surprise. She is the elected human rights official for this area and I am her link, so if I’m going to visit a women’s center, I’m going to invite her to join us.”
According to Eckert, the district needs to put aside their religious differences and open lines of communication. There should not be any reason for not disclosing information that effects the centers operations.
One example is a legal matter that involves the Qara Qosh center.
The original landowner has filed to sue for more money on his original lease. His first attempt failed and he currently is awaiting a second appeal to a higher court in Baghdad.
Although the U.S. Army can not get involved, Eckert requested the services of Capt. Jason Del Los Santos, Judge Advocate General officer, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash. for legal advice.
Looking past their legal quandary, Wahdee would like to add more computer capability and some physical fitness equipment.
US Forces Assist IA Conduct Medical Screening
by Spc. L.C. Campbell
138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi Army Soldiers, 2nd Iraqi Army Division, lead the way during a medical screening that took place in the Asad neighborhood in Mosul, Iraq Aug. 15.
U.S. Forces have been preparing for a solid transition an area of responsibility to the IA. Part of the transition is getting the IA to interact with the local populace, and one good way of doing this is to conduct a medical screening.
A medical screening attracts people throughout neighborhoods and invites them to get some basic, but free medical attention. Coalition Force medics treat ailments such as the common cold, upper-respiratory illnesses, muscle aches, and minor infections in wounds.
From the beginning of the year there was little support from IA. IA medics were not interested in helping out during medical screenings, because of safety concerns. They did not want to leave the IA compounds. Early on, medical screenings were primarily provided by U.S. Forces.
After several months IA medics started becoming more involved during medical screenings.
According to 1st Lt. Brett Phillips, platoon leader, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, Brigade Medical Support Company, the IA medics get involved more and more with each screening. It is important that the local populace see that involvement, because it instills confidence in there security forces.
All IA medics go through a base combat life saver course which is taught by U.S. Forces. Most medics have gone through the basic nursing school and have advanced to a more intensive medical schooling. The IA medics have the knowledge base of a state-side physician’s assistant.
The medical supplies that are administered during the screening are purchased from the local Iraqi economy, and are bought by U.S. Forces.
“Right now we are working with the IA logistical support to try to get them to purchase the medical supplies,” said Sgt 1st Class Namond Travis, medical platoon sergeant, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd SBCT, 2nd Infantry Division. “It is a slow road to travel, but the more we get the Iraqis involved the more independent they become. It allows the citizens to see the faces of the IA.”
According to the IA medics, they really enjoy helping the local populace. They are looking forward to a stable medical environment in Iraq. They wish that the citizens of Iraq would use and have more confidence in their medical system.
Joint Raid Nabs Insurgent
by Spc Yolanda Moreno Leon
138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq – Iraqi Army Soldiers with the assistance of 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, conducted a joint raid in Hamam Al Alil, Iraq looking for known insurgents, hoping to catch them when they are tucked into their beds, fast asleep.
Most insurgent activity happens during daylight hours, so the IA wanted to use the element of surprise, and catch them off guard.
“Getting here and getting secured was the easy part of the mission,” said Sgt. First Class Matthew Goodine, scout platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Inf. Rgt.,3rd SBCT from Ft. Lewis, Wash. “They did not even hear us coming.”
The main objective was an electronic store where documents were found that showed the owner was an insurgent financier. Along with the documents, an Ak-47 and money was also found. Two Iraqi civilians were held for questioning.
“A lot of stuff that links the financier were found on our objective,” said Captain Joe Kocer, scout platoon leader, 5-20th, 3rd SBCT, and a native of Anchorage, Alaska. “We were most focused on the document exportation in this side of the town.”
The teams on this raid did not find the person they were looking for. Another team on the other side of town were able to catch the insurgent while he was fast asleep.
According to Goodine, the mission went very well, it was a high value target and they got documentation that will incriminate the financier.
“We are trying to incorporate the Iraqi Army in everything we do, they are getting very proficient,” said Kocer. “We are pleased in how well they have come along and how much they have progressed.”
Army's weapons arsenal includes language, culture training
Link to Full Article
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- Thousands of miles from the roadside bombs of Iraq, small groups of soldiers hunker down in cream-colored cubicles as instructors guide them through nuances of Arabic and the dos and don'ts of Iraqi culture.
The classroom education has become just as important as weapons training for all levels of U.S. military personnel - from intelligence officers to medics - who are expected to interact daily with citizens of the war-ravaged country.
With no end in sight for U.S. involvement in the Middle East, government and Army leaders are extending classroom instruction to introduce or reacquaint soldiers with Arabic language, customs and beliefs. Military leaders back from deployments have determined that two, even four hours of training wasn't enough to properly prepare soldiers. Commanders are now setting aside as much as 10 months for units to train.
Soldiers also welcome the additional training, both as an opportunity for new experiences and as a necessary tool for their safety.
"It will help stop a lot of conflicts by breaking the language barrier," said Pfc. Cassandra Demerest, 21, of Newberry Springs, Calif., who will complete her language training at Fort Lewis in March.
Hundreds like Demerest have already participated in various stages of the training before deploying to Iraq.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry division, which has left for a second mission to Iraq, went through a weeklong course, said Yvonne M. Pawelek, director of Foreign Language Training Center at Fort Lewis. About 150 unit leaders also trained full time, three days a week for 11 weeks.
Before the brigade's first deployment in 2003, soldiers received just a few hours of language and culture training.
In September, 30 soldiers with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are to complete the language course while another group of 20, including Demerest, that began 10 months of training in late May will continue their lessons into next year.
1-23 INF Article
Blog-Ah! published a new article describing recent operations of the 1-23 INF, 3/2 SBCT in Baghdad.
U.S. troops patrol Baghdad on foot
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By Ross Colvin
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. troops are patrolling the streets in some Baghdad neighbourhoods on foot in a new bid to win the trust of Iraqis, an unusual sight for many residents more used to seeing them travel in armoured vehicle convoys.
Taking a more personal approach to Iraqis long critical of heavy handed tactics is part of the strategy aimed at reclaiming Baghdad's most dangerous neighbourhoods from insurgents and easing communal strife.
Thousands of U.S. reinforcements have arrived in Baghdad in recent weeks to join a crackdown by U.S. and Iraqi forces on worsening sectarian violence between once-dominant minority Sunnis and majority Shi'ites in the city.
Mindful of the three-year-old Sunni insurgency fighting to expel them from Iraqi soil, U.S. commanders explain to residents that they aim to restore security in support of Iraqi police.
"I want to get this job done so I can go home and live with my family and you can live with your family," Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Peterson, commander of the First Squadron, 14th U.S. Cavalry, told one man through his interpreter in al-Hadar, an area of the notoriously violent southern Dora district.
Peterson, whose unit usually travels in Stryker armoured vehicles, had dismounted to talk to residents while his men and Iraqi police swept the neighbourhood for illegal weapons.
"Certainly there is a renewed emphasis on troops interacting with the people," he said when asked whether the U.S. military was adopting a new tactic with the foot patrols.
Since arriving two weeks ago, two Strykers have been hit by roadside bombs, causing no major damage, and several others have been shot at, soldiers said. The unit's base has also been rocketed and mortared. Foot patrols are far more risky.[...]
Checking Wheat Bins and Bridges
Written by Sgt. 1st Class Steven Petibone, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq - The 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team continues where 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team left off by driving in Mosul on a community engagement patrol.
During their patrol, they inspected a grain processing plant and an adjoining graveled-ravine for suspected weapons caches and handed out information flyers of suspected insurgents to the grain plant employees and Mosul citizens.
“We mingled with one of the communities in our area of operations to talk to them about the threat in their neighborhood,” said 1st Lt. Harry Cromer, platoon leader, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. “[The platoon] handed out flyers of the top 12 most-wanted [insurgents] in the area.”
Second platoon entered the grain plant unannounced, using the element of surprise. The plant manager escorted Cromer and members of the unit up and down several floors of the grain plant to check for ammunition caches and weapons. When none were found, they passed out flyers to the workers.
From the grain plant, Cromer sited a bridge overpass approximately a half-mile away and sent a squad to check for improvised explosive devices and other suspicious items.
After clearing the bridge of any potential threat, the 20th moved out to the surrounding neighborhood to distribute more flyers.
“Today we were in the Yaramouk neighborhood handing out flyers of wanted insurgents,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Marker, squad leader, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. “By doing this, we hope to establish a better rapport with the local populace and show them we can get the problem resolved here.”
3rd SBCT Continues Relations With IA
Written by by Spc. L.C. Campbell, 138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq - Leadership from the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division met to discuss the areas of operations with the commander of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army (IA) Division, Aug. 11, in Mosul, Iraq.
Brig. Gen. Noor Aldeen, commander, 4th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division and Col. Steve Townsend, commander, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team 2nd Infantry Division, talked about two important things that Aldeen expressed concern about. They were IA Soldier retention in 2nd Battalion, and maintenance for the humvees that were donated to the IA by U.S. Forces.
“We have lost almost 200 Soldiers in two weeks,” said Aldeen. “There are various reasons, but they range from the fact the battalion has suffered from two suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive devices recently, Soldiers are tired, some have been in Mosul fighting for two years, and that new Soldiers are not reliable.”
Aldeen relies on his most experienced Soldiers. Those are the Soldiers that were trained back in 2000, and have the experience to fight the insurgency in the Ninevah Province.
According to Aldeen, the new Soldiers coming into the brigade are not well trained in basic Soldiering skills. They are not reliable enough to even follow basic rules.
“The new Soldiers only have two months of training and it is very hard to depend on them,” said Aldeen. “They are not disciplined enough, and with the amount of Soldiers we are losing the more we need to depend on our experienced Soldiers.”
Aldeen concluded that he needed a lot more Soldiers quickly. The reason was that they have lost so many that the work load on the remaining Soldiers will begin to intensify and could cause them to quit as well.
Aldeen also brought up the fact that the Humvees that were donated by the U.S. were not getting the proper maintenance required to keep them running. Al Kisik is the Headquarters for the maintenance department, and they are receiving replacement parts for the Humvees, but the brigade is having a hard time getting the damaged Humvees to Al Kisik to be repaired.
“I have hired great mechanics from the local area to come and work for our battalions,” said Aldeen. “They do a great job repairing the Humvees, but when it comes to special things; it then requires us to take them to Al Kisik. We get more work done on the battalion level.”
According to Townsend, 4th Brigade is due to receive 15 new Humvees by the middle of August. Aldeen is looking forward to getting the new equipment.
“I like the initiative from Aldeen,” said Townsend. “He is a good example of where IA leadership needs to head.”
Hunting drive-by killers on patrol in Baghdad
Finally some news from the 3/2 SBCT.
Link to Full Article
By Ross Colvin
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - "Take cover!" yelled Captain Ryan Nystrom as gunshots rang out.
The leader of the 14th U.S. Cavalry "Crazy Horse" platoon and his men crouched behind a low wall, trying to figure out where the two "pop pop" sounds had come from. A minute later, they heard the low boom of an explosion somewhere nearby.
They were hunting two cars that residents of the southern Baghdad district of al-Hadar had told them were responsible for a series of fatal drive-by shootings in the past few days.
Nystrom and his platoon are just one of the American units involved in a crackdown by U.S. and Iraqi forces on the Shi'ite-Sunni sectarian violence ravaging the capital that has pushed the country toward all-out civil war.
First Squadron of the 14th Cavalry, equipped with the U.S. military's latest armored vehicle, the eight-wheeled Stryker, was diverted from its deployment to Anbar province two weeks ago in preparation for the operation in Baghdad.
Army chiefs have also ordered other Stryker units to the capital, the vehicle's maneuverability, ability to deploy infantry squads quickly, and ability to survive against roadside bombs seen as ideal for the streets of Baghdad.
Nystrom and his men had been patrolling Abu-Disheer, a largely Shi'ite area, and al-Hadar, a mixed neighborhood, for two weeks without incident, although one night the platoon medic did help save the life of a baby who had swallowed oil.
When the Crazy Horse platoon set out from Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad on Tuesday, their main mission was to catalog empty or abandoned houses that could be used as hideouts by insurgents or militias.
That is page one of a three page article.
Hardt Column at Blog-Ah
The Ft. Lewis Ranger has published its weekly article from soldier David Hardt, who is currently serving in Baghdad with the 3/2 SBCT.
3/2 SBCT Photos
The DVIDS Image Gallery 4320 contains 30 new photos of the 3/2 SBCT in Mosul, Iraq.
Image Gallery 4330 contains 16 more photos.
Future Embed
Stop by Blog-Ah, the website for Ft. Lewis Ranger newspaper, and meet J.M. Simpson, the photojournalist who will be embedding with the 3/2 SBCT very shortly.
Our Strykers take reins in Mosul again
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SEAN COCKERHAM; The News Tribune
The Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis assumed responsibility for military operations in Mosul on Saturday, just hours after joining in fierce fighting in the northern Iraqi city.
Troops from 3rd Brigade, 2nd infantry Division took over from an Alaska-based Stryker unit that had been set to go home but has since moved south to help stabilize Baghdad.
About 1,400 soldiers from the incoming Fort Lewis brigade have also been detached to Baghdad. That’s roughly a third of the brigade.
Mosul is more stable than the capital, which is 225 miles to the south. But it’s still dangerous.
Fighting raged in eastern Mosul on Friday. Iraqi security forces, with backup from Fort Lewis Stryker troops, repulsed an insurgent attack that included a suicide car bomber, several roadside bombs and small arms fire.
“I think the terrorists wanted very badly to make a huge statement when the (Alaskan Stryker brigade) left the area,” Maj. Robbie Parke, the brigade public affairs officer said in a Monday e-mail from Mosul.
“Unfortunately for them, Mosul police and Iraqi Army had a different idea, and they defeated the attack within a matter of hours,” Parke wrote.
Police estimated that 20 militants were killed in the Friday fighting. Only four bodies have been found, the Associated Press reported. Dozens of suspects were rounded up.
172nd SBCT transfers authority to 3rd SBCT
MOSUL, Iraq – The 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team handed over operations in Mosul and other surrounding areas in the Ninewa Province to the 3rd SBCT, 2nd Infantry Division in a transfer of authority ceremony held at Forward Operating Base Marez today.
The Soldiers of the 172nd SBCT were deployed here last August and have since conducted more than 15,000 missions collectively including cordon and searches, combat patrols, counter mortar and rocket missions, raids, escort missions and humanitarian aid throughout Dohuk and Ninewa and Irbil provinces.
“The accomplishments of the 172nd SBCT have been truly remarkable,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner, commanding general, Task Force Band of Brothers, during his speech at the ceremony.
“In the Ninewa province they successfully served during the Constitutional Referendum and the National Elections which brought democracy to more than 3.8 million people. They have worked to help restore the damaged infrastructure of Iraq due to years of plight and trained and equipped seven Iraqi Army brigades that are now better prepared to serve the Iraqi people and citizens of Ninewa province.”
For the 3rd SBCT, this is their second tour in the Ninewa Province in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“For the last year the ‘Artic Wolves’ (172nd SBCT) have shed blood, sweat and tears to free the people of Ninewa from the terrorist’s grip and help the Iraqi people have a better life. I can only promise we will work hard to fill the boots of the 172nd,” said incoming commander, Col. Steven Townsend, commander, 3rd SBCT as he shook hands with outgoing 172nd SBCT Commander Col. Michael Shields.
The ceremony was marked by the traditional uncasing of the colors by the 3rd SBCT.
For the 3rd SBCT, this is their second tour in the Ninewa Province in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Operation Fly a Kite
The Ft. Lewis Ranger newspaper blog will feature a weekly dispatch from a soldier serving with the 3/2 SBCT in Iraq. This week's entry is titled Operation Fly a Kite.
As a reminder, the newspaper will be sending a reporter to Iraq later this month to cover the 3/2 SBCT.
Passing the Medical Screening Torch
by Sgt. 1st Class Steven B. Petibone
138th MPAD
MOSUL, Iraq – Stryker brigade combat teams and civil affairs teams are conducting medical screenings in Mosul, Iraq.
Members of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., are ‘learning the ropes’ from their departing comrades, the 172nd SBCT from Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
“Today’s medical screening went a little slower than expected,” said Sgt. 1st Class Gary Olson, team leader, Company A, 403rd CA Bn., “because of the transition between the two Stryker units.” Olson is an Army reservist from Mosinee, Wis.
The medical screening took place at the Al Shoda School for Boys in a suburb of Mosul. Medical screenings originated as a Coalition Forces civil affairs mission during Operation Iraqi Freedom III, but presently, are transitioning over to the control of the Iraqi Army.
The intent of medical screenings is two-fold; to provide basic examinations of Iraqi citizens of all ages and to encourage them to use the emerging Iraqi health care system.
“The short time I’ve been in Mosul, I have seen good cooperation between CF and the IA,” said Staff Sgt. Donald Dennis, Co. A, 403rd CA Bn., and native of Charleston S.C. “I’m confident they will do well on their own in the future.”
Redeploying Stryker units named
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
Commanders in Iraq recently ordered about 1,400 Stryker soldiers to deploy from their base in Mosul to Baghdad as part of an effort to quell violence in the Iraqi capital.
Fort Lewis, Wash., spokesman Joe Hitt confirmed today that the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and the 1st Squadron, 14 Cavalry Regiment are currently in the Baghdad area.
The units are part of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (SBCT). The Fort Lewis based unit recently deployed to Iraq to replace its sister Stryker outfit, the 172nd Brigade (SBCT).
Local Stryker soldiers sent to Baghdad
Link to Full Article
News Tribune staff and news services
About 1,400 Fort Lewis soldiers have been moved to the Baghdad area as part of U.S. plans to bolster forces in the Iraqi capital.
The soldiers make up about a third of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade, which recently began a yearlong deployment in Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq.
The 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and the 1st Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment “are currently positioned in the vicinity of Baghdad,” brigade commander Col. Steve Townsend wrote Friday night in an e-mail to The News Tribune.
The rest of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will remain in Mosul, he said.
The battalions will be in Baghdad “as long as they are needed,” said Fort Lewis spokesman Lt. Col. Dan Williams, who on Saturday confirmed the information in Townsend’s e-mail.
Williams said the soldiers’ families had been informed of the movement.
The U.S. command in Baghdad formally announced Saturday that it was sending 3,700 troops to the Iraqi capital to try to end the violence there.
It was unclear if the Fort Lewis soldiers were included in that figure.
The Fort Lewis Stryker brigade is replacing the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker brigade in Mosul. The Alaska Stryker soldiers had been scheduled to return home after a year in Iraq when their deployment was extended by four months as part of President Bush’s plan to increase security in Baghdad.
The Strykers will bring quick-moving, light-armored vehicles to patrol the sprawling city of 6 million people. The U.S. military hopes more armor will intimidate gunmen, whose attacks in recent weeks have become more brazen.
“This will place our most experienced unit with our most mobile and agile systems in support of our main effort,” said Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. “This gives us a potentially decisive capability to affect security in Baghdad.”
The U.S. statement did not say when the Alaska Stryker soldiers would move to the capital from Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.[...]
Familiar yet tough times for Stryker families
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
They’ve stocked up on small boxes and U.S. Customs forms, the essential items for sending care packages overseas.
They’ve made video recordings of their soldiers reading their kids’ favorite bedtime stories.
They leave their computer speakers turned up as high as they’ll go, in case they’re down in the laundry room, or fast asleep, when their soldier comes online.
Home-front veterans say they learned a lot about coping with the worry and stress the last time their soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, were in Iraq.
And now they’re gearing up to do it all again.
“I have asked all my military friends the same question: ‘Doesn’t it seem harder this time?’” said Heidi Shepherd of Fort Lewis, whose husband deployed 10 days ago. “And everyone’s answer has been the same: ‘It IS harder this time.’”
About half of the Fort Lewis-based brigade’s 4,000 soldiers are veterans of the first trip, when the Army’s original Stryker brigade was deployed from November 2003 to October 2004.
The last batch of troops left for trip No. 2 over the past weekend. They’re expected to replace an Alaska-based Stryker brigade in Mosul –their main location last time – and in western Iraq over the next several weeks.
Back home, they’re supported by a cast of thousands of family members across the country. About three dozen responded to a News Tribune inquiry via e-mail.
Many, like Shepherd, said they feel better prepared this time, but that just knowing what they’ll have to go through doesn’t make it easier.
There are the obvious worst-case fears.[...]
Army’s first Stryker brigade departs again
3/2’s deployment ceremony filled with emotion
J.M. Simpson
Lt. Gen. James Dubik’s voice filled with emotion as he addressed the soldiers, family members and friends of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division during its deployment ceremony.
“We’re sending off thousands of people to war,” I Corps and Fort Lewis’ commander said after the ceremony. “It should be an emotional event,” he added.
John and Diana Kaiser whose son, Sgt. John Kaiser, Jr. is assigned to 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, clearly understood the general’s feelings.
“It is hard to see him go a second time,” Kaiser’s mother. “We want him to get the job done and come home safely,” added his father.
For the brigade’s 4,000 soldiers, the deployment ceremony marks the second time in three years that the brigade has cased its colors and deployed to Iraq. For over half of the brigade’s soldiers, this deployment marks their second rotation to that country.
Current plans call for 3rd Brigade to replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Wainwright, Alaska, which is headquartered in Mosul. Soldiers will begin departing Fort Lewis in a couple of weeks.
A number of soldiers commented that they are going back to a different war. During their first deployment, they carried out security and combat operations in and around Mosul.
This time, they said they expect the Iraqis to share in the missions.
“They’ve had the benefit of learning from us,” said SFC Douglas Hale as he held his daughter Madeline. “We are better trained for this,” he added, “but so too are the Iraqis.”
“Watching these fine men and women brings back memories,” said Mike McGrath, a Vietnam veteran who shipped off to war from Fort Lewis in 1969. “I am very proud of these soldiers, and I will be here when they return,” he added.
In talking to his soldiers, their families and friends, Col. Stephen Townsend, commander, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, drove home the point the brigade is well-trained and ready to “move further and faster to the fight” than any other unit in the Army. The brigade has spent the last 17 months preparing itself for its second deployment.
A deployment that will be watched.
With the Pentagon and Iraqi officials investigating several cases in which Iraqi civilians were allegedly killed by U.S. forces, the rules of engagement will be enforced.
“We are ready to overwhelm any insurgents we encounter,” said Townsend. “And we will treat the Iraqis with dignity and respect,” he added.
As the ceremony ended, the Kaisers turned as said, “And let’s pray that they all come home safely.”
Photo - Soldiers comprising 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Divsion ... the Army's first Stryker Brigade ... are reveiwed during the unit's deployment ceremony at Fort Lewis.
Photo - Lt. Gen. James Dubik, commander I Corps and Fort Lewis, Col. Stephen Townsend, commander, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, CSM Jeffrey Du and CSM Tommie Williams case 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's during the unit's deployment ceremony at Fort Lewis last Friday.
(Story & photos courtesy of J.M. Simpson, Ft. Lewis Ranger newspaper)
Back to Iraq, with tears and courage
Link to Full Article
ADAM LYNN; The News Tribune
Several thousand people gathered on the tarmac of Gray Army Airfield at Fort Lewis on Friday to watch soldiers of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division pack their battle standards for the unit’s second trip to Iraq in three years.
The ceremony was mostly symbolic. The brigade’s nearly 4,000 troops don’t begin leaving for their yearlong stay in northern Iraq for a couple more weeks.
But the emotions were real.
Lt. Gen. James Dubik’s voice quavered during his brief remarks to troops assembled in tight formation before him, and friends and relatives embraced their soldiers after the ceremony ended.
“We’re sending off thousands of people to war,” Dubik, the commander of Fort Lewis, told reporters after the pageantry ended. “It should be an emotional event.”
About half of the soldiers will serve their second tour in Iraq. Current plans call for the 3rd Brigade to relieve the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Wainwright, Alaska. The 172nd is headquartered in Mosul.
Many of the soldiers honored Friday were with the 3-2 – the Army’s first Stryker brigade – during its first deployment from November 2003 to October 2004. Others previously went to Iraq with different units.
“It has to be done, and we’ve got to do it,” said Sgt. James Smiley, who served near Baghdad with the 1st Cavalry Division in 2004.
The soldiers’ loved ones said Friday they were sad to see them return to battle so soon, but many said they took comfort that this time they have some idea what to expect.
“The first time I was really scared,” said Smiley’s wife, Maria. “This time, I feel pretty confident of what they’re doing over there. This time seems easier.”
Fort Lewis Stryker brigade prepares for second Iraq deployment
Link to Full Article
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL / Associated Press
Grace Collazo huddled in the rain under a large red and white umbrella, scanning an airfield where thousands of soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division stood for a deployment ceremony Friday.
"Daddy's coming mommy. Daddy's coming," the 4-year-old said, unable to identify her father, Sgt. Edwin Collazo, among the brigade's seven battalions that will soon leave for their second tour in Iraq.
"See the yellow flag over there baby, see the yellow flag?" Julie Collazo said, directing her daughter to the right. "That's where daddy is."
Sgt. Collazo, a cavalry scout, was among the roughly 3,900 soldiers with the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team who will begin leaving for Mosul in northern Iraq later this month.
The brigade's gear, including the eight-wheeled armored vehicles for which it is named, was loaded onto a cargo ship this week at the Port of Olympia and shipped to Iraq ahead of soldiers.
The shipment drew days of protests from demonstrators opposing the war.
During Friday morning's ceremony at the post's Gray Army Airfield, thousands of family and friends turned out for the casing of flags, signifying the brigade had finished training at this post south of Tacoma.
The crowd heard from 3rd Brigade commander Col. Stephen Townsend, who touted the soldiers' readiness.
"I see a Stryker brigade that's an aggressive team," said Townsend, who took command after the brigade returned in late 2004. "A family of skilled, tough, alert and adaptable warriors ... but who also treat the Iraqi people with dignity and respect."
During the past 19 months, 3rd Brigade has been training to replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade of Fort Wainwright, Alaska. Training included simulations of roadside bombs and ambushes, hidden weapons caches and kidnappings by insurgents.
"Less than 1 percent of the nation is carrying 100 percent of the burden of this war," Fort Lewis commander Lt. Gen. James Dubik said, his voice wavering as he spoke of the roughly 2.3 million people in the military.
"God bless you all. Good luck to each and every one of you," he said.
The brigade returned home October 2004 from its first yearlong deployment in Iraq, where it conducted combat missions in several cities, including Samarra, Tal Afar and Mosul. During the mission, 19 soldiers with the brigade died.
About half of the soldiers on hand Friday had previously served in Iraq, said Maj. Rob Parke, a spokesman for the brigade.
"The hardest part is leaving my family behind," Sgt. Collazo said after the ceremony as he held his youngest son, Noel, 2, born during the brigade's first deployment.
Raised in the military, Collazo, 26, said he sees the Army as "just another job."
"I can support my family a lot better going over there," he said, glancing at his wife.
"It's a little more bittersweet because I know what to expect when he's gone. Both the bad and the good," said Julie Collazo, 40.
This time, she said she plans to keep a busy schedule for the couple's three children — Grace, Noel and 10-year-old Christian. "Keep their minds off him being gone. They're so close to him," she said, watching as Christian hung back behind his father while the two youngest clamored for dad's attention.
"It does get lonely," she added.
Also making a return to Iraq, Sgt. Joseph Sloop said he feels better prepared for the stress of war. It's also his second separation from his wife of a year, Brandi, who was in college in Wilmington, N.C., during his last deployment.
While she, too, dreads being apart, Brandi Sloop said it's the unknown that upsets her most.
"Whether or not I'm going to talk to him again," she said, wiping tears from her eyes as her husband grabbed her hand and pulled her close. "Getting that phone call."
Soldiers' training turns to language, culture
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The scene is the urban training center at Fort Lewis, but it could be Mosul or Balad or Samarra.
A squad bursts through the door and up the stairs in search of a “high-value target.”
The soldiers find a man and a woman. When they question him, she makes a racket – in rapid-fire Arabic – until the soldiers remember to separate them and lead the man to another room.
Though he is surrounded by troops with weapons, he tells them nothing but his name. He doesn’t have ID.
The woman won’t shut up. She says the man is her father, that he’s very sick and needs medicine. He says he doesn’t know her.
Further questioning is no use. He’s mum. She rants. The soldiers’ Iraqi interpreter is frustratingly slow.
The man doesn’t look like the guy they’re after, but descriptions can be off. They take him away in flex-cuffs, despite more pleading from the woman.
This recent exercise was a textbook example of the gap that U.S. troops are still struggling to overcome in Iraq, three years into the occupation.
“Exactly what we’ll see in Iraq,” said Capt. Reed Burggrabe, part of a brigade headed back there soon.
The Department of Defense is pouring millions into teaching soldiers to read and speak Arabic, and better understand the culture. Fort Lewis is at the forefront of the effort.
Strykers file into port for shipment to Iraq
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By Jim Szymanski
OLYMPIA — A convoy of Stryker vehicles and other Army equipment made its way through downtown Monday on its way from Fort Lewis through the Port of Olympia to Iraq.
By the end of today, as many as 300 Stryker vehicles will have arrived at the port, said Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Hitt. A total of 20 convoys of trucks and Stryker vehicles are expected to make the trip from Fort Lewis.
The equipment will be loaded on a ship bound for Iraq....
The shipments are in advance of the deployment to Iraq next month of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Fort Lewis.
The 3rd Brigade is the Army’s initial Stryker Brigade Combat Team and was the first of the Stryker brigades to be sent to Iraq in late 2003.
Hitt offered little in the way of detail regarding the convoys. “Basically, all we have to say is what’s on the (news) release,” he said.
A three-paragraph release said Fort Lewis Military Police were escorting the vehicles to Olympia, and it warned motorists to be aware of the Strykers....
Mother to make somber journey
Bethlehem resident the Rev. Charlene Robbins, the mother of Iraq war casualty Army Sgt. Thomas Robbins, will be among people from across America who will gather this weekend in Washington to remember those military personnel who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
More than 3,000 family members of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq will be joined by descendants of American heroes from every war dating back to 1776 for "A Time of Remembrance" -- to be held at noon on Sunday the National Mall, Washington Monument Grounds.
The first-of-its-kind event was organized by the White House Commission on Remembrance, which was created by Congress in 2000 to raise awareness about America's fallen troops and those they left behind.
A key element will be the presentation of the specially created Gold Medal of Remembrance to children of military men and women killed in action in Afghanistan and Iraq. The medals will be presented by Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and R. James "Jim" Nicholson, secretary of Veterans Affairs.
"This tribute is intended to show families that their fellow Americans care about their loss," said Carmella LaSpada, commission director. [...]
Sgt. Robbins, 27, a 1994 graduate of Bethlehem High School, was killed when explosives accidentally detonated while being moved to a demolition point in Sinjar, Iraq, on Feb. 9, 2004.
The same explosion that killed Robbins, who grew up in Delmar, also killed one other soldier and wounded five more in the Mosul region of Iraq. Robbins was a cavalry scout with the Stryker Brigade's 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment based at Fort Lewis, Wash. Robbins was married.
Soldiers' online journals under deeper scrutiny
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By MIKE SPECTOR, Columbia News Service
Army Spc. Colby Buzzell returned from a firefight in Mosul, Iraq, on Aug. 4, 2004, and collapsed on his bed, drained from the most intense combat of his tour.
The next day, Buzzell headed to his base’s Internet cafe and posted the latest entry on his personal blog:
“Bullets were pinging off our armor, all over our vehicle, and you could hear multiple RPGs being fired, soaring through the air every which way,” Buzzell wrote. “All sorts of crazy insane Hollywood explosions were going off. I’ve never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I’m going to die. I cannot put into words how scared I was.”
Buzzell had posted entries anonymously up until the Mosul battle. But The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., published an article about the skirmish and quoted extensively from Buzzell’s blog.
That drew attention from the Pentagon’s internal clip service. Eventually, the article made its way to Buzzell’s commanders.
Buzzell’s battalion commander, Lt. Col. Buck James, lectured him on the inappropriateness of revealing operational details — how he loaded weapons, what kind of weapons his Stryker brigade used and specific combat locations. From now on, Buzzell’s platoon sergeant would read his entries before they were posted.
After another troublesome post, a different commander confined Buzzell to the base and for a time he was forbidden to go on missions.
Buzzell, who is now 29 and lives in Los Angeles, is known among military bloggers as the “Blogfather,” one of the first soldiers to write a candid, regularly updated Web log from a combat zone. Such online journals, or blogs, began as unfiltered portals into the day-to-day travails of American troops, a 21st-century version of a soldier’s letter home.
But as the visibility and popularity of the blogs have increased, so, too, has the watchful eye of military officials. The Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force have all recently issued directives related to blogs, reminding soldiers and their commanders what information is unsuitable for posting.
In the last year, for example, the Army released specific blogging guidelines, requiring soldiers to register their online journals with commanders and establishing units to monitor Web sites for information that might violate Army policy.
The Pentagon itself has no official blogging policies, leaving the determination of what’s suitable and what’s not to commanders in the field.
No ‘rude awakening’ this time
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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
All the major training is done. The vehicles will be loaded onto ships later this month at the Port of Olympia, and by the end of next month, the Army’s first Stryker brigade will be on its way back to Iraq.
Nearly half the 4,000 soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division were with the unit the first time it went over in November 2003.
Their experience, and that of the two Stryker brigades that succeeded them, have informed preparations different from the last time, the Fort Lewis-based soldiers say.
“Before, we went over thinking we knew what was going on over there,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Muetz, a Stryker infantryman preparing for his second trip. “Of course, it was a rude awakening.”
Before their first deployment, the soldiers prepared mainly for the big fight: traditional force-on-force confrontations like they might have encountered if they had been part of the initial invasion.
This time they’ve focused on fresh lessons from the counterinsurgency, with a heavy emphasis on understanding the Iraqi culture.
Training also has focused more on documenting evidence against insurgents who are captured, as if soldiers were police investigators.
“This trip we’re not going in blind,” Muetz said. “All the leadership, they’re all veterans. They’ve seen what kind of folks we deal with on a regular basis, they know how to interact, how not to step on toes unintentionally, and to make sure you’re stepping on the right toes.”
Stryker soldiers have faith in their ride
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BY SCOTT GUTIERREZ, The Olympian
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — The first soldiers to take the Army’s state-of-the-art yet much-maligned Stryker vehicles into combat say they are as confident as ever about the vehicles’ capabilities as they prepare for a second deployment.
Soldiers from the Fort Lewis-based 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have spent the past month at the Army National Training Center in the Mojave Desert preparing for their return to Iraq in June.
The 3/2 is the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team, the centerpiece of a multibillion dollar plan to transform the Army into a more versatile fighting force. It also was the first of the Stryker brigades to be sent to Iraq in late 2003. [...]
Fort Lewis' Stryker Bridge readies for second Iraq deployment
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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Soldiers from the Army's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team are in the midst of their last major training exercise as they prepare for a second tour in Iraq.
They arrived at the Army's National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., in the Mojave Desert earlier this month and are scheduled to head to Iraq in June.
"We've been so run ragged out here. It's actually less stressful for us in Iraq, believe it or not," Sgt. Hans Crawford, 20, of Olympia, told The Olympian newspaper after awakening from a few hours of sleep atop a ridge where his unit set up several communications towers.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based in Fort Lewis, Wash., began a yearlong combat mission in Iraq in late 2003. They're preparing to replace the 172nd Stryker Brigade of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
A lot has changed since the the Stryker Brigade last visited the 1,100-square-mile training center before its first stint in Iraq.
Lessons learned from the escalating insurgency are scripted into training scenarios, part of the Army's effort to make the terrain as realistic as possible. [...]
Fort’s troops get dose of Iraqi reality
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BY SCOTT GUTIERREZ, THE OLYMPIAN
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — The dusty streets of Medina Jabal again set the stage Sunday for another round of intense training for soldiers with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Company of the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
A night of mortar fire, a discovery of a weapons cache and an early-morning fire prompted about 30 soldiers to go into the area to stabilize it.
Medina Jabal is one of about a dozen mock Iraqi villages and towns built in the Mojave Desert for soldiers preparing for deployment at the Army’s National Training Center.
Unlike the first time the Stryker unit was here in 2003, when it focused much more on combat maneuvers and firepower, the week’s exercises have centered on interactions with Iraqi civilians, a vital element to the mission in Iraq.
And just like in the communities beset by an insurgency in Iraq, Medina Jabal’s residents grow frustrated when soldiers don’t maintain order or are perceived as not doing enough to fix the town’s infrastructure.
Helping soldiers train are about 250 Iraqi expatriates recruited by a Department of Defense contractor to enhance the realism of the exercises for soldiers. The Iraqis act as sheiks, imams, business owners, government officials and police officers. They speak in Arabic and try to teach the U.S. soldiers about their language and customs.
Training stop on the way to Iraq
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By Scott Gutierrez, The Olympian
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Soldiers call it “The Box” or the “Dust Bowl.”
The Army National Training Center’s 1,100 square miles in the Mojave Desert is the closest thing to Iraq that soldiers will see before deploying to the Middle East.
Soldiers from the Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team are preparing here for their second trip to Iraq in June.
“We’ve been so run ragged out here. It’s actually less stressful for us in Iraq, believe it or not,” Sgt. Hans Crawford, 20, of Olympia said after awakening from a few hours of sleep atop a ridge where his unit has set up several communications towers.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, was the first Stryker Brigade to be tested in combat during a yearlong deployment that began in late 2003.
The brigade’s 4,800 soldiers, who arrived at Fort Irwin earlier this month, will spend two weeks in The Box as the last major training exercise before they replace their counterparts, the 172nd Stryker Brigade of Fort Wainwright, Alaska, now serving in Iraq.
The training environment has changed since the Stryker Brigade last visited Fort Irwin before its first stint in Iraq.
Families face more goodbyes
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By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
When Staff Sgt. Daniel Carman deploys to Iraq for a second yearlong tour this summer, he'll leave behind a wife and two young daughters, one of whom he watched take her first steps via webcam in an Army tent.
Staff Sgt. Robert Kinard doesn't know yet if he'll join his unit in Iraq. His wife just had quadruplets, and he's worried about his new family if he goes.
Both soldiers belong to the Fort Lewis-based 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which went to Iraq in 2003 and is planning to return there, possibly in June. [...]
Once more to war, with no regrets
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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
On Lt. Damon Armeni’s last trip to Iraq, they weren’t sure he’d survive the medical evacuation flight home.
Shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade had ripped into his abdomen. He lost his spleen and sections of his colon and intestines.
He spent long stretches in the hospital to fight infection. Doctors broke four of his toes and fused the bones together to counter the nerve damage that was causing them to curl up like a claw.
And now he’s getting ready to go back to the war zone.
He wants to do it. Ever since he was a little kid, he’s dreamed of being an Army officer, a battalion commander.
“I have a hard time accepting that our enemies could stop me from achieving that,” the 27-year-old Tacoma native said in an interview at his home at Fort Lewis. “As long as my family is supporting me, I’m going to keep trying.”
Armeni is one of more than 250 soldiers from the Army’s first Stryker brigade – the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis – to be wounded during the brigade’s year in Iraq in 2003-04. The 4,000-soldier force is due to return for another year in June or July.
Few were hurt as badly as Armeni.
Michael Gilbert has written about Armeni before.
Ex-Fort Lewis soldier captures Iraq’s horror stanza by stanza
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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Amid a rush of Iraq war soldier memoirs making their way into print, Brian Turner’s new book stands out.
His “Here, Bullet” is a collection of poems he wrote while deployed with the Army’s first Stryker brigade, from Fort Lewis, in 2003-04. His publisher believes it is the first book of poetry about the war.
The 38-year-old former infantryman will read tonight in Tacoma and Sunday afternoon in Seattle.
“I’ve read a lot of novels about war and seen a lot of movies about war, and they all work on this larger narrative,” Turner said Thursday during a break from the drive north from his home in Fresno.
“In Iraq, I didn’t find that at all. When I was there, it was like a never-ending series of disconnected events, and it was hard to see what they all meant,” he said.
“Poetry seemed like the perfect vehicle to capture those moments.”
“Here, Bullet” published in November, has received favorable reviews from The New York Times Review of Books – it’s an “Editor’s Choice” selection – and other literary publications. It recently was featured on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”
“I’m really happy that people seem to enjoy it,” Turner said. “I didn’t want to write something that would be a waste of people’s time.”
Iraq Soldier Describes War in Poetry
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National Public Radio
Morning Edition, January 6, 2006 · Brian Turner is a soldier-poet who served for seven years in the U.S. Army. Beginning in November 2003, he was an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
His book, Here, Bullet, reflects his war-time experiences in graceful and unflinching poetry. Turner tells Steve Inskeep about the military tradition in his family and why he joined the Army when he was almost 30. He reads selected poems from his collection and reflects on what inspired them. One poem, Eulogy, was written to memorialize a soldier in his platoon who took his own life. [...]
Fort Lewis' active-duty troops likely to top 30,000
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Associated Press
FORT LEWIS — Fort Lewis grew by nearly 5,500 soldiers in 2005, and it will continue to grow in coming years, with an additional 3,300 soldiers expected by the end of 2007.
The active-duty population at Fort Lewis is projected to top 30,000 in the next several years.
The Army post is facing other changes, as it works toward aligning with nearby McChord Air Force Base, a merger ordered by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission. [...]
Other units will be heading out. More than 3,500 soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are gearing up for their second rotation in Iraq.
They became the first Stryker Brigade Combat Team sent into combat when they were deployed in late 2003. They'll ship out again in the middle of the year.
The brigade is named after the eight-wheeled armored vehicles that fill a gap between light infantry and heavy forces. The vehicles are back at Fort Lewis being overhauled and upgraded. [...]
Fort Lewis will see big changes for its three Stryker brigades. In addition to the deployment of the 3rd Brigade, many of the soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division will move to Germany. Those soldiers will form the core of a new Stryker brigade, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
Three Stryker brigades will remain at Fort Lewis, all under the command of the 2nd Infantry Division. The new unit to succeed the 1st Brigade will be activated at Fort Lewis sometime late this year or next year. It will be called the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
The brigade now known as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment soon will be called the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. It is converting into a Stryker brigade and will be ready for deployment in 2007 or 2008, if needed, depending on the status of the war in Iraq.
Kiowa Down DVD
The documentary Kiowa Down, which profiles the efforts of the 3/2 SBCT, is now available on DVD at the Discovery Channel store.
Soldiers go back to nature for battlefield lessons
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BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
ROY — A group of Fort Lewis soldiers trained at a most unusual range Thursday.
About 20 soldiers who will deploy to Iraq for a second time midyear gathered at Ewe-topia Herd Dog Training to learn to work around sheep and other livestock safely and respect-fully. The farm is a short distance from the Army post.
The mood among the soldiers, unarmed and dressed in civilian clothing, was light. But make no mistake: The training could be put to use in Iraq and is indicative of the changed mission there.
Soldiers in Iraq occasionally encounter livestock during routine patrols in rural areas or during raids in urban areas, said Capt. Teddy Kleisner, a company commander for the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. The unit is part of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the first Stryker brigade to serve in Iraq, now preparing for a second deployment. [...]
Donated trees light up troops
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By STEVE MAYNARD; The News Tribune
Pfc. Mikel Jones smiled with gratitude Monday as he became one of the first Fort Lewis soldiers given a Christmas tree through a new program called Trees for Troops.
Jones was one of 40 Fort Lewis soldiers who hustled to unload 701 trees donated by 12 Christmas tree farmers in Washington.
“It helps me keep money in my pockets,” said Jones, 20, “so I can buy more stuff for the wife and the baby.”
As the tree nearly topped his 5-foot-9-inch frame, Jones explained that his wife, Rami, is seven months pregnant.
The trees rolled into Fort Lewis from Rochester, south of Olympia, on a FedEx truck with two 28-foot-long trailers. Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – Fort Lewis’ original Stryker brigade – formed lines and unloaded the trees. [...]
Army gets ready to farm out Stryker war-game exercise
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By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
The Army is set to employ the services of a new ally in its efforts to train troops headed to Iraq.
Although civilians, these friends of the military are certain not to spill the beans about their mission, unless, of course, you happen to be a sheep whisperer.
Next month, a group of Fort Lewis-based soldiers will arrive at the Ewe-topia farm in Roy, Pierce County, to conduct what they call Search and Sensitive Site Exploitation. In police jargon, it's like a crime-scene investigation, an Army captain explained to Linda Leeman, co-owner of Ewe-topia Herddog Training, a 10-acre business that teaches dogs to corral sheep and ducks, among other tricks.
A spokesman for Fort Lewis said it was unusual for the Army to go off-base for war-game exercises. After all, Fort Lewis recently completed Leschi Town, an $18.5 million urban-combat center with more than 52 structures, including a five-story office building and an outlying farm.
But Ewe-topia has something Leschi Town doesn't: more than 70 live sheep.
For soldiers who have never been around farm animals, the Dec. 1 training exercise offers a chance to improve their husbandry skills, the Army told Leeman.
"With the new leaders we now have in the company and the fact that we will imminently return to Iraq, it is essential that we conduct this training in an environment [that] accurately reflects the complexity of the terrain in Iraq," Capt. Theodore Kleisner wrote in a letter to Leeman.
Kleisner is company commander with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, which is scheduled to return to Iraq next year. It served a yearlong deployment from October 2003 to November 2004. [...]
Veteran turns war poet
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By MICHAEL DOYLE
WASHINGTON - Brian Turner found the poetry in war.
In the burned flesh, and the bullet's hiss. In the surgeon's red eyes, and the rounds striking home.
Now, the 38-year-old Iraq war veteran is finding something else. Turns out, there's fame and even a little fortune in poetry. Especially when, like Turner, you're both breaking new ground and upholding a long tradition.
"In poem after poem," publisher April Ossmann said, "you feel like you've been stabbed in the heart."
Turner's collection, "Here, Bullet," came out barely two weeks ago, and it already is attracting the kind of buzz most poets can only imagine. The storied New Yorker magazine has discovered Turner. East Coast radio and television want him. A reading tour will start in Maine and end up who knows where.
It's all quite a turn for Turner, who installs home alarm systems in between teaching the occasional class at Fresno (Calif.) City College. It's also a long way from the Iraqi nights when he would write by a red-tinted flashlight after returning from patrol. Still, the former Army sergeant always thought he had found a rich vein.
"As soon as I came back, I knew I had something people would want to read," Turner said. "I knew that even when I was in Iraq."
He was right.
Turner's collection won this year's Beatrice Hawley Award. It's not a household name but in the notoriously skinflint world of poetry, it's a pretty sweet deal. The award comes with $2,000 and publication by a Maine-based poetry cooperative called Alice James Books. It also engaged the promotional acumen of Ossmann, the publishing house director with contacts at the likes of The New Yorker and the New York Times.
"It's opened up a lot of doors," Turner said. "I've met a lot of people who I wouldn't have met otherwise."
Strykers scope out border crossers
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The Associated Press and News Tribune staff
COLUMBUS, N.M. – The Border Patrol says a monthlong mission with Stryker brigade troops from Fort Lewis doing round-the-clock reconnaissance was a success in helping deter people coming into the country illegally from Mexico.
The presence of the soldiers helped turn back about 1,000 would-be border crossers and moved others away from the mission’s patrol area between Columbus and Hachita, N.M., Rick Moody, agent in charge of the Border Patrol’s Deming, N.M., station, said this week.
The mission began in mid-October and is ending this week. Hundreds of soldiers from the Army’s 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment from Fort Lewis helped catch 1,922 people who crossed the border illegally and seized more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana, Moody said.
The soldiers, using Stryker vehicles equipped with long-range surveillance equipment, find people crossing the desert, then direct Border Patrol agents by radio to the location.
Soldiers are not involved in pursuits, apprehensions, detentions or arrests, said Lt. Col. Jeff Peterson, the squadron commander. “Our sole purpose is to observe and report,” he said. [...]
New Iraq tour for Fort Lewis Strykers
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By Mike Barber, The Seattle P-I
It's official.
Fort Lewis' 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the nation's first Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is in the mix to return to Iraq next year.
The 4,000-member brigade, developed at Fort Lewis as part of the Army's "transformation" to 21st-century warfare, is among eight major units from around the nation that will be sent to Iraq beginning in mid-2006 in a regular rotation to relieve others.
The brigade operated from Mosul from the autumn of 2003 to the autumn of 2004 as the keystone of U.S. military operations in northern Iraq.
In the past year, the 2nd Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team has been preparing and training for a possible return.
"They are well into training and preparations to return to Iraq. They just returned from Yakima and will be heading to the National Training Center in California in March," Fort Lewis spokeswoman Tammy Reed said.
Not everyone who was in the brigade's first deployment is necessarily returning for a second deployment, Reed said. Some soldiers remain, but others moved to other units in the Army or left the service. [...]
DoD Announces Units for Next Operation Iraqi Freedom Rotation
(DoD Press Release)
The Department of Defense announced today the major units scheduled to deploy as part of the next Operation Iraqi Freedom rotation. This announcement involves several combat brigades, headquarters elements, and combat support and combat service support units and approximately 92,000 service members as presently envisioned. The scheduled rotation for these forces will begin in mid-2006. Decisions made by the Secretary of Defense at the recommendation of military commanders in Iraq may result in changes to this rotation and may affect units now being identified and advised to prepare to deploy.
This rotation continues the U.S. commitment to OIF, yet is flexible and adaptable in order to meet the evolving requirements for the mission in Iraq.
For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the major units announced today include:
Division Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
13th Corps Support Command, Fort Hood, Texas
1st Brigade, 34th Infantry Division, Minnesota Army National Guard
2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Schweinfurt, Germany
3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
3rd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii
2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
The individual services will announce the smaller, supporting units for this rotation.
Additionally, the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based at Fort Riley, Kan., previously notified to prepare to deploy in early December, has been advised it will not deploy prior to Dec. 31, 2005.
In consultation with the Iraqi Government, commanders continue to assess the situation to ensure sufficient forces levels to best support the Iraqi government. The U.S. force rotations may be tailored based upon changes in the security situation. Iraqi security forces continue to develop capability and assume responsibility for security in Iraq.
DoD will continue to release unit announcements as they are identified and alerted. For information on the units announced today or other units involved in this rotation, please contact the service public affairs offices at the following numbers: Army, (703) 692-2000; Marine Corps, (703) 614-4309; Navy (703) 697-5342; and Air Force, (703) 695-0640.
My War - The Book
Many long-time visitors to this site might remember the blog maintained by Colby Buzzell, a former soldier deployed with the 3/2 SBCT, called My War. He got into a bit of trouble for his accounts of life in Mosul, which were oftentimes humorous, and sometimes terrifying. Colby has published a book, also titled My War
Stryker brigade ready for Iraq again
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By Michael Gilbert, News Tribune
Soldiers in the Army’s first Stryker brigade are training up for a return to Iraq next year.
By the time they head out in June, they’ll have been home about 20 months – just long enough to rest, handle a few odd jobs at Fort Lewis and get ready for another year in combat.
“We’re back on the warpath,” said the brigade commander, Col. Stephen Townsend.
His troops are spread across Fort Lewis, Yakima Training Center and Umatilla Army Depot for a three-week exercise that features simulations of hazards they’re likely to see in Iraq. There are pretend roadside bombs and ambushes, hidden weapons caches and insurgents with a penchant for kidnapping U.S. soldiers.
The exercise is the last major event for the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division before a mission rehearsal in February at the Army’s National Training Center in the Mojave Desert.
But if needed, the brigade’s 4,000 soldiers are pretty much ready to go now, Townsend said.
They’ve been training in near anonymity compared with the last time.
The brigade spent three years under the microscope as the Army’s first to employ the Stryker armored vehicles and new high-tech communications networks. A parade of congressional and Pentagon VIPs visited Fort Lewis to watch the progress. On their way out in November 2003 they got newly designed uniforms and $20 million worth of individual gear. [...]
Related Article: Less fanfare this time as original Stryker brigade gears up for return to Iraq - Associated Press
SGT Thorne On CBS Evening News
SGT Scott Thorne will be featured in a segment on the CBS Evening News tonight (Friday, October 7, 2005). The story by David Martin profiles soldiers returning from war with serious head injuries. If you're new to the site you can read about Scott's amazing story through the almost-daily updates written by his father, Steve Thorne, last fall and winter.
Returning home - Homecoming is more than party for two UVa-Wise players
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By COY BAYS, Coalfield.com
Richey attended Homecoming '04 activities at Carl Smith Stadium last fall while on leave and took part in a special pregame ceremony honoring wounded UVa-Wise classmate and fellow National Guardsman Dean Schwartz.
Pestana and Richey were two of three members of the UVa-Wise football team activated last year from their National Guard or Army Reserve units for duty in the Iraq war. The third, Wise's David Ison, has also returned to campus, but he has opted to pass on his senior season of football while concentrating on an exceptionally demanding class load. [...]
Richey returned to the war following last fall's homecoming activities at UVa-Wise and rejoined his Big Stone Gap-based National Guard unit which had been reassigned to the Richlands-based Bravo Company of the 276th Engineer Battalion for the mission in Iraq.
"It was hard going back, but you knew the next time you came home it would be for good," said Richey, who still serves with the Virginia Army National Guard's 189th Engineer Co. in Big Stone Gap.
"Going back was different because you knew what you were getting into," Richey said following a recent football practice session.
Richey's return to Iraq took him to a place where his life, and especially that of his friend and classmate Shwartz, had changed in a matter of seconds.
After arriving in Iraq for the first time in early March of 2004, Richey's unit was assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division in Mosul, which is located 300 miles north of Baghdad. [...]
"Kiowa Down" Documentary
I'm a bit tardy in posting this information, but there is a new television documentary called "Kiowa Down" that chronicles the rescue of a helicopter crew by 5-20 INF, 3/2 SBCT last September in Tal Afar. The operation was detailed in a long article last November by Matthew Cox that is a must read. Provided below is the full text of an email I received from the film's producer regarding upcoming viewings on the Military Channel and Video On Demand.
All,
Thank you for your help on the (Discovery) Military Channel documentary "Kiowa Down", episode #8 of the Battlefield Diaries series. "Kiowa Down" documents the heroic efforts of the 5-20 SCBT from Ft Lewis, WA on September 4th of last year. On that date, the 5-20 raced into the hostile city of Tal Afar (near Mosul in NW Iraq) in an effort to rescue the crew of a downed Kiowa helicopter.
The documentary was chosen to appear on Video On Demand (VOD). The Sneak Peek of "Kiowa Down" will be up on VOD from August 26th to September 29th. (It will be promoting both the VOD premiere and the Military Channel premiere).
The entire (one hour) episode of Kiowa Down will be up on VOD from September 9th to October 6th.
The documentary will debut on the Military Channel at a date and time to be announced in the not-so-distant future. I will notify all of you once I am aware.
Please forward this e-mail to your friends, family, fellow soldiers and colleagues so that they are aware of the program's air dates.
For those of you in the service, thank you!
Jake Klim
Normandy Films
Since receiving this email the Military Channel has scheduled the premiere for Monday, September 26 at 10 PM EST.
Here's a description from the site:
A "routine mission" in Iraq on Sept. 4, 2004, turned into a raging firefight for Stryker troops with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Scout Platoon, and B Company of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, as they fought off heavy fire (including 60-mm mortars and RPGs) in a rescue mission launched after Iraqi insurgents shot down a Kiowa helicopter and swarmed to capture it and the two pilots. Kiowa Down has all the action and drama of Black Hawk Down, but with a happy ending. The soldiers of 5-20 said this mission was the most intense fight they had encountered since being deployed in December 2003. B Company killed 66 enemies, and the Scout Platoon killed 46. (There were also 17 wounded.) The number of Americans killed in action: zero. There were only five U.S. wounded, in addition to the two pilots.
UPDATE 9/28/05: If you missed it the first time around, Kiowa Down will be replayed on November 20th at 12PM EST.
A soldier, a mother, a cemetery
The following is a very nice column regarding Laurie Whitham, who has been a frequent visitor to this site. Her son, SPC Chase Whitham, died in Mosul in May, 2004.
Link to Full Article
By Bob Welch, The Register-Guard
SPRINGFIELD - It goes away for the rest of us, the war in Iraq. But not for the woman at Springfield Memorial Gardens on Tuesday afternoon.
Our grief is the Monopoly equivalent of landing on "Jail" without having drawn the ominous ``Go directly to ...'' card. We're just visiting. Another roll of the dice, and we're off and playing again.
We flip the page in the newspaper that reports the latest casualties. We turn the channel. We get distracted by hurricanes, by new seasons, by our own lives.
But the Laurie Whithams of the world can't so easily lose the past in the present.
Which is why I've come here as she makes her monthly pilgrimage to the grave of her son, Chase, a Marist High graduate who died in Iraq in May 2004. He was 21.
I wrote about the Whithams last December. Laurie is the one who donated the final $17.04 of Chase's checking account to the Tree of Giving program because he had once been involved in it.
After the column ran, I was reminded of how easily we forget. And we shouldn't.
We should be reminded that, as the world rushes by, mothers of soldiers still kneel in front of their son's graves.
She comes alone to the place beneath the limbs of an oak tree. She pulls out scissors and trims the flowers and grass around the headstone. She brings new plants and waters some of the old.
"I look forward to coming," she tells you later. "This is his spot. I don't want it to look forlorn."
She sits down and thinks. Prays. Remembers.
Be sure to read the rest.
Army helping Sadr City expand medical facilities
Link to Full Article
By Norris Jones, Army News Service
BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 1, 2005) -- More has been invested for health care in Sadr City this past year than over 15 years under Saddam Hussein.
In fact, it was 1986 when Iraq’s last new hospital was built.
In Sadr City, a relatively poor area of Baghdad, the Al Baladi Maternity and Children’s Hospital opened in 1983. Last July, workers began renovating and upgrading that facility under a $17.2 million contract. In addition, six new primary healthcare centers are under construction at a cost of $3.7 million. [...]
My very first raid story
Sminklemeyer has posted a new entry in his blog that describes a raid made by the 3/2 in Tall Afar.
An exerpt follows:
TALL AFAR, Iraq – In a dilapidated two-story building on the outskirts of Tall Afar, the loud bass and electrical guitar of heavy metal music echoes off the faded white walls. On this chilly April night, Soldiers pace up and down the stairs and hallways, pushing each other like football players just minutes before they walk onto the field. Only this isn’t a game, and the opponent isn’t a rival they will shake hands with afterwards. [...]
Commander of 133rd delivers hopeful message
The 113rd provided engineer support to both the 3/2 and the 1/25 Stryker Brigades
Link to Full Article
By Darcie Moore, Times Record News
BRUNSWICK - Brunswick Rotary Club admitted Monday that they've been discouraged by media reports about the reconstruction efforts led by American military forces in Iraq. But they received far more encouraging news from one of the hundreds of Mainers sent to Iraq to rebuild the war-stricken country.
Lt. Col. John Jansen of the Maine National Guard 133rd Engineering Battalion attended Monday's Brunswick Rotary Club meeting at the Atrium dressed in camouflage and black boots. He came armed with a slide show.
The pictures he chose were to give club members an eyeful of more than what they see in televised news reports. While Jansen showed images of piles of explosives found by his soldiers, there were also smiles on the faces of many of the Iraqi people he met. The majority of Iraqis want to move forward with their lives, Jansen said.
In Mosul — the city of 1.8 million people where Jansen's unit spent most of its deployment in Iraq — only a handful of Iraqis want to disrupt progress, the commander said. Those groups are organized, Jansen said, so his troops had to change the way they operate from day to day. This makes it difficult to answer questions about what day-to-day routine was like. [...]
The battalion did projects on every base and camp in northern Iraq. Their job was unique in that they were able to get out into the villages and work with the people. One of the pictures was of a completed culvert the battalion installed, maybe not the most significant job they did, but the road crossing over the culvert connected two villages that had never before been connected.
Jansen also shared a photo of a school room where students crowded the room two to a desk, illustrating the importance of one of the new schools the soldiers built.
The outpouring of supplies for Iraqi villagers sent from back home required the battalion to build an extra mail room. To keep up with the demand, materials come in regularly on convoy made up of 20 tractor-trailers.
With their nation's infrastructure strained and dilapidated, Iraqis look at the infrastructure in the United States and expect them to be able to build one like it in Iraq in much less time than is realistic, Jansen said. Major infrastructure projects are dangerous, Jansen explained, and soldiers become a target for those who are still trying to impede their progress. Members of the old regimes like the Baath Party are examples of such groups. Jansen and the battalion have experienced casualties. He asked club members to remember one of his injured men, Sgt. Harold Gray, in their prayers.
Asked to say candidly if he thinks the effort to rebuild Iraq and turn it over to a democratically elected government can succeed, Jansen mentioned a recent sign that gives him hope.
The turnout during the Jan. 30 Iraqi national elections far exceeded expectations. [...]
From the time he received his first orders, "It was not about us or the United States, it was about them," Jansen said, referring to the Iraqi people.
Asked if initiating federalism in Iraq is a good idea, he said, "It's amazingly complicated. ... I think the question is, can (the conflicting ethnic groups) come together and make some concessions, and I don't know the answer to that."
Whatever happens, "I left there — and I know my soldiers did — feeling like we made a difference, and that's very important," Jansen said.
Latest Stryker variant arrives for duty
Link to Article (Photo included)
By J.C. Mathews
FORT LEWIS, Wa. (Army News Service, Aug. 12, 2005) - Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have been rotating to Yakima Training Center this summer to train on the first Stryker Mortar Carrier version B, the latest variant of the Stryker to arrive for duty.
Brigade units will field the MCV-B, essentially a Stryker with a 120mm mortar mounted in what would normally be the crew compartment, during the fall.
“It allows us to be accurate more quickly, to fire fewer rounds to hit the target,” said Spc. Timothy French, a mortar vehicle commander with B Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry. “We can place faster, get the gun out faster, get the rounds downrange faster. It literally cuts our time in half.”
The new Stryker variant replaces the MCV-A, which transported mortars that had to be unloaded and set up to fire. The MCV-B’s 120mm mortar is mounted and fires from inside the vehicle through doors that swing open atop the vehicle. It also includes a digital fire control system that can receive fire missions and help the vehicle’s five-man crew aim the mortar more effectively.
Each of the mortar vehicles has the mounted 120mm mortar and carries a second mortar that has to be unloaded and set up for firing. The MCV-B at battalion level carries the 81mm mortar; company mortar vehicles carry the 60mm version. According to Capt. Teddy Kleiser, B Company commander, the choice of weapons provides commanders flexibility.
Brian Jenne, liaison officer for the Training and Doctrine Command System Manager Stryker at Fort Lewis, has watched French’s and other units conduct their initial training on the MCV-B and is already providing feedback from troops to Army officials fielding the system.
For example, Soldiers have consistently advocated adding a hatch for an air guard in the mortar doors atop the vehicle, an option now under consideration, Jenne said. Also, the previous variant could be emptied of its contents and used as an alternate troop carrier - an impractical option with a mortar permanently mounted inside the MCV-B.
Even if the feedback isn’t all positive, Jenne said all of it is useful. “Anytime that we can interface with the Soldier on a new piece of equipment and gather information from them, then we’ll take that into consideration to see how we can make the system better,” he said.
Still, Jenne said troops’ initial reaction to the vehicle has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The Soldiers like it - it’s easy to maintain, and it’s pretty simple,” he added. “They like not having to dismount the weapon. It’s also very, very accurate - they like that the best.”
The brigade is expected to complete its new equipment training on the MCV-B during August or September.
(Editor’s Note: J.C. Mathews is a writer for the Fort Lewis Northwest Guardian.)
133rd paid homage for service
Relatives of those who died, troops who returned given flags in bittersweet ceremony (The 133rd provided engineer support for the 3/2 in Iraq last year)
Link to Full Article
By BETTY ADAMS ,Blethen Maine Newspapers
AUGUSTA -- For Dale Albert of Albion, the Freedom Salute Ceremony recognizing the members of the 133rd Engineer Battalion was bittersweet.
Her older bother, Staff Sgt. Lynn Poulin, was one of those killed in Iraq last December when a bomb exploded inside a base dining facility.
But Albert wanted to be sure to catch Sunday's ceremony at the Augusta Civic Center honoring the "Defenders of Freedom."
"The defenders are all people I grew up with," she said.
Poulin's widow, Jeanne, was given an American flag folded in a triangle and boxed with a commemorative coin.
Relatives of the three other Mainers who died while stationed in Iraq with the 133rd -- Sgt. Tom Dostie's mother, Sgt. Christopher Gelineau's mother, and Laura Jones, widow of 1st Sgt. Michael Jones -- each received a folded and boxed flag. Since Sgt. Harold Gray is at the Togus veterans hospital with head and back injuries suffered in Iraq, his wife, Laurie Gray, received his flag.
The Sunday ceremony, during which each member of the 133rd received a flag, was timed to coincide with the first regular drill weekend since the unit returned from Iraq in March.
Those who were deployed were distinguished by their desert camouflage uniforms. After posing outside for a group picture, more than 500 men and women marched into the civic center in single file to the applause of family, friends and dignitaries and music by the 195th Army Band. [...]
SUNDAY CEREMONY A CHANCE TO THANK THE 133RD
Link to Full Article
Blethen Maine Newspapers
We hope many of you will turn out Sunday to honor more than 500 members of the 133rd Engineer Battalion who served in Iraq.
The men and women of the 133rd returned to Maine in March after spending a year helping rebuild the war-ravaged nation's schools, other essential structures, roads and bridges.
Sunday's "Freedom Salute Ceremony," scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the Augusta Civic Center, is a chance to salute and thank the soldiers for their outstanding and courageous work in what has become one of the world's most dangerous places.
Members of the battalion -- the state's largest unit in the Iraqi combat zone -- certainly know they did outstanding work while stationed in Mosul. They deserve to know that others think so, too.
During its time in Iraq, the 133rd, composed of soldiers from Maine and New Hampshire, had three members killed in two attacks and several others injured, some seriously.
The ceremony is an opportunity to recognize and express sympathy for those who died: Spc. Christopher D. Gelineau, 23, of Portland; Sgt. Lynn R. Poulin Sr., 47, of Freedom; and Spc. Thomas J. Dostie, 20, of Somerville.
Gelineau was killed in a roadside ambush in April 2004.
Poulin and Dostie were among the 22 people killed last December by an insurgent strike on a mess tent as U.S. soldiers gathered for lunch at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul.
Another member of the 133rd, Sgt. 1st Class Michael D. Jones, 43, of Unity, died March 3 at a New York hospital after becoming seriously ill following the 133rd's flight from Iraq to Fort Drum, N.Y. [...]
Dozen Fort Lewis soldiers receive honor
Link to Full Article
BY LAURA MCVICKER, The Olympian
FORT LEWIS -- With his wife serving in Baghdad, Master Sgt. Judd Sweitzer of Tumwater was grateful his 5-year-old daughter, Kayleigh, was there to see him receive the Combat Action Badge on Friday.
"She probably won't remember, but it's just awesome to have someone from my family here," Sweitzer said.
Sweitzer was one of 12 Fort Lewis soldiers who received the badge, awarded to soldiers actively involved in battle against the enemy. The award goes to those who perform their duties satisfactorily while engaged in attack or while being attacked, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, Army chief of staff, told the audience.
Awards went to Sweitzer, First Lt. Ryan Gutzweiler, Sgt. James Grove, Staff Sgt. Armando Mejia, Sgt. Josiah Dolejsi, Spc. Brian Cochrain, Spc. Wesley Eaton, Spc. Leslie Frederick, Spc. Thomas Pirro, Cpl. Travis Graves, Pfc. Antonio Martinez and Pfc. David Perez. Each had served a tour in Iraq within the last two years and had been nominated for the award by superiors.
"I can't tell you how proud I am of this Army and these soldiers," Schoomaker told the 70 people who packed the auditorium at the Henry Lind Academy on Fort Lewis. Schoomaker approved the badge on May 2 to honor those serving in imminent danger overseas. [...]
Re-enlistment rates exceed Army estimates
Soldiers from the 3/2 & 1/25 SBCTs are featured in the following article from Michael Gilbert.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
New recruits are hard to find, but the Army is having no trouble persuading the soldiers it already has to stick around.
They’re re-enlisting at rates well above the Army’s goal for this fiscal year, attracted by a mix of tax-free bonuses, educational opportunities and other benefits. Many are re-upping under stability plans that allow them and their families to stay at one installation for several years, rather than cope with the constant moves that typically are part of military life.
And while the war in Iraq is cited as the major reason for Army recruiting woes, re-enlistment rates at Fort Lewis and elsewhere are highest among soldiers returning from the war, career counselors said.
“There are a lot of benefits to staying in right now. The re-enlistment bonuses are great. College options are there,” said Sgt. 1st Class Devon Roy, 30, an air defense artilleryman at Fort Lewis. He re-enlisted in August in Mosul to spend the rest of his career – another 12 years – in the Army.
“But there’s also that warrior ethos. There’s pride from going over there and doing your job,” Roy said. “There’s a lot of guys who have been there and have a sense of camaraderie, and a sense of responsibility to still do the mission, to finish the job.”
A total of 1,002 soldiers from Roy’s unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, re-enlisted while they were in Iraq last year or just after they returned home in October – exceeding the Army’s goal by about 25 percent, Fort Lewis officials said. In some returning units, Army officials say they as much as doubled their anticipated number of re-enlistments.
Army-wide, retention is running at about 107 percent of the annual goal, officials said. From Oct. 1 through May the active-duty Army re-enlisted 45,333 soldiers, ahead of its goal of 44,172.
Events carry special meaning
Link to Full Article
By SHAWN DAY, Statesman Journal
Laurie and Mark Whitham plan to observe Memorial Day by making a low-key, private journey to their son's grave in Springfield.
It will be their second trip this month to Springfield Memorial Gardens. They went on Mother's Day to mourn the one-year anniversary of Army Spc. Chase Whitham's death. Today won't feel any different.
"We pretty much feel the same every day," Laurie Whitham said. "It doesn't matter how long it's been."
Chase Whitham graduated in 2000 from Marist High School in Eugene, and he enlisted in the Army about two years later. He spent a year serving in South Korea, returned home to Oregon, then signed a waiver allowing him to join the scout platoon of the Stryker Brigade, part of the 2nd Infantry Division based in Fort Lewis, Wash.
He had been in Iraq with his unit for about six months when he and a handful of soldiers took a break from the sweltering conditions and jumped into a 3 1/2-foot-deep pool in a Mosul palace.
A few moments later, an electrical current surged through the pool, killing Whitham and injuring another soldier. Investigators determined a faulty pump and improper wiring were responsible.
For Laurie Whitham, thoughts of her son and his death can claw into her consciousness at any time or place. Walking down the aisles of a grocery store recently, she spotted one of Chase's favorite foods: smoked oysters.
His memory came flooding back. So did the tears.
"I've been real weepy lately," she said. "It comes in waves. You have days when you're reminded of stuff. You can't predict it." [...]
Four Tracy streets to be named for fallen veterans
Tracy, CA is planning to honor four fallen servicemen by naming local streets after them. Two are soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID - SSG Steven Bridges, and PFC Jessie Martinez.
Brenda Huang, Tracy Press
Published May 10, 2005, in the Tracy Press.
A lot has changed since U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Bridges was killed in a Stryker vehicle accident in Iraq. One grandfather passed away, the oldest stepdaughter had a third baby, and wife Debra has become an activist pushing a bill through Congress for more benefits for military families.
But one thing remains unchanged: When his parents travel from Tracy to Federal Way, Wash., twice a year to visit his family and his grave, it still hurts.
“We still miss him daily,” said Loretta Bridges of her son, a Tracy High School graduate who died at age 33.
The city, too, remembers Bridges, who had two tours in Korea and participated in Operation Desert Storm during his 15 years in the U.S. Army.
City officials have requested that developers name streets in new subdivisions after the four Tracy servicemen killed in the Iraqi war: U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa and Bridges, who died in 2003, and U.S. National Guard Sgt. Patrick McCaffrey and Army Pfc. Jessie Martinez, who died a year later.
One name will be on a street sign in the Yosemite Vista subdivision east of MacArthur Drive. It will be erected in about two months, said Chris Mina, senior civic engineer of the Department of Development and Engineering Services.
Where other names will go has not been finalized, but the city has sent letters to the developers of the Meadowwood subdivision on West Lowell Avenue and the South Gate project at the west end of Schulte Road, Mina said.
“We'd be more than happy” to do something the city requests, said Phil Bodem, president of Morrison Homes, which is building Meadowwood.
The city's tradition of honoring those killed in military service officially started in 1987, when the City Council passed a resolution to make it a policy. Such street signs are blue and have yellow lettering, while the average street name is printed in white on a green sign.
One veteran is beaming with satisfaction at the city's action.
Douglas Booke, a retired corrections officer and served in the Marines from 1972 to 1978, wrote two letters to city officials asking to honor these four soldiers with street names. In January he received a letter from the then-Interim City Manager Zane Johnston with a positive reply.
“It's wonderful of them to honor the veterans,” Booke said. “There's a reason why we are free.”
Loretta Bridges said she was excited to hear her son's name would be on a street sign.
“It just means they honor and acknowledge what all our sons did, not just for the country, but for the city, too,” Loretta Bridges said, referring to the four families, which have formed a bond since the war.
Soldier tastes sweet fruits of civilian life
Link to Full Article
By Christopher Behnan, Daily Press & Argus
Army Capt. Ken Hardesty has been in a "whirlwind" since returning to Livingston County from his post in Washington state, adapting to his new role as father and - for the first time in about 10 years - a civilian.
Ken Hardesty, 30, was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., for about three years before he was deployed to Iraq for one year. His wife, Renee Hardesty, 26, was by his side, and led a support group for wives of servicemen.
Ken Hardesty served as a calvary troop commander and captain for the A Troop, First Squadron, 14th U.S. Calvary. [...]
He's still on call with the Army until the end of May but doesn't expect to be called back. If called, however, he said he would be ready and able to serve.
Ken Hardesty, who left for West Point at 17 and didn't look back, has no plans to return to the military. When he's not seeking work or meeting with fellow servicemen, he is adapting to a more serene lifestyle at home.
Ken Hardesty sat down last week to discuss his journey, and what is ahead. The rest of the Hardesty clan, meanwhile, was making final preparations for a bash in his honor. [...]
While he has no plans to return to the military, he said he will miss the experience and the friends he made along the way.
"I love the Army. There are a lot of things I'm going to miss," Ken Hardesty said. "It really just represents a change in priorities for me."
Ken Hardesty was part of the U.S. military's first Stryker Brigade unit in Iraq. The armed Stryker vehicles are used to transport ground troops and their weapons.
In his unit, Ken Hardesty was in charge of about 100 soldiers, one of whom was killed in combat.
Stryker brigades fit for duty
A Stryker Brigade commander responds to an op-ed in the Washington Times with a letter of his own. This letter was originally published on February 14th, 2005, but I don't believe we've linked to it before.
I would like to respond to the opinions Col. Douglas A. MacGregor voiced in his letter to the editor ("Army transformation," Friday).
First, as a commander of a reconnaissance troop in the Stryker brigade, I do not view myself as the leader of a "SWAT" team, as Col. MacGregor describes Stryker brigades. No offense to the members of those great organizations, but the mission I am trained to handle is far more complex. I am charged with conducting "full-spectrum operations," meaning everything from peacekeeping to high-intensity conflicts. Stryker brigades demonstrated the capability to accomplish these missions on multiple occasions in Iraq.
True, there were days spent doing presence patrols of Mosul or handing out school supplies to needy children. But many days were spent conducting successful, productive raids on the homes and businesses of insurgents, as well as other direct-action operations.
Col. MacGregor asserts that the "Army's generals have kept the Stryker land-combat vehicle out of urban fighting in places such as Fallujah and Najaf, where they would have sustained serious losses." To my knowledge, Col. MacGregor is correct that there were no Stryker units in those operations, but he's wrong on the reason why. When U.S. forces launched the offensives to retake those towns from insurgents, the battle-hardened, more experienced Stryker unit — the first Stryker brigade — had just been sent home after a year in Iraq. The replacement unit — the second Stryker brigade — had only been on the ground for less than a month. It was still in the process of becoming familiar with the situation and the conduct of missions there.
Be sure to read the rest.
(Link from Steve Thorne, via the 14th Cavalry Association)
Army says it's fixing Stryker
Link to Full Article
MATTHEW COX, Army Times
SPRINGFIELD, Va. -- The Army's newest combat vehicle, the Stryker, is already being redesigned because of soldiers' complaints about its safety and performance, military officials said.
Several key systems are being redesigned to give future Strykers better mobility, increased protection and greater killing power, officials said.
But many of the changes won't be in place until late 2006 or spring 2007.
The changes stem from soldiers' complaints outlined in a report from the Center for Army Lessons Learned, which focused on the performance of the Army's first Stryker brigade during its maiden combat tour in Iraq.
By 2007, according to the report, Stryker brigades will be able to shoot on the move with greater accuracy day and night. They'll also have armored shields protecting vulnerable hatches and an improved tire inflation system that can better handle the vehicle's weight in combat.
Army officials in the Stryker program said the improvements were in the works long before the report was completed in December 2004, a couple of months after 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, had come home to Fort Lewis, from its yearlong tour.
The Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog group, released the report to the public Thursday.
"There wasn't a single surprise in there. In every case, they are being worked," said Steven Campbell, Stryker systems coordinator for the assistant Army secretary for acquisitions, logistics and technology.
Eric Miller, senior defense investigator for the Project on Government Oversight, said the report's findings show the Army should have fully tested the Stryker before sending it to a combat zone. Stryker brigades are meant to serve as the model for the Army's effort to create a lighter, more agile force.
The Army has deployed two of the seven Stryker brigades it plans to field by the summer of 2008. With each brigade taking with it more than 300 vehicles, those seven brigades will cost the Army $7.6 billion.
Soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have praised the vehicle during several interviews with the Army Times in Iraq, describing it as the only vehicle they would want to take into combat.
The article continues...
The Herring Room
Susan Sutter sent an email last week to let us know that she recently attended the dedication of a training room at the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment (5/20) HQ at Ft. Lewis as "The Herring Room". Her son, SGT Jacob "Jake" Herring, was killed on April 28, 2004 in Iraq. I know Susan has remained very close to Jake's platoon - you can view photos of the potluck she hosted for them when they returned in November.
MilBlogs in Army Times
The cover story on Army Times this week is about military blogs. Colby Buzzell of the 3/2 SBCT (My War) is featured, and LTC Paul Hastings of Task Force Olympia is quoted.
- The blogs of war
- A penny for their thoughts
- Blogs of War - Editorial
(via Blackfive)
Pulse of war stays with returning troops
Link to Full Article
By CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
Sgt. Michael Fields can't drive by an abandoned car on the shoulder of Interstate 5 without thinking about the explosive devices planted in Iraq.
Insurgents regularly pack parked cars with explosives and detonate them as vehicles carrying U.S. troops drive by, the 27-year-old Fort Lewis soldier said. It's a makeshift weapon that has proven effective, killing several soldiers from the Army post and elsewhere in recent months.
Fields said he knows that abandoned cars here don't carry the same threat as they do in Iraq. But after living in that environment for a year, "it's not going to go away in a couple of months."
Thousands of Washington guardsmen might share the same thoughts as Fields, who returned home in November with the Army's first Stryker brigade. The 3,200-member 81st Brigade Combat Team began arriving back at Fort Lewis this week.
And they, like Fields, must get used to life in which the only items packed into abandoned cars are spare tires and the only mortars fired into the air are Fourth of July fireworks.
It's just another adjustment soldiers have to make as they reunite with families and return to civilian jobs. [...]
Returning to his civilian job was among the hardest adjustments for Scott Clark, a retired major in the Army National Guard.
By late 2003, Clark was helping plan combat operations in Iraq, making what ultimately are life-and-death decisions for thousands of U.S. troops 18 hours a day.
Six months later, Clark was back at work as a utilities planner for Thurston County, trying to find relevance in the minutiae of a groundwater ordinance under review by planning commissioners. [...]
Prior to his return, Clark said he was advised to expect nothing so he wouldn't be disappointed if his family didn't have time to organize a huge homecoming gathering. And that's sage advice for the guardsmen returning from Iraq.
"The fact that you came back and you got all your parts and you get a new opportunity to live as an American is great," he said. "Anything beyond that is icing."
Aching for closure
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
When Staff Sgt. Steven Bridges left for Iraq, he took a deck of his daughter Sarrah’s Spider-Man playing cards.
He promised he’d send home one card each week. That way, when Sarrah had close to a full deck, she’d know Daddy would be home soon.
None of the cards ever made it.
Bridges, 33, was killed Dec. 8, 2003, when his Stryker armored vehicle fell upside down into an irrigation canal. The driver, Spc. Christopher Rivera Wesley, 26, also died, as did Spc. Joseph Blickenstaff, 23, who was riding in another Stryker that rolled into the water at virtually the same moment.
The rollovers occurred just an hour into the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division’s first combat mission in Iraq.
Soldiers were dismayed that their first three casualties would come by accident – in the water, in a desert country, no less. But they had no choice but to put it behind them. Their year in combat was just beginning, and failure to pay attention could be fatal.
Back home, the families of the dead had fewer distractions.
Everything reminded them of their loss – the news, the holidays, the funerals and just living day to day.
“I will never get over it,” Blickenstaff’s mother, Georgia Schilz of Tacoma, said recently. “No parent ever gets over losing a child, especially a child that’s taken in a violent way.” [...]
Debbie Bridges keeps her eye on the mailbox every day.
“You think you’re going to be OK and then something will come in the mail,” she said. “I get credit card offers for him all the time, at this address, and he never lived here.”
There’s also the thought of those Spider-Man playing cards.
Her husband called just before he crossed from Kuwait into Iraq and told Debbie he’d put three letters in the mail, with three more cards counting down the weeks until he’d be home.
The Ace of Hearts was for her, he said.
The letters still haven’t arrived.
The full article contains additional information about how the soldier's families feel about the safety of the Stryker and how the Army has handled the investigation of the incidents.
Army defends Strykers after at least seven rollovers
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The two vehicles that plunged into a canal Dec. 8, 2003, near Duluiyah, Iraq, weren’t the only Strykers to roll over during the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division’s deployment to Iraq.
The Army investigated at least five other rollover accidents involving Strykers during the brigade’s year in Iraq, according to the U.S. Army Safety Center.
They include the July 14, 2004, accident near Tal Afar that killed the driver, Pfc. Jesse Martinez, 20, and Cpl. Demetrius Rice, 24. Officials said Martinez swerved to avoid an oncoming water truck and rolled his Stryker down a roadside embankment.
The Army says rollover accidents occur with all its combat vehicles.
“We don’t believe that the Stryker is more of a risk for rollover than any other vehicle with have in our inventory,” Col. Peter Fuller, the Stryker program manager, told reporters during a recent news briefing on the vehicles.
The 3rd Brigade was the first to use the Army’s new armored vehicles in combat.
Officials at the Safety Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., said their investigators’ reports of the Stryker accidents are not yet available for public release. The agency released a list of its investigations and a brief synopsis:
The cases include:
• Dec. 16, 2003: Eight days after the Dec. 8 rollovers, a driver ran off an unimproved road and rolled into an irrigation pond. A soldier was thrown from the vehicle but wasn’t seriously hurt, and there were no other injuries.
• Feb. 20, 2004: A Stryker driver swerved to avoid hitting a dump truck and rolled his vehicle, causing undisclosed injuries and damage.
• March 28, 2004: A Stryker driver and a passenger were injured when their vehicle rolled while going down a trail.
• July 15, 2004: A Stryker swerved to avoid an oncoming car. Three soldiers suffered unspecified injuries.
Lt. Col. Karl Reed, commander of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, said two of his Strykers rolled over in Iraq, including the one in which Rice and Martinez were killed. He said he’s served in units that ride in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and others that ride in Humvees.
“I don’t see anything that I can pinpoint to say the Stryker is more vulnerable than any other vehicle,” Reed said.
He said driving in Iraq is difficult, with wadis and canals and other terrain hazards. In addition, the civilian drivers are notoriously reckless and pose a hazard, he and others said. [...]
“There have been far too many soldiers across the Army who have died in the canals,” said Col. Mike Rounds, who commanded the 3rd Brigade in Iraq.
The additional weight of slat armor that was installed to protect the Strykers from rocket-propelled grenades does not make the vehicles more likely to roll, officials said.
The 3rd Brigade’s investigation of the Dec. 8 accident made no finding as to whether the added weight of the improvised armor played a part in the tragedy.
It concluded that the vehicles rolled mostly because the drivers failed to steer them clear of the weakened left side of the dirt track that ran between two canals, and that they fell when a portion of the road collapsed underneath them.
Rounds, in an interview following the brigade’s return home in October, said in retrospect that there was no tactical advantage to be gained by traveling down the trail between the canals that day.
“In my view it was less about the Strykers,” he said, “and more about us not dominating our surroundings, letting our surroundings get away from us.”
Capsized in the canal
This is a very long article, but well worth reading.
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The deadliest day for Fort Lewis’ first Stryker brigade didn’t come during an ambush or a firefight. It came during simultaneous accidents that trapped 19 soldiers underwater. Staff Sgt. Michael Robinson doesn’t remember yelling “Rollover!” just an hour into the Stryker brigade’s first combat mission in Iraq. But his soldiers said he did.
A convoy of the brigade’s namesake armored vehicles trundled down a narrow dirt track that ran between two irrigation canals. Robinson had one leg up out of the hatch of vehicle B-32, checking to make sure they were on the right route, when he felt the Stryker bear left.
Somehow, he managed to drop down into the vehicle before it toppled into the canal.
He saw the landscape through his open hatch, then water. The Stryker filled rapidly.[...]
The soldiers in the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment – the Tomahawks – were looking forward to this night.
Some had been with the Stryker brigade since its inception in early 2000. They had gone through all the training, the introduction of new equipment, the weeks in the field for exercises at Yakima, in the Mojave Desert in California and in the pine forests of Louisiana.
They’d lived and worked for three years as members of the Army’s new concept for warfighting.
This would be their first combat mission.
Duluiyah is a small town in the rich agricultural area along the Tigris River north of Baghdad. It was home to many in Saddam Hussein’s intelligence service; the brigade intelligence officer said Stryker troops would not be welcome in “the town of a thousand stares.”
So many U.S. convoys had been attacked along the highway through Duluiyah that they’d taken to calling it Ambush Alley. A cemetery north of town was the suspected launch site for mortar and rocket attacks on the American camp at Saddam’s old air base nearby, dubbed Forward Operating Base Pacesetter by its new American occupants.[...]
Related Features: The News Tribune has also created a multi-media presentation to accompany this article.
Articles of Interest
The following are a handful of articles, most of which are not Stryker-related, that are still worth highlighting.
- Trip takes soldier back to beloved outdoors - Trevor Phillips, a 3/2 SBCT soldier who lost his arm in Iraq, returns to the outdoors and the activities he loves. Great article.
- New drama shows war through a soldier's eyes - Local reservist David Tucker has written a play called "Another Day in Baghdad" that is being performed at North Seattle Community College through February 27th. Tucker spent 11 months in Iraq with his PSYOP unit.
- Amputee Seeks Help For Wounded - Staff Sgt. Ryan Kelly fights to ease the financial burdens for wounded soldiers and their families. Might be time to write your representatives again.
- New Factor in Iraq: Irregular Brigades Fill Security Void - Very interesting article about ad-hoc groups of Iraqi citizens that are taking on the insurgents themselves. Link expires in 7 days.
- Amputee heading back to battlefield - Capt. David Rozelle lost his leg in Iraq, but he's about to become the first amputee to return there when his unit deploys again. He's also releasing an autobiography titled, "Back in Action".
Army Times Account of Helicopter Rescue
Earlier articles posted today from The Olympian and The News Tribune describe yesterday's award ceremony for the rescue of a helicopter crew last September near Tall Afar, Iraq. A definitive account of that rescue mission was written by Matthew Cox of Army Times in November. It is still available online. We've posted this article before, but thought it would be helpful to point to it again. This is one of the best articles I've read regarding the 3/2 SBCT.
Acts of valor earn medals for Fort Lewis soldiers
This story is worthy of separate entries in today's news.
Link to Full Article
By CHRISTIAN HILL
Dozens honored for helicopter rescue, other efforts
FORT LEWIS -- A U.S. military helicopter is brought down by enemy fire in hostile territory. Soldiers rush to the rescue, engaging hundreds of enemy fighters for hours as mortars and rocket-propelled grenades explode around them.
But this isn't the Battle of Mogadishu on Oct. 3, 1993, which was retold in the book and 2001 movie, "Black Hawk Down."
This story hits closer to home.
"It was our version," said Spc. Aaron Sykora, 20, a member of the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, stationed at Fort Lewis. "Totally different enemy though."
Sykora was one of nearly two dozen soldiers with the unit who received Army Commendation Medals for Valor on Friday.
They earned the medals for the gallantry they displayed evacuating and securing an OH-58 Kiowa Warrior reconnaissance helicopter that crashed in Tall 'Afar, Iraq, on Sept. 3.
A dozen soldiers from the unit received the medal for heroic acts during the unit's yearlong deployment with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. That deployment ended in November.
First Lt. Robert McChrystal, a 24-year-old Yelm resident, received the highest medal of the day, a Bronze Star with Valor, for commanding a 25-man scout platoon first on the scene at the crash site. [...]
The soldiers battled more than 300 insurgents over that four-hour period, the Army said.
No U.S. soldier died in the attack and the 15 soldiers injured eventually were able to return to duty, McChrystal said.
Eighteen U.S. soldiers died in the 18-hour battle against fighters in the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, where two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down.
"For me, I thought it was a good example of definitely not quitting, not giving up," McChrystal said. "I think we were able to turn what could have been an awful situation into a pretty good situation."
During Friday's ceremony, Col. Stephen Townsend, 3rd Brigade commander, said many soldiers displayed valor that either went unnoticed or unrewarded.
"You wish you could give it to a lot more people," Thompson said of the medal.
Helicopter heroes
Link to Full Article
By BILL HUTCHENS; The News Tribune
Hollywood might have another one on its hands.
The 2001 movie “Black Hawk Down” told a riveting story of military heroism surrounding the crash of a helicopter. It bears a resemblance to what soldiers from the Army’s first Stryker brigade went through on the morning of Sept. 4, 2004, just a month before they came home from Iraq.
Friday at Fort Lewis, commanders handed out a Bronze Star and about two dozen Army Commendation Medals to “Regulars” from the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment for their actions that day. They risked their lives while rescuing the crew of a downed helicopter and keeping the bird out of enemy hands.
Lt. Col. Karl Reed, 5-20 commander, addressed friends and family of the soldiers gathered for the outdoor ceremony on Regulars’ Field.
“Uncommon valor is a common virtue in the men you see standing before you in formation today,” he said.
After the ceremony, Reed talked about that explosive day in Tal Afar, a city of 300,000 in northern Iraq on the road from the Syrian border.
It was the first time in Iraq that he saw men returning to their Stryker vehicles to replenish their rapidly diminishing supplies of ammunition, he said. “That was a day that every man had to fight,” he said. [...]
Unlike the famed 1993 “Black Hawk Down” episode in Somalia, in which 18 American soldiers were killed, the Strykers didn’t lose a single soldier in the Iraq fight.
Five men from the battalion, in addition to the two pilots, were injured.
“We didn’t even know our guys were wounded,” Reed said Friday. “They didn’t bother to tell anybody.”
In his speech, Reed reminded his men to honor their 5-20 brothers who died during the yearlong deployment: Spc. Jake Herring, 21; Cpl. Demetrius Rice, 24; and Pfc. Jesse Martinez, 20.
Afterward, McChrystal did just that.
“Those are the real heroes,” he said.
G.P. Putnam's Sons to Publish U.S. Army Soldier
Link to Full Article
By Christopher Simmons
Staff Writer, PubNewswire.com
NEW YORK, NY -- G.P. Putnam's Sons is publishing the personal experiences of twenty-eight-year-old U.S. Army soldier Colby Buzzell. His book, 'My War,' will offer uncensored stories that bring home the chilling realities of war. Buzzell's incisive reportage and brutally honest take on the war were first filed as entries in a web log, My War, that he created as a way to tell the world about what was really happening in Iraq. [...]
Buzzell's book will delve further into his personal experiences as a 20-something soldier in the line of fire. World and audio rights to My War have been acquired by David Highfill, Senior Editor, G.P. Putnam's Sons, from literary agent Heather Schroder at ICM. Putnam will publish the book in hardcover in fall 2005, with a paperback edition to be published by Berkley in 2006.
Before enlisting in the Army at age twenty-six, Colby Buzzell (now twenty-eight) was living in California, jumping from one low-paying job to the next. He joined the military because he was "sick of living my life in oblivion." After he was deployed to Iraq, he quickly discovered that his life would never be the same again.
On the ground near Mosul with First Battalion, 23rd Regiment, toting heavy weaponry amidst "guerilla warfare, urban-style," Buzzell was disturbed by how the war he was fighting was being reported - both by major news agencies and soldier-written blogs. In June 2004, Buzzell started his own blog, My War, and it offers a glimpse of his innate ability to chronicle the essence of war and its powerful impact on him and the world.
According to Colby, Esquire magazine will be publishing a chapter from the book in its March, 2005 issue.
SPC Alexander D. Fallstone
The Army reported that SPC Alexander D. Fallstone was killed in a training accident at Ft. Lewis today. SPC Fallstone was assigned to 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), and recently returned from a tour in Iraq.
We'd like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
Soldier killed in training accident at Fort Lewis - The Olympian
Soldier killed in Fort Lewis training accident - KING 5 News
Soldier dies training on post - The News Tribune
An enduring friendship
Soldiers relied on each other in deadly ambush in Mosul and face more struggles in its aftermath
BY SAMUEL BRUCHEY
As he watched his blood drip through the floor panels of the Army Stryker vehicle racing him to a hospital in Mosul, Spc. William Duran thought about his buddies.
That morning, he and six other soldiers - his closest friends - had decided to stop for a smoke along a narrow street. Their routine foot patrol was nearly over.
Then a car rolled up and blocked the entrance to the street behind them. Several gunmen opened fire.
One of the seven Americans was killed. Two others were paralyzed. A bullet shattered Duran's arm "like a potato chip." Only one avoided injury.
"Your brain doesn't let you think," said Duran, 25, of New Mexico. "It's all training, instinct, reaction. Then you snap to and realize what you've been through ... how important your friends are."[...]
So, Barbara and Mark Vogl - whose son, Sgt. James Wingate, was among the seven ambushed - reached out to some friends and politicians on Long Island. They began raising money for the survivors and for the wife and three children of Sgt. Jake Demand, the soldier who died. They will hold a fund-raiser Wednesday at the AMVETS Post 18 in East Islip.
"We want to let them know how important their sacrifice is," said Mark Vogl, who used to live in Bay Shore but now lives in Big Sandy, Texas.
Nothing about that morning had seemed dangerous. Children approached the soldiers with gum and candy. The only shots fired echoed from a party a long way away. No one saw the car cut off the alley.
Demand, 29, a Washington state native, was shot in the legs and killed. A bullet ricocheted off Staff Sgt. Scott Thorne's radio and embedded itself in his head, paralyzing the right side of his body. Pfc. Travis Majors, 24, was paralyzed too, by a bullet to the neck. In fact, of the seven, only Spc. Chris McCracken, 21, of Michigan, escaped injury.
But they dropped belly-down and started firing, then dragged themselves and each other to where the bullets could not reach them. "We couldn't have gotten out of there without each other," said Wingate. "We relied on each other. We were like brothers."[...]
Fort Lewis soldiers locked down after goggles disappear
Link to Full Article
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- About 400 soldiers at this Army base were on lockdown Friday after a pair of night-vision goggles disappeared.
The lockdown affects about 400 members of the 296th Brigade Support Battalion. It is part of the first Stryker brigade, and returned in October after a year in Iraq, base spokesman Jeff Young said.
The goggles could not be located during an inventory on Thursday, said Young, a civilian.
"In the case of a high-value item - weapons or night-vision equipment - the Army's pretty serious about keeping track of these items," he said.
The lockdown means the battalion members must stay in the area until the missing goggles are found, or until enough evidence is gathered to allow officials to conclude what likely happened to them, Young said.
All-American Bowl showcases values
A 3/2 Brigade soldier represented Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom veterans at the Army-sponsored event. See the full article for a photograph and caption.
Link to Full Article
By Staff Sgt. Reeba Critser
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Army News Service, Jan. 18, 2005) – The Army sponsored the All-American Bowl Jan. 15, showcasing the talents of 78 high school football players, and senior Army leaders said there were many reasons to sponsor the event.
“Take a look at the young high school players from all walks of life and how they become all-Americans with teamwork, dedication and discipline – it’s the same we look for in Army values,” said Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard A. Cody. [...]
Cody said sponsoring football was a great idea because Soldiers love American football and it gives the Army a chance to showcase high school students and Soldiers on the same platform.
“When you watch the game, there’s a tradition for young athletes to announce what school they choose to go to,” Cody said. “Today we’re having 150 (delayed entry program Soldiers) who are enlisting and also saying to America `I want to be on your team.’”
For Fallen Soldiers Fundraiser To Be Held
The following article describes a fundraiser to benefit the soldiers, and their families, that were injured or killed in an attack on September 14th in Mosul. The names of Jacob Demand, Scott Thorne, and Travis Majors are familiar to most of you, but the article provides updates on the other soldiers involved in the incident as well.
Link to Full Article (Photo included)
By: James Montalto
Mark and Barbara Vogl, originally from Long Island, will be hosting a charity fundraiser for Barbara's son, Sergeant James Wingate, and six fellow soldiers of the First Squadron-Fourteenth Cavalry of the United States Army who were ambushed and injured by insurgents in Mosul, Iraq on September 14, 2004.
During the firefight five of the seven soldiers were seriously wounded, including Wingate, and one brave man, Sergeant Jake Demand, made the ultimate sacrifice. "This is so much different than Vietnam," said Mark Vogl, Wingate's stepfather and a combat arms officer in the US Army for almost 10 years. "I don't remember people supporting our troops back then like they do today. It makes a huge difference to our troops and to our country," he said.
A group of the Vogl's closest friends contacted Senator Caesar Trunzo (R-Hauppauge), former Congressman Rick Lazio and Congressman Steve Israel (D-Hauppauge) in an effort to help organize a fundraiser to ease the financial burdens of these wounded heroes and their families. Trunzo, Lazio and Israel will serve as honorary co-chairs of the event dubbed the Seven Brothers Fund. "Originally, this event was organized by the Vogl's and their friends just to benefit James [Wingate], but he wanted it to be for all members of his unit," said Rob Moschetti, an organizer for the event. [...]
Dan Mitola, chairman of the non-profit fund, hopes that people will consider making a contribution or attend the charity fundraiser, and Vogl agrees. "These guys and their families need your help. I thank God for the many friends on Long Island and across the nation who are making donations to the Seven Brothers Fund. Your generosity will help the transition back to civilian life and assist the family of Sergeant Jake Demand, after their tragic loss," Vogl said.
The Seven Brothers Fund charity fundraiser will be held on February 2, at the AMVETS Post 18, located at 141 Carleton Avenue, in East Islip, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., where beer, wine, soda, music, raffles and a Chinese auction will be enjoyed. Those attending are asked to make a tax deductible donation of $75 per person. Checks should be made out to the Seven Brothers Fund, 51 Timberpoint Road, East Islip, NY, 11730. RSVP by January 28 to Dan Mitola at 234-1817 or Rob Moschetti at 981-7533.
Be sure to read the entire article for updates on all of the soldiers.
CORRECTION: Some of the information in the article regarding Travis Majors is not correct. Cindy McGrew talked to Travis today and he wasn't aware of a move to CA, so...
Task Force Olympia E-Magazines
We wanted to bring this entry back to the top in case people missed it yesterday. The public affairs detachment with Task Force Olympia has put together two "Special Edition E-Magazines" highlighting the efforts of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (3/2 SBCT) and the 416th Civil Affairs Battalion.
While both are very large PDF files to download, they are definitely worth the effort. You will need Adobe's Acrobat Reader software (free) to display the magazines. I would suggest right-clicking the links below and selecting "Save Target As...", which will allow you to download the file to your computer.
- 3-2 SBCT Arrowhead Magazine - 36 pages
- 416th Civil Affairs Battalion - 28 pages
Searching for Lost Comrades in Mosul
Last January two Kiowa helicopter pilots from the 3-17 CAV were killed in a crash as they searched for a Stryker Brigade soldier whose boat had capsized in the Tigris. MAJ Andrew Kaufmann of the 3-17 describes the search and rescue operation in this audio report for NPR. Follow the link above and click on the "Listen" icon.
Home from Iraq, home for Christmas
Link to Full Article
By Paul Boerger; Mt. Shasta News
Twenty two year old U.S. Army E-4 Robert Olson has returned home to Weed after spending a year in Iraq.
"It was the experience of a lifetime," Olson said.
Although his unit is not scheduled to return to Iraq, Olson said he expects to be "stop lossed and sent back."
Olson's mother is Weed Elementary School music teacher Jenny Houston. The relief that her son is home safe is clearly visible on her face as he speaks about his experiences.
"It's been a long year," Houston said with a hint of tears in her eyes. "You hold your breath every time you hear something. When something would happen in Mosul, Robert was good about contacting us." [...]
Olson said he has no doubts as to why he is fighting.
"I'd rather have us fighting over there than them coming over here," he said. "I can't stand people who talk bad about the war because the reason they have freedom of speech is because of us."
Olson said that of all the lessons he learned from his experience, the importance of family was foremost.
"I could have died any minute," Olson said. "The time you have with your loved ones, you cherish the most.
TEXAS TROOPS: Mike Schmieder
Link to Full Article (photo included)
By Bill Teeter; Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Duty: Army Recent assignment: Iraq
Just four years out of Granbury High School, Sgt. Mike Schmieder has learned to shoulder life-and-death responsibility.
Schmieder, 22, serves in the 1/14 Cavalry 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade and rides as gunner in his reconnaissance platoon's lead vehicle. He returned to base in Fort Lewis, Wash., on Nov. 11 after a year's duty in Iraq, and returned to his native Tarrant County to greet family and friends at a welcome home party Sunday at the American Legion Hall in Benbrook.
"As gunner on the lead vehicle in a Stryker reconnaissance platoon, I was in charge of navigation and vehicle maintenance," he said.
Being in the front of a formation of Strykers -- the Army's new eight-wheeled armored combat vehicles -- he often was the first to see insurgents, he said.
"I was the first one to get into contact and report it," he said. [...]
"We think we are fighting for a good cause," he said. For his service so far, Schmieder has received the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expedition Medal, the Army Commendation Medal and the Order of the Spur, which is a commendation from the 14th Cavalry Regiment.
He intends to stay in the Army and aspires to enter the Special Forces
Age: 22
Hometown: Fort Worth
Service: Joined the Army National Guard in 2000 and a year later joined the Army. He now serves with 1/14 Cavalry 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, Wash.
Greene native first to lead elite Stryker brigade
Link to Full Article
BY TODD MCADAM, Press & Sun-Bulletin
GREENE -- Twenty-seven years ago, 17-year-old Mike Rounds led 300 students in a two-day protest of a biology teacher's dismissal.
The task required planning, organization, leadership and the courage to face suspension. The teacher was still fired, but the students forced the Greene school board to review the principal's decision.
Three months later, Rounds was accepted into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Col. Michael Rounds, 45, does much the same thing today, but the stakes are infinitely higher. He's home from a year in Iraq -- a year spent proving the viability of a brand-new armored vehicle; refining the tactics and doctrine meant to carry the U.S. Army into the next century; and rebuilding an entire province. It was a year spent with the responsibility for the care and well-being of 5,100 U.S. soldiers and 1.9 million Iraqi civilians.
It's not quite what he expected when he was a student body president with a strong sense of right and wrong.
"I was thinking," Rounds said , "of becoming a lawyer."
The Stryker brigade
Instead, he became a West Point cadet, then an officer. Eventually, he got the highest-profile combat command the Army could give him: leading the first brigade based around a new style of warfare. The medium infantry brigade is 5,100 soldiers based around the 19-ton Stryker armored vehicle, the brainchild of now-retired chief of staff Gen. Eric Shinseki.
The battalions using them are lighter and faster than units with M-1A1 Abrams tanks and M-2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, but pack more firepower and greater survivability than light infantry units like the 10th Mountain Division.
Rounds' first job was to put into practice the theories about working with Strykers. Then it was to take the brigade to Iraq and prove Shinseki was right.
"We're pretty excited about them," Rounds said. "They can go just about anyplace you can get into."
That said, the Strykers are designed to support infantry units, so fighting means getting out and fighting face to face.
"It's pretty personal," he said. But because the Strykers have less armor than heavier units, there are certain types of combat they should avoid: "You don't lead with your chin."
The battalions in Rounds' brigade were popular with nearby commanders whenever there was fighting to be done. "They would normally turn and ask for a component of the brigade to help," Rounds said.
The result was a string of successes around Nineveh and the rest of Iraq, but at the cost of 20 soldiers killed. The deaths weren't a result of command mistakes or bad tactics or equipment, Rounds said. Death is a fact of war a colonel can't change.
"At the end, all you care about is results," he said. "I like to think we gave them the product they wanted."
There's much more, so be sure to read the rest.
Soldier visits children at his former school
Link to Full Article
By SARAH EVANS Statesman Journal
Morningside Elementary School students didn't meet just any soldier on Friday, they welcomed one of their own.
"What was your favorite thing when you were little about being at Morningside?" one girl asked Army Staff Sgt. Troy Johnston during his visit to the south Salem school he attended as a child.
"Recess," he answered.
The children laughed. Another child raised his hand.
"What was your second favorite thing when you were a kid here?"
"Lunch."
Johnston, 31, returned to the United States on Nov. 1 after serving a year in Mosul, Iraq. He is a member of the Stryker Brigade, based in Fort Lewis, Wash. Johnston's mother, Jane Nelson, is a kindergarten instructional assistant at Morningside.
"We thought it would be good for the kids to actually see a soldier instead of just seeing a picture in the newspaper," Nelson said.
The school welcomed Johnston with yellow balloons near the front entrance, and a message with his name on an outdoor sign. [...]
Another fact that surprised the students was the temperature in the desert, which reached 130 degrees where Johnston was staying.
Fourth-grader Ashley Reul said she was most impressed with the food the soldiers eat. Timothy Hartley, another fourth-grader, couldn't stop thinking about the camel spiders.
"The camel spiders were new to me," he said. "I hadn't heard about them."
Sean Warnock, a second-grader, said he didn't know the soldiers had to go through so much training.
"They have to work very hard so they don't get shot," he said.
His classmate, Shihonna Vigil, didn't realize Iraq could be so dangerous.
"He was awesome," she said of Johnston. "I've never seen an Army person in real life."
Stryker vehicle performance passes muster with Army
Link to Full Article
By BETH IPSEN, Staff Writer
Army officials are pleased with the combat performance in Iraq of the Stryker vehicle Fort Wainwright troops are fielding as they work their way toward a combat deployment.
"It's fast, it's quiet and it tracks incredibly well on the snow," said Col. Michael Shields, commander of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainwright. "Soldiers have total confidence in the weapon system. It's incredibly accurate and lethal. It works very well in the Arctic environment."
However, Iraq is considerably warmer and more hostile than Interior Alaska.
The eight-wheeled infantry carrier vehicles are at the heart of the new brigades that are aimed at bridging the gap between a slower Army of the Cold War to a faster, more mobile and lethal force of the future. The eight versions in production weigh from 19 tons to 24 tons, which includes the 4,500-pound slat armor that was added to vehicles in Kuwait before they entered Iraq.
The vehicle, which is assembled by General Dynamics in Alabama, is not only quieter than its heavier predecessors, but has digital technology that feeds soldiers simultaneous information on the locations of both friendly and enemy forces.
"If you want to destroy everything in an urban environment, completely level it, then the M1 tank would be the perfect suited weapon or system," said Lt. Col. Karl Reed, battalion commander with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which returned to Fort Lewis in October after spending a year deployed to Iraq. "This particular war is about balance. This particular war is about insurgents that mix with friendly forces and I think the precision is what's necessary in order to win this type of conflict and the Stryker gives you that."
Reed and other commanders from the first Stryker brigade that served in Iraq talked about instances in which the vehicle and the soldiers inside them survived rocket-propelled grenade attacks, roadside bombs and car bombs while fighting insurgents in Iraq.
Soldiers from the Department of the Army headquarters in Washington, D.C., the 3rd Brigade and Fort Wainwright's 172nd held a video conference Thursday to talk about the Stryker vehicle for media at the different sites.
The conference was televised on a large screen set up in a heated tent that is serving as the 172nd's tactical operational center during a simulated combat exercise this week.
Lt. Colonel Gordy Flowers, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, said more than 50 percent of his Strykers were tagged by roadside or car bombs or hit with rocket-propelled grenades.
No soldiers in his battalion were killed in such attacks, Flowers said.
Lt. Col. William "Buck" James, battalion commander of the 3rd Brigade's 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, talked about a fight Aug. 4 with a large enemy force on the western side of Mosul, the third-largest city in Iraq.
The Strykers not only delivered his soldiers to the edge of the battlefield, but gave them up-to-date information on the location of the enemy, giving his troops the ability to strike decisively.
"I think, personally, in my experience in urban combat, the Stryker and the soldiers it delivered were the best force for that mission," James said.
It's these experiences that the 172nd is learning from before they take their turn in Iraq within the next year.
Playing to Kill
New game-inspired program trains soldiers for war.
Link to Full Article
By David Adams
December 07, 2004 - The Department of Defense is making use of training software inspired by videogames to prepare soldiers for war. Developed by BBN Technologies and Total Immersion Software for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Training Superiority Program, DARWARS Ambush! is intended to improve soldiers' performance in Iraq.
"To deal with a new kind of warfare, a new kind of training is required," said Bruce Roberts, division scientist, BBN Technologies "Ambush! allows Army soldiers and Marines to both experience lessons that others have learned in Afghanistan and Iraq and to construct their own scenarios based on actual experiences all without going into battle, and to better understand the Rules of Engagement."
The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team based at Ft. Lewis, Washington were the first to put Ambush! to the test. Using the software, the team learned that complacency developed in a simulated countryside lead to in-game death when the setting changed to an urban environment. The team learned to change perspective between the two settings.
Stryker brigade gets new leader
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The man who led the Army’s first Stryker brigade from the training ranges at Fort Lewis to the streets of Mosul, Iraq, and back again handed over command Wednesday.
Col. Mike Rounds led the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division for 29 months.
“As much as I’d love to stay, the Army’s got a system,” the 45-year-old infantry officer said in an interview Wednesday.
Brigade command typically lasts about two years. Rounds is completing his third tour at Fort Lewis.
The Army has not announced his next job. Rounds and his wife, Julie, and their children Kaitlin and Alex will get to spend the holidays together here before they move in January, he said. [...]
Based on 3rd Brigade’s performance in Iraq, senior Army leaders, defense analysts and members of Congress have pronounced the Stryker concept a success.
The Army is reorganizing its combat brigades in part based on ideas validated by 3rd Brigade.
The brigade’s new commander is Col. Stephen Townsend, a Georgia-born veteran of operations in Grenada, Panama, Haiti and Afghanistan.
Army Finds Stryker Shines In Iraqi Combat Zone
The following article was published by Defense Today, which requires a subscription to view full content. We've included an excerpt below. Thanks to Fred for the article.
By Scott Nance
The Army's project manager of Stryker brigade teams gave the new vehicle high marks in its initial use in the war in Iraq.
Some 311 Strykers in Iraq have driven more than 3 million miles, according to Col. Peter Fuller.
Speaking yesterday at a conference in Washington, Fuller heaped praise onto the new platform for its mobility, survivability and other capabilities.
The first Stryker brigade was deployed in Iraq in October 2003, Fuller said. The Army recently used Strykers as part of its campaign against Iraqi insurgents in the city of Fallujah.
"They road-marched a unit down to support that operation," he said. "And then, when Mosul started to heat up, they ran them back up north. We are finding they are very mobile in the theater."
Stryker has also been "very survivable," Fuller said.
The vehicles have taken numerous improvised explosive device (IED) and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) hits, and "they keep on surviving," he said.
No IED attack has managed to penetrate the Stryker's hull, Fuller said, though he noted that one vehicle was lost due to a secondary fire.
The Army has been using a slat armor, referred to as a "bird cage," around Strykers to defend against RPGs.
"It's working very well," he said.
Fuller displayed a picture to conference attendees of a scene where an IED had exploded next to a Stryker, with the force of the detonation rolling the vehicle twice.
"No one was killed in this," he said.
Fuller also displayed a photo of the Stryker lost in that secondary fire.
"Everyone walked away—no one gets hurt in this," he said. "As a matter of fact, one individual jumped out and sprained his ankle when he was jumping out." [...]
To maintain the Strykers, the Army has embedded mechanics with the units, whether in the United States or in combat zones, Howe said.
"We're talking about mechanics being embedded in the combat units, just the way reporters were during the initial start of [Operation Iraqi Freedom]," Fuller said.
"They are absolutely embedded with the unit."
I had an opportunity to speak recently with one of the mechanics who was embedded with the 3/2 SBCT last year. He had some very good things to say about the vehicle after seeing it in action during the deployment.
Soldier from Iraq returning today to say thanks to Port Townsend
Link to Full Article
by JENNIFER JACKSON
PORT TOWNSEND -- Chris Loverro, the Army reserve staff sergeant who started two humanitarian aide projects during his tour in Iraq, returns to Port Townsend today to thank townsfolk who supported his efforts.
``He was so tired last time that he just wanted a quiet visit,'' says Carrie Pierce, Loverro's local contact.
``He's coming back to officially thank everyone.''
Demobilized in October, Loverro came to Port Townsend a month ago to visit Pierce, who he met last November at a Seattle restaurant before shipping out with the Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade to Iraq.
There, assigned to military operations and humanitarian assistance, he saw the need for warm clothing and blankets for war refugees. [...]
During today's visit, Pierce says Loverro wants to personally thank the people who helped with ``Operation Blanket'' and ``Operation Pencil,'' another aide program to provide school supplies for Iraqi children.
Thanksgiving Articles
There are several articles today regarding the Thanksgiving holiday and what it means for military families.
UPDATE: We've added a couple new ones.
- Soldier’s return reason for thanks - The News Tribune
- Families feel loved ones' absence - The Press Herald
- Counting the miracles from Mosul - The King County Journal
- Army couple cherish the day - The Seattle P-I
- Bittersweet Thanksgiving - The Bradenton Herald
- Son's homecoming makes holiday special - The Ann Arbor News
- Army Sergeant spends Thanksgiving with family - Santa Maria Times
Brighten military forces' holiday with packages
Holiday shipping advice from a 3/2 chaplain.
Link to Full Article
By WENDY ISOM; jacksonsun.com
Letters, photos, socks, personal items make long time away from home easier. To soldiers serving in Iraq, receiving a care package filled with some of the comforts of home often means the world to them.
Soldiers are very grateful for gifts, Army chaplain Capt. David Curlin said.
Curlin is a 36-year-old Jackson native who spent the past year in Mosul, Iraq.
''It's really humbling to know that people took time out of their busy lives to send a care package,'' he said. .....
Link to Additional Information on This Story
3/2 Deployment Video
The following video was included in the list we posted yesterday, but we wanted to highlight it separately. This is a long, very professionally made video that highlights and summarizes the brigade's year in Iraq. If you would like to save a copy on your computer, right-click on the link below and select "Save Target As..." It is a large file, but well worth the wait. Thank you to the 139th MPAD for producing this.
2 ID, 3rd Brigade Deployment Video
Video depicting the deployment and re-deployment of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Narrated by the Brigade Commander and set to music. Features video and still imagry highlighting the Brigades challenges and operations. Produced by Specialist Justin Savage, 139th Mobile Public Affiars Detachment.
Army hails its first Strykers
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Next week the 4,000 Fort Lewis soldiers of the Army’s first Stryker brigade will finally get a month of leave. After a year in Iraq, they’ve got it coming.
But first the soldiers’ families, friends and other well-wishers formally said welcome home Monday to the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. The troops returned in groups of a few hundred at a time last month and early this month.
Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the Fort Lewis commander, called the gathering a chance “not to celebrate war, but to celebrate warriors and their families.”
And though the weather was hardly summerlike, they also celebrated in the style of a Fourth of July or Labor Day family picnic – the ones the soldiers missed while overseas. A national group called Operation BBQ cooked up hundreds of pounds of meat and served it under awnings pitched between the Fort Lewis baseball and football stadiums.
Sgt. 1st Class Donald Bulen’s mom and dad, Mary and Donald Sr., came out last week from Monmouth, Ill., and will stay through Thanksgiving.
“My husband was in Vietnam and Korea. It’s hard when your husband goes to war,” Mary Bulen said. “But it’s different when it’s your son. …You can’t be there to protect him.”
Sue Shocklee came out from St. Louis to see her son, Sgt. Doug Pennington, off to Iraq last October. She was back to see him when he returned a few weeks ago, and back again Monday for the big welcome home party. “I can’t get enough of you!” she told her son.
Monday’s ceremony also began the process of closing the books on the 3rd Brigade’s mission in Iraq, although it’s one that Army leaders will probably review for some time to come.
The brigade was the first to go to war with the Army’s new Stryker wheeled infantry carriers. And it was the first to be built around a high-tech communications network that officials say gives commanders and troops better understanding of the battlefield than ever before.
The Army plans to build at least five more of the Stryker brigades. Soldiers from the second one – the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division – replaced their Fort Lewis comrades in Iraq last month.
3rd Brigade commander Col. Mike Rounds acknowledged he’s biased when asked how the Strykers performed.
“As an assessment, it went phenomenally well,” he said. The vehicle proved itself capable of protecting the troops. The brigade was as mobile as Army planners had hoped it would be.
Official Welcome Home
I'm sure there will be many stories written about today's official welcome home ceremony at Ft. Lewis for the entire 3-2 SBCT. Provided below are the first I've seen. We will add subsequent articles to this entry.
UPDATE: We've added quite a few new articles below. One of the links has a video clip as well.
A Huge Welcome Home For 4,800 Of The Stryker Brigade (Includes video clip) - KOMO News
Homecoming Held For 4,800 Stryker Soldiers - The Associated Press/KIRO News
Here are a few photos I took at the ceremony today. If you'd like to add some of your own let me know. (Please don't send photos via email. I'll explain how you can upload them yourself.)
Welcome home ceremony for Fort Lewis brigade - The Associated Press/Seattle P-I
Stryker Brigade Returns From Iraq - The Associated Press/New York Times
Valor Medal Honors Mom - The Seattle Times
Army hails its first Strykers - The News Tribune
Three Stryker soldiers honored - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldiers return to families, pick up lives - The Olympian
The Olympian also has an album of photos from the event.
Army Times also features a photo by The News Tribune photographer, Dean Koepfler.
Modular brigades prep for deployment
This article mentions the 3-2 SBCT.
Link to Full Article
By Steven Field
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Nov. 19, 2004) – The concept of modularity is approaching its first true test as units across the country undergo transformation and prepare for deployments overseas.
With four modular brigades set up under the 3rd Infantry Division training and several companies reorganizing and reflagging under the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the time is rapidly approaching when the Army will send a Unit of Execution and subordinate Brigade Combat Teams (Units of Action) into combat, testing the modular, “plug-and-play” vision inspired by transformation. [...]
The first deployment using the new modular brigade will begin only a few months after the return the Army’s first Styker Brigade.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, recently returned to Fort Lewis, Wash., after a yearlong deployment in Iraq.
While the performance of the vehicle silenced critics and won the praise of its operators and senior Army leaders, commanders of units with the SBCT were quick to point out the people were the factor that made the deployment of the brigade a success.
“The Stryker Brigade is not about the vehicle, it’s about the Soldiers and the non-commissioned officers and officers,” said Lt. Col. Buck James, commander of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. “We are building the next generation of leaders and preparing for the future of the Army.”
‘They weren’t going to get this bird’
Matthew Cox with Army Times has written an excellent account of an operation by 5-20 INF soldiers to rescue two downed Kiowa pilots from 3-17 CAV in Tal'Afar on September 4th. Must read.
I would post an excerpt below, but the article is very long and you'll want to read the whole thing anyway. I'll see if we can get permission to reprint the full text here. Thanks to Keith Whitten for alerting us to this piece.
'I do talk to him every night'
[Link to Full Article]
By Chris Barron, Sun Staff
Eight months after she buried her husband, Michele Bunda stood at Fort Lewis two weeks ago watching the happy reunions of soldiers and their families.
The Army Stryker brigade that her husband served in returned after a year in Iraq. And although happy to see her husband's buddies, she never felt more alone.
"I was just watching other people hug their husbands and kids and I was just standing there," said Michele, 28, of Bremerton, who attended the homecoming at the request of her husband's friend. "I just was standing there and I had no one. It was hard. I cried."
Michele, the mother of 7-year-old daughter Chrizchele and 4-year-old son C.J., received news Jan. 25 that her husband, Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, was missing. To the family's dismay, his body wasn't recovered until nearly three weeks later.
He drowned after his boat capsized and he tried to save an Iraqi policeman, the Army told her. [...]
She said Chris' belongings from Iraq remain unopened in the garage. And the family videos of Chris remain unplayed since the funeral.
"I guess I'm not ready yet," said Michele, a medical assistant at a North Mason clinic. "It's just too painful. I just don't want to watch it."
It's likely Michele's closure might not come until if and when she actually goes to Iraq and visits the site where Chris perished. She asked the Army to go there after the funeral, but was denied. However, she hopes that she can visit Mosul one day because of her many unanswered questions.
"It's probably just for peace of mind," she said. "I just want to actually be there where it happened. I want to swim in that river. I just want to be where he died and where they found him. I just want to feel the water."
LV soldier 'doing real well' as he recovers
A Longview solder who fractured two vertebrae when his Stryker plunged nose-first off a 30-foot cliff is recovering on schedule and feeling good enough to attend a concert in Tacoma, his father said Saturday.
"Justin's doing real well," said his father, Jim Little. "He's starting to heal the way he's supposed to."
He spoke by cell phone just before driving his son to see Toby Keith perform that night at the Tacoma Dome. A surprise would join them beforehand for dinner, he said.
"Unbeknownst to him, his company commander will be there, along with some of his buddies from Iraq," he said. Justin Little is a sergeant with Fort Lewis Alpha Troop, First Squadron, 14th Cavalry.
He's already been visited at home by the comrade who saved his life, Spc. Nicholas Vernon, who yanked him inside the Stryker as it fell.
"He spent six or seven hours with Justin a couple of weeks ago," Jim Little said. "He's a real nice boy." [...]
Although the Army originally considered putting Justin back on light duty as early as September, now it doesn't look like he'll go back on base until after the first of the year, his father said.
Until then, he's at home, where "he's the master of the house," his father said with a laugh.
His son's positive attitude makes it easy to take care of him, he said.
"He's happy to be able to walk around," Jim Little said. "But he's looking forward to being a whole person again."
Soldiers see good coming from the chaos
[Link to Full Article]
By Daniel Witter/Appeal-Democrat
Pvt. Roy Ranum, 21, of Yuba City, was in a war zone. He was fully armed and in patrol vehicle traveling through an Iraqi city, when the cries of a small child diverted his attention. Ranum spotted a boy, no more than 3-years-old fall down in a search for his mother.
"We couldn't just run over there and help him," he said.
Pfc. Travis McCleary, 21, of Port Clinton, Ohio, also remembers children, some in scraps of clothing, roaming the streets drinking water from broken sewage lines and playing in the trash.
After 11 months in Iraq with the U.S. Army 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based in Forth Lewis, Wash., much of it in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, both men were in Linda, Saturday uniting with Ranum's family and cousins.
"There's no easy way to stabilize that county," said Ranum, who has been in the Army for 18 months. Iraq, both men said, has a long way to go before it's children will have a bright future.
While war and poverty are a reality for children on the streets, not all is a bad as the media has made it out to be, they said.
"There's a lot of people there that love us," said McCleary. "They just can't say it."
Children approached the soldiers and wanted their pictures taken, candy, food or water. Soldiers usually can't help the children, Ranum said. [...]
Things are tough for U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but both men say the media doesn't show all of the good work U.S. troops are doing there. Few in the media mention schools reopening and completed infrastructure projects, for example. Ranum went on several escorts to supply local schools with school supplies.
McCleary attended nearly a half dozen school openings, some schools just for girls, he said.
Waiting for him
By Chris Barron | Sun Staff
It's been 34 days since Shawna Burbank opened her door to two Army soldiers dressed in their finest.
But days are too large a measure to describe her life since she was informed of her husband's death in Iraq on that Monday morning.
Her life is now defined hourly — an hour of heartache, an hour of numbness, an hour of denial and even an hour of feeling OK.
As of 8 a.m. today, it's been 816 hours since she learned that her husband of nine years, Army Staff Sgt. Michael Burbank, was killed Oct. 10 by a truck bomb. He was standing in the open hatch of his Fort Lewis-based Stryker vehicle when it went off. [...]
Like many military widows, Shawna is living on base and in housing provided by the Army. The majority of her friends are Army wives, and it's a lifestyle she's grown accustomed to and comfortable with over the past eight years.
But she knows she will soon have to move out of the house where she and her husband resided. Military policy says surviving spouses must vacate base housing no later than six months from the date of a soldier's death.
Not only did Shawna lose her husband, but she's also about to lose her way of life.
"It's scary to think about moving on from that," she said. "Civilian life is ahead. It'll be lonely, but I'll have my church friends and I have plenty of family. I'll meet other friends.
"But I'm taking my time to think about it. I still feel like I'm in limbo."
The most heartbreaking aspect of Shawna's story is that her husband was just two weeks from returning home when he was killed. She was preparing his homecoming party.
The family buried Michael at Tahoma National Cemetery on Oct. 21. His unit returned from a year in Iraq two days later. The pain of seeing Michael's friends and comrades was nearly unbearable for Shawna.
"The first time I saw one of the guys Michael was over there with, it was very hard," Shawna said. "It made it real that he wasn't here."
But soon, those men who served with her husband became a great comfort. They shared stories and filled in the blanks of Michael's last few months that found him too busy to e-mail or call home much because he transferred to the front lines. [...]
This Man's Not Ready To Be A Veteran...Yet
KOMO TV, By Keith Eldridge
PIERCE COUNTY - A Veterans Day ceremony included a young man who doesn't want to be a veteran, not yet.
We first told you about Sgt. Trevor Phillips a couple of months ago and how he had to return home from Iraq after he was severely wounded in an explosion. ....
It's a time to honor those came home from war and those who didn't.
Trevor came home, but he didn't come home a whole man.
Veterans honored in ceremonies
[Link to Full Article]
By M.L. LYKE, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
KENT -- Patches of bare dirt were still visible yesterday on the new grave where Army Staff Sgt. Michael Burbank was laid to rest only three weeks ago. "Iraq freedom. No greater love than this," read the epitaph on his granite tombstone at Tahoma National Cemetery.
"It still just doesn't feel like it's the right person in there -- that it's the right name on the stone," said his 28-year-old wife, Shawna. She visited the grave on a foggy Veterans Day "just to talk to him." [...]
Visiting for the first time yesterday were the children of Shana Elstrom -- Colton, 8, and Chloe, 7. Elstrom said she brought them to show them "how important it is to be an American, and to pay our respects." The family has no relatives buried there, but that wasn't the point. "I want them to know that these soldiers fought for our country, died for our country," she said.
The two children looked wide-eyed at the graves of Burbank and Sullivan, when she told them that they died in a war that is going on "right now."
"I just feel it's important that they understand what they see on the news is real. These people are real -- they have families," said Elstrom.
At the time they died in Iraq, Burbank was 34 and Sullivan 27, both decades younger than most of the fallen soldiers buried around them -- soldiers from Korea, World War II, Vietnam.
Stryker soldier finds his life plans derailed
We've mentioned the story of Trevor Phillips before (here and here). The following article provides an update on his situation, which has been frustrating to say the least.
[Link to Full Article]
CHRISTIAN HILL THE OLYMPIAN
ONALASKA -- Sgt. Trevor Phillips sacrificed more than his right hand on a May 11 combat patrol in Iraq.
Phillips, 26, a vehicle commander for the Army's first Stryker brigade, lost a clear future for himself and his family.
Phillips planned to join his wife, Christa, and their two young daughters in this Lewis County town after his tour, leave the Army and join the Coast Guard.
Those goals ended when he crested a hill in Mosul and an improvised explosive device detonated 4 feet from him while he was manning a machine gun from his vehicle's roof hatch.
Now, as he struggles with depression and memory loss, Phillips doesn't know when he'll leave Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he's receiving physical therapy.
He doesn't know when he'll leave the Army and, most of all, he doesn't know what's next.
He's due to receive medical retirement and $1,260 a month from the Army.
"You can't live off that," Phillips said from his brother's Onalaska home, where he was visiting this week, the stub of his right arm resting on a couch cushion. "I'd like to go to school or do something, but it's going to be hard to go back to school. The ... (Veterans Affairs) said they were going to get me a computer. Never happened. It's just a bunch of promises that have gotten broken."
He's now on medical leave visiting his family but is scheduled to return to Walter Reed in a week to finish physical therapy.
Stryker Brigade returns from Iraq
By J. C. Matthews
FORT LEWIS, Wash. (Army News Service, Nov. 5, 2004) -- For a couple of thousand Fort Lewis families, the wait is over.
And, for the remaining family and friends awaiting the return of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, the end is in sight.
As the one-year anniversary of its deployment drew closer, the Arrowhead Brigade continued its mission-ending flow from Iraq to Fort Lewis this week, with about 3,000 members now home.
The Army’s first Stryker Brigade Combat Team started its deployment Nov. 8, 2003, and served in northern Iraq as part of Task Force Olympia, headquartered in Mosul.
The Lancers of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division recently deployed to Iraq to take over the Stryker Brigade’s mission in the task force.
As the mission handover continued, planeloads of 3rd Brigade Soldiers arrived on an almost daily basis all week, with welcoming ceremonies held at Sheridan Gymnasium. First Lt. Nick Kardonsky of Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, returned Oct. 23 and was part of a group on hand at the gym Nov. 1 to greet more arriving members of his company. He said the fellowship among members of the unit helped make the deployment memorable.
“The thing I’d remember most is the fun we had with our friends and comrades, the missions we executed well, the missions that went flawlessly — those are the things I’ll remember most,” Kardonsky said.
“I think it’s harder on wives to be back here, because they have more time to think about us being gone,” he added. “They come home to an empty house, but I’m surrounded by my comrades and my buddies all day long. You live in your job.”
The brigade’s deputy commander, Lt. Col. Kevin Hyneman, called the support of families and friends back home “a heroic effort.” Hyneman, who returned Oct. 11, spoke briefly to the crowd at the welcome home ceremony Nov. 1, and reminded the returning soldiers of their place in history.
“You were part of a significant operation to bring freedom to a country that hasn’t tasted it – ever,” he said. “The success that they’re going to have in a couple of years is a direct result of your efforts and your bravery.”
Some of the families gathered at the gym said that, as the time for their soldiers’ return grew closer, they became more anxious.
“The longer he was over there, the more nervous I got,” said Pat Arthur, who traveled from Marion, Ohio, to see her son return Nov. 1.
“I was driving myself crazy,” said Amelia Selph, whose husband Spc. Daniel Selph of Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, returned Nov. 1. “I must have cleaned the house a million times.”
Other spouses, veterans of previous deployments, took it in stride.
“I’ve been married eight years, and I’ve had him home every other year,” said Virginia Garcia, whose husband Sgt. Bud Garcia of Company A, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, returned Monday. “Still I feel awesome – I’m excited.”
Sheivon Abkemeier was beaming. Her husband, Spc. Nathan Abkemeier of Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry, returned Nov. 1, and she was anxious to take him to their new home, which he had never seen.
“It feels wonderful,” she said. “I’ve got a baby on the way, a husband at home, I’ve got a new house – I’m doing good.”
B & C Co., 5/20 Homecoming
The following is a homecoming summary by Dana, whose son just returned to Ft. Lewis yesterday morning. If anyone has other accounts they would like to share, please let us know.
I am SO lucky. My son is finally home safe. My husband, sister and I attended the B & C 5/20 Ceromony this morning at 8:30. What an incredible sight to see our soldiers come into Sheridan Gym. After a brief speech, the soldiers were released from formation. My son found me before I found him. It was the best hug of my entire life. We tracked down a couple of other soldiers to hug them for their moms, and even got to meet a fellow Stykernews member and her son. We were honored to meet our wonderful FRG person, Sonya Beatty, who has spent countless hours phoning families. We were also honored to once again see Lt. Col Reed and meet his wife Sharon. This is one of the men who were really watching out for our sons.
We were at Fort Lewis last Nov. 14th when they departed for Iraq. There were some similarities (hanging out in the barracks for hours with the soldiers) but today by far was much much better. These soldiers are incredible. They rode the bus from Sheridan Gym to their barracks. We followed the bus. They proceded to the semi holding all of their gear, and had to haul their heavy gear over to the barracks. Then they had to turn in their weapons and get their room assignment. Then, they waited to get released. And waited, and waited, and waited. One good thing about the Army - they keep a very good inventory of all of their sensitive equipment. One item was missing, and the entire barracks were locked down. I wasn't too terribly bothered - I was enjoying hanging out at the barracks with these wonderful young men. The missing item was found in the 1/14 weapons room - I believe it had something to do with a soldier transferring and taking it with him.
The Family Readiness Group volunteers deserve a huge round of applause for how they prepared the barracks. The rooms were spotless, the beds were made very nicely and each bed had a gift basket, which was a laundry basket full of all of their necessities. The soldiers seemed to be having fun taking each others treats.
The soldiers who are on their way out of the Army, including my son, had to take a second bus to another barracks once they were released from the first barracks. So, we got the car and followed the bus again. This was reminding me of the first day of school. They had to get their room assignments, unpack their gear and get cleaned up for their first evening back home.
We took our son out to dinner and had a great talk with him. We talked about his experiences, and the bonds that were made in Iraq. He will make friends in the future, but none will ever share the bond as he has with that of his fellow soldiers. His stories truly touched us. We spoke about Jake Herring, and how everyone felt about Jake, and how they felt when he died. I asked Ricky to share his stories with Jake's mom when the time is right.
We were at Hooters (my first time there, but not my son's!) and after a while some fellow soldiers arrived. We left our son in good hands and headed for home, 2 1/2 hours south of Fort Lewis. Our youngest son is driving up to Fort Lewis tomorrow to bring Ricky home for the weekend. I am so incredibly lucky to have my son back safely in the US.
The Bravo & Charlie 5/20 companies are amongst the last of the Stryker Brigade to return to Fort Lewis. They have made huge sacrifices for our country. One out of every three of them have purple hearts. They have lived in weather that would make most of us pass out, they have seen things that would make most of us ill, they have endured more than I can ever imagine. And yet if you could have seen them in the barracks today, you never would have guessed what they had been through. They are truly incredible young men.
My thoughts and prayers will always be with Susan Sutter. Her son should have been here today. May God please ease her pain with each passing day. As much as this has been a joyful day for so many of us, we will never forget Jake.
Dana
Soldiers make the difference
While this article was included in the October 25 edition of The Olympia Observer I wanted to post it separately, as it provides a nice summary of the 3-2's deployment. The full text and photos are included below.
[Link to Article]
By Spc. Blair Larson
The Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Arrowhead Brigade Combat Team) made history as the Army’s first Stryker Brigade to fight in combat. Throughout their year-long deployment to Iraq, the Army’s newest vehicle and its highly-trained Stryker Soldiers have proven themselves to be the flexible, maneuverable force the Army envisioned.
The Arrowhead Brigade is the first of six planned Stryker brigades. Based in Fort Lewis, Wash., the 3-2 Inf. became part of a new Army initiative to establish a unit that could bridge the operational gap between slow to deploy heavy forces and underpowered light forces. With more than 3,600 Soldiers and 300 vehicles, the brigade is capable of conducting a wide range of military operations in various settings.
The brigade deployed to Iraq with eight battalions, the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment; 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment; 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment; 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment; 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment; 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment; 296th Brigade Support Battalion and the 276th Engineer Battalion. Also organic to the brigade is the 18th Engineer Company, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 209th Military Intelligence Company, 334th Signal Company, Company C, 52nd Infantry Regiment, 1060th Tactical Psyops Detachment and 1290th Tactical Psyops Detachment.
Traditional infantry brigades are only organized with these different units for large training exercises or for war. In the brigade, these units are organic and are able to train together year-round.
Though the new Stryker vehicle is important, the highly-trained Stryker Soldiers are the ones who have made the unit a success.
“The Stryker Brigade is not about the vehicle, it’s about the Soldiers and the non-commissioned officers and officers,” said Lt. Col. Buck James, commander of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. “We are building the next generation of leaders and preparing for the future of the Army.”
The Soldiers spent nearly three years training to become familiar with the new Stryker vehicles. They underwent an operational evaluation and certification to prepare for this deployment. The Arrowhead Soldiers endured back-to-back, intense training at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, La., and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., in the year before they deployed.
“Our Soldiers are hardened from three years of nothing but training and focusing on our mission, whether it was in a training environment or a combat environment,” said Col. Michael Rounds, 3rd Brigade Commander.
The training was meant to assess the brigade’s ability to conduct early entry and combat operations in a mid-to low-intensity environment against an unconventional enemy.
“Ever since we completed JRTC, we believed that we could succeed in combat,” said Sgt. Rob Williams from Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. “We have a lot of young specialists and sergeants who really make the difference in our ability to shoot, move and communicate.”
The nation focused on the first brigade to use the Stryker vehicle in combat as, time after time, the Stryker vehicle took a punch and continued to fight, proving itself as a significant addition to the Army’s force.
“I was impressed with its capabilities during training, but it’s difficult to imagine its capabilities until you put it to the types of tests we see here every day,” said Rounds.
In many ways this deployment was a test to see how the SBCT would hold up in combat. The Soldiers of 3-2 SBCT met the challenge, continually focusing on ways to more effectively make use of the brigade’s numerous capabilities. They’ve revised their tactical procedures according to lessons learned in the field from previous engagements. As the first SBCT in combat, they have set the standard for the units that will follow them.
“We literally wrote the book on how to use the vehicle in combat,” said 1st Lt. Nick Kardonsky, the executive officer for Company C, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment.
With organic snipers, mortarmen, anti-armor sections as well as heavy machine guns, the Stryker Brigade Combat Team has given leaders an enormous amount of flexibility in the way they lead troops in combat.
“As a Stryker platoon leader you’ve got so many assets at your disposal that you just don’t find in a light or mechanized unit,” said Kardonsky.
In one year, the brigade operated in a larger area than what they had expected prior to coming to Iraq. They were called on to support major operations when violence heated up in Al Kut, Tal Afar and Najaf. In each of these cases, a battalion of Stryker Soldiers packed up and moved within 24-72 hours, reacting quickly and accomplishing the mission decisively.
“Doing these extra missions was not standard for us but within our capabilities,” said Rounds.
The Stryker Brigade was called upon for these extra missions because commanders in Iraq took notice of the success the brigade was having with the vehicle in northern Iraq. Its advantages of speed and mobility made it a valuable asset to the commanders on the ground.
“We were chosen for these missions because of the outstanding tactical mobility and agility the Stryker has. We have the ability to cover a lot of ground quickly,” said James.
The Stryker was designed to operate in an urban environment. It is large enough to carry a whole squad of infantrymen, unlike the Bradley vehicle, which will only hold half of a squad. It buzzes through the city streets on eight wheels instead of tracks, which are much quieter.
The Stryker Brigade is an infantry-centric unit of highly skilled Soldiers. By the time the unit deployed last November, it was the most-trained unit to come to Iraq, due to its rigorous schedule.
“Even though we were confident in the Stryker’s abilities, it still takes people to make it a reality,” said Rounds. “We have great Soldiers and leaders who are always doing the right thing at the right time and making a difference in the parts of Iraq we’ve been asked to fight in,” said Rounds.
The Soldiers of the Arrowhead Brigade worked non-stop conducting missions from infantry raids to humanitarian assistance. According to Rounds, it is the incredible effort on the part of the Soldiers and leaders each day that has contributed to the success of the brigade.
“These young Soldiers are incredibly impressive and adaptable,” said Lt. Col. Karl Reed, commander of 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. “Their ability to be in a situation and adapt to it and out-think and outfight the enemy is incredible.”
During the brigade’s deployment, a number of Stryker Soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice while doing their part to support freedom in Iraq. The legacy of those Soldiers will not be forgotten by those they left behind.
“As Soldiers we understand that we are fighting for our country and for freedom, but we also fight for each other,” said Rounds. “The deaths of Soldiers reinforce in our minds that what we’re doing here is right and we will work to honor their memory by bringing this mission to a close.
A Stryker moves through the city of Mosul, Iraq. The eight wheeled, diesel, 350-horsepower engine Stryker vehicle is the Army's newest tactical fighting vehicle.
(Photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
Two variations of the Army?s newest tactical fighting vehicle, the Stryker, move out onto the streets of Mosul, Iraq. The 105 mm Stryker Mobile Gun System variation (front), and the Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle variation were used for the first time by the 3/2 Arrowhead Brigade Combat Team.
(Photo by Spc. Gretel Sharpee)
Soldiers of Charlie Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) patrol the streets of Tal Afar, Iraq on August 1, 2004, as part of Operation Sykes Hammer. The Soldiers also assisted the Iraqi National Guard in executing cordon and search operations in neighborhoods of Tal Afar suspected of harboring terrorists. The operations detained 16 people and confiscated numerous rifles, rocket propelled grenade launchers with rounds and propaganda materials.
(Photo by Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson)
(via DVIDS)
The Olympia Observer
The November 1 edition of The Olympia Observer, the official newsletter of Task Force Olympia, is available for download.
UPDATE: The October 25 edition is available as well - I don't think we've linked to that one either.
Action Figure
Looking for a unique stocking stuffer this Christmas? How about a 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division action figure. Description:
The newly formed Stryker Brigade Combat Team had its operational debut in Iraq. The arrowhead brigade is equipped with the brand new eight wheeled M1126 Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle. Now we bring you a figure that features this elite brigade. It's dressed in new desert-pattern uniform, interceptor body armor and fully geared!
Thanks to Leslie for the link.
Some return from, others return to Iraq
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Hundreds of Army medics gathered Friday to formally say goodbye before their second trip to the Middle East, as 1,100 Stryker brigade soldiers arrived back at Fort Lewis after a year in Iraq.
“This is kind of a bittersweet morning,” Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, the post commander, noted in his remarks to the outbound troops of the 62nd Medical Brigade and their families.
Over the next several weeks some 800 soldiers from the 62nd will head back to year-long assignments in Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar. About half will make their second trip to either the Middle East or Afghanistan since the onset of the U.S. war on terrorism in October 2001, officials said.
Other units across the Army are also due for return trips to Iraq, most notably the 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Stewart, Ga. They captured Baghdad in April 2003 and spent the next five months patrolling the Iraqi capital before coming home in August. They’re due to return as soon as next month.[...]
The 62nd and its subordinate units operated across Iraq and Kuwait in 2003. They convoyed across Iraq, treated 3,500 coalition soldiers, flew hundreds of helicopter evacuation missions and inspected more than 40 hospitals and clinics in northern Iraq, all without losing any soldiers.
The headquarters company and other units set up in Mosul and worked there until mid-August. Mosul is also where the returning Stryker soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division spent most of their year in Iraq.
With Friday’s returns, about 3,000 of the 4,000 Stryker troops are home. The last are due by the end of next week.
They were relieved earlier this month by their fellow Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
Stryker GIs greeted with hug-fest
More from Fort Lewis brigade return after nearly a year in Iraq
By M.L. LYKE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
FORT LEWIS -- Even in the sea of beige camo uniforms, red, white and blue balloons, hyper toddlers, and teary spouses, it was hard to miss Mindi Pearson at yesterday's welcome home for members of the Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
The 26-year-old artist was standing on a metal chair in strappy, spiked size 4 heels, her petite body wrapped in a Versace knockoff she and a friend had created with five layers of fire-engine red sheer fabric and ribboned corset.
"My goal was to be the prettiest woman here," said Pearson, as she waited inside the base's Sheridan Gym for ceremonies to end and her sweetheart, Army Spc. Theodore Nordsieck, to come running.[...]
Nordsieck was one of 1,135 soldiers in the Stryker Brigade to return to Fort Lewis from duty in Iraq yesterday, bringing the total number home to about 3,000, or three-quarters of the brigade's soldiers.
Soldiers were welcomed back in four separate ceremonies, with rousing marching music, prayers for brigade members lost in Iraq, and words of appreciation for sacrifices in the line of duty.
"Their lives and the lives of their families have been changed forever," said Stryker chaplain Maj. Wayne Garcia
Lt. Gen. Ed Soriano, commander of Fort Lewis, told troops it has been "a tough, tough year, and you stood up to the task."
The Stryker Brigade left last November, spent a few weeks training in Kuwait, moved to camps near Samarra and Balad, then moved on to Mosul, where they were headquartered for the rest of their deployment.[...]
Operation BBQ set to feed troops
[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
A Monroe chef is planning to welcome home returning Stryker troops the best way he knows how – with a barbecue dinner for 5,000.
Konrad Haskins, the Northwest representative for a nationwide support-the-troops outfit called Operation BBQ, is soliciting donations and help for the big feed set for Nov. 22 at Fort Lewis.
The pre-Thanksgiving barbecue will follow a 2 p.m. welcome home ceremony for soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division – the Army’s first Stryker brigade – who are returning after nearly a year in Iraq.
Haskins said the Washington Beef Council helped secure 2,500 pounds of meat, courtesy of Tyson Foods Inc. and Washington Beef of Toppenish.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Amvets of Tacoma are making cash contributions, he said. Wicked Baking Co. of Monroe is providing brownies.
But they’re still looking for help with the soda and bottled water, ice cream and potato chips...
Information about Operation BBQ is available at www.opbbq.com or by calling 425-280-3762.
1,100 Stryker Soldiers Returning Home
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- Nearly 1,100 members of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade began returning home Friday morning in ceremonies at the Army base.
A welcoming ceremony for the first of four groups of Stryker soldiers was scheduled to begin at 6 a.m., with three more celebrations planned Friday for families to greet soldiers who have been in Iraq for a year.
About 300 members of the Stryker brigade returned to Fort Lewis last Monday.
The Stryker brigade is in the process of being replaced by about 4,000 other soldiers from Fort Lewis.
1/23 INF Homecoming
Jacksmom was at Ft. Lewis last night to welcome home her son with 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. Included below is her description of the festivities. Thanks to all of you that have provided us with stories and photos of the homecoming ceremonies.
He's home. The day we have all been waiting for for the past year happened for my soldier and our family yesterday. Two groups of soldiers arrived yesterday to wonderful hero's welcomes and my son was in the second group.
With the help of my fantastic FRG, we got our base passes taken care of yesterday morning, so there would be no delays right before the arrival. We got to the base yesterday afternoon about 2:30PM and found Sheridan Gym without too many problems. There was a group of 5 of us to greet Jack. I got to meet Lisa Golden and her family!! We were all smiles and grins. Another Styrker Mom of one of Jack's buddies from Texas who I had gotten to know was also there. Lisa had been kind enough to make two, count 'em, two WELCOME HOME posters for Jack, which my grandson promptly took over.
We were expecting the arrival at 4PM. As the time grew closer, the gym filled up until there was Standing Room Only!! Kids were running all over the gym floor...I'm sure they all slept well last night. There were signs and flowers and balloons all over. At about 4PM, we began to see lines of soldiers entering the gym at the entrance, but disappearing toward the back.
Then the band took their places and started playing. My favorite was Proud to be an American...there's something about hearing that song played by soldiers that makes your skin tingle. We knew the time was getting close as all the VIP's started taking their places. Then, almost out of the blue, it began to happen...what we have all been waiting for: the band began to play the theme from Rocky and the soldiers started to come in. I first saw the B Company flag, then the soldiers, 4 abreast, marching in...still in their DCU's, helmets and flak vests. The first company entered, then the second company. They completely filled the gym floor and were close enough to be able to see each and every face in front of me.
The cheers and yells and clapping never seemed to end. It was like a year's worth of waiting and worrying was all disappearing in an instant, carried away on those sounds. The soldiers were tired, wet, and weary but the look on their faces was one of pride, relief and finality.
There were some very brief speeches, and I spent that time searching for Jack's face. I couldn't find him, but I knew his company was the one farthest from me. I knew he was there, probably searching the crowd for us. Then, suddenly, they were dismissed and as the sea of DCU's parted, I saw his face, helmet off, searching in the stands for us. As I climbed down the gym bleachers, I couldn't take my eyes off of him and finally caught his eye. I will never forget that look on his face until the day I die. As I hugged him, and got hugged in return, I could feel the wetness of his uniform.and the weight of the flak vest. When I finally let him go so the rest of the family could greet him. I just stood there in amazement. It was like there was no one else in that gym for a few moments. My soldier was home... along with all the rest of those brave soldiers... home with his family.
I got to meet his PO, the platoon medic and a few of his buddies before we left. The gym cleared out fast...everyone wanting to have their soldier to themselves to spend time with and learn to have them back again. Dinner last night at Black Angus, breakfast at IHop... small things for most Americans, but unbelievably happy and important things for us and the rest of the families.
I am so very glad we were here for this arrival when I see the look of happiness on his face everytime I watch him kidding around with his older brother or unattaching his adoring 9 yr old nephew from his leg or talking "man to man" to his uncle, a Viet Nam vet who had tears in his eyes as he greeted Jack or giving his aunt an extra hug, just because she's here.
Wish all of you could be here with me, but I hope you know that I would never have reached this day "sanely" without the support of each and every one of you.
May God bless each of our soldiers and may God bless America.
Leonora
Jack's Mom
Reporting for duty back home
By Hal Bernton
The first Army brigade to take the eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles into combat is ending a yearlong deployment that included missions in strife-ridden cities across Iraq.
The more than 3,500 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division began returning earlier this month to Fort Lewis, and the homecoming continued yesterday as several hundred soldiers showed up at a Fort Lewis gymnasium to be greeted by a brass band and hundreds of cheering relatives and friends. Stryker and Rivera
"You survived the war; now survive the peace," said Lt. Col. Buck James, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, which was based in Mosul in northern Iraq for most of the year but also saw duty in the southern city of Kut, the Sunni Triangle city of Samarra and the Baghdad area.
Before the reunion with awaiting families, there was a moment of silence for those who did not make it home. [...]
For most of this year, the Stryker soldiers were based in Mosul, a major city in northern Iraq that has been racked by spasms of violence against U.S. troops, Iraqi police and national guard members, and Iraqi civilians.
Mosul is full of hilly, narrow streets and early in the occupation was one of the most peaceful cities in Iraq. By the time the Stryker brigade arrived in January, the city was becoming more violent.
Mosul was a big change from the Stryker's earlier assignment in a remote, open area of the Sunni Triangle near Samarra. Though the brigade had practiced in a mock urban setting, Mosul was so sprawling it seemed — at times — to swallow up the Stryker vehicles, James said.
Throughout the year, the Stryker brigade worked to build up Iraqi national-guard police units to take over the patrolling of Mosul.
James said the brigade made progress in training the Iraqi forces and is hopeful for the future. "I think that the people need to know we are making a difference," James said.
Some soldiers said the situation in Mosul is increasingly strained, with frequent mortar attacks on their base, numerous bombings of U.S. and Iraqi forces, assassinations of local officials and kidnappings. "It's been really tense," said Sgt. Shawn Ray, a battalion intelligence officer.
For the families of brigade soldiers, it has been a long, sometimes unnerving, year.
Laurie Patten of Dallas said the hardest moment came three months ago, when she received correspondence from her son, Ryan Badeaux, 23.
"Due to some difficult circumstances, he was asked to write one of those, 'if-something-should-happen' letters," Patten said.
After she got the letter, Patten said, she did a whole lot of praying, and so did a lot of her friends. "We were all keeping him in our thoughts, and that's what kept him safe," Patten said.
Some of the relatives of those who did not make it home also showed up yesterday. They included Jennifer Coppock, whose brother Spc. Joe Blickenstaff died in a Dec. 8 vehicle accident.
"He would have wanted us to be here; the last e-mail he sent to me said, 'please pray for our safe return.' "
A Hero's Welcome Home For The Stryker Brigade
Here's a longer article from KOMO 4 News.
[Link to Full Article]
By Keith Eldridge
FORT LEWIS - A hero's welcome home for several members of the Fort Lewis Stryker brigade. They are just home from Iraq. The soldiers say there's more to the U.S. effort than just what you see on TV.
Three hundred members of the 1st Battalion 23rd Infantry regiment marched in to thunderous applause Monday. It is a big homecoming after the year-long deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The soldiers say this is what kept them going -- when it got tough in Iraq, the thought of coming home to loving arms pushed them on.
"Oh it feels so good to have him home. Thank you," said soldier’s wife Latanya Mann. Her husband is asked, “How does it feel to be back?' Staff Sgt.Tito Mann says, "It feels good to be back."
Soldier’s wife Megan Hanson says, "It's just so unreal, I can't believe he's home. I'm so happy to see him."
These Strykers say there are really two wars being fought. The one you see on TV with mostly bad news, but they say there's a lot of good coming out of what they're doing."
"I think people need to know that we're making a difference, we're winning," said Lt. Col. Buck James. "We're planting the seeds that will flourish."
Stryker Soldiers Return To Fort Lewis
If you follow the link there is a video clip from today's homecoming at Ft. Lewis for the 1-23 INF. I'm sure the clip will be on KIRO 7 tonight as well.
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- About 300 more members of the first Stryker brigade returned Monday to Fort Lewis.
They were welcomed by family members at a gym on the Army base.
About 4,000 members of the first Stryker brigade are in the process of being replaced by the second Stryker brigade from Fort Lewis. Soldiers are returning in planeloads over the next couple of weeks.
Three members from the unit that returned Monday died during its year in Iraq. Joseph Blickenstaff of Corvallis, Oregon, Christopher Wesley of Portland, and Steven Bridges of Tracy, California, died December eighth when an embankment collapsed under their Stryker combat vehicles, plunging them into an Iraqi irrigation canal.
10/23 Homecoming Description
Provided below is a description of yesterday's homecoming from Schules. She and her husband were there to welcome home their son with A Troop, 1-14 CAV.
UPDATE: Schules has also created a homecoming album with some great pictures.
My son with 1-14th A trp is home. Our son called when he landed in the states, from what I understand there was an organization waiting at the airport and they handed out cell phone after cell phone and told soldiers to call their families. How great it that? We got our call from the FRG about an hour later. We were told to be at the Sheridan Gym on Ft. Lewis in about 6 hours.
We got there early and the gym was already filled with families and friends. About 200 to 250 people. The kids were so excited! They were racing back and forth across the gym floor! Some were dressed up in tiny BDU's! How cute was that. And the babies, all dressed up waiting for daddies! Wives, girlfriends and family members were all chatting while they were waiting. We were told that the soldiers were already on the base, (and had been for a couple of hours). They had turned in their equipment prior to coming to the gym, which meant they would not have to do anything but leave with their families once they were relieved.
There was a military band playing, the gym was decorated with posters of units, families had flowers, ballons so there was a lot of vivid colors around the gym. Finally the soldiers marched in and the noise was incredible! Screaming, clapping and yelling! There was a short speech and they were dismissed!! Then it became total bedlam! Families hugging and crying and smiling! We met a guy from Boston who had come out to surprise his brother and I took some pictures of him and his brother which I will email to him later today. I was surprised at how quickly the gym emptied out. I am guessing there was a lot of private celebrations going on.
My husband and I just snapped pictures whenever we could of whoever we could and we will post them later.
We had taken our son's truck with us to the base and he gathered up some of the single soldiers in his unit who did not have family there and made sure they were able to get to where they needed to go. I am thinking it was the local watering hole, but not positive about that!
We will see our son later today. Had he not been home on leave a few weeks ago I would have hauled his butt home with us but I also know he had committed to helping the single guys in his unit.
Hope this give those who could not be there a little visual of how it was and clarifies the process for those who are still waiting!
Homecoming Photos
Annette has added the first set of photos to the gallery we created for homecoming. We'd love to get more, so let us know if you have any to share.
UPDATE: Michelle has added a handful of new photos from yesterday to Annette's album.
Stryker soldiers home at last
I think this is the article many of you have been waiting a year to read.
[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
They turned on the tap at Fort Lewis late Thursday, and for the next two weeks or so, the soldiers and the happy tears of reunion will be flowing.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, is coming home after a year in Iraq.
About 200 soldiers arrived Thursday night to cheering family members and friends at the post’s Sheridan Gymnasium.
They’re the first since an advance party got in Oct. 5, but now the return will move into high gear as the Stryker brigade’s more than 4,000 soldiers make their way home.
Nanea Clemens was there with her kids, Micah, 9, and Lehua, 4,waiting for Staff Sgt. Fred Clemens. She said she was excited to see him when he came home just last month for his two weeks of “midtour” leave, “but it feels final this time.”
Being apart so long was hard – the longest time they’ve had to be apart in their 10 years together.
It was hard to be mom and dad to the kids, and for Fred it was hard to miss the moments in his family’s life, the birthdays and Christmas and Micah’s impressive 48 strikeouts pitching during baseball this season.
“He was really good at keeping in touch,” Nanea said. “When we’d hear something in the news, he was really good about calling and letting me know, ‘Hey, it wasn’t me.’”
But now there’s no more worrying about getting that call that something’s gone wrong. They made it.
Read the rest...
The Olympia Observer
The October 18 edition of The Olympia Observer, the official newsletter of Task Force Olympia, is now available for download. There are four new stories that haven't been published before.
ING & MNF detain one in Tal Afar
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 20, 2004) – The Iraqi National Guard and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one person wanted for anti-Iraqi activities Tuesday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from the 109th Iraqi National Guard Battalion and U.S. Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment conducted a joint cordon and search in Tal Afar and detained one person wanted for planning and conducting anti-Iraqi activities. The suspect is in custody with no injuries reported during the operation.
Multinational Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens should cooperate with security forces by providing information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
Back in the U.S.
Jerry Jimenez served as a civil affairs sergeant with Task Force Olympia and describes his homecoming in the following column.
[Link to Full Article]
By JERRY JIMENEZ
Well, I'm back in the United States for good. We hopped on a C-17 a week ago and took it all the way to Fort Bragg, N.C., stopping only in Germany to refuel.
A C-17 is a gigantic military aircraft with enough space to play basketball in. Its seats weren't as comfortable as a commercial plane's, but it had a large, open space in the middle, and some soldiers stretched out on the cold metal floor and dozed off -- most likely comforted by the knowledge they were headed home.
It felt weird to walk around the American post in Germany. Of course, the place was secure, but I had left Iraq only a few hours before. As cars passed by in the street, I felt totally exposed without weapons or an infantry platoon near me.
A group of families waving support banners met us when we arrived in Fort Bragg. An Army band played loud, upbeat music and refreshments were served on folding tables.
The families cheered as we walked off the plane, still wearing all of our gear and carrying bags on our backs. I felt proud. It was a wonderful soldier's homecoming.
Ironically, the whole hullabaloo wasn't even for us. It was for a plane landing after ours, which contained the family members of the welcoming party. It would have been nice if our families were there, too, but it was a nice experience anyway. Besides, it gave us a laugh when we found out.
Today, we started a series of briefings aimed at helping us decompress and reunite with family smoothly.
They let us know that everyone at home might be different, how we should take things slowly, and how ups and downs are inevitable. A young, charismatic chaplain -- who was so funny he sounded more like a stand-up comic -- kept reminding us to be patient when we get home.
The Olympia Observer
The October 11 edition of The Olympia Observer, the newletter for Task Force Olympia, is available for download. All of the stories are new, including one regarding the advance party homecoming at Ft. Lewis.
Making a difference
[Link to Full Article]
By Jed Babbin, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
[...] Spc. Herman Breuer of Warren, Ohio, patrols Mosul with fellow members of the Pennsylvania National Guard's Alpha Company, 1st of the 107th Military Police Brigade.
Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad, in recent days has seen another surge in deadly insurgent attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqis, including children.
Spc. Breuer, 36, first joined the Army in 1990. He re-enlisted last year but admits to having been a bit surprised when the 107th, based in Newcastle, Pa., got orders for Iraq in February.
It was hard to leave his wife, Tara, and children, Bailey, 5, and Emily, 10 months. The strain is relieved by his Guard unit's access to e-mail and Web cams. Spc. Breuer talks with his wife "pretty regularly," at least by computer linkup.
Is morale low among troops in Mosul?
"Quite the contrary. It just can't be," Spc. Breuer says in a Sept. 29 interview, before the renewed violence. "The fact of the matter is that what we do every day is extremely dangerous.
"If you have low morale and you're hanging your head low," he adds, "you can't do the job."
Spc. Nikolas Keefer, 21, also in Alpha Company, was studying at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in his hometown of Indiana, Pa., when he was called up.
"This is the best job rolling," Spc. Keefer says, although when he and his buddies go out on patrol in Mosul, it's "serious business."
"I'm a pretty low guy on the totem pole," says Spc. Keefer, who is single. "But from what I understand, we seem to be accomplishing all our goals, one by one, here. It's gonna be a long process, but so far we're doing really good work."
Wounded bodies, hero hearts
This lengthy article from Michael Gilbert of The News Tribune describes the struggles of various Stryker Brigade soldiers as they recover from battle injuries. Some of the names will be very familiar to our site's visitors. I know this story has been in the works for some time and I would like to thank Mike for taking the time to tell these stories, which need to be heard. I'm not sure if the link below is working properly, so I will include the full-text of the article below.
"Buoyed by Army iron will, Stryker soldiers and their loved ones struggle to make their families whole when some of the pieces never come home"
[Link to Article] (Full text provided below)
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Families from all over the country will be coming to Fort Lewis in the next few weeks to welcome home their Stryker brigade soldiers who spent a year in Iraq.
The first troops to return, the advance party, were greeted by cheering loved ones and an Army band on Oct 5.
But others have come back under much less joyful circumstances, one and two at a time. The most critically wounded soldiers and their loved ones have had to make reunions at military hospitals in Germany and Washington, D.C.
That’s how it was for the Armeni family of Tacoma when Lt. Damon Armeni was torn apart by a rocket-propelled grenade Aug. 4 in Mosul.
In the 10 months since Damon left, his mother was absorbed with every bit of information she could glean about the war zone.
“I had just gotten to the point where I didn’t stress out about it, and focus my whole life on it,” Sharon Armeni said, “when this happened.”
At least 252 of the 4,000 soldiers in the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, have been wounded in Iraq. That’s how many have been awarded the Purple Heart, the medal to recognize soldiers wounded in action, said executive officer Lt. Col. Barry Huggins.
Of those, he said, 28 were hurt seriously enough to be evacuated to hospitals in Germany and the United States.
Huggins said his figures were preliminary, and that the brigade wouldn’t release a full report until it returns.
The number of wounded is probably much higher.
About 15 soldiers had been flown out of Iraq for combat injuries by the end of February, well before the 3rd Brigade saw its heaviest action in April and again in August and September.
Officials at Madigan Army Medical Center said 67 Stryker soldiers have come there for treatment since the brigade deployed in November.
That number includes those hurt in accidents and in combat.
As of Friday, more than 7,862 U.S. service members had been wounded in action in Iraq – 4,240 seriously enough that they did not return to duty within three days, according to the Pentagon.
Behind each wounded soldier are family members suddenly facing circumstances they’d hoped and prayed would never come.
Without warning, they have to push through the shock to arrange for child care and time off work, travel arrangements and, in some cases, passports and other complexities, all while worrying they might not get there in time.
“It is my worst fear become all too real,” said Steve Thorne.
His son, Sgt. Scott Thorne, was shot in the head Sept. 14 while leading a patrol in the streets of Mosul. It was the same drive-by ambush that killed Sgt. Jacob Demand of Palouse, Whitman County.
Steve and other family members from Southern California took up residence near Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Doctors decided to leave the bullet in his brain rather than risk further damage removing it.
William and Mary Cecil Parker of South Carolina spent a week in Germany to be with their son, Sgt. Billy Parker, after he was wounded April 26 at Tal Afar.
Shrapnel struck him in the head, neck, shoulder, arm and hand when a grenade detonated on top of his Stryker vehicle. Spc. Jacob Herring of Kirkland was killed in the same attack.
“We went over there with tunnel vision, thinking about nothing but him – until we got there,” William Parker said. “The people we met up with were the wives, the children, the families of people all shot to pieces – the guys shot through the head, the multiple amputees, the burns.
“There was an 18-year-old pregnant wife standing there and waiting to see if her husband was going to sit up tomorrow. He was not going to sit up tomorrow. He wasn’t going to sit up ever. It was horrific.
“It was cold and rainy and we cried literally every day,” Parker said. “You come back and you’ve got a new view on things.” The Armenis were vacationing on a houseboat in northern British Columbia when Damon’s wife, Kim, got a message on her cell phone to call Fort Lewis.
It was a long, tense and quiet drive home, punctuated every so often by a call from the rear detachment of Damon’s unit, the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, with an update on his condition. The battalion chaplain also called, from Mosul.
The Army helped Sharon and Kim get passports in just a day. They were on their way to SeaTac Airport for a flight to Germany when they got word that Damon might soon be headed to Walter Reed.
So they turned around and flew to Washington, D.C, the next morning.
The Army pays to fly immediate family members to be with critically wounded soldiers. If the soldier’s condition is less serious, the family has to pay its own way.
“I kept thinking, ‘Oh good, maybe we’ll have to buy our own tickets,’” Sharon recalled.
But at that point, her son’s condition was not improving.
Damon, 26 – a graduate of Wilson High School in Tacoma and Pacific Lutheran University – had lost his spleen and parts of his colon and intestine.
Today a 19-inch L-shaped scar runs from below his navel up to his ribs. When he arrived at Walter Reed he was swollen and bloated.
“I barely recognized him,” Kim said. “I knew him by his hairline. He was asleep for about two days before he woke up.”
His mother, a cardiac care nurse practitioner with MultiCare Health System in Tacoma, said she couldn’t understand how her son was still alive.
“It was amazing to me that he had made it that far, and the fact that all his surgery was done in a combat hospital,” she said. “I fully believe it’s prayer that pulled this kid through.”
Sharon and Kim stayed at his side the first week at Walter Reed.
Sharon said when it got too tough to play the role of mom, she switched into nurse-practitioner mode and thought of him as a patient.
After several days, Damon’s brother Bryce, 22, a Marine, came and stayed with his brother for three days. And then finally his father, Dan – who had to take time off without pay from his job at the Boeing Co. – arrived with Dalen, 2, Damon and Kim’s son.
Damon eventually recovered enough to be moved home to Fort Lewis, where he spent another two weeks at Madigan Army Medical Center.
Today he credits the other soldiers for literally holding him together as they raced in their damaged Stryker across Mosul to the Army field hospital.
He said he remembers feeling like he wanted to go to sleep.
It would have been so easy to bleed to death.
But the soldiers held his guts in and talked to him, told him he was going to be OK. When he started to drift off, one smacked him hard in the face.
At the field hospital, “I remember them bringing me in and hearing a voice say, ‘Holy shit! Get him into the ER, now!’ And then the chaplain leaned over me and said, ‘Son, do you need to get right with God?’
“I think I told him I am right with God, but I wanted to hear him praying as they took me into surgery.”
He’d like to know the name of that Army surgeon who ordered him straight into surgery. The physician’s assistant at Walter Reed said he’d try to track the guy down so Damon can thank him.
“I told the PA, ‘I guess I owe that guy a bottle of scotch.’ He said, ‘I’ve seen your surgical report. You owe that guy a case of scotch.’”
Damon said he also owes a lifetime of thanks to another soldier wounded with him, Sgt. Paul Schmitz of Missouri, who insisted at each stop from Mosul to Walter Reed that he remain within arm’s reach of his unconscious young lieutenant.
Schmitz suffered spinal injuries and is likely to be medically retired, Damon said.
“I was sedated, on a ventilator, and very sick the whole time, but he ensured that there was someone I knew around me until I was brought back to my wife,” Damon said.
These days, he’s padding around his house at Fort Lewis on sore feet.
He suffered nerve damage when he fell on his back after being hit. The condition will get better, though, and he’s preparing to go to work at battalion headquarters, if for just a few hours at first.
By February, he hopes to get medical clearance not just to stay in the Army – but to stay in a combat-arms branch.
“I love being a soldier,” he said. “It’s all I ever wanted to do. This is just a part of being in the Army to me.” Sharon remembers the year her boys – Damon and his younger brother, Bryce – asked for green dental floss for Christmas.
The boys hadn’t become obsessed with oral hygiene.
“They used it for rappelling with their GI Joes,” she said. “I had strands of green dental floss hanging all over the house.”
It makes sense that Damon and Bryce would be so inclined.
Their father, Dan, was a Reconnaissance Marine in Vietnam and then switched to the Army. He retired in 1993 after a career as an armor officer.
With an Army father, Sharon knew what her sons would be in for.
“I fought and resisted it and he kind of joined the ROTC on the sly,” Sharon said of Damon.
“I always wanted to raise the family and the grandkids and have them all together in one place, and I knew that if he was in the military that wasn’t going to happen.”
But she accepted her son’s career choice because she knew it’s what he wanted.
Her husband is proud that his boys followed him into the family business – proud, but also pained. He’d seen men wounded as badly as Damon, and worse.
“I knew what he was going to have to go through when he got into combat,” Dan said. “I knew the changes that would happen to him, what he was going to have to do to survive.
“When I stop to think about how close we came to losing him, I still get a little teary-eyed. And sometimes I still have a hard time talking about it. It’s scary.”
Sharon said watching Damon leave for Iraq was far harder than any time she had to say good-bye to Dan during his military career.
As for Damon’s hopes to stay in the Army, Sharon said, “I want it for him because that’s what he wants. He’s happy and that’s what he loves doing.
“As a mom, I would love to see him behind a desk someplace. But there are a lot of dangerous occupations.” William Parker was on the Internet when he got the call from the Army telling him that his son was wounded.
Sgt. Billy Parker and Spc. Jake Herring of Kirkland, were squadmates, and Parker’s dad kept in touch with Herring’s mom, Susan Sutter, over the computer.
They had previously exchanged photos of their boys.
“The next morning I had an e-mail from her saying, ‘Yeah, the Army had called. Jake died.’
“And there it was, you know?”
He would later learn that his son, riding chest-high out of a forward hatch of his Stryker, had just leaned inside and told his squad to stay focused: “‘If they’re gonna hit us, this is where.’”
When he stood back out of the hatch, they were hit. The driver turned around and raced the 35 miles or so to Mosul. The surgeons couldn’t save Herring.
“Amazingly, the next day I get a call from Billy on somebody’s satellite phone,” William said. “He said, ‘I just got blown up,’ but he was heavily sedated and not making a lot of sense.
“I did get that he was alive, and that he was going to Germany.”
The Parkers were at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center a week with their son, and then he went on to Madigan Army Medical Center, where he healed and then went back to work training replacements.
Billy, 24, got a month off to visit his folks in South Carolina.
“For the first week he was home, he was kind of in shock. The second week, he was kind of relaxing,” said William, who spent three years in the Army and was a Special Forces trooper in Vietnam.
“Then he started getting antsy, and except for old stupid dad and a couple of stupid dad’s Vietnam buddies, there’s nobody he could talk to.
“I mean, his slacker buddies were like, ‘Dude! How many of them (enemies) did you kill?’ By the end he was a nervous wreck.”
Dad knew he had to help.
“We got him good and damned drunk one night just so he could get it all out,” William said. “When you finally sit down and let it all out – which is what we hoped for and what we achieved – then you get somewhere.”
“We took him to the mountains, to the beach. We camped and body-surfed,” William said. “We tried to give him as much of the civilian good life as we could.”
Billy returned to Fort Lewis and took the first chance he got to go back to his unit, the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. He got to Iraq Aug. 2.
In e-mails home, Billy said things were far more violent than before: He returned just in time for the big insurgent attack in Mosul in early August, then the heavy fighting last month in Tal Afar.
These days, Billy is thinking about re-enlisting, but his parents say that after six years, they hope he’s ready to move on – maybe catch up with his brother Dylan, a sophomore at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C.
Steve Thorne was home sick in Escondido, Calif., when his daughter-in-law, Tiffany, called.
It was 2:51 p.m. Her voice was shaking. She’d just heard from the Army.
Scott had suffered some kind of head trauma.
It wasn’t long before the whole family headed to the Washington, D.C., area to be with Scott at Walter Reed and briefly at the U.S. Navy hospital.
Scott, 23, was shot in the head in a Sept. 14 ambush that wounded four other soldiers from his squad in the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
“Bringing all his men home was something he viewed as the highest goal of a combat leader and he worked very hard at it,” Steve said of his son. “As it turned out, there were just too many raindrops to run between.”
Scott lost part of his skull, but he made it through the time when he was most vulnerable to infection.
He can talk and stand with help and is making good progress, his father said. He’s being fitted with a helmet and will soon be transferred to a Veterans Administration hospital that specializes in brain-injury patients.
Along the way, Steve has been filing Internet updates on his son’s progress and his family’s experiences with the military medical system.
They’re posted on the unofficial online community of Stryker families and friends, www.strykernews.com.
In part, he’s doing it because he believes the brigade’s soldiers, especially its wounded, have been ignored. He spent 19 years as a soldier, and these days he works as a family court mediator in San Diego County.
Writing also helps him “focus on the positives that happen every day” and takes his mind off his family’s struggle.
And so he files daily updates.
“I don’t want Scott’s sacrifice – if that’s what the end result will be – to be forgotten by the society he made it for,” Steve said via e-mail.
“We want the nation to have the opportunity to be as proud of him as we are.”
How a family copes
By Chris Barron, Sun Staff
October 17, 2004
FORT LEWIS — In the next few days, a large banner with the words "Welcome Home" will arrive in Shawna Burbank's mailbox. It will be preceded by the flag-draped coffin of Army Staff Sgt. Michael Burbank, killed in Iraq last Monday.
An e-mail invitation Shawna sent to family and friends announcing her husband's homecoming will be replaced by a funeral announcement.
...."I was getting really psyched up for him to come home, and now all of a sudden it won't happen," said Shawna, a 1994 South Kitsap High graduate who married Michael in April 1995. "And this will all be more real when everyone else comes home and I'm not there to get that first hug and kiss again."
Burbank, a highly motivated soldier who rose quickly through the ranks, was killed when insurgents attacked his Stryker convoy with a truck bomb in Mosul. Standing in the open hatch atop his vehicle, Burbank was exposed to the full effects of the blast and likely died instantly. Nine others were injured.
The two had planned to go on a Disneyland vacation after he returned. She even bought a truck for him. It arrived the day she was notified of his death.
Now, she won't see him driving what he called his "new, old truck." She won't travel to California on vacation. And she won't hear the war stories he was saving for when he returned.
"I always figured he'd come home and have all those stories and I would sit and listen to him for hours," she said.
"But now I guess I'll never know."
Memorial service
A memorial service for Staff Sgt. Michael Lee Burbank is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at The Fort Lewis Soldier's Chapel.
Visitation will be from 2 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Bonney-Watson Federal Way, 1535 SW Dash Point Road, Federal Way.
A funeral service will be at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Lakewood Stake Center, 10018 Fairwest Drive SW, Lakewood.
Casualty count still to come
Apparently there is a glitch in the online version of this story and what is posted is a small part of what ran in the paper. We will update this post when it becomes available.
[Link to Full Article]
Michael Gilbert, The News Tribune
Officials with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division said they were too busy preparing for their return home while still conducting combat operations in Iraq to provide The News Tribune with statistics on the number of wounded and injured soldiers. The brigade will release the information when all 4,000 or so soldiers have returned to Fort Lewis, said executive officer Lt. Col. Barry Huggins. Based on preliminary figures, Huggins said, about 250 soldiers have received a Purple Heart, the medal awarded to those wounded in action. About 28 were hurt seriously enough to be flown out of Iraq to Germany and the United States. Brigade sources, though, said those numbers are probably low.
Task Force Olympia soldier dies of wounds suffered in car bombing
BAGHDAD, Iraq A U-S soldier assigned to Task Force Olympia has died of wounds suffered in a car bomb attack in the northern city of Mosul.
A U-S military statement today says the blast occurred Friday in the east-central area of Mosul, 225 miles north of Baghdad.
U.S. forces suffer new casualties
I forgot to post this article yesterday by Michael Gilbert regarding the incidents on Monday and Wednesday.
[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Two more U.S. soldiers were killed and five wounded Wednesday in Mosul in another suicide car-bomb attack – the second fatal strike in three days.
This time an insurgent drove a car packed with explosives into an Army convoy about 2:20 p.m. Mosul time, or 4:20 a.m. PDT, according to a military news release and published reports.
The attacker waited in an alley and then sped his vehicle into the second of three armored Humvees driving along a main road in the northeast section of the city, the Army Times reported. The paper has a reporter embedded with Task Force Olympia, the Fort Lewis-based headquarters in charge of coalition operations across northern Iraq.
The names of the soldiers who were killed were withheld until their families could be notified. Sources said they were Army reservists not stationed at Fort Lewis, but attached to the task force.
Wednesday’s attack – and a similar one Monday that killed a Fort Lewis cavalry scout and injured nine other local soldiers – comes as some 9,000 Fort Lewis troops are either on their way into or out of Mosul.
The 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is being replaced after a year in Iraq by the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division in an exchange of the Army’s two Stryker brigades, both out of Fort Lewis.
Soldiers from the two brigades were riding in the Stryker that was hit Monday, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, the Task Force Olympia spokesman. The soldier who was killed, Staff Sgt. Michael Burbank of Bremerton, was standing in one of the rear hatches when a bomb-laden pickup crashed into the Stryker and exploded. He was from the 3rd Brigade’s 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
Hastings said soldiers on the Stryker fired on the pickup as it headed toward them, but couldn’t stop it from hitting their vehicle.
The three wounded were a senior noncommissioned officer from the 1st Brigade and two other 3rd Brigade soldiers. Two were evacuated to an Army hospital in Germany, while the third was sent to an Army hospital in Baghdad, Hastings said.
Six others were also hurt but returned to duty after treatment. Hastings said that despite the blast the Stryker was driven under its own power to the field hospital at the Mosul airfield.
ING battalion activated, ready to serve
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 15, 2004) – Iraqi Security Forces will soon receive a helping hand in combating terrorism in northern Iraq after soldiers of the 109th Iraqi National Guard Battalion were officially activated during a ceremony held Oct. 10 outside of Tal Afar.
The nearly 500 national guardsmen underwent extensive training, including basic rifle marksmanship, patrol operations, individual and team movement, clearing and securing structures and basic first aid. Multi-National Forces from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) assisted in training the Iraqi soldiers.
The 109th has been an important part of the security force in Tal Afar in recent weeks. They have conducted several operations in which they detained numerous people suspected of anti-Iraqi activities. They have also confiscated ammunition, weapons and bomb making materials used against Multi-National Forces, Iraqi Security Forces and Iraqi civilians.
The activation will allow the Iraqi National Guardsmen to increase the security for the citizens of northern Iraq. The addition of new soldiers is important as the Iraqi Security Forces take over the responsibility for security in Iraq.
Wounded Minnesota priest is back home
The following article provides an update on the condition of Chaplain Timothy Vakoc.
Four months after he was critically injured in Iraq, the Rev. H. Timothy Vakoc has returned home to Minnesota for treatment at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center.
The 44-year-old Army chaplain and Catholic priest was transferred from a military hospital in Washington, D.C., to the Minneapolis VA on Oct. 1, said his sister, Anita Brand. [...]
The family has kept news of his return to Minnesota relatively quiet until this week, and wants to keep visitors to a minimum, Brand said. "He's adjusting to life there," she said from her home in Springfield, Va. The transfer did not indicate an improvement in his medical condition, she added.
Rev. Vakoc
In August, family members disclosed that doctors did not expect him to recover neurologically from his brain injury, and that he might not survive further complications. [...]
Thousands of friends and well-wishers have followed his story on a Web site called CaringBridge (www.caringbridge.org/mn/timvakoc/index.htm).
Brand said the family will continue to post updates on his progress on the Web site.
The Olympia Observer
The October 4 edition of The Olympia Observer, Task Force Olympia's newsletter, is now available for download.
44th Corps Support Battalion heads home
[Link to Article]
Story and Photos by Spc. Jessika Ross
MOSUL, Iraq- Marking the end of a chapter in their history, the 44th Corps Support Battalion (CSB) is heading home to Fort Lewis, Wash., after completing an 11-month tour providing logistical support as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
The 44th has been replaced by the 17th Corps Support Battalion, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. During a transfer of authority ceremony in Mosul, on Oct. 5, the 44th relinquished its logistical support duties in the northern region to the 17th CSB.
The 44th CSB, comprised of active duty, National Guard, Reserve Soldiers and Air Force personnel, provided logistical support for Multi-National Forces all over northern Iraq, from the Turkish border south to Tikrit. They covered over 1.4 million miles providing convoy escorts for food and water trucks traveling from the border.
“The 44th CSB is as good an organization as I’ve ever served in and has clearly demonstrated what a dynamic and engaged support unit is capable of,” said Lt. Col. Michael Holmes, commander of the 44th. “These great soldiers never shied away from a mission, never backed down from a challenge, took constant change in stride and represented their country with professionalism and pride.”
The 17th CSB, a part of the 45th Corps Support Group, has been deployed in support of both Operation Iraqi Freedom I and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
The unit began its training in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom II in May and completed a division level certification training course that prepared them at the squad, company and platoon levels for their deployment to Iraq. The training involved convoy live-fire exercises, soldier skills, common threats and improvised explosive device training.
“The 17th CSB assumes the mission to provide seamless support to coalition forces in our area of operation. We will succeed and will embody our motto ‘Always ready,’” said Lt. Col. Patricia Matlock, commander of the 17th CSB.
Lt. Col. Patricia Matlock, commander of the 17th Corps Support Battalion, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, unfurls the units colors, signifying the official transfer of authority from the 44th CSB to the 17th. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jessika Ross)
Soldiers of the outgoing 44th Corps Support Battalion, Ft. Lewis, Wash., stand at attention, bearing the United States flag during a ceremony signifying the official transfer of authority from the 44th CSB to the 17th CSB. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jessika Ross)
(via DVIDS)
Suicide car-bomber kills two soldiers
Matthew Cox reports from Mosul on today's convoy attack.
[Link to Full Article]
By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — Insurgents here drove a car bomb into an Army convoy of up-armored Humvees today and detonated it. The blast killed two soldiers and injured five others. The names and units of the dead and five wounded, who were attached to Task Force Olympia, will not be released until the family members have been notified, said spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Hastings.
This is the second car bomb attack here in two days. On Monday, ;a suicide bomber detonated a pickup truck full of explosives next to a Stryker column, killing one soldier and wounding nine.
Today’s blast occurred at 2:20 p.m. in the northeastern section of the city as three up-armored Humvees drove along a main road. The insurgent waited in an alley for the first Humvee to pass, then sped toward the convoy, striking the side of the second Humvee.
“That’s a tactic that has been used down south, but we have not seen it here until now,” said Col. Tom Knight, deputy commander of Task Force Olympia.
Two TFO Soldiers killed in attack on MNF convoy
We just received the following official press release from Task Force Olympia.
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 13, 2004) – Two Soldiers assigned to Task Force Olympia died following a car bomb attack on a Multinational Forces convoy today at approximately 2:20 p.m. The attack occurred in the northeastern area of Mosul.
A suicide bomber drove the car bomb loaded with explosives into a vehicle in the convoy where it detonated.
Five Multinational Forces Soldiers were wounded. Two have been returned to duty and three are being treated at the military hospital in Mosul.
The names of the soldiers killed in the attack are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
There is an article at MSNBC regarding the incident as well.
This has been a very difficult week for both the 3-2 SBCT and the 1-25 SBCT. Please know that we will post any information that is available when it becomes public.
ING & MNF detain 23, foil roadside bomb
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 13, 2004) – The Iraqi National Guard and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 23 people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities and foiled a roadside bomb Tuesday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from the 109th Iraqi National Guard Battalion conducted a cordon and search in Tal Afar and detained 18 people wanted for planning and conducting attacks against Iraqi Security forces and Multi-National Forces. All suspects are in custody with no injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 101st Iraqi National Guard Battalion and Multi-National Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment conducted a joint cordon and search operation in the Mosul neighborhood of Al Sudeek and detained five people wanted for planning and conducting mortar attacks against military bases and intimidating local civilians. All suspects are in custody.
The Iraqi National Guard foiled a roadside bomb attack when they noticed a suspicious trash bag with protruding wires lying near the side of the road in northern Mosul. The Iraqi Explosive Ordnance Disposal team destroyed the device with no injuries reported.
Iraqi National Guard forces continue to work together with members of the Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens should cooperate with their security forces by providing us with information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
Bremerton High grad killed on Stryker patrol
By Sara Jean Green
Two months ago, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Lee Burbank gave up a relatively safe assignment directing troop enlistment in Iraq for a place on the front lines.
The Bremerton High School graduate was supposed to come home late next week for an eight-month leave. His wife had booked vacations to Disneyland, British Columbia and Texas. Now, she has to plan a funeral.
Burbank, 34, and 10 other men were riding in a Stryker vehicle, one of three returning to an Army base south of Mosul after a Monday morning patrol. [...]
Burbank grew up in Oregon's Grand Ronde area before moving to Bremerton as a teenager, Culley said. After graduating from high school, he met Shawna Culley at the Bremerton Public Library, and the two married in April 1995. Less than two years later, he joined the Army.
"He's all soldier. He's so gung-ho, it's unbelievable," Culley said. "He's [been commended] everywhere he's been, and he's risen through the ranks quicker than anybody."
But it was his honesty and reserved ways that drew others to him, Culley said. "The rest of the soldiers loved him," he said.
Though Culley and his daughter worried about Burbank's decision to leave headquarters for battle, they weren't surprised he volunteered.
"He was called to serve, and he served valiantly," Culley said. "I lost a great friend and a great son. He was a great leader."
In addition to his wife and wife's family, Burbank is survived by his mother, who lives in Texas, his father, who lives in Oregon, and two sisters, one in Texas and one in New Mexico, Culley said.
Staff Sgt. Michael L. Burbank
The Department of Defense just put out this press release. Our thoughts and prayers are with this soldier and his family. We will add any subsequent articles we find about SSG Burbank to this entry.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Michael L. Burbank, 34, of Bremerton, Wash., died Oct. 11 in Mosul, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker military vehicle. Burbank was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Provided below are additional articles and links.
Local man killed in Iraq - Bremerton Sun
Bremerton High grad killed on Stryker patrol - The Seattle Times
Stryker soldier killed just days from returning - The News Tribune
'He Was A Soldier's Soldier' - KOMO News
Stryker officer was just days from homecoming - The Associated Press
Stryker GI killed just before tour's end - The Seattle P-I
Three Fort Lewis soldiers killed - KOMO News
Iraq blast kills Kent couple's son-in-law - King County Journal
How a family copes - The Sun
There are many photos of SSG Burbank in our photo gallery. Please feel free to leave a comment there as well.
A 'United' Kitsap honors veterans - Kitsap Sun
Veterans honored in ceremonies - The Seattle P-I
Fort Lewis soldier killed, nine injured in suicide bombing
Michael Gilbert reports on yesterday's incident.
[Link to Full Article]
MICHAEL GILBERT The News Tribune
A Fort Lewis soldier was killed and nine others wounded when a suicide bomber attacked a Stryker convoy Monday morning in Mosul, according to military and news media reports.
A pickup full of explosives drove into the path of the convoy and detonated, leaving a 5-foot crater in the roadway, according to reports. [...]
The casualties come as soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are in the final few weeks of their yearlong mission in Iraq. The brigade’s first 130 or so soldiers returned to Fort Lewis last week, with the rest of the 4,000-strong unit due home later this month and in early November.
The soldiers still in Iraq have begun training their replacements from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, also from Fort Lewis. [...]
Monday’s attack occurred about 11 a.m. Mosul time, or 1 a.m. PDT.
Soldiers were on their way back to their base after an operation to clear houses that insurgents had been using as cover for remote-controlled roadside bomb attacks in the southwest section of the city, according to the Army Times, which has a reporter with the troops in Mosul.
The Times said a battalion-sized force of Stryker soldiers – roughly 600 troops – and another 250 Iraqi troops shut down traffic on two main roads to search homes overlooking the highways.
The Iraqi troops also cleared a nearby mosque and a cemetery.
In briefings before Monday’s operation, soldiers had been warned to look out for suicide car-bombers on their way back to the base, the Times reported.
The Washington Post, citing military sources, reported the explosives were hidden among crates of fruits and vegetables.
After the blast, insurgents attacked the convoy with small-arms fire from a mosque, according to a news release issued by Task Force Olympia, the Fort Lewis-based Army command in northern Iraq.
Truck bomb hits Stryker; one soldier dead, nine wounded
The following is a more detailed article about the incident from Matthew Cox of Army Times.
[Link to Full Article]
By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — Insurgents steered a bomb-packed pick-up truck toward a Stryker combat vehicle and set off the deadly cargo, killing one soldier and wounding nine others in the southwestern part of the city. The attack came this morning as a unit with the 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division was returning from a combat mission to clear a section of the Al Amel neighborhood of people who have been using the area to mount attacks on coalition forces along main roads here.
[A]bout a battalion’s worth of Stryker vehicles from Task Force Olympia, along with about 250 Iraqi National Guard soldiers, began the hunt for insurgents just before 8 a.m. near the intersection of two main roads here just west of the Tigris River.
Stryker elements shut down traffic heading into two main traffic circles and surrounded the area as soldiers dismounted from Stryker infantry carriers and cleared housing areas overlooking the main roads that insurgents have used to trigger vehicle-carried improvised explosive devices.
Iraqi National Guard members helped to clear the area which included a mosque and a massive graveyard.
Insurgents tried but failed in a similar attack on Stryker units when the United States conducted a related mission earlier this month.
During the planning phase of this operation, unit leaders stressed the likelihood of a possible attack as units returned to their nearby base.
They were right.
There's a bit more, so be sure to follow the link and read the rest.
TFO Soldier dies following car bomb attack on MNF convoy
The following is an official press release from the Task Force Olympia public affairs office. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and comrades of this fallen soldier. Let's hope for a fast and complete recovery for those wounded as well.
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 11, 2004) – A Soldier assigned to Task Force Olympia died following a vehicle bomb attack on a Multinational Forces convoy today at approximately 11 a.m. The attack occurred in the southwestern area of Mosul.
A suicide bomber drove the pick up truck loaded with explosives into the path of the oncoming convoy where it detonated, leaving a five foot crater in the road.
Immediately following the explosion, the convoy was engaged with small arms fire from a mosque in the vicinity of the attack. Iraqi National Guard soldiers searched the mosque and surrounding area, but did not locate the gunmen.
Nine Multinational Forces Soldiers were wounded, six have been returned to duty. Three are being treated at military hospitals.
The name of the soldier killed in the attack is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Car bomb attack on US convoy in Mosul
I haven't seen any press releases from the military regarding this incident. If anyone does please let us know.
MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - A car bomb struck a US army convoy in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, causing casualties, the military and Iraqi officials said.
A US military spokesman said there was a "a complex attack" on a convoy in Mosul but declined to give further details about the bombing or casualties.
A pick-up truck sped up beside the US convoy and exploded in Mosul's southern Yarmouk district at 11 am (0800 GMT), said Iraqi police officer Jarella Mohammed Said.
UPDATE: See this entry for additional information.
Scouring Iraq for Enemies, Finding Farmers and Mud
Here's another article from James Glanz of The New York Times describing recent operations south of Baghdad that include elements of the Stryker Brigade. Thanks to Elizabeth for the link.
[Link to Full Article]
By JAMES GLANZ
Al YUSUFIYA, Iraq, Oct. 9 - House-to-house raids in this dangerous swath of territory about 30 miles south of Baghdad are turning up few men of fighting age, leading American commanders to believe that insurgents are melting away ahead of troops who are trying to bring the area under Iraqi control.
At the same time, intelligence here has been sketchy, leading to nighttime raids on what appear to be no more than frightened farm families. And the rural terrain - irrigation-soaked roads that are either too narrow for armored vehicles or too weak to support their weight - partly negate the Americans' vast technological advantage.
In at least one case, the problem with the Iraqi back roads led to a disastrous eight-hour ordeal in which new armored vehicles called Strykers became mired in an irrigated field as they were chasing an insurgent who had just fired mortar shells at them. The attacker escaped. Overnight Friday, they searched two towns just east of the Euphrates River and found that they had been deserted, virtual ghost towns.
Even when the raids have uncovered weapons, the men who must have put them there have not been found. In one instance, several women said all their husbands had died.
"One thing that's remarkable to note is how the enemy has changed," said Capt. Bart Hensler, who commands a Stryker unit that is taking part in the raids. "We're always trying to stay one step ahead of each other, but unfortunately the enemy has the advantage."
Lt. Col. Buck James, a battalion commander in the Stryker Brigade, said that even though melting into the population was a time-honored guerrilla tactic, it might be hurting the insurgency here. In Iraq's macho culture, he said, the insurgents' unwillingness to put up a fight may end up costing them the support of the people who are shielding them now.
Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, the commander of ground forces in Iraq, said he believed that the problem of tracking down fighting-age men here was "unique to this particular piece of the operation" and not true of Iraq as a whole.
The enduring optimism of many American troops was summed up by Capt. Rob Krauer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, who emphasized the need to train Iraqis to do the house-to-house operations in the long run. "We can win a war this way," he said.
But the day-to-day frustrations were enunciated by Specialist Anthony Ellis, sweating in the belly of a Stryker as it slipped off the side of a tiny lane and lurched to a stop, its four right tires subsiding into an irrigation ditch. "Our man slips through the cracks again," he said, disappointment in his voice.
The raids are part of an operation involving about 2,500 marines and G.I.'s and a much smaller number of Iraqi soldiers, who are trying to take back what have become "no go" areas - places where the Iraqi government and the American-led forces exercise little control - before national elections in January.
NYT Article
Last Wednesday we posted an article from The New York Times that describes a recent mission by elements of the Stryker Brigade south of Baghdad. Since then a number of people have emailed the article to me. It wasn't very obvious what the article was about if you only read the brief excerpt provided (sorry!). So, if you haven't already, you might want to follow the link above and read the whole thing.
ING & MNF detain four
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October, 7 2004) – Iraqi National Guardsmen and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained four people suspected of planning and conducting anti-Iraqi activities today.
National Guardsmen and soldiers from Company C, 52nd Infantry Regiment (Anti-Tank) conducted a cordon and search in the vicinity of Al Hawd, where they detained four individuals. One subject was positively identified as a suspected anti-Iraqi Forces facilitator. During the search, soldiers confiscated two AK-47s, two rifles, a machine gun, ammunition, a pistol and a protective mask from the location. The subjects remain in custody and no injuries were reported during the operation.
Multinational Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens should cooperate with security forces by providing information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
ISF & MNF foil car bomb attack, detain 14
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 9, 2004) – Iraqi Security forces and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) foiled a car bomb attack and detained 14 people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities Friday in northern Iraq.
Iraqi Police foiled a car bomb attack in the Mosul neighborhood of Palistine after they noticed a vehicle with exposed wires parked on road. When police attempted to investigate further, anti-Iraqi forces attacked them with a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire injuring nobody. Police engaged the enemy and secured the location around the vehicle. Later, the U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team arrived and conducted a controlled blast of the car bomb with no injuries reported.
Soldiers from the Iraqi National Guard conducted a cordon and search northwest of Mosul and detained ten people wanted for planning and conducting roadside bomb attacks against Iraqi and Multi-National Forces. During a search of the residence, two AK-47s, two bolt-action rifles, one machine gun with ammunition and a pistol were confiscated. In another cordon and search, Iraqi National Guard soldiers detained four members of an anti-Iraqi cell in Tal Afar.
Multinational Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security Forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens are urged to cooperate with security forces by providing information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information is urged to call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
Northern Iraq: What We Do
Thanks to Jennifer for the following story.
[Link to Full Article]
Commentary by Scott Rutter for FOX Fan Central
8 October 2004 — Offensive operations and joint patrols performed with the Iraqi National Guard continue daily within Northern Iraq. Task Force Olympia and its subordinate units maintain peace and stability by demonstrating commitment and obligation to the people of Northern Iraq, including the towns of Mosul, Tal Afar and parts of the Kurdish area. The main enforcers of the task force are a maneuver brigade combat team and its combat support units. The make up of Task Force Olympia also includes a dedicated Civil Affairs unit that concentrates on rebuilding and reconstruction efforts. These unsung heroes ensure critical infrastructure projects are planned and executed. These projects include the refurbishment of schools, hospitals and other immediate needs of the community. One particular project that I witnessed firsthand was the construction of a new housing area and school for displaced Arabs who were planted into the Kurdish area in the North by the former regime as part of the “Arabization” of traditional Kurdish areas. In addition, long-term projects are forecasted and resourced by a joint effort between the military and the U.S. Department of State.
Latest front for US forces: rural Iraq
This article has additional information regarding Operation Phantom Fury.
[Link to Full Article]
By Scott Peterson, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
MUSAYYIB, IRAQ – The US Marines and Iraqi forces launched an offensive south of Baghdad Tuesday, aimed at cutting insurgent "rat lines" that feed the capital with explosives, cash, and militants, and establishing control over broad swaths of hostile rural territory.
Operation Phantom Fury is a key element of a wider US-led rolling offensive to stamp out insurgent strongholds before January elections. Conducted in volatile and relatively unpatrolled rural areas, the operation - involving more than 3,000 troops, a quarter of them Iraqi units - may prove critical to solving Baghdad's security puzzle. Though overshadowed by urban insurgencies that have swept the Sunni triangle north and west of the capital, the bloodletting here has been extensive, and the transit route, commanders say, has been enhanced by anti-US feeling that is especially pronounced west of the Euphrates.
Operation Phantom Fury began with dead-of-night raids early Tuesday to arrest four Iraqis suspected of harboring insurgents - at least two of them local sheikhs. At dawn and without resistance, armored units rolled up to the Jurf as-Sakhr bridge over the Euphrates - a chokepoint 18 miles from Baghdad that US officers say has become the main transit route from Fallujah and Ramadi to the capital.
In coming days, Marine units backed by Cobra helicopters, AC-130 Spectre gunships, and armored elements of the US Army's Stryker Brigade, are to deploy across this rich farmland, which has long been a rebel sanctuary.
The area has become notorious for a spate of kidnappings, mortar fire, and roadside bombs. Ten police officers were killed Tuesday in two cities in North Badil, this volatile province. And one Marine unit on patrol was ambushed in Haswah three hours before the first raids, wounding four Americans.
The attack at Haswah was the fourth in as many nights - an assault that was expected to be met with a strong Marine response late Tuesday.
"They're trying to keep the chaos going," says Col. Ron Johnson, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is responsible for this lush flatland. "This is the high water mark" for the insurgents, he says, because US and Iraqi capabilities are gradually improving.
ISF & MNF detain 20, foil roadside bomb attack
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October, 7 2004) – Iraqi Security forces and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 20 people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities and foiled a roadside bomb attack Wednesday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from the 109th Iraqi National Guard Battalion conducted a cordon and search in Tal Afar and detained eight people wanted for planning and conducting anti-Iraqi activities. During a search of the residence, two 100lb. grain sacks filled with dynamite, four paint cans in various roadside bomb fabrication stages, three 2-way radios rigged as roadside bomb initiation devices, three AK-47s and various documents and videos describing how to make bombs including car bombs were confiscated. All suspects are in custody and no injuries were reported during the search.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment conducted a cordon and search in Mosul and detained seven people suspected of planning and conducting roadside bomb attacks against Multi-National Forces. All suspects are in custody undergoing questioning.
Multi-National Forces conducted a cordon and search in the Mosul neighborhood of Taheer and detained five people wanted for anti-Iraqi activities. The suspects are in custody and with no injuries reported.
Iraqi Police foiled a roadside bomb attack when they discovered two small cans filled with explosives underneath an Iraqi Police vehicle in Tal Afar. The U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team reduced the device with no injuries reported.
Multinational Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens should cooperate with security forces by providing information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
Men, women send care package to troops
By HEMA EASLEY
WHITE PLAINS — Iraq is on everyone's mind on this typical Sunday in the Eilen household.
A dozen men and women surround a long table filled with by magazines, toiletries, candy bars and all kinds of junk food. Friendly instructions fly around as cardboard boxes are packed and finally sealed with the sharp, tearing sound of sticking tape. Nearby, a man fills out postal forms and a woman ticks off names from a list.
"They want snacks, just junk food. Good old beef jerky is on top of the list," says Kiki Maria of White Plains, who teaches composition at Manhattanville College.
She and 25 others are volunteers for a chapter of Operation Support Our Troops that sends goodies to soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East.
Led by Dr. Bonnie Eilen, a physician who lives in White Plains, they donate time, money and material to send to soldiers boxes filled with crackers, Pringles, lima beans, DVDs, compact discs, mouthwash, magazines, batteries, over-the-counter drugs and any other items soldiers could need. The men and women, some of whom have children in the military, say gestures like these go a long way in boosting the morale of soldiers[...]
Milton Karl knows just how much these packages can mean to soldiers who eat dehydrated Meals Ready to Eat while on combat duty and who could use a glass of lemonade when they are in 100-plus-degree heat.
"My son hardly gets a hot meal," said Karl, a White Plains resident whose 21-year-old son, Pfc. Alan Karl of the infantry's Stryker armored vehicle brigade, has fought in Najaf and Fallujah and is now in Mosul. "They are always on the move."
Under Operation Support Our Troops, volunteers, the majority of whom have no family in the military, "adopt" one or more soldiers and send them boxes at least once a month.
Full names and addresses are given only to military families for security reasons. Each packet costs $5 to mail and reaches the soldier in two weeks.
The packages frequently contain letters from volunteers to their soldier. Unlike previous wars when people would mail letters and boxes addressed simply to "Dear Soldier," volunteers have the first name of the soldier they are writing to, which creates an emotional link between them. Some volunteers feel that as long as they keep writing to their soldier, he or she will remain alive.
Soldiers frequently respond to their "families," thanking them for the boxes and for keeping them in their thoughts. Some write about the impact Sept. 11, 2001, had on their lives and that they believe they are fighting for freedom, justice and liberty for all. Others ask if a box can be sent to their buddies.
"There's a real need for people to know that when soldiers get a package, they know that people back home are thinking about them, and it is a great morale boost," Eilen said.
U.S. Forces Capture Insurgents' Weapons
Very interesting article.
[Link to Full Article] (Registration required)
By JAMES GLANZ
AHMAD AL HAMADI, Iraq, Oct. 6 - About 2,500 marines and soldiers set up camps and conducted night raids on Tuesday and Wednesday over a wide swath of territory roughly 30 miles south of Baghdad, rolling over desert terrain in armored vehicles, taking gunfire from insurgents and uncovering at least two large caches of weaponry.
At 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the results of one of those raids, on an isolated farmhouse nestled among desert dunes near this tiny hamlet, were spread out on the ground like wares at a fish market: 193 rocket-propelled grenades, 84 mortar rounds and 14 large artillery shells, along with blasting caps, copper wire and other weaponry. [...]
Among the first objectives that the operation achieved was to secure the Jurf Kas Sukr Bridge across the Euphrates. The bridge "is believed to be a favored corridor for insurgents moving into and out of key cities, including the capital hub and the current A.I.F. sanctuary of Falluja," the American military statement said. The military generally refers to insurgents and terrorists as Anti-Iraqi Forces, or A.I.F.
"This is an area that coalition forces have not occupied," said Capt. Duane Patin, of the Third Brigade of the Second Infantry Division, one of the Army's Stryker Brigade Combat Teams.
"It's a denial of enemy fighter safe haven," Captain Patin said. "It's to cut off the enemy supply line to Baghdad and Falluja." [...]
"It's absolutely essential that everybody in this country has the opportunity to voice their opinion, to vote," said Lt. Col. Buck James, who commands one of the Stryker Brigade's battalions, which has about 72 of the new Stryker armored troop carriers.
But in contrast to the cities where recent conflicts have been directed against insurgents, Babil has large rural areas, open desert and many small towns to contend with. "Samarra is one city," Colonel James said. "This is an entire province, and it's a rural province."
Though armored, the Stryker has eight rubber tires rather than treads, enabling it to move rapidly and comparatively quietly in large raids. The ungainly looking vehicles, which are surrounded by a heavy cage to protect them against rocket-propelled grenades, has engendered controversy, with critics saying they are prone to rolling over.
But the soldiers who ride in the vehicles generally praise them, and drivers assert that with an experienced hand at the wheel, Strykers are no more prone to rolling over than other armored vehicles.
"The Strykers can roll into the middle of the city in the middle of the night and not wake anybody up," Sgt. First Class Brad G. Kelley said. "You can hear the Bradleys coming a long way away."
The article continues...
Iraq making progress, soldiers say
[Link to Full Article]
By JEFF LESTER, Senior Writer
The American media isn't reporting enough of the progress being made in rebuilding the war-ravaged nation, both Virginia Army National Guard soldiers say.
Johnson, of Jonesville, and Bledsoe, of Big Stone Gap, came home on leave in early September, after six months working in the broiling sun and dust of northern Iraq.
Their unit, B Company of the 276th Engineer Battalion, has been on the move since arriving in the city of Mosul in early March.
Engineers have worked with the Army's Task Force Olympia throughout the area from Mosul west to the Syrian border and north to the Turkish border. They have helped build barriers along the approach from Syria, operated heavy equipment in road construction, built training facilities for the Iraqi National Guard, detonated enemy explosive devices and helped patrol Mosul and outlying towns, according to published reports.
That doesn't mean Johnson and Bledsoe are ready to talk about their personal duties and experiences.
During a recent interview, they declined to discuss the work their company has performed. Both acknowledged they've had several close calls with enemy fighters, but Johnson and Bledsoe say they won't elaborate until their tour of duty is done.
Remember, they were on leave for only a couple of weeks. They were about to return to an Iraq that's getting more and more dangerous in the run-up to January national elections. They kept their war faces on, even while safe at home for a few days.
But Johnson and Bledsoe were willing to talk about their living conditions and the importance of their mission.
Returning soldiers worth wait
[Link to Full Article]
CHRISTIAN HILL THE OLYMPIAN
FORT LEWIS -- Anticipation built as family members waited Tuesday night for the scheduled arrival of the first Stryker brigade soldiers returning from Iraq.
Then a soldier announced a hitch: The long-awaited reunion would have to wait up to two hours while 130 members of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, cleared customs at McChord Air Force Base.
A murmur of discontent coursed through the bleachers at the Sheridan Fitness Center gymnasium, but family members waited it out.
"Hey, two hours, that's less time than we've waited for 12 months," said Lacey resident Zenny Campisi, 44, a Fort Lewis dental assistant awaiting the arrival of her husband, Scott. "That's nothing."
The soldiers finally stepped into the gymnasium at 10:15 p.m. to the cheers of family members holding signs and balloons. The homecoming is the first of many to follow as the 4,000 soldiers who served nearly a year in Iraq make their way home.
Last month, family members and Fort Lewis bade farewell to the Army unit that's replacing the returning soldiers: the second Stryker brigade, the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
The Army created the Stryker brigades to fill an operational void between its light and heavy forces.
During its time in Iraq, the first Stryker brigade conducted multiple combat and civil military operations, primarily in northern Iraq.
Nineteen soldiers from the brigade died during its time there.
First Stryker soldiers return
MICHAEL GILBERT The News Tribune
It was Lt. Ricky Vittitow’s job to deliver the good news, and then the bad news.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the plane has landed,” he announced to the crowd assembled late Tuesday to greet the first 130 or so soldiers to return home after a year in Iraq with the Army’s first Stryker brigade.
And then a few minutes later came word that the 130 or so soldiers would have to go through a customs inspection at McChord Air Force Base, a process that could take another couple hours. But after a year apart – minus a couple weeks of R&R in there somewhere – what’s another two hours?
They arrived about 10:10 p.m. and entered to the strains of “When The Saints Go Marching In.” After a few short minutes standing in formation they were turned loose to reunite with their families.[...]
The group that returned Tuesday is an advance party in reverse – they’ll spend the next couple weeks working with officials at Fort Lewis to prepare the post for the return of the rest of the 4,000-soldier 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
A big public welcome home ceremony is scheduled for mid-November. So are barbecues and parties and probably countless other events to make up for missed birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions – such as Tevin King’s first steps.
Debbie Bridges went to the reunion to be with a friend whose husband was returning, even though hers will not.
Staff Sgt. Steven Bridges was among the first three Stryker soldiers to be killed in Iraq, when their vehicles rolled over into a canal Dec. 8 near Duluiyah.
She and her kids have decided to stay in the Puget Sound area and she’s looking forward to welcoming the soldiers from her husband’s squad. She was the unofficial squad mom, hosting get-togethers when the brigade was training for the deployment.
Their return will help, she thinks. “This is kind of final for me,” Bridges said, “because everybody’s coming home, and Steve’s not.”
And her daughter, Dawn Mitchell, will soon be seeing off her husband, Sgt. Sampson Mitchell, who is heading to Iraq with the second Stryker outfit, the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division from Fort Lewis.
Julie Rounds, wife of 3rd Brigade commander Col. Mike Rounds, said the Stryker families are all doing their best to get through these final days.
It hasn’t been easy. The brigade lost two soldiers killed in action this month. Seven more were wounded in car bombings Saturday and Tuesday, though none seriously, according to the brigade.
“The families have done an incredible job throughout this deployment,” Rounds said. “They should be really proud – as proud as the soldiers.” Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921
Civil Affairs Soldier leads his troops through Iraq
[Link to Article]
by Spc. Blair Larson
MOSUL, Iraq- When he came to Iraq in March 2003, Master Sgt. Bill McGuckin didn’t know what to expect. Following the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) north to Mosul after the liberation of Iraq, this civil affairs Soldier jumped into the task of sorting through the remains of Saddam Hussein’s tumultuous reign to begin the process of rebuilding a nation.
“The civil affairs Soldiers have done a lot here for the local people,” he said. “I’ve seen many improvements during my time in Iraq.”
McGuckin is an Abington, Pa., native and member of the 416th Civil Affairs Battalion, an Army Reserve unit from Norristown, Pa. During his 20 months in northern Iraq, he demonstrated to those around him the qualities of an outstanding leader as he worked to improve the lives of the Iraqi people.
McGuckin’s qualifications as a medic led him to be deployed with the 431st Civil Affairs Battalion, an Army Reserve unit from Little Rock, Ark., leaving his unit, the 416th, behind in Norristown. He left his civilian jobs in Pennsylvania- working for a family mechanical engineering business and as a paramedic- not knowing just how much he would use those skills in the year to come.
After crossing into Iraq, the 431st stopped in Baghdad where McGuckin worked with the Public Health Team to assess the region’s healthcare equipment and facilities. The unit stayed a month in Baghdad before continuing their journey to Mosul, the third largest city in Iraq.
McGuckin arrived in Mosul to find the city in disrepair, damaged from years of neglect and recent fighting to liberate the country. He was put in charge of the Public Works Team and faced the daunting task of restoring water and power to a city of almost two million people.
“Our main focus at the beginning was to immediately get the water and power back on and to get the people back to work,” he said.
Using the skills he acquired in the engineering business, McGuckin tackled a project to repair the Mosul Dam, a vital source of electricity for the local people. This project was the first of many projects McGuckin was involved with to assist the people of Ninevah Province.
McGuckin served his tour of duty with the 431st and volunteered to extend his time in country to work with the 416th, the unit that replaced the 431st in Mosul. During his two weeks of leave in January with his wife, Joanne, and their children, Laim, Kerri and Kane, McGuckin was able to speak with Soldiers from the 416th as they were preparing to deploy at Fort Bragg, N.C. It was his first chance to meet many of the new Soldiers who had come into the unit while he was away, the Soldiers he would soon be leading when he returned to Mosul.
Back in Iraq, McGuckin was made the Detachment Sergeant for the 416th’s General Support Detachment. He worked behind the scenes to organize missions for the civil affairs Soldiers and process project proposals that would bring aid to the people of Ninevah. He also accompanied his Soldiers on many of the missions they went on, traveling throughout the northern region of Iraq.
McGuckin’s personality quickly put his Soldiers at ease and earned their respect. His Soldiers learned that they could trust their calm, yet determined leader to be fair and to get things done.
“He taught me to take everything with a grain of salt,” said Spc. Amanda Christensen, a Soldier in the General Support Detachment. “When something went wrong, he wouldn’t panic.”
Though he is usually quiet, McGuckin relaxes around those he knows well and is known for his unique talents as a yo-yo pro and his ability to spin plastic chairs on his hand.
Because of his easy-going personality, his Soldiers know that if they need help or need to talk to anyone, they will always find a willing listener in McGuckin. He says he tries to remind them that this situation is temporary and that it may be one of the best learning experiences they will have.
“You can tell that he really cares about his Soldiers,” said Spc. Jeff Nantze, a Soldier with the General Support Detachment.
Sgt. Khara Holland, another Soldier in the General Support Detachment, was promoted to sergeant while she was in Iraq. During her time here, she says McGuckin had a huge impact in teaching her how to be a non-commissioned officer.
“He’s always in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing,” she said.
McGuckin himself has had to learn a few things during his time in Iraq. Patience has been the most important.
“I’ve had to adjust to the time schedule of the Iraqis,” he said. “I’ve also realized that if you want something, you have to lobby hard and work for it.”
In October he will return to the U.S. and his life as a husband, a dad, and a part-time Soldier. After 21 years in the Army Reserves, McGuckin has no intentions of quitting just yet.
“My goal is to become a command sergeant major. I’ll stay in the Army until I stop having fun or they kick me out,” he said.
(Photo by Sgt. Fred Minnick)
Master Sgt. Bill McGuckin(via DVIDS)
Car bomb attack on MNF kills three civilians
(TFO Press release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 5, 2004) – In an attack at noon today, a car bomb exploded on a passing Multinational Forces convoy in the Yarmouk traffic circle in the Yarmouk neighborhood of Mosul.
Three civilians were killed when the blast from the bomb destroyed their vehicle as they were driving behind the convoy.
Immediately following the explosion, the convoy was engaged with a rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire.
Four Multinational Forces Soldiers were wounded and have been evacuated to a military hospital in Mosul. All are expected to be returned to duty within the next 24 hours.
ISF & MNF foil two roadside bombs
(TFO Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 5, 2004) – Iraqi Security forces and Multi-National Forces from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) foiled two roadside bombs Monday in northern Iraq.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment discovered a roadside bomb during a patrol southeast of Mosul that consisted of a rocket with protruding wires hidden under a cloth. Engineers from the 101st Iraqi National Guard Battalion secured the device for future destruction.
Iraqi Police also foiled a roadside bomb in near the Tal Afar Police Station when they noticed a suspicious can filled with explosives near the side of the road. The U.S. Explosive Ordnance Disposal team reduced the device and reported no injuries.
Multinational Forces from Task Force Olympia continue to work together with members of Iraqi Security forces, leaders and citizens of Iraq to make it a safe, prosperous, and democratic nation. Local citizens should cooperate with security forces by providing information that leads to the capture and arrest of anti-Iraqi forces. Anyone with information should call the Joint Coordination Center in Mosul at 125 or 513462.
Car Bomb Injures One American Soldier
[Link to Full Article]
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN, Associated Press Writer
[...] Two car bombs also exploded Monday in Mosul, 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Two people believed to be transporting explosives and a civilian bystander were killed in one of the blasts, said Capt. Angela Bowman, a military spokeswoman. Hospital officials said they treated 11 wounded in the blast.
The second bomb targeted a U.S. Army convoy, injuring one American soldier, Bowman said.
The soldier, who was not identified, was evacuated to a military hospital. There were no immediate reports of civilian casualties.
Iraqi Border Patrol receives new equipment
TFO Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 3, 2004) – Members of the Iraqi Border Patrol battalion along the Syrian border received 40 Jeep Liberties and 1,500 body armor vests September 29, from Multi-National Forces.
The body armor vests were purchased by Task Force Olympia with funds from the Commander’s Emergency Response Program and cost $832,500. The vehicles were purchased in Baghdad by Multi-National Security and Transition Command, Iraq. The equipment will be used to assist the IBP in conducting their duty in patrolling the border.
Training and equipping the Iraqi Security forces is the key to ensuring the safety and security of Iraq as its citizens prepare for the elections in January. Multi-National Forces are working with Iraqi government officials to ensure the IBP are prepared to provide security during the upcoming elections.
“We thank the coalition for this equipment, it motivates us to do our job even better and will make it easier for all of us,” said Col. Nawaf Khalaf, from the Iraqi Border Patrol.
Iraqi government officials have long recognized the border of Iraq as an entry point for terrorists, weapons and money coming into the country. The donation of this equipment is important in preventing terrorists and smugglers from crossing into the country illegally.
ROK assumes authority from Multi-National Brigade NW
TFO Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (October 2, 2004) – More than 2,500 Republic of Korea (ROK), Zaytun Division Soldiers assumed safety, stability and civil/military operations in the northeastern province of Irbil on October 1.
Authority was transferred from Soldiers of Multi-National Brigade Northwest (MNB-NW) in Mosul to the ROK during an official ceremony held on the ROK compound in Irbil.
“The arrival of Soldiers from the Republic of Korea into this great nation demonstrates the strong partnership between Iraq, Korea and the Coalition Forces,” said Maj. Gen. Andrew Farquhar, Deputy Commanding General of Multi-National Corps Iraq and acting commander of Task Force Olympia. “As Soldiers, it is all of our duties to improve our conditions day by day. I know that our partnership will only improve the security situation in northern Iraq, and by supporting the Iraqi people we can help to develop the true potential of this great country.”
A large number of the Korean Soldiers deployed to Irbil are engineers and civil/military Soldiers, who will be responsible for the construction and repair of infrastructure in the area.
“By assuming the responsibility of the northeast area of operation including Irbil and part of Ninevah Provice, all servicemen and women of the Zaytun Division are well aware of the historical sense of duty, as well as the extremely important responsibility they are taking on,” said Maj. Gen. Eui-Don Hwang, Zaytun Division Commander.
The transfer brings another coalition partner to assist in the development and rebuilding of Iraq. This is the first contingent of South Korean Soldiers in the country.
“I make a firm promise to provide dedicated support and assistance to bringing stability within the regions based on close cooperation, mutual understanding and truthful friendship with Kurdish Regional Government as well as local residents,” said Hwang.
Soldier prepares to return to Iraq
By Kim Henderson
The winters are cold, often snow-laden, the summers scorching. The culture is almost 180 degrees from our own. Then, of course, there's the war.
Michael Ricchiuti of Gantt, a soldier in the Army's 2nd Infantry Division - 3rd Brigade, knows all too well what goes on in the battlefields of Iraq.
Having been stationed there since November 2003, Michael recently returned home for a brief 15-day respite.
"I've been all over Iraq," the 2002 Red Level High graduate explained Friday.
His company's official station is in Mosul, a large city that lies along the Tigris River in northern Iraq.
Without going into detail (because military regulations won't allow it), Michael recalls some of the stringent, stressful conditions he and fellow soldiers have endured.
Ricchiuti's company is by nature involved in combat missions.
"Basically, our mission was to go into Iraq and get all of the bad guys out we could," the soldier said of the military's overall objective.
"You sit up on top of a roof, watching. That's all you do sometimes."
He touted the close relationships and camaraderie he's formed with his fellow Armymen, relationships which are especially vital in such a dangerous environment.[...]
Stryker Brigade 101
The following information was provided by one of our contributors, Ranger Joe, as a brief explanation of the various units within the Stryker Brigade, and the structure of the Army in general. If you have comments, corrections or additions, please feel free to let us know.
Clarification 08/15/05: This explanation has not been updated to reflect the structure of the 172nd SBCT. The basic structure remains the same for all Stryker Brigades, however.
Say your Stryker soldier’s address looks like “C Co, 1/23 SBCT”, or “B- 2/3 Inf, 3-2 SBCT”. What does that all mean?
The Army has many types of units to which a soldier may belong. Although these may have different names depending on the Branch (e.g., Infantry vs. Aviation), the concept is the same. Small units belong to larger ones… all the way up the chain. Also, unit designations are often abbreviated – which makes understanding them all the more challenging.
Think of this analogy: You live in a duplex with 4 others in your half, and another family in the other half of the building, on a street with 10 other homes, in a neighborhood with 200 homes, in a town with 2,000 homes, in county with 10,000 homes, in a state with…. Well, you get the picture.
Depending on the level of detail you wanted/needed to convey, you could say you lived in:
•Georgia, or
•Jones County, or
•Jonesville, or
•Lake Side Plantation, or
•Pond Street, or
•123B Pond Street, Lake Side Plantation, Jonesville, Jones County, Georgia, USA, North America.
Each example is correct to describe where you live…just the starting point (thus level of detail) varied.
In military terminology, a soldier’s unit is always described from the smallest to the largest…just that the starting point (squad, platoon, company, etc.) is optional. For example, the mailing address starts with Company, then Battalion / Regiment, Brigade, and Division. (ex B Co. 2/3 Inf 3-2 SBCT)
In the Infantry, the smallest unit is typically a Fire-Team, one half of a squad. Fire-teams are usually labeled Alpha and Bravo team. Typically, a Sergeant (SGT) or Corporal (CPL) is the fire-team leader.
The next unit up is a Squad (Sqd), 2 fire-teams. In the Strykers, one whole Infantry squad travels in a single vehicle, along with the crew (driver and vehicle commander). A squad is usually 8~10 men and typically lead by a Staff Sergeant (SSG) who is the Squad Leader. Squads are numbered (1, 2, 3, etc.)
The next larger unit is a Platoon (Plt). Typically 3 or 4 squads make up a platoon. The platoon is lead by a 2nd Lieutenant (2LT) or 1st Lieutenant (1LT) as Platoon Leader and a Platoon Sergeant, typically a Sergeant First Class (SFC). Platoons are numbered 1 thru x.
The next unit up is a Company (Co), typically having 3 or 4 platoons. Usually a Captain (CPT) or senior 1LT is the Company Commander, with a 1LT or 2LT as the Executive Officer (XO) (#2 in command) and a First Sergeant (1SG) as the senior NCO. Companies are usually given letter labels (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.) – but not always.
The next parent unit is a Battalion (Bn), typically having 3~5 companies. Battalions are usually commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) with a Major (MAJ) as the XO. A Sergeant Major (SGM) is usually the senior NCO. Battalions are numbered, 1 thru x.
The next larger unit is often a Regiment (Reg), made up of 2 or more battalions. Sometimes, a regiment is a “place holder” designation… not a functional deployable unit. Regiments have number labels (e.g., 75th Inf Reg, 3rd Inf Reg, etc.)
The next parent unit is a Brigade (Bde), typically with 3 to 6 battalions. A brigade is deployable unit, often with 4,000+ soldiers, commanded by a Colonel (COL) with a Command Sergeant Major (CSM) as the senior NCO. Brigades have number labels (e.g., 3rd Bde)
The next larger unit is a Division (Div or D), typically having 3 brigades, and commanded by a Major General (2-stars). Divisions have number labels (e.g., 2nd Infantry Division or simply 2ID)
Above this, are Corps (e.g., I Corp, V Corps), and Army (although this designation has not been used in over 50 years).
Here is a fairly high-level overview of the 3-2 SBCT organization.
Infantry Battalions / Regiments:
1st Bn / 23rd Inf Reg (1/23 Inf)
2nd Bn /3rd Inf Reg (2/3 Inf)
5th Bn /20th Inf Reg (5/20 Inf)
1/23, 2/3 and 5/20 each have 4 Companies: A, B, C and Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC). Each 1/23 and 2/3 Company has 3 platoons. 5/20 Companies have 3 line platoons, plus HQ, fire support and mobile gun system (MGS) platoons, for a total of 6.
Cavalry Squadron: (about the size of a battalion)
1/14 Cav (has 4 Troops – about the size of a company)
Other Units:
Artillery Battalion, 1/37 FA (has 3 Firing Batteries and a HQ Battery - a Battery is similar to a company)
Engineering Company, 18 Eng
MI Company, 209 MI
Signal Company, 334 Sig
Anti-tank Company, C/52
Support Battalion, 296 BSB
Here is a fairly high-level overview of the 1-25 SBCT organization.
Infantry Battalions / Regiments:
1st Bn / 24th Inf Reg (1/24 Inf)
1st Bn / 5th Inf Reg (1/5 Inf)
3rd Bn / 21st Inf Reg (3/21 Inf)
1/24, 1/5 and 3/21 each have 4 Companies: A, B, C and Headquarters & Headquarters Company (HHC). Each Company has 3 platoons. Like the 5/20, one of the Battalions' Companies has 3 line platoons, plus HQ, fire support and mobile gun system (MGS) platoons, for a total of 6. I don't know which one - if someone does please let me know.
Cavalry Squadron: (about the size of a battalion)
2/14 Cav (has 4 Troops – about the size of a company)
Other Units:
Artillery Battalion, 2/8 FA (has 3 Firing Batteries and a HQ Battery - a Battery is similar to a company)
Engineering Company, 73rd Eng
Support Battalion, 25th BSB
MI Company, (?)
Signal Company, 176th Signal Company
Please note – any exclusion of a specific unit or team was/is not meant in any way as a slight to their valuable contribution. This is all the data I have…
U.S., Iraqi Troops Battle Pockets of Resistance
An article from The Associated Press regarding Samarra also contains this excerpt.
[...] Another car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy around the northern city of Mosul, 225 miles from Baghdad, on Saturday wounding two American soldiers, the military said. Some vehicles were damaged in the blast, Iraqi police said.
Photos of the incident can be found at Yahoo! News (one, two, three, four).
The Olympia Observer 9/27
The September 27 edition of The Olympia Observer is available to download. Two of the stories we've posted before, but two others are brand new.
Field artillery Soldiers happy to make noise once again
Another story from Army Public Affairs featuring 1-37 FA.
[Link to Article]
Story and photo by Spc. Aaron Ritter
QAYYARAH, Iraq -- Booms sounded throughout Forward Operating Base Endurance as field artillery soldiers took a break from their typical deployment duties and fired their M198 155mm Howitzers during a training exercise Sept. 8 and again Sept. 11.
Soldiers of B Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) focused the training to keep a high level of readiness and ensure their guns are fully mission capable, despite being given a diverse array of new responsibilities throughout their deployment.
“We have performed missions such as convoy security escorts, infantry missions and civil affairs projects, all of which are not something we are used to,” said B Battery Commander, Dale Barnett. “But this training was a good chance for the guys to be reminded of what their true military occupational specialty is and helped maintain crew proficiency.”
An artillery battery is generally responsible for providing infantry Soldiers with direct fire support. However, current operations in northern Iraq have not warranted the fire power of the field artillery.
Although they’ve accepted their new roles with pride, the Soldiers were eager to return to the tasks they were trained to do, step behind their cannons and pull the lanyard once again.
B Battery especially welcomed the training and sound of explosions since they have only fired the guns on two occasions since being deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Before the live-fire, Soldiers performed several dry-fire rehearsals, practicing proper crew drill procedures on both the gun line and the fire direction center (FDC).
As two guns stood poised to take on the “enemy”, the firing crews waited anxiously for their first “fire mission” from the FDC. The make-shift targets were in a distant field outside the base, void of structures and local residents.
The crews had the goal to hit as close to the targets as possible, if not destroy them.
Barnett said it was great to see his Soldiers excited about finally getting to fire the cannons and see the smiles on the faces of gunners and staff officers alike. Passing Soldiers also stopped and enjoyed the sights and sounds of steel being “thrown downrange.”
Accuracy is the key aspect of the battery’s mission success.
“We concentrate on accuracy and not so much on speed,” said Spc. Jason Welch, a cannon crew member with B Battery. “We double and triple check for accuracy before a round goes downrange because speed doesn’t matter if the round doesn’t hit its target.”
The training meant more than just a morale boost to the field artillery Soldiers. It also served as a deterrent.
“The exercise showed our fire power to those who might plan attacks against Multi-National Forces,” Akins said. “We’re hoping that if they see this, they might be intimidated and think twice about such attacks.”
Every training opportunity is important to the Soldiers so they can stay at peak performance if they are called upon.
“If the base comes under mortar or rocket attack, we need to jump on the guns quickly to counter fire,” Welch said. “If we don’t maintain our training, we might get sluggish or sloppy and it’s our job to protect the Soldiers on the base to the best of our ability.”
B Battery Soldiers are not the only ones who benefited from this training opportunity. Soldiers with the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment and C Company, 52nd Infantry Regiment (Anti-Tank) also participated as observers, much as they would in real-world situations.
Whether it’s cavalry Soldiers flying overhead in Kiowa helicopters or infantry Soldiers looking through binoculars, these units serve as the eyes and ears of the field artillery. As in this exercise, they relayed target locations so gunners could adjust fire and also made sure civilians and structures were not injured or damaged by mistake during the training.
“It was an excellent opportunity that allowed different types of units to work and train together as an integrated Army and the training mission was all the more successful because of their assistance,” Barnett said.
At the same time, the exercise also allowed the battery to perform its certifications which require crew sections to perform live fire training every six months and perform the annual verifications to ensure the guns are operating properly.
Similar training is expected to continue for the battery’s remaining guns throughout the duration of the unit’s deployment.
All the Soldiers continue to look forward to hearing the sounds of its field artillery as a reminder of where their true passions for their work lies.
“We actually were able to do the job we enjoy and were trained to do,” Welch said. “It’s great to hear the sounds, feel the explosions and know that we’re working together as a team to get those rounds downrange once again.”
Sgt. Jesse Akins, a gunner and ammunition team chief with B Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), adjusts the aim of the M198 155mm Howitzer based on directions from the Fire Direction Center during at live-fire training exercise at Forward Operating Base Endurance Sept. 8. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Aaron Ritter)
A gun crew with B Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) works together to adjust their aim, ram a round into the chamber and prepare to fire a M198 155mm Howitzer during a live-fire training exercise at Forward Operating Base Endurance Sept. 8. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Aaron Ritter)
A round flies downrange out of a M198 155mm Howitzer to eliminate its target during a training exercise, held at Forward Operating Base Endurance Sept. 8. Soldiers of B Battery, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) trained to maintain a high level of proficiency on the guns so they are ready if called upon. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Aaron Ritter)
(via DVIDS)