A Year in Afghanistan
Frustration, pride in a year of danger by Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton is a stellar overview of one unit's year in Afghanistan.
And it was from these orchards that the soldiers of the 1st Battalion waged some of their most turbulent battles as they sought to control the Arghandab during a pivotal time for American forces.
The 1st Battalion sustained one of the highest casualty counts of any similar-sized Army unit in the nearly nine-year conflict in Afghanistan. By the time the battalion headed home this summer, 22 soldiers had died there and more than 65 had been wounded.
This is the story of the battalion's year in Afghanistan, as soldiers struggled with their mission in the conservative Islamic region. These strains reflect broader tensions within the U.S. military and among civilian leaders about the conduct of the war: how to balance battling the Taliban with winning the trust of Afghans.
More Soldiers Returning to JBLM
Stryker brigade returns: Two down, one to go - FOB Tacoma
Another of Joint Base Lewis-McChord's Stryker brigades has returned from combat, but for a few soldiers in the trail party. That means two of the three brigades are home.
More than 200 soldiers with the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division reunited with their loved ones at the local base early Friday. Among those getting the welcome wagon was the command team, including Col. Dave E. Funk and Command Sgt. Major Alan D. Bjerke.
5/2 Redeployment Ceremony Stories
Welcome home to the 5/2 SBCT. Provided below are links to local coverage of its redeployment ceremony.
- Stryker Brigade marks its homecoming with talk of accomplishments and sacrifice - Seattle Times Newspaper
- 5th Brigade back home - The News Tribune
- Lewis-McChord brigade all together again - The News Tribune
- Mother Of Soldier Killed In Afghanistan Attends Homecoming - KPLU
5/2 SBCT Gets New Leadership
Change at the top of just-returned Stryker brigade - The News Tribune
The Army is moving quickly to change commanders of a Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigade fresh from a year of hard duty in southern Afghanistan.Col. Harry D. Tunnell, IV, will relinquish command of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Thursday morning as part of a "welcome home" and uncasing of the colors ceremony at the local base. Also during the event at Watkins Field, a Silver Star medal will be presented to one soldier, and injured and wounded soldiers will ceremonially reunite with the brigade.
Soldiers Continue Redeployment to JBLM
FOB Tacoma - 5th Brigade commanders back from Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Most of the nearly 4,000 soldiers in a battle-weary Stryker brigade that spent a year in Afghanistan will have returned home to Joint Base Lewis-McChord by the end of this week, according to officials at the local base.The arrival of the brigade commander and his command team late Tuesday signifies that the deployment is all but over. The ceremonial end won't come until the unit's colors are uncased in the next few weeks.
Convoy to Enemy Contact/Stationary Dismount [Video]
Documentation of Bravo Company Buffaloes 5-2 Stryker team convoying to enemy contact point and enduring an overnight stationary dismount. Once the morning came Bravo Co. Buffaloes 5-2 Stryker mounted and convoyed to Firebase Baghtu. From there Bravo Co. Buffaloes 5-2 Stryker convoyed back to Frontenac. Produced by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Curteman.
Patrol to Village in Search of Weapons Cache [Video]
U.S. Army Buffaloes 5-2 Stryker/Coalition forces taking control of the village Haji Sofi and conducting searches and questioning locals for enemy insurgents and weapons caches. Produced by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Curteman.
Memorial Day Ceremony at Frontenac [Video]
U.S. Army Buffaloes 5/2 Stryker conducts ceremony on the 31st of May 2010 Memorial Day at Frontenac FOB. Produced by Staff Sgt. Jeremy Curteman.
The Cavalry Is Here [Video]
Package about 4th Squadron 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment assumes responsibility for area of operations during a transfer of authority ceremony. The 4/2 SCR took over for 8th Squadron 1st Cavalry Regiment out of Ft. Lewis, WA. Sound bites include Lt. Col. Andrew Green. Produced by Spc. Audrey Glynn.
PFC Jacob A. Dennis
The Department of Defense announced on July 8th the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Jacob A. Dennis, 22, of Powder Springs, Ga., died July 3 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, of injuries sustained June 30 in a weapons system accident at Forward Operating Base Lane, Afghanistan (Zabul province). He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Related:
2 deployed Lewis-McChord soldiers die of injuries - The News Tribune
5/2 SBCT Officer Describes Deployment
E-Mails Tell a Soldier’s Story - Connection
Like all soldiers, 1st Lt. Tracy Tyson, 25, U.S. Army Medical Service Corps, has seen hard times. For now, let’s talk about the good — and there is a lot — that is being done all over Afghanistan.Tyson deployed with the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, an infantry unit structured around the Stryker fighting vehicle. Operating from Kandahar Airfield, KAF, in southern Afghanistan, Tyson is a Preventive Medicine Officer. Tyson and Staff Sgt. Matthew Canady, a Preventive Medicine Technician, have traveled throughout southern Afghanistan and occasionally into other areas.
The primary mission is to take care of U.S. soldiers — approximately 4,000 infantrymen — in the 5th Stryker Brigade. At this point, Tyson and Canady face a unique challenge. The 5th Stryker Brigade has set up and torn down a large number of Forward Operation Bases, FOBs, which house 1,000 troops, and Combat Outposts, COPs, home to 100 soldiers or less.
JBLM Prepares for Influx of Soldiers
The impact of JBLM troops coming back - The News Tribune
By the fall, nearly 18,000 men and women from various local units will have returned this year – the largest incoming tide since both wars started.Just between Thursday and Sunday, some 800 troops were scheduled to come home to holiday weekend embraces.
For military families as well as surrounding South Sound communities, deployment —and preparing for a homecoming — can take on a familiar rhythm.
Police agencies prepare for young soldiers eager to taste freedom again. Schools gear up for more children, colleges for adult students seeking new skills. Everyone braces for more freeway traffic. And businesses get ready for returning customers.
Stryker Squadron Commander in Afghanistan [Video]
Package of 1st Cavalry Regiment's 8th Squadron protecting the southern border of Afghanistan, as Gail McCabe takes a ride with them and talks to the unit's commander, Lt. Col. Bill Clark. Produced by Gail McCabe.
5/2 SBCT Prepares to Redeploy
250 troops from 5th Brigade return Monday from Afghanistan - The News Tribune
The first major flight of returning soldiers from a battle-tested Stryker brigade in Afghanistan will arrive at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Monday night, officials announced Friday.About 250 troops from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division will reunite with family and friends at a ceremony scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Monday at Sheridan Gym. The arrival time might change, however, because of the complexities of military transport.
The brigade deployed last July to Afghanistan, where it has faced hard fighting primarily in Kandahar province in the south. Most of its nearly 4,000 soldiers will round out the year-long deployment by coming home before the end of July.
Additional Soldiers Implicated in Afghan Shooting
3 more Lewis-McChord soldiers charged in Afghanistan deaths - The News Tribune
Three more soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord have been charged in the alleged premeditated murders of three Afghan civilians this year – crimes committed using grenades and rifles, according to military authorities.Two other soldiers, who were previously charged in the killings, also stand accused of beating a fellow Stryker soldier in connection with the civilian deaths.
That means a total of five soldiers with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are now charged in a string of killings that reportedly started in January and ended in early May.
Soldiers Train Afghans in Fire and Rescue Services [Video]
Package about Soldiers with the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, with experience in training fire fighters, extraction teams and emergency medical personnel training Afghan fire fighters in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. Includes introduction by Col. Harry D. Tunnell, IV - commander, 5/2 ID (SBCT) and soundbites from Sgt. Chad Weathers – lead instructor, Staff Sgt. Mark Covington – NCOIC, Lt. Col. Steve Allen – commander, Sultan Mohammad – Spin Boldak police chief, Jamaludin – fire fighter trainee and 1st Lt. Angelo Palacio – OIC.
Soldiers Receive Recognition for Work in Afghanistan
Story by Spc. David Hauk
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTNAC, Afghanistan – Nine Soldiers from 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division received Army Commendation Medals with Valor on Friday.
Soldiers from 562nd Engineer Company received the honor for feats of bravery during their deployment in southern Afghanistan.
The awards stem from three different incidents during the beginning part of their tour.
The first award was given to Spc. William Oyardo for his actions near Shuyen Solfa in the Arghandab River Valley on Aug. 10. Oyardo knowingly placed himself in danger by driving his Stryker vehicle through 200 meters of terrain known to contain improvised explosive devices to aid a platoon of infantry Soldiers who were under heavy enemy fire. He successfully maneuvered to the company and loaded into his vehicle before driving them to a safer location.
Adavance Parties Arriving
Summer homecomings begin at base - The News Tribune
About 300 Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers returned home early Wednesday as the season of large homecomings began in earnest.In March, the base began welcoming back the first of about 18,000 soldiers who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan last year.
The soldiers who returned Wednesday are from two infantry battalions of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which is completing its third tour in Iraq.
Stryker Soldier in Afghanistan Charged
Lewis-McChord soldier charged with murder in shooting deaths of three Afghan civilians - The News Tribune
The Army has charged a Stryker soldier from Joint Base Lewis-McChord with murder in the deaths of three Afghan civilians.Three charges of premeditated murder and one charge of assault were filed against Spc. Jeremy Morlock, 22, a native of Wasilla, Alaska. He is an infantryman assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
Morlock was returned home from Afghanistan on Thursday and detained, Lewis-McChord spokeswoman Tamara Parker said. He is being held in the Northwest Joint Regional Confinement Facility at Lewis-McChord.
Related:
Army: Soldier charged in 3 Afghan civilian deaths | Seattle Times Newspaper
Murder charges may spur military to revise soldier screenings | Seattle Times Newspaper
Afghanistan, May, 2010 - The Big Picture [Photos]
There are a number of photos featuring Stryker soldiers in this series from the Boston Globe.
Stryker Soldier Welcomed Home
Wounded Soldier Returns Home - WGCL Atlanta
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. -- First Lt. Army Ranger Dan Berschinski was wounded in Afghanistan on Aug. 18, 2009.While leading a stryker brigade, the 26-year -old was under heavy fire and stepped on an improvised explosive device.
“I lost both my legs and suffered damage to my left hand,” said Berschinski. “For the past couple of months I have been just hanging out at Walter Reed going through therapy. It has been difficult, I guess but really there is no other choice. I could sit in a hospital bed and cry and pop a lot of pills but I figured I’d drive on and do the best I could with it.”
On Saturday, hundreds of people waved American flags in honor of Berschinski and all of the men and women who serve in our armed forces.
1-17 INF Profiled
Battalion among hardest hit in Afghan war - The Associated Press
The battalion's story is an extreme example of the challenges American soldiers face in Afghanistan. ad_icon Click here!The battalion is part of the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which originally trained for urban combat in Iraq. But the mission changed in the final months of training, and the brigade's 130 Arabic students took a crash course in Pashto, the language of Afghanistan's largest ethnic community.
The battalion's Stryker vehicles, prized for their speed and mobility, were making their debut in the Afghan war. But they could not operate in rough terrain where soldiers had to get around on foot.
Stryker Soldier Profiled
US soldier is a veteran of war and rodeo
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan -- Paul D. Bliss has, in his words, "pretty much destroyed my knees, dislocated my right and left shoulders, busted my left arm, fractured my right arm, been kicked in the face here," - he motions to a scar - "right above my right eye: 28 stitches from that. Busted my nose four or five times. Bruised my back a few times. I've also dislocated both my ankles."That was before the 36-year-old U.S. Army sergeant went to war. A rodeo cowboy, he rode bulls for fun and money, and got tossed and trampled plenty of times.
So far, through two tours in Iraq and now a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan that ends this summer, he has escaped serious injury.
Stryker Soldiers Under Investigation
Stryker soldiers under investigation in deaths of 3 Afghan civilians - The News Tribune
KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.S. military is investigating allegations that a group of Stryker soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord deliberately killed three Afghan civilians in a series of shootings earlier this year.Military officials have detained one soldier with the Army’s 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which deployed last summer to Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
If the allegations prove true, they could undermine the U.S. military’s credibility in southern Afghanistan as it gears up to target the Taliban’s spiritual capital in Kandahar.
Stryker Soldiers Featured in AP Article [Photo]
United States Army Spc. Kevin O'Connor, of Hingham, Mass. lays in wait under cover of darkness during an ambush set up by 2nd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade to catch Taliban fighters who had fired on their outpost Friday, May 21, 2010, in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Tickets for Documentary "Restrepo"
Restrepo is a new documentary about U.S. forces in Afghanistan that will be showing at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival. Kanani Fong of The Kitchen Dispatch website has a limited number of tickets available for screenings on May 28th & 29th. If you are interested please contact her via email directly at kananifong@gmail.com.
From Sebastian Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm" and Tim Hetherington comes this searing portrait of the present-day combat experience. Between 2007 and 2008, the directors made ten trips to Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, a six-mile region near the Pakistan border, at that time the focal point of the fighting between U.S. forces and the Taliban. There they dug in with the soldiers of the Second Platoon over the course of their 15-month deployment at an outpost named in honor of a fallen comrade, PFC Juan Restrepo. With unprecedented access, they chronicled the camaraderie, the tedium, and the deadly firefights that are the stuff of daily life; the result is this profoundly experiential film. After-the-fact interviews with the soldiers provide context and insight into what can be a disorienting experience for the viewer, as well as for the soldiers themselves. A nonfiction companion piece to Academy Award®-winning film The Hurt Locker.
PFC Jason D. Fingar
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Jason D. Fingar, 24, of Columbia, Mo., died May 22 in Durai, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his military vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Related:
Stryker soldier reported killed in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Missouri soldier dies in Afghanistan - Kansas City Star
Pfc. Jason D. Fingar loved making people laugh - Columbia Missourian
Stryker soldier remembered for music, smile - The News Tribune
Stryker Unit Holds Shura With Local Village Elders [Video]
Video of soldiers meeting with Afghanistan tribal leaders to discuss quality of life issues. Produced by Marine Cpl. Marc Morgenstern. Soundbites from 1st Lt. Patrick Kohler.
Another Report on Kandahar Offensive
U.S. Military Tones Down Rhetoric On Kandahar - NPR
When President Obama announced a new strategy for Afghanistan, he said an additional 30,000 U.S. troops would be deployed, in part, to take on Taliban militants on their home turf in the southern province of Kandahar.Until a few weeks ago, U.S. and NATO military officials were describing the upcoming operation in Kandahar as a major offensive — the cornerstone of the new strategy meant to break the momentum of the Taliban insurgency — and said it was due to get under way this spring or in early summer, to be wrapped up by August.
But then last month, American military spokesmen in Kabul began telling reporters it was incorrect to use terms such as "offensive" or "operation" in describing plans for Kandahar. Last week, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the "efforts" in Kandahar are a process, not an event.
Switching Gears in Kandahar
Afghanistan war: Kandahar offensive is now in the slow lane - CSMonitor.com
Key military operations have been delayed until the fall, efforts to improve local government are having little impact, and a Taliban assassination campaign has brought a sense of dread to Kandahar's dusty streets.NATO officials once spoke of demonstrating major progress by mid-August, but U.S. commanders now say the turning point may not be reached until November, and perhaps later.
At the urging of Afghan leaders, U.S. officials have stopped describing the plan as a military operation. Instead, they've dubbed it "Cooperation for Kandahar," a moniker meant to focus attention on efforts to build up local governance while reducing fears of street battles.
Injured Stryker Soldiers Interviewed [Audio]
Life After Injury: Stories From American Soldiers is a segment from KUOW that featured three Stryker soldiers dealing with combat injuries. Click the audio format you want under the "Listen to Weekday" heading on the right side of the landing page. Description:
Thousands of American soldiers have served in Iraq and Afghanistan during the last decade. Many suffered physical injury as a result. What does it take for them to rebuild their lives after such a trauma? How does a serious combat injury change a soldier's perspective on life, or on the wars we are fighting? Today we hear first–hand stories from members of our military. Also, if you were injured in combat, what encourages you? What advice do you have?
Tobacco Factory Investigated for IED Components
Video from “Tobacco Factory Investigated for IED Components“ in the B-roll section about Soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border, working with Afghan civilians to keep insurgents from using local businesses to manufacture or hide weapons. Includes soundbite from Staff Sgt. Jason Packard, Stryker Platoon Leader. Produced by Marine Cpl. Marc Morgenstern.
1-17 INF, 5/2 SBCT in the News
Afghan: US ranks harbor soldier chef in the field - The Associated Press
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan — The oldest soldier in Alpha Company has lived hard. He shuttled through foster homes in San Francisco as a child, busted his nose and scraped his knuckles in street brawls as a young man, deployed as a U.S. military medic in Iraq and campaigned against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.What has lifted this soldier through the hard times is a love of food.
U.S. Army Sgt. Abel Aceituno, 42, relies on the memories of food he has eaten in the past, and the dream of opening a restaurant in the future. It's his way of burrowing into private yearnings when comforts and safety are scarce.
For Aceituno, eating is more than refueling. He talks about food as both fun and sacred. Taste buds quiver.
2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT Featured in Article
Big Afghan offensive must overcome deadly terrain - The Associated Press
LAKO KHEL, Afghanistan—U.S. soldiers had just made it through a dense patch of vineyards to a cluster of abandoned mud compounds when the radio operator let out a shout: "Sir, we are about to be ambushed from three different locations!"The men rushed for cover, dodging a potential attack and cursing Kandahar province's tough terrain that is tailor-made for the Taliban. The deadly obstacle course may haunt thousands of additional U.S. troops pouring into this corner of southern Afghanistan for what is expected to be the make-or-break offensive of the nearly 9-year-old war.
The thick fields, snaking canals and bomb-laden dirt roads in key districts around the provincial capital, Kandahar City, force jittery soldiers out of their heavily armored vehicles into a landscape dotted with towering mud compounds that provide militants with ideal cover.
Soldiers Conduct Patrols in Local Villages, Package
Video from “Soldiers Conduct Patrols in Local Villages” in the B-roll section about Soldiers assigned to a stryker unit in eastern Afghanistan conducting dismounted patrols in local villages to establish positive relationships and help improve the locals' quality of life. Includes soundbite with 1st Lt. Reagan Meyer, Stryker Platoon Leader. Produced by Marine Cpl. Marc Morgenstern.
Stryker Unit Employs HIDES in the Fight Against Terrorism
Video about how the U.S. Military uses the Handheld Intra-Agency Identity Detection System (HIIDES) to identify individuals based on physical or behavioral traits. Produced by Cpl. Marc Morgenstern.
Related:
Penguins of Afghanistan - Michael Yon
Spiders, Snakes & Scorpions
US soldiers stalk Afghanistan's deadly wildlife - The Associated Press
GHUNDY GHAR, Afghanistan—As night falls on this small hilltop base in the heart of Taliban country in southern Afghanistan, U.S. Army soldiers break out their knives and flashlights and go hunting for some of the country's deadliest inhabitants: snakes and scorpions.Tracking down the "creepy crawlies" that lurk in the nooks and crannies of the countryside is a favorite pastime, providing education, some entertainment -- arachnid fight night! -- or even a quick meal.
The expeditions help break the monotony of 10-day rotations the soldiers do once or twice a month at this rugged outpost in Kandahar province. Other than patrolling for a few hours a day, there is little for troops to do except watch movies or lift weights at a makeshift gym.
New Yon Dispatch
An Afghan Story - Michael Yon Online
If normal life were a river, most days would likely be a slow-moving, meandering passage. But when a life squeezes into the gorge of war, there can be a deafening whitewater, falls and yet bigger falls, slams against stones, falls again and underwater no air and over the falls again and time stretches and compresses and seems to defy normal experience and over the falls again and you drown or don’t. Some people come out the other side exhilarated and want to do it again and again, while others are terrified, and yet others will just do what needs to be done. The persistence of the memories wrought would seem to leave clocks drooped over limbs or floating away.From wars grow countless wild stories, many of which are true. Even a single witness will hear thousands over the years. Back at home, the retellings can seem vague, distant, and as soulful as a soleless boot. But when you are in a war zone with civilians or combat troops, some stories might start like, “Be careful here. This is where Jimmy got blown up,” and there is still a crater and all the branches are blown off a nearby tree. Later in the day, “Be careful here, bullets sometimes come through that window,” and there are pocks on the walls inside the room. The retellings are not secondhand, not ancient, but immediate and pressing. In the wars, stories are road signs to the here and now, and so you seek out stories not for entertainment. They are not entertaining anyway. Few people likely would be entertained by the story of their own death. “This is where the suicide bomber hit,” and you are standing there, knowing lightning makes habits.
Captain Max Hanlin of Charlie Company 1-17th Infantry was living with his soldiers at the Shah Wali Kot District Center in northern Kandahar Province, and he said to me from across the tent that the District Governor for Shah Wali Kot district had some interesting stories that should be told. We walked out to the perimeter under the watchful eye of a machine gunner in his guardpost, and around the corner to see the District Governor so that something useful could get out.
5/2 SBCT Photos & Feature Story
Attacks Signal End Of Poppy Harvest In Afghanistan - NPR
The gunfire and explosions echoing across this Taliban-infested district in southern Afghanistan on Friday signaled the end of the opium poppy harvest as militants again turned their attention from agriculture to attacking NATO and Afghan forces.U.S. Army soldiers perched on this small hilltop base in Kandahar province's Zhari district had a ringside seat to the early morning fighting. It snapped a lull in violence that had lasted almost three weeks while the Taliban focused on taxing the poppy crop, one of its main sources of revenue.
Building up resources is especially important for the Taliban this year as NATO is ramping up its latest military operation in Kandahar, the group's spiritual heartland. Military commanders have characterized the Kandahar mission as the make-or-break battle of the nearly 9-year-old war.
Kandahar Operation
Afghans wary as NATO rebrands Kandahar process - Reuters
Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama next week and the Kandahar offensive will be high on the agenda after a spate of civilian deaths caused a rift between Kabul and Washington.On the outskirts of southern Afghanistan's largest city, thousands of U.S. troops have been preparing to drive the Taliban from their spiritual home next month in what is being billed as the biggest military offensive of the 9-year-old war.
The operation, involving at least 23,000 NATO and Afghan troops, is the central objective of U.S. and NATO commander General Stanley McChrystal's counter-insurgency plan to turn the tide using reinforcements pledged by Obama in December.
Establishing Effective Government in Afghanistan
US Army captain becomes 'king' in Afghanistan - The Associated Press
HUTAL, Afghanistan — In the U.S. Army, Casey Thoreen is just a 30-year-old captain. Around here, he's known as the "King of Maiwand" district — testimony to the fact that without the young captain and a fat international wallet, local government here as in much of the insurgency-ravaged south could not function at all.Setting up effective governments at the district level is key to U.S. strategy. U.S. officials hope that providing basic services will draw support away from the Taliban, especially here in the Islamist group's heartland of Kandahar province.
But in this dusty farming community 40 miles (60 kilometers) west of Kandahar, Thoreen has discovered that bolstering the authority of a district governor, who relies on him almost completely for financial resources and credibility, is a delicate balancing act. He also knows the effort is unsustainable without greater support from the central Afghan government in Kabul.
Photos: Afghanistan, April, 2010 - The Big Picture
Latest Michael Yon Dispatch: Big Guns
Battle for Kandahar - Michael Yon
Yon's latest dispatch, Battle for Kandahar.
The counteroffensive has begun. More accurately, it might be called a counter-counteroffensive. Close to a decade ago, we beat the Taliban and al Qaeda here. The Taliban regrew and waged an increasingly successful counteroffensive. And so our ninth year at war is the year of our counter-counteroffensive.The most remarkable feature of our counter-counteroffensive likely will be the Battle for Kandahar, or BfK. Kandahar was the birthplace of the Taliban and Kandahar City is the provincial capital. The Taliban is succesfully wresting Kandahar back into their control. The BfK is likely our last effort to halt and reverse Taliban influence from spreading. The winner in the BfK will be set to eventually take most or all of the chips off the table, and so BfK is crucial to the outcome of the war.
Much of the BfK will take place not in Kandahar, or even Afghanistan, but in the mediasphere, and likey will affect U.S. elections this year. The implications are vast.
This is a political war on nearly every level. Though this will almost certainly be our most deadly year so far, violence is often a minor aspect of the struggle, while in some places combat is—by far—the most prevalent feature. Insofar as combat, our plans do not include serious fighting within Kandahar City, though soon after publication of this dispatch fighting will erupt in nearby areas. BfK is more of a process for both sides than a set battle. The Taliban are succeeding in their process to take Kandahar, and we wish to reverse that process.
A Different Perspective
The Afghanistan war, through the eyes of a soldier's wife - The Christian Science Monitor
When you think of the war in Afghanistan, what images come to mind? Taliban fighters? Burqa-clad women? Poppy fields? Debating politicians? War protesters?The most recent image that comes to my mind is my toddler son blowing kisses to the governor of Shah Wali Kot District.
That affectionate ending to a recent video chat with my husband, a US soldier deployed in Kandahar Province, may seem to be an ironically pleasant way to think about a long and painful war.
But amid the US troop surge there, and with so much at stake, isn't it also odd to view the war only through the violence-soaked lens of the media?
Recent Stryker Stories
DVIDS released a number of Stryker-related stories recently, which we've linked to by brigade below.
3/2 SBCT
- Apache Blanket covers Iraqi palm groves
- Cleaning up the streets in Baqubah
- Attack Company helps Iraqi police take charge
- Taking the final steps toward home
- Stryker Brigade Combat Dental Team, At Your Service
4/2 SBCT
- 4-2 SBCT takes another step forward
- 4-9 Infantry Soldiers answer the call
- A partnership with 'man's best friend'
5/2 SBCT
Yon No Longer Embedded With 5/2 SBCT
I haven't been following the controversy surrounding Michael Yon's departure from the 5/2 SBCT very closely, but it does mean we lose some coverage of the brigade.
‘Smears’ Turn Milbloggers on Their Frontline Hero | Danger Room | Wired.com
To military bloggers and conservative hawks, Michael Yon was a super hero — a fearless Green-Beret-turned-citizen-journalist who spent years on the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan when most big media outlets kept their reporters at home. But now, those same military bloggers are turning their sights on Yon, after he began savaging America’s top general in Afghanistan and warning that the American war effort is all but doomed.There was a time when Yon lauded U.S. commanders, and military bloggers celebrated Yon. Now Yon, reporting solo from Afghanistan, tells Danger Room that he’s the victim of a “smear campaign” orchestrated by Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s closest advisers. And milbloggers are reluctantly telling their former star to knock it off. “He has called his own competence into question,” writes Jim Hanson at the popular Blackfive.net blog.
Photo: Amazing Image of Stryker Vehicle in Afghanistan
Torchia Reflects on Month With Strykers
Journalist in war faces troubling questions - Associated Press
All around, men roared and rifles thudded. Sprawled in the earth in an open field, an American soldier to the left handed me a wounded man's ammunition belt. Even as Taliban bullets whipped overhead, I thought about professional codes of conduct. Carry the belt? Or not?I was a journalist, not a soldier. My job was to observe without bias, not take part. Yet surely it was a time for instincts rather than circumspection; a time for decisions geared to survival.
In four weeks of reporting on the war in Afghanistan as a journalist embedded with the U.S. military, I found many such troubling questions about my role and about why I was there in the first place.
Memorial for Spc. James L. Miller
5-2 Stryker brigade mourns 35th loss | Stryker Brigade - The News Tribune
Excitement continues to build on Joint Base Lewis-McChord for the return of a Stryker combat brigade this summer after a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.But that anticipation was overshadowed by sadness Wednesday as the base mourned the loss of another soldier assigned to the hard-hit 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
Mourners gathered in a Fort Lewis chapel to remember Spc. James L. Miller, the 35th member of the 4,000-strong brigade reported killed since it deployed in July.
Related:
'He never hesitated to go out on a mission' - KOMO 4 News
Battlefield Medicine
FOB Tacoma - Reflecting on six months of war - The News Tribune
Capt. Jason Sapp's worst moment in Afghanistan? The afternoon of Aug. 25, when he first learned a roadside bomb had detonated underneath a vehicle carrying soldiers returning from a humanitarian medical mission,.The soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord's 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment were responding to a cholera outbreak in the Shah Wali Kot district of southern Afghanistan. The bomb exploded on their way back to battalion's headquarters, killing four people.
"The deployment was tough at times," said Sapp, a Madigan Army Medical Center doctor who deployed as the 1-17 Infantry's battalion surgeon. "You see people you work with, people you take care of get killed or get injured. (The Aug. 25 attack) was the worst, though."
New Yon Dispatch
(Yon revealed that he will be leaving his embed with the 5/2 SBCT shortly, much earlier than anticipated.)
Michael Yon's latest dispatch, Under Cover of the Night.
During a mission there is no “pause” button. It’s on until it’s over. Recently, Charlie Company 1-17th Infantry conducted a mission that included visiting villages in the Shah Wali Kot district of northern Kandahar Province.The main threats in this area are bombs and mines. Many vehicles have “mine rollers” on the front that are designed to detonate the bomb before it gets under the vehicle. The bombs often are big enough to completely obliterate any tank or armored vehicle ever built. During the mission, a mine roller on a Stryker broke, causing Charlie Company to overnight in the desert.
After finding a suitable RON (rest overnight) location, the task was security and making a plan for the night. With a full moon rising the Taliban could easily slip silently through the folds and creases of the land and strike. The Taliban likely already knew our strength. Tracks from the heavy Strykers would show our direction of travel, as would villagers along the way. Of course, if the enemy followed the tracks they would eventually lead to a hail of devastating fire. Most of the enemies are too smart for such mistakes. More likely, the enemy would try to anticipate our next move and get bombs in front of our most probable routes. They had all night. Our people up that game by pushing out snipers and observers who might be watching the Taliban—even from miles away—ready to kill them on our routes. Winning and losing deadly little skirmishes depends heavily on expertise, and luck. We and the enemy have great advantages and disadvantages.
Related: Michael Yon Facebook Page
Technology Connects Deployed Family
Teacher uses Skype for parent-teacher conference - KING 5 News
LACEY, WA. -- Carrie Livengood uses a globe to explain to her nine year old daughter Alison where her father is deployed. Afghanistan.It makes it challenging for Capt. Eric Livengood to attend Alison's parent-teacher conference at Chambers Prairie School in Lacey, But Alison's third grade teacher, Tom Jones, is testing an idea. How about using Skype to bring families together? Skype is a way to talk to people over the Internet for free using a web cam and microphone.
Update: Injured Stryker Soldier
Visalia soldier injured in Afghanistan coming back to U.S. on Friday| Visalia Times-Delta
For Rowdy and Vickie Kyle of Visalia, Friday can't come soon enough.That's when their son, Army Staff Sgt. Kenneth Mitchell of Visalia is scheduled to arrive at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. He was seriously injured Saturday by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan and has recovered in a German hospital.
"Our main concern [is] him being there by himself, and us not being able to be there," said Rowdy Kyle, who plans to be in Washington when Mitchell arrives.
Mitchell will also be reunited with his fianc馥, 2-month-old daughter and mother, Vickie Kyle.
Spin Boldak Report: The Ancient Trade Route
Task Force Stryker's Governance, Reconstruction,and Development Fusion Cell's latest report: Spin Boldak - The Ancient Trade Route (Kandahar Province) with a Foreword by General McChrystal.
Behind the Lens: Combat Camera Afghanistan
Story by Staff Sgt. Christine Jones
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Seconds can feel like hours . . . pulse racing, heart pounding, hands shaking uncontrollably, as all around lives are changed forever in the blink of an eye.
But in that blink, time doesn't stop. Life is still happening around you and it is your mission to photograph every part of what is happening in that moment. Even after an explosion.
As Combat Camera, that is the job. As a member of the 4th Combat Camera Squadron it's my mission.
Images and video by 4th Combat Camera have been viewable worldwide in publications and media outlets since our arrival here in October. As the end of the deployment nears the eight Airmen, who volunteered with me, to deploy to Afghanistan and capture a critical time in history reflected on their experiences. This is what the person behind the camera goes through to 'get the shot.'
The team was attached to 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., and they lived together with Soldiers at forward operating bases and combat outposts throughout southern Afghanistan for the deployment.
Building a Firefighting Team in Southern Afghanistan
Story by Sgt. Justin Graff
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan -- Ready. Aim. Fire. Afghan national police have been receiving training on security tactics in southern Afghanistan for some time now with programs like the Legion Academy in Maiwand District and the Shah Wali Kot Police Academy. But now their skills are expanding to encompass another vital role in security for the people of southern Afghanistan.
April 1 marked the first ever graduation of the 5th Stryker Brigade's Firefighting Academy, located near the Pakistan border on FOB Spin Boldak. On that day 10 ANP stood proud with the knowledge and skills to protect their people from not only the insurgent threat but also dangerous scenarios such as blazing fires, extreme car accidents and severely injured casualties. The students attended eight days of training where they learned how to operate a fire truck and high-pressure hose, as well as how to maintain the truck and its equipment. Training also included first aid, vehicle extrication, all while maintaining security of the site.
"They really hit the ground the running and took the training seriously," said Staff Sgt. Mark Covington, from Gibson, N.C., assigned to the 402nd Brigade Support Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "I was very impressed with their ability to learn quickly, and grasp the concepts of the training instead of just going through the motions."
Strykers Earn Praise Despite Critics
(I think we missed this one when it was originally published last week.)
Strykers fight enemies abroad, skeptics at home - The News Tribune
The 31/2-week Marjah campaign, launched in early February and billed as the largest offensive of the eight-year-old Afghanistan war thus far, was a key test for the Strykers – the 21-ton infantry carriers that were born at Fort Lewis, came of age in Iraq and only since last summer have seen heavy fighting in Afghanistan.“It would have been difficult to impossible to do the mission we did in Marjah without the Strykers,” said Lt. Col. Burton Shields.
He commands the brigade’s 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and led about 400 soldiers during the operation. They secured the area and restricted enemy movement so thousands of Marines could lay siege to Taliban strongholds.
Shields praised the vehicles’ network capabilities and the way they move his men across long distances on short notice. He also noted the versatility of the Stryker’s multiple designs; nine of the 10 variants were used at Marjah.
New Yon Dispatch
Village Boys, a new dispatch from Michael Yon.
Back in December, C-Co 1-17th Infantry battalion had been in about the worst place in Afghanistan. There is stiff competition for the position of actual worst place, and I am sure there are many contenders that remain unknown, but the Arghandab was one of them. The battalion had lost more than twenty soldiers, and C-co alone had lost 12 with more wounded. In December 2009, C-Co was moved north into Shah Wali Kot and has been running missions here for more than three months. I’ve only been at Shaw Wali Kot for a week.Charlie Company headed on a mission to visit villages that had seen no formal western guests for at least the past five years, according Company Commander Max Hanlin. The soldiers drove to an area maybe two kilometers from the first village, parked, and walked in. The surrounding desert was so dry that only the hardy and small plants survived—often with thorns, and probably foul-tasting (and poisonous). How else can a plant expect to survive when the favorite Afghan meat is mutton, and foraging isn’t easy for the lambs? There was the occasional brown lizard or grasshopper, but on the whole it’s simply rocky desert. The place is barren but not entirely lifeless.
Charlie Company was heading into the Baghtu Valley. The general area is said to be among the most religiously conservative in Afghanistan, meaning soldiers were unlikely to stumble across any undiscovered steeples, stupas or synagogues.
Some Charlie Company soldiers are multi-tour combat veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq. Captain Max Hanlin, the Charlie Company Commander, is on his sixth combat tour. Captain Hanlin explained how Dutch convoys had been hit near the Baghtu Valley and how fights had raged. Captain Hanlin said the four villages we were to visit are a black hole. We know where they are, their names, and little more.
Base Preparing for Redeployments
FOB Tacoma - ｻ Madigan prepares for returning Strykers
Three Joint Base Lewis-McChord Stryker brigades are returning home from war this year, and Madigan Army Medical Center will temporarily expand its behavioral-health staff and implement new screening programs to deal with the mental-health issues of deployment.Hospital staff will be paying particular attention to 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which has lost 35 soldiers and seen frequent combat since it deployed to southern Afghanistan last July.
Piggybacking off post-deployment programs already in place, Madigan officials will collect additional behavioral-health information and screen them again shortly after they return home.
Go Say Thanks to Scott Fontaine
FOB Tacoma - Moving on The News Tribune Blogs, Tacoma, WA
After 3 1/2 years at The News Tribune (including the last year and a half on the military beat) I'll be leaving the paper next week. My wife and I both received jobs in Washington, D.C., so I'm in the midst of packing up our home in University Place ahead of the big move. My last day at the paper is April 9.
Best of luck, Scott!
New Yon Dispatch
Michael Yon has a new dispatchRED HORSE, with some amazing photos.
A thirty-second walk from my bunk, these Strykers were parked waiting for a mission. While RED HORSE works on the lighted rig, the orange glow in the background is from parachute illumination near the Afghan Police at Dala Dam. A couple weeks ago, the Afghan National Police got attacked there. The enemy fired at the police and baited the ANP to chase. When the ANP raced off, their truck was hit with a bomb, killing two ANP. And so each night, our guys have been firing nightlights for the ANP.
PFC James L. Miller
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. James L. Miller, 21, of Yakima, Wash., died March 29 in Dashat, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Related:
Roadside blast kills Stryker soldier, 21, in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Fallen soldier was close to returning home - Yakima Herald-Republic
Chugiak graduate killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan - Anchorage Daily News
Kandahar 'Shaping' Operations Under Way, Official Says
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 30, 2010 – U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan are laying the groundwork for their much-anticipated efforts to combat extremists in Kandahar, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said in a Pentagon news conference today.
Morrell said combat operations will begin in earnest in the coming weeks. But in the meantime, he said, troops are engaged in what military officials refer to as “shaping” operations in preparation for the upcoming offensive there.
“The truth is they have begun,” Morrell said of shaping operations taking place in Kandahar, the spiritual center of the Taliban. “They have been months in the making.”
A U.S. Stryker brigade combat team arrived in southern Afghanistan last summer, marking the beginning of operations there. The Stryker vehicles are used to secure routes in and out of Afghanistan’s second-largest city, while other preparatory work, such as tribal engagements by U.S. special operations forces, are also under way.
New Yon Dispatch
The Battle for Kandahar: Part I
The Battle for Kandahar has begun. The face of this battle is not one of sudden fury but a process, a complex struggle for legitimacy between local Taliban governance and Kabul rule.A scent of weakness is in the air. The Taliban remain deadly and capable – yet they seem to be losing the initiative. “Shaping Operations” are underway. Special Operations Forces are picking off and collecting key Taliban leaders. With our increase in troops, the Taliban must spend more time on self-defence, deducting from their capacity for offensive operations.
This year, 2010, is particularly crucial for the future of Afghanistan. The fight is on for key physical terrain, politcal terrain, and information dominance. Before Christmas, we will know who won the Battle for Kandahar. Who wins this Battle likely will win the war.
Offensive Begins in Kandahar
Kandahar, a Battlefield Even Before U.S. Offensive - NYTimes.com
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — American forces have begun operations to push back Taliban insurgents in this most important southern province, the birthplace and spiritual home of the Taliban, and a full-scale offensive is expected in coming weeks.But the Taliban have already turned this city into a battlefield as they prepare for the operation, which American officials hope will be decisive in breaking the insurgency’s grip on southern Afghanistan.
When American forces all arrive, they will encounter challenges larger than any other in Afghanistan. Taliban suicide bombings and assassinations have left this city virtually paralyzed by fear. The insurgents boldly walk the streets, visit shops and even press people into keeping guns and other supplies in their houses for them in preparation for urban warfare, residents say.
New Yon Dispatch
Michael Yon has a new dispatch, The Scent of Weakness, from Afghanistan.
Photos: 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Activity
Video: Stryker BDE Trains ANP Soldiers
Progress in Southern Afghnistan
SHAH WALI KOT, Afghanistan – More than thirty Shura Members came together to discuss future projects in the Shah Wali Kot District, Afghanistan.
More than 30 shura members gathered, March 22, in Shah Wali Kot, Afghanistan, to speak with the District Governor about proposed projects to better the district. The main topic of discussion was the Kandahar Irrigation Rehabilitation Project, coined the Dahla Dam Project, which would greatly improve the irrigation systems' efficiency in the Southern region of Shah Wali Kot.
Lt. Col. Patrick Gaydon, commander of the Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, said the higher turnouts in recent weeks are a product of improved security and that the people feel safer traveling to the district center.
"The troops out with [1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5/2 ID (SBCT)] have worked with Afghan national police to establish the kind of security that gives the people confidence to travel to the shuras," he said. "If they're afraid of being blown up, or confronted by the Taliban in their homes, they won't attend. Task Force Stryker has worked hard to make them feel safe."
Photos: Soldiers build checkpoint in Afghanistan
The Army website has a new photo slideshow featuring soldiers from the 5/2 SBCT. Description:
Soldiers install HESCO barriers at an Afghan police checkpoint in Robat, Afghanistan, March 19, 2010. The Soldiers are assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division's 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
5/2 Soldier Makes Surprise Visit Home
Dad’s return from Afghanistan surprises kids - The News Tribune
Kirra Reiter buried her face in her father’s camouflage jacket and squeezed him hard. Her little brother, Jarrod, stared at his dad and smiled.And Capt. Troy Reiter, a travel-weary Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier back from the war in Afghanistan, soaked in every minute of his children’s surprise to see him.
“This was worth it,” Reiter said. “Just very, very much worth it. I’m so glad I did it.”
Video: Stryker BDE Trains ANP Soldiers
Package made from 'Stryker BDE Trains ANP Soldiers" b-roll about Soldiers training Afghanistan police. Produced by Staff Sgt. Lashaundra Rankin.
5/2 SBCT Role in Marjah Offensive
How Lewis-McChord 5th Brigade helped at Marjah - The News Tribune
The Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers dodged roadside bombs. They took sniper fire from housing compounds and machine gun fire from mosques. Taliban fighters attacked them from crowds filled with women and children.One insurgent dressed in a burqa and passed himself off as a female bystander before firing at troops.
Enemy fighters repeatedly tried to exploit NATO troops’ restrictive rules of engagement throughout the 31/2 weeks the Stryker soldiers fought as part of the largest operation of the Afghanistan war, Lt. Col. Burton Shields of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division told The News Tribune this week.
IEDs Get Bigger & Deadlier in Afghanistan
Afghan Bombs Get Bigger, Forcing U.S. to Adapt - WSJ.com (Subscription required to view full article)
The dangers posed by the large IEDs were driven home to many in the military by a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan in October that wiped out an entire squad of soldiers from the 5th Brigade of the Army's 2nd Infantry Division. [IEDS]Early in the morning of Oct. 27, a heavily armored U.S. Stryker vehicle rolled over a bomb that had been buried in a dried-out riverbed in Kandahar province. The force of the explosion blew a protective plate that had been attached to the bottom of the truck straight up through its roof, killing seven of the eight soldiers inside.
Military explosives experts who did a forensic examination of the blast site later estimated that the IED weighed more than 1,000 pounds, making it one of the largest makeshift bombs seen in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Since that blast, U.S. forces in Afghanistan have begun to routinely encounter 100-pound, 200-pound and 500-pound IEDs.
Video: Task Force Legion Academy
Package made from "Task Force Legion Academy " b-roll about Task Force Legion Academy which is a partnering training event between Soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team and Afghan National Security Force soldiers from the Kandahar province in Afghanistan. Produced by Senior Master Sgt. Keith Baxter.
Operations in Kandahar
AFP: US operations have already started in Kandahar
WASHINGTON — US operations to push back Taliban forces around Kandahar have "already begun" and will steadily build in coming months, the commander of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan said Wednesday.General Stanley McChrystal told reporters that the US-led offensive on the Taliban's spiritual heartland had started with initial military and political efforts, including operations designed to secure key roads and districts surrounding the southern city.
"And instead of putting a date certain on which there would be a climactic military operation, I tell you, that process has already begun," McChrystal said by teleconference from Afghanistan.
Photos from Kandahar
The Battle for Kandahar is a photo gallery from Foreign Policy magazine, which features a number of images of 5/2 SBCT soldiers. Description:
At the Taliban's doorstep: Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city, is the spiritual homeland of the Taliban -- and one of the bloodiest arenas of the coalition's war. Since 2001, 237 coalition soldiers have been killed in action there, a death toll second only to the 421 killed in Helmand. Grim milestones have taken place in Kandahar, including the 2002 assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai and Afghanistan's first suicide bombings in 2005. Now, military officials have named it the next battleground in defeating the Taliban, following the conclusion of the recent coalition operation in Marjah. Above, a U.S. soldier wades through an opium field on March 15 in Howz-e-Madad.
(via FOB Tacoma)
Governance, Reconstruction, & Development Reports from Afghanistan
Commanders from the 5/2 SBCT (Task Force Stryker) in Afghanistan have asked us to post two very extensive reports detailing the brigade's activities to date. The first provides an overview of the brigade's various areas of operation, while the second focuses on Task Force Buffalo in the Shah Wali Kot District.
Times UK Reporter Embedded With Strykers in Afghanistan
Afghanistan: Dodging the bombs - Times Online
I am embedded with the US troops of Alpha Company, the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, who operate in a Stryker brigade along a 37-mile stretch from combat outposts with names such as Ramrod and Terminator, on the border between Kandahar and Helmand provinces. As their unit’s name indicates, the soldiers patrol the road in Stryker vehicles — armoured troop carriers — acting as part attack force, part highway patrol.“Our primary role is to secure the route and to provide freedom of movement for the Afghan people,” says First Sergeant Kevin Floyd from Perkasie, Pennsylvania. “This road is vital to the whole country, it’s the only route that runs east-west and everything that moves does so on this route.
“But it’s equally important to the Taliban, who are actively targeting coalition convoys and the Afghan army. They use the road to move weapons and fighters west, and opium east down to Pakistan. When we got here they were placing some massive IEDs [bombs] in the culverts under the road, but we’ve been blocking those with concertina wire, so recently they’ve been placing smaller pressure-plate IEDs on the side of the road.”
US soldier in Afghanistan has a dream
US soldier in Afghanistan has a dream - The Associated Press
BADULA QULP, Afghanistan—He proposed to her on Oct. 6, and she made him say "Will you marry me?" over and over because she liked the sound of it. He proposed again on her birthday four days later, and this time he got down on one knee with a diamond ring. His mother was on the phone, listening in as a witness.It all happened in Mount Holly, North Carolina. Now, U.S. Army Pvt. Mark Goodwin is in Afghanistan and his fiancee, Jillian De Voe, is waiting back home. They have spent a month of their lives together, and they say they plan to marry on July 4, a year after they met. They are young—he is 21, she is 23—but their tale of lovers separated by war is an old one, known by many across generations.
Goodwin is the lowest-ranking soldier in Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade, but he doesn't worry about status. He missed a promotion because he missed a plane—"I slept in"—while heading back to his unit from leave after he proposed. It was a "nice little fiasco," he said, but it meant more time with De Voe.
Latest Michael Yon Dispatch
The Bridge is Yon's most recent dispatch from Afghanistan.
Supplies shipped by sea to the port of Karachi flow through two major arteries into Afghanistan. In the north is Torkham, near the famous Khyber Pass. In the south is Spin Boldak, a border town located between Quetta in Pakistan, and Kandahar in Afghanistan. Kandahar, with its critical airfield, will be a major locus for the upcoming offensive, making route security crucial to US/NATO plans.Stryker Brigade Combat Team 5/2 (SBCT) is responsible for security at the Spin Boldak point of entry and has deployed the 8-1 Cavalry squadron to live in and patrol the area. Just north of Spin Boldak, in the wilds along the border, are known enemy safe havens that were used during the Soviet war.
The Stryker Brigade is also tasked with a Freedom of Movement (FOM) mission that extends from Spin Boldak along Highway 4 past Kandahar Airfield (KAF), which is literally one of the busiest airports in the world. According to AFCENT, during FY09 there were 184,095 tower movements at KAF, which explains why it’s so loud there. Highway 4 passes the eastern end of KAF’s single runway. About three miles beyond the runway, Highway 4 crosses over the Tarnak River Bridge, one of a number of crucial chokepoints, on the road north to Kandahar.
Gates Visits Soldiers at Sharp End of Conflict
By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan, March 9, 2010 – A white-painted blast wall standing in front of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, headquarters here bearing the names of 22 fallen soldiers was a sobering reminder to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates of the cost of the war.
Gates is visiting Afghanistan to get the “ground truth” directly from the soldiers at the sharp end of the spear. He visited with soldiers at this base and also traveled to Now Zad to visit Marines who are liberating Helmand province from the Taliban.
The 17th Infantry is part of the 2nd Infantry Division’s 5th Stryker Brigade based at Fort Lewis, Wash. The unit was supposed to deploy to Iraq, but President Barack Obama ordered more troops to Afghanistan, and the mission shifted. The soldiers arrived in July as the first Stryker brigade to deploy here.
Secretary Gates Visits Stryker Troops in Afghanistan
Decisive phase of Afghan war looms: Gates - Reuters
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday they would soon be part of a "decisive phase" in the war -- an operation to impose control over the Taliban heartland of Kandahar province. [...]"You all have had a very tough tour," Gates told troops with a Stryker brigade at Forward Operating Base Frontenac, about 48 km (30 miles) north of Kandahar city. Twenty-two troops have been killed and 62 wounded in the area since July last year.
"You came to an area that was totally controlled by the Taliban. You bled for it," Gates said.
"Here in the environs of Kandahar, you're in an area that once again is going to be an important part of the decisive phase of this campaign. Once again, you will be the tip of the spear," he said.
SPC Anthony A. Paci
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Anthony A. Paci, 30, of Rockville, Md., died Mar. 4 at Gereshk, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered during a vehicle rollover. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Related:
Lewis-McChord soldier killed in vehicle rollover - The News Tribune
Friends remember fallen soldier, family man - FOB Tacoma
Sergeant's father notes 'time to cry' - The News Tribune
Army Sgt. Anthony A. Paci of Maryland buried at Arlington - washingtonpost.com
Embedded Reporter Reflects on Time With Strykers
The Associated Press: Analysis: Hard part in Marjah has only just begun
KABUL (AP) — The hardest fighting is over, but the battle for Marjah is just beginning.The outcome of last month's military campaign was never in doubt. With 15,000 combined NATO and Afghan troops pouring in to oust an estimated 400-1,000 insurgents, it was simply a question of how long it would take to clear the southern Afghan city that belonged to the Taliban for years.
Now, the fight for Marjah focuses on keeping the population safe and — perhaps harder — setting up the first clean and effective civilian administration there in decades.
Avengers, ANA Take Historic Trip
Story by Sgt. Chris Florence
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Just a few short weeks ago a historic convoy traveled along two of arguably the most dangerous highways in southern Afghanistan and through several provinces to deliver a new fighting force to Helmand province and Operation Mostarak, the largest military operation since 2001.
Answering the call from Regional Command (South), the 402nd Brigade Support Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, launched a 140-vehicle convoy, its longest ever, with a mission to escort and assist the 215th Corps of the Afghan National Army from the Kandahar province into the embattled Helmand.
The 215th Corps is the ANA's newest of seven existing corps and was developed to partner with the Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Helmand province.
Home Is Where the Music Is
Story by Sgt. Chris Florence
AFGHANISTAN -- Stryker Soldiers escape through their native tunes.
For many people in many cultures, music is an important part of their way of life and music has been a way for some Stryker Soldiers to put their minds at ease while deployed to Afghanistan. Two Soldiers from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Spc. Vincent Cruz of Yoña, Guam and Spc. Landrew Sappa of the island of Aua, Pago Pago, American Samoa brought a little "peace" of home with them. Sappa and Cruz are from two different islands but share a common interest in playing the ukulele.
On some days while taking a break Cruz and Sappa play the ukulele to relax and "mellow out." The music usually draws a crowd of listeners.
Many people associate the instrument's sound with the islands and rightfully so. The ukulele originated in the 19th century as a Hawaiian interpretation of a small guitar-like instrument brought to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants. The word "ukulele" means "jumping flea" in Hawaiian.
AP Report from Afghanistan
Afghanistan battle shows war rarely fought to plan | ajc.com
Over the past week, men belonging to the 5th Stryker Brigade and Afghan forces have swept through villages and compounds once held by Taliban fighters, advancing with painstaking caution to avoid casualties from booby traps and harassing fire.In the military's innocuous-sounding jargon, the soldiers have cleared "objectives" and had "contact," which really means vicious firefights. They "engaged the enemy" and "possibly destroyed" snipers. The Taliban rarely leave their dead, if they are, in fact, dead.
At night, U.S. and Afghan commanders, with Canadian advisers, pore over maps based on satellite imagery as they plot the next day's assault. The mission has a start time and an estimated end. There are questions, comments. It has the feel of a classroom exercise, removed from the shouting, the diving and hugging of cover, the cacophony of battlefield bullets and machinery.
Video: RED HORSE Builds Stryker Unit Facilities
Package made from 'RED HORSE Builds Stryker Unit Facilities" b-roll about civil engineering squadron RED HORSE building semi-permanent facilities for a U.S. Army Stryker Brigade in Afghanistan. Produced by Lance Cpl. A.J. Lugo
Reading on the Front Lines
When shooting stops, some soldiers read - The Associated Press
BADULA QULP, Afghanistan — When he was a child, and it was bedtime and lights out, Gene Hicks would hide under the blankets and read with a flashlight. Now he's Army 1st Sgt. Gene Hicks, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and sometimes lies in his sleeping bag reading with a flashlight."I'm still doing the same thing," said Hicks, whose mind travels far from the war zone to a world inhabited by a monk, a duke, an assassin and the merchant princes of medieval Europe.
Hicks, 39, of Tacoma, Washington, is reading "The Anger of God" by Paul Doherty, a mystery novel set in London in 1379. His girlfriend in the U.S. wrote to Doherty to tell him Hicks was a fan. The author mailed a prayer card, autographed copies of four books, and a note — "Be safe."
Hicks is part of a force from the 5th Stryker Brigade that has pushed into Taliban land near the southern town of Marjah, where U.S. Marines are fighting. He retreats to Doherty's book when he can.
Additional Stryker Vehicle Protection?
130 Strykers with MRAP-type protection by 2011 - Army Times
If the Army approves funding to keep the production line steady, industry can deliver 130 Stryker vehicles with “MRAP-like” protection in time for the next Stryker brigade’s deployment, sources said.
The Army is nearing a decision on whether to give the flat-bottomed Stryker a double V-shaped hull, which would provide protection equivalent to that of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, sources said.
Memorial for Sgt. Adam J. Ray
Stryker soldier called 'nothing short of excellent’ - The News Tribune
Ray died in southern Afghanistan as his battalion moved from Kandahar to Helmand province to join the largest offensive operation of the nine-year war. Operation Moshtarak, a joint NATO-Afghan mission to clear Taliban insurgents from the Marjah region, began four days after Ray’s death.Speakers at the memorial service gave little indication as to what caused Ray’s death, but his parents said in a statement that military investigators told them their son was clearing a culvert so his unit could pass safely over it.
“We find some comfort in knowing that one of Adam’s very best friends, Sgt. David Jones, was with him until the very end and tells us that Adam continued to crack jokes and laugh with them,” Jim and Donna Ray wrote.
Video: Convoy for Operation Moshtarak
Package about the 402nd Brigade Support Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division running a 125 mile convoy with 140 vehicles with resupply Soldiers for Operation Moshtarak. Produced by Tech. Sgt. Shane Heiser.
New Michael Yon Dispatch
Yon has his first lengthy dispatch, Whispers, since returning to Afghanistan.
The Marjah offensive—billed as the biggest US/NATO/Afghan assault on the Taliban ever—had begun. With it, the attention of nearly all the reporters covering Afghanistan is focused on Marjah. Yet fighting continues across the country, in provinces with names unfamiliar to most people. Men and women are wounded. Some die. Some are saved by dedicated medical crews, and by the pilots who fly into combat to ferry wounded to some of the best trauma facilities in the world, right here in Afghanistan. This story is about the people who care for our troops, wounded correspondents, and many other people, day in, day out.
5/2 SBCT Chaplain in Afghanistan
The Associated Press' Christopher Torchia spends time with a chaplain from the 5/2 SBCT - In Afghanistan, Sunday Mass on a makeshift altar.
BADULA QULP, Afghanistan -- The U.S. Army brigade's Catholic priest spits, smokes, cracks jokes and has come under fire like so many other American soldiers. He keeps altar bread in an empty grenade canister. On Sunday, he donned purple and white vestments over his uniform and celebrated Mass on a makeshift altar of four stacked boxes of MREs.Capt. Carl Subler stood in the dust at an earthen-walled compound and prayed for the safety of those assembled, half a dozen soldiers who are fighting the Taliban near the contested town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan. He also prayed for peace in a country that has known war for decades. The men kneeled in their faded uniforms and some took communion, a reflective moment in a time of war. [...]
A busy Subler gave Mass on Sunday in three patrol bases - "Keep it rolling, baby," he said - in the Badula Qulp region of Helmand province, where the Army is supporting a Marine offensive against an insurgent stronghold. He is the only Catholic chaplain in the 5th Stryker Brigade, which has lent 400 soldiers to a mission that has waged daily firefights as forces push the Taliban out of villages.
With the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan
The Associated Press has a new report from Afghanistan.
Butts, 25, doesn't have a Purple Heart or any other high military honor. This is his first, and he hopes, his only deployment in Afghanistan. He's no hero or combat veteran, just a regular guy who ended up in a war. He's like a lot of the Americans fighting the Taliban insurgency, men and women with lives and loved ones back home.The Magna, Utah native is in Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade, supporting a U.S. Marine onslaught on Taliban fighters in their strongholds in Marjah district in Helmand province. Here, in his own words, Butts shares his thoughts on everything from love - "my wife...she's my inspiration" - to death:
"After a while, you get used to the idea that this might be your last day walking around. ... I'm not afraid of dying, I know I'm not going to have to worry about anything anymore because I'm not going to be here."
Yon on SGT Adam Ray
Michal Yon describes the events surrounding the death of SGT Adam Ray.
On Feb. 9th, in a field near a road, an Afghan soldier squatted to relieve himself. He picked the wrong spot. A bomb exploded, blowing off a leg, and he died. Captain John Weatherly, Commander of Charlie Company of the 4-23 Infantry at FOB Price in Helmand Province, mentioned that in passing as he described the series of events that led to the death of Specialist – now Sergeant – Adam Ray, a vigorous 23 year old, born in Tampa, Florida. The bomb the Afghan stumbled upon was near the IED that struck Adam. [...]In the war zone that is Afghanistan, life and limb depend on noticing normally mundane things like culverts. They are a favorite hiding spot for the Taliban to plant bombs intended to kill Americans driving the roads. Hundreds, even thousands of pounds of explosives can be stuffed inside, launching our vehicles into the sky, flipping them over and over, sometimes killing all. And so, in some areas, soldiers on missions must stop dozens of times to check culverts for explosives. Since we do this every day in front of thousands of Afghans, they know our patterns. In addition to planting bombs in culverts, they plant mines and other bombs near culverts, to get men who stop to check.
4-23 INF Treat Civilians in Afghanistan
Associated Press report, Trained to kill – and to save, featuring the 4-23 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
BADULA QULP, Afghanistan – Two Afghan men on a motorcycle approached a makeshift camp of NATO and Afghan troops and unloaded a bundle of blankets. American soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division went into combat mode, throwing on flak vests and helmets and grabbing their rifles. They feared it was a ruse – perhaps a suicide bomber moving in for the kill.The Afghans raised their robes to show they had no weapons, and unwrapped the bundle. Inside was 7-year-old Sayd Rahman, shot in the chest near Marjah, where U.S. Marines are trying to clear out a bastion of insurgency in one of the biggest operations since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001.
Taliban & al Qaeda Trageted in Marja Raids
"Taliban commander, 4 al Qaeda fighters killed in raid near Marja" - The Long War Journal
Afghan and Coalition special operations forces killed a Taliban commander who works with foreign fighters and 10 Taliban and al Qaeda operatives during a raid in a region just outside the battle zone in Marja in Helmand province.During a raid in the district of Washir, the combined force targeted and killed Mullah Sarajudin, the Taliban commander, along with four al Qaeda operatives and six Taliban fighters. Washir lies just north of the district of Nad Ali, where Afghan and Coalition forces have launched a massive operation to take control of the city of Marja and the surrounding areas.
AP Report With the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan
Associated Press reporter Christopher Torchia is embedded with the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan near Marjah.
BADULA QULP, Afghanistan — They call themselves gypsies, the men of Bravo Company.Right now, the 140 American soldiers are living out of their Stryker infantry carriers, part of a force assisting a U.S. Marine offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Marjah by blocking any insurgent movement near a canal to the northeast. They sleep up to six to a vehicle, crammed into a metal shell with hatches and only narrow windows in the "Hellhole" — the driver's compartment.
Living in these machines is like living in a can. In the morning, the soldiers pop their heads out of the hatches like moles emerging from the earth. By day, they wait, patrol, scan compounds with the sights of their rifles and engage in firefights with insurgents.
Such is U.S. Army life in a theater of war, a lot of the time. But this company from the 5th Stryker Brigade has been on the move more than most since it deployed in Afghanistan in July, and they joke about it. They are the "Bedouin Company" — after the Arab desert nomads — or the "Bravo Bastards."
The Long War Journal on Afghanistan
Two new and excellent articles from TLWJ examine the surge strategy in Afghanistan and the operation in Marjah.
New Yon Dispatch "Patterns"
Michael Yon's newest full-length dispatch, titled "Patterns", features the 1-17 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
Earlier that morning, soldiers from 1st Platoon, B-company (1-17th) had taken me on a short, easy mission out to a micro-base called “Brick 1.” The Platoon leader was 1st Lieutenant Ryan Fadden, while SFC Dimico was the platoon sergeant. The platoon was ready. Despite the filthy environment, weapons were clean, the gear was sorted and the men were in good spirits and a business-like frame of mind. They seemed confident. It looked like Lieutenant Fadden and SFC Dimico were on their jobs. The battalion had lost 21 men KIA during the first several months of combat—the Brigade lost 31. An article was about to be published in the Army Times which might lead one to believe that the 1-17th is not combat-ready. The author, Sean Naylor, is as highly respected as he is experienced, and so his words are taken seriously. Yet during my first week, despite serious stresses in some places, the men seemed ready.
Marjah Update From Yon
Michale Yon has a number of brief updates on the fighting on his Facebook page. Excerpt:
Morning 5/2 update: 1-17 Infantry, 2-1 IN, 4-23 IN, 8-1 Cav: All battalions fine and conducting all sorts of operations ranging from ambushes to community work. Very busy out there and doing good. Nine (artillery) fire missions last night (from 5/2 elements). Much aircraft supporting Marjah offensive but we are well ...covered. Bright and chilly today: mud puddles covered with sheet ice.
Operation Moshtarak
ISAF Joint Command
The operation
Operation Moshtarak is an Afghan-led initiative to assert government authority in the centre of Helmand province. Afghan and ISAF partners are engaging in this counter-insurgency operation at the request of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Helmand provincial government.
Moshtarak is a Dari word for "together". The security forces that make up the combined force are serving side-by-side, representing partnership in strength.
Insurgents who do not accept the government's offer to reintegrate and join the political process will be met with overwhelming force. However, the strongest of measures will be taken to protect the civilian population.
Military operations in central Helmand will be followed by the swift establishment of an Afghan government presence in cleared areas. This will be supported by stabilization activity led by the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team.
The participants
A combined force of 15,000 is involved in Operation Moshtarak. This combined force includes:
Approximately five brigades of Afghan forces, including members of the Afghan National Army, Afghan National Police, Afghan Border Police and Afghan Gendarmerie (formerly Afghan National Civil Order Police).
ISAF Regional Command (South) elements, with forces drawn from the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Estonia and Canada. These elements include:
1st Battalion, 3rd Marines (US)
1st Battalion, 6th Marines (US)
3rd Battalion, 6th Marines (US)
4th Battalion, 23rd IN Stryker (US)
Combat Engineer Battalion (US)
Light Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment (US)
1 Coldstream Guards Battle Group (UK)
1 Grenadier Guards Battle Group (UK)
1 Royal Welsh Battle Group (UK)
Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team (UK)
Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (UK)
Task Force Pegasus
Task Force Kandahar
(via DVIDS)
SGT Adam J. Ray
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Adam J. Ray, 23, of Louisville, Ky., died Feb. 9 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Related:
Two area soldiers die in Iraq, Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Soldier remembered for his everyday gifts - The Courier-Journal
Louisville Soldier Laid To Rest - AP
Soldier's ultimate sacrifice honored - Kentucky.com
Stryker soldier called 'nothing short of excellent’ | Stryker Brigade - The News Tribune
WaPo Marjah Update
The Washington Post has another embedded report on the fighting in Marjah.
NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan -- U.S. and Afghan troops fought back small-scale attacks by Taliban fighters Friday on the northern outskirts of Marjah, as tribal elders pleaded for NATO to finish its planned attack on the Taliban stronghold quickly and carefully to protect civilians.No casualties were reported in the series of skirmishes throughout the day. In one clash, Marines fought off an ambush against one of their convoys with 50-caliber machine guns and grenade launchers. Reporters with the U.S. 5th Stryker Brigade heard a large explosion, which troops said was from a missile attack against a Taliban compound.
Thousands of U.S. and Afghan troops are taking part in the operation to wrest control of Marjah, 380 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul, away from the Taliban and restore government authority over the town, a major supply base of the insurgents and a center of their opium-poppy business. The British are mounting a parallel operation to the north.
Marjah Backgrounder
The Institute for the Study of War has an overview of the Marjah operation in Afghanistan for those interested in a bit of perspective - Operation Moshtarak: Preparing for the Battle of Marjah (PDF)
Michael Yon on Marjah Offensive
Yon has a brief update on his Facebook page.
Michael Yon 5/2 troops near Marjah have been in a lot of contact. Have killed some enemy (did not get numbers) and taken no casualties. Touch wood.
WaPo Marjah Operational Update
Strykers, Afghan soldiers dig for fight
NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan – U.S. and Afghan forces pushed Tuesday to the edge of the southern Afghan town of Marjah, poised to seize the major Taliban supply and drug-smuggling stronghold in hopes of building public support by providing aid and services once the insurgents are gone.
Instead of keeping the offensive secret, Americans have been talking about it for weeks, expecting the Taliban would flee. But the militants appear to be digging in, apparently believing that even a losing fight would rally supporters and sabotage U.S. plans if the battle proves destructive.
No date for the main attack has been announced but all signs indicate it will come soon. It will be the first major offensive since President Barack Obama announced in December that he was sending 30,000 reinforcements to Afghanistan, and will serve as a significant test of the new U.S. strategy for turning back the Taliban.
About 400 U.S. troops from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s 5th Stryker Brigade and about 250 Afghan soldiers moved into positions northeast of Marjah before dawn Tuesday as U.S. Marines pushed to the outskirts of the town. Automatic rifle fire rattled in the distance as the Marines dug in for the night with temperatures below freezing. The occasional thud of mortar shells and the sharp blast of rocket-propelled grenades fired by the Taliban pierced the air.
Full article at thenewstribune.com
The Associated Press reports on the new offensive in Afghanistan.
Progress in Afghanistan
For the Fifth Stryker Brigade Combat Team, deployed around the southern city of Kandahar, the mission is to preserve freedom of movement on the highways through southern Afghanistan. By doing so, they hope to fan to life the economic and political embers smoldering in roadside villages around Kandahar and restore credibility to the local government. [...]
Their mission is a key part of the new strategy for southern Afghanistan, where most of President Obama's 30,000 reinforcements are to deploy. By establishing a cordon of coalition forces around Kandahar, commanders hope to protect the people and the flow of commerce, while pulling troops away from less populated areas in the south. [...]
The Strykers came to their new highway mission after difficult months last summer and fall in the Argandab River Valley of Kandahar province, fertile farmland where the vehicles had difficulty maneuvering through narrow lanes and were pounded by roadside bombs. Twenty-one soldiers from the battalion that fought in the Argandab were killed through December, more than any other Army battalion in Afghanistan.
New article from The Washington Post in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Offensive
This is the first report I've seen re: a new offensive involving the 5/2 SBCT.
The US Army has launched a major operation in support of a planned US-Afghan attack on the largest Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan.About 400 US troops from the 5th Stryker Brigade were joined by 250 Afghan soldiers and their 30 Canadian trainers to move into positions north east of Taliban-controlled Marjah.
3-17 FA Transports Howitzers to FOB Price by Helicopter
Story by Pfc. Nathan Booth
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, completed the transfer of two M110 Howitzers from Kandahar Air Field to Forward Operating Base Price Jan. 16.
It may seem like a routine task, but when the transfer takes place by two CH-47 Chinook helicopters, things get a little more interesting.
"Well the first thing is that it enables us to keep the guns off of the road, so we won't be hit with [Improvised Explosive Devices] and become non-mission capable," said Staff Sgt. William Willoughby, assigned to A Battery, 3-17 FA, 5/2 ID (SBCT). "This is enabling us to stay mission capable and allowing us to move the guns at a faster speed than we would on the road."
Using helicopters during missions is new territory for 3-17 FA according to Willoughby.
"Most of us have done it three or four times here in country," Willoughby said. "It's relatively new for 3-17 to do Air Assault missions, but our guys trained well and we adapted quickly to the mission at hand."
One of the key members of the sling load team, Pfc. Michael Wall, a Bridgeport, Texas native assigned to Headquarters and Service Battery, 3-17 FA, 5/2 ID (SBCT), joined an all ready established team of soldiers from A Battery.
"It was one of those "Hey, you" details and I was the only one qualified to do it," Wall said. "My Battery is so undermanned right now having everyone pushed out, so I was the only one left to do it."
After learning the basics of sling load operations, Wall found a new passion for the duty.
"I can honestly say that I didn't know this detail was going to be fun," Wall said. "There aren't a lot of details out there that are fun, and this is one of my favorites and I've been on pretty much everything."
The operation was a success, and according to Capt. Jason Washburn, assigned to 3-17 FA, 5/2 ID (SBCT), saved 3-17 FA time and trouble.
"I think it's a great enabler," Washburn said. "It's much safer, based on the IED threat. Flying is safer than driving, right?"
(via DVIDS)
Stryker Soldiers Deliver
Story by Sgt. Chris Florence
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – Every week hundreds of letters and packages come into the Kandahar Airfield Post Office from family, friends and supporters of 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Soldiers to help close the distance between the pains of deployment and the comforts of home.
Receiving a letter or care package while deployed to a combat zone can be critical for Soldier morale. Cpl. Ryan Holden, the SBCT mailroom Non-Commissioned Officer-In-Charge can relate to his fellow infantrymen out in the fight. He knows how something as simple as mail can be so significant.
"I see my guys out there, and I know what they are going through," Holden said. "They come back to their tents hoping that there's a package on their bunk from their girlfriends, wives or families."
Memorial for 5/2 SBCT Soldier Kyle Wright
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - Family, friends, Service members and the Joint Base community will remember a Soldier who died while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with a ceremony to be conducted Friday, February 5, at 3 p.m. in the JBLM Lewis North Chapel.
Spc. Kyle J. Wright, 22, of Romeoville, Ill., died Jan. 13 at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Kandahar Province. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
Related:
Fallen Stryker soldier remembered - KOMO News
Memorial: Stryker soldier upbeat, had a way with words - The News Tribune
Yon Back With 5/2 SBCT
On his Facebook page Michael Yon says he is now back with the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan after a brief break in the States.
SGT Carlos E. Gill
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Carlos E. Gill, 25, of Fayetteville, N.C., died Jan. 26 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center of an illness. He was evacuated from Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, Dec. 19, 2009, where he was supporting combat operations. Gill was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Photos: Afghanistan, January 2010 - The Big Picture
The Big Picture photo blog takes its monthly look at Afghanistan. Click through for 42 photos.
Border Security and Shaking Hands
Story by Pfc. Casey Collier
SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan - As the Soldiers from Charlie Troop, 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment enter the town of Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, a group of excited children greet them with whoops and waves.
The sun is burning brightly in the noon-day sky as Soldiers turn the corner to the street where the District Center is located.
In front of the District Center are rows and rows of brightly-colored tractors and threshers. The fresh reds, oranges, greens, along with the azure blues of the implements stand out distinctly against the light beige and sand colors of the walls of the District Center where the implements are stored in a vacant lot.
As they enter the District Center compound, the Soldiers shake hands with the locals outside the gates.
Charlie Troop is succeeding.
Photos: Joint Combat Patrol
U.S. Soldiers from Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 23th Infantry Regiment provide security at checkpoint along Highway 1, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 16, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez)
Photos: Patrol Action in Helmand Province
U.S. Army Maj. Jose Santiago Ocasio Battalion, executive officer, 4th Battalion, 23th Infantry conducts a mission brief at Forward Operating Base Price, Helmand province, Afghanistan, Jan. 15, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez)
Photos: Aerial Reconnaissance by 5/2 SBCT
Chief Warrant Officer Scott Nance (left), assigned to 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, and 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division Commander, Col. Harry D. Tunnell IV (middle), prepare to do aerial reconnaissance of the Kandahar region, Jan. 16. (U.S. Army Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Shannon Wright, 82nd ACAB)
Photos: Village Assessment and Test Fire
U.S. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division test fire the M1128 Stryker Mobile Gun System in Hutal, Afghanistan, Jan. 21, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Dayton Mitchell)
Photos: Lashkar Gah Activity
Capt. Adam Weece, the public affairs officer for 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, discusses future plans for 5/2 ID (SBCT)'s operations in the Helmand province.
Photos: 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Soldiers Continue Operations
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dusten Asplin with 1st Platoon, Black Watch Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, directs two Stryker armored vehicles into position at a Kuchi Camp in Pir Zadeh, Hutal, Afghanistan, Jan. 12. U.S. and Afghan Soldiers provided humanitarian assistance to the nomadic people living here. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Dayton Mitchell/Released)
Photos from the Field, Kandahar
This edition features a story on service members from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division providing medical assistance and humanitarian aid to Afghans during a cooperative medical engagement in the Maiwan District, Houtou, Afghanistan.
There are heroes among us
According to his father, from the time he could walk, Glen wanted to be in the military. After he graduated from North Putnam High School in 2000, he headed to college. But after six months, he realized it wasn't for him. He got a job at Ballcamp in Plainfield, married Shawna and grew his family. He continued racing his car in the NHRA with his brother Phillip.
Eventually, he realized something was missing. He came to his father and told him to sit down.
"I've got something I've got to do," he said.
via news.google.com
New article from The Banner-Graphic.
Afghan, Coalition Forces Foil Taliban IED Efforts in Arghandab
Story by Sgt. Stephen Decatur
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan- Afghan and coalition forces conducted a major clearing operation Jan. 10 in the Arghandab river valley near Kandahar, Afghanistan. The objective of Operation Fazilat was to attack the Taliban's improvised explosive device capabilities and establish a permanent coalition presence in a section of the valley. The mission followed up on the success of Operation Oaqab, which recently cleared other parts of the Arghandab near the village of Charbagh.
About a battalion sized force including companies of 3rd Kandak, 1st Brigade, 205th Corps of the Afghan National Army, elements of the Afghan National Police, U.S. Paratroopers from 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division and Canadian mentor teams from the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry cleared an area that included the villages of Jelaran and Rajan Qala.
Afghan National Security Forces and coalition troops discovered hundreds of pounds of ordnance, including improvised explosive devices, anti-personnel mines and homemade explosives. Soldiers also found a "night letter" the Taliban had delivered to terrorize the locals.
1st Sgt. Amonullah of 2nd Company, 3rd Kandak led a group of Soldiers from his unit during the operation. Amonullah said that his Soldiers' performance is building confidence in the ANA.
Video: Stryker Convoy
Soldiers with the 8th Squadron, 1st Calvary Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division on a Stryker convoy from Kandahar Air Field to Forward Operating Base Spin Baldak in Afghanistan.
SPC Kyle J. Wright
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Kyle J. Wright, 22, of Romeoville, Ill., died Jan. 13 at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Kandahar province. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
22-year-old first Fort Lewis soldier killed this year - TheNewsTribune.com
Romeoville soldier killed in Afghanistan - Plainfield Sun
Fallen Stryker soldier remembered - KOMO News
Memorial: Stryker soldier upbeat, had a way with words - The News Tribune
Memorial set for Romeoville soldier - Joliet Herald News
Michael Yon Dispatch From Afghanistan
Yon recently spent some time with an artillery battery from the 5/2 SBCT in Southern Afghainstan.
Sometimes the crews fire “H & I” or “terrain denial” missions. Harassment and Interdiction missions are fired at terrain known to be used only by the enemy at certain times, and so anytime the enemy feels like rolling the dice, they can move into that terrain. Such missions also provide influence for “shaping” the battlefield. If the commander is trying to flush the enemy into a blunder—maybe an ambush—or maybe to cut them off from an escape route, he can have the guns pound into a gorge, say, that is used as an enemy route. Or maybe he just tries to persuade the enemy to take a route where we have sniper teams waiting. The battery can be used in many ways that do not include direct attacks on enemy formations.
Photos: 5/2 SBCT Humanitarian Mission in Afghanistan
DVIDS has new photos of the 5/2 SBCT.
U.S. Soldiers from 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and members of the Afghan national police provided medical assistance and humanitarian aid to the Kuchi people living here.
Ft. Lewis Memorial for SSG David Gutierrez
KOMO News provides coverage of yesterday's memorial.
FORT LEWIS, Wash. -- His platoon remembers him as a man with a big heart that never quit.Staff Sgt. David Gutierrez was killed Christmas Day when a rooftop bomb exploded while he was on patrol at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan.
"I've come to realize that his story is not the story of one man, but the story of our battalion," Cpt. Drew Schaub said during a memorial service for Gutierrez on Monday.
Related: Fort Lewis mourns its latest loss in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Stryker Articles from The News Tribune
The News Tribune has a number of new articles and blog entries regarding the Ft. Lewis Stryker brigades.
- Soldiers face enduring threat of IEDs
- Fort Lewis mourns its latest loss in Afghanistan
- It's like an anti-MRAP
- Among the people
Kiowas Provide Re-enlistment Support for Stryker Soldier
Story by Pfc. Nathan Booth
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – Sgt. John Bulford, an Akron, Ohio, native assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, re-enlisted on Forward Operating Base Frontenac, Afghanistan, Dec. 26 ,with the help of a trusted battle buddy he'd never met before.
In the first two weeks of December Bulford, a sniper team leader for C Company, 1-17 Infantry, defeated several insurgent attempts to emplace improvised explosive devices by guiding air Scout Weapons Teams onto the targets. The SWTs, comprised of two OH-58D Kiowa helicopters, allowed Bulford to accomplish his mission to secure the roads with lethal precision, at a distance beyond the range of his team.
Naturally, two weeks later, when he asked those Kiowa pilots to administer his oath of re-enlistment, they agreed.
"We were conducting route reconnaissance until we were cleared in to the FOB for the ceremony. His company had assembled at the FOB, so we came in and landed," said Chief Warrant Officer Dave Ginn, assigned to Crusader Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade. "While my sister ship was refueling I noticed his company had assembled so I took the helicopter right up to them and landed. I knew the guys would really like that."
Update on Spc. Ryan Peplinski
A local newspaper has a nice update on a Stryker soldier who was seriously injured twice in Afghanistan.
Army Spc. Ryan Peplinski is back in America after he was seriously injured a second time in his second tour of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom.The Marion Township native and 2003 Hartland High School graduate was sent to Fort Lewis, Wash., on Nov. 18 following an attack on his 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team on Oct. 23 in Afghanistan.
In the attack, his 40-ton Stryker vehicle was blown up by a pressure-plated improvised explosive device, killing driver Kyle Coumas of California, and knocking Peplinski and Platoon Sgt. Robert Montez of Texas unconscious for "at least" five minutes.
It was the second time in three months Peplinski had suffered serious injuries — including two concussions — in battle. The first, back in September, earned him a Purple Heart.
Brigade Holds Memorial for 32 Lost in 2009
Story by Pfc. Nathan Booth
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan - Three memorial fires provided the only light during the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division's "Tribute To Our Fallen Soldiers," Jan. 1, on Kandahar Air Field.
The fires represented the lives of 32 Stryker soldiers who have passed away since the brigade arrived in Afghanistan in July, 2009. The brigade's first casualties occurred, Aug. 18, 2009, as two soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment were killed by a land mine during a dismounted patrol in the Arghandab River Valley. The last of the 32, Staff Sgt. David Gutierrez, was killed Christmas day by another enemy explosive device.
Col. Harry Tunnell IV, commander of 5/2 SBCT, spoke first at the ceremony, urging the brigade's soldiers to never forget their fallen comrades.
"While it is important to know the circumstances in which these men fought and died, it is even more important to remember how they lived," Tunnell said. "We have all stood at memorial ceremonies during which leaders and friends highlight that the fallen will not be forgotten. This remembrance is one way to fulfill that pledge."
Successful Security Operations Lead to Development in Arghandab River Valley
22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Six months ago, the Arghandab River Valley, home to approximately 70,000 Afghans, lacked the security needed for aid agencies to begin governance or development projects. But now, the determined, combined efforts of ISAF and Afghan national security forces are paying off for the people of the valley.
Soldiers from the U.S. 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, along with members of the Canadian Operational Mentor and Liaison Team, ANSF, Special Operations Forces, and ISAF air units, have collaborated in successful operations designed to protect Afghans from the insurgents.
"It has been a total team effort," said Col. Harry Tunnell IV, commander of the 5th Stryker Brigade.
Despite frequent attacks by insurgents in the Arghandab Valley, troops from ANSF and ISAF pushed ahead with the "shape, clear, hold, build" approach to counter-insurgency operations. Ground and air units carried out operations to protect the population in the area and prevent further insurgent attempts to disrupt development within the region.
Tooryalai Wesa, the Governor of Kandahar province, held a shura on November 5 to announce the introduction of the Afghanistan Vouchers for Increased Production in Agriculture program in Arghandab District. The AVIPA program is designed to improve farming techniques, modernize agriculture equipment and deliver work projects that employ local citizens.
"The most apparent indicator of success is that Arghandab District was the first area that was announced in Kandahar province for the USAID [United States Agency for International Development] AVIPA program," said Col. Tunnell.
Since the announcement, initial agriculture assessments have been made, training of local farmers has started, and local work projects have begun in the fertile area of the Arghandab River Valley.
With ISAF and ANSF counter-insurgency operations preparing the way for development, progress can safely come to the people of Arghandab District.
(via DVIDS)
With the 2-1 INF in Southern Afghanistan
The Washington Times has a long article about the 2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
HUTAL, Afghanistan | Villagers stared at the Americans as they made their way into a small bazaar where goat meat hung from hooks amid stands of used clothing, pots, pans and various trinkets.For the Afghans, the big Americans in full battle gear looked like beings from another planet. At each turn of the road, soldiers on the point knelt on the ground, automatic weapons ready. The men and women on the security walk were staggered in zigzag formation to keep casualties low in case Taliban sharpshooters were in the area and taking aim. Capt. Casey Thoreen, 30, the commander of the unit, monitored his radio for intelligence.
Fifteen minutes later, the unit arrived at a local clinic. It was empty and ominous looking with an open gate. Villagers in the bazaar began to leave. Shopkeepers closed their shops, throwing tarps over their goods. Children who had been cadging the troops for candy and pencils scattered.
"A suicide bomber is in the area," Capt. Thoreen said after receiving a radioed intelligence report. "We've got to move, now!"
Update: Injured Sryker Soldier
The Miami Herald profiles Sgt. Robert Samuel of the 5/2 SBCT as he recovers from injuries at Walter Reed.
Army Sgt. Robert Samuel knew he had lost much of his leg almost as soon as the bomb went off beneath his armored combat vehicle. Bloodied and dazed, he asked his buddies to grab what was left as they yanked him out of the wrecked Stryker.One just shook his head.
``The medic said he didn't think I'd make it,'' Samuel, 29, a soft-spoken Miami native, said of the injuries he sustained during the attack in November in the desert outside Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. ``He figured I'd lost too much blood.''
Video: Stryker Unit Patrolling Arghandab Valley
B-roll of Soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team working to provide security and improve the way of life for villagers in the Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan. Scenes include Soldiers walking along a road, Soldiers taking cover after hearing gun fire, Soldiers running along a bridge and Soldiers speaking with local Afghans. Produced by Sgt. Randall Pike.
SSG David H. Gutierrez
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. David H. Gutierrez, 35, of San Fransico, Ca., died Dec. 25 at Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his dismounted patrol with an improvised explosive device in Howz-e Madad. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends, and fellow soldiers.
Related:
Soldier who grew up in San Jose killed in Afghanistan on Christmas - San Jose Mercury News
Holiday Hiatus
I plan on taking the next week off due to travel plans for the holiday. In my absence be sure to check the following sources for news regarding the Stryker troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- FOB Tacoma - Two journalists from The News Tribune are in Iraq to cover soldiers from Ft. Lewis.
- Northwest Military - JM Simpson is with the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
- Michael Yon - Independent journalist currently embedded with the 5/2 in Afghanistan. Also check his Facebook page for micro-updates.
- DVIDS - Here are the search results for Stryker-related stories, photos and videos from public affairs units across both fronts.
- SBN Facebook Page - the fans of our page do a great job of posting any stories that we might miss.
Happy Holidays to all of you. Check back in a week or so for updates.
Todd
Profile of 1-17 INF
Eric Schmitt of The New York Times was with Adm. Mullen when he visited FOB Frontenac and has a rather lengthy piece about the 1-17 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FRONTENAC, Afghanistan — The 21 names inscribed on the white concrete memorial in front of the First Battalion, 17th Infantry headquarters here tell a grim story: the soldiers killed in five months of battling the Taliban in southern Afghanistan.No battalion in the United States Army in Afghanistan has suffered more fatalities since 9/11, and the soldiers here at this base about 20 miles north of Kandahar are not even halfway through their yearlong tour. [...]
“Measuring success is awfully hard,” said Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann, 43, a West Point graduate who is the battalion commander. “It’s one small incident at a time.”
Mullen Visits Strykers in Afghanistan
Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, recently paid a visit to some Stryker soldiers in Afghanistan.
"We can tactically win," the admiral said. "But if we're killing local civilians we're going to strategically lose."He didn't have to argue the point. There were nods in the crowd. A Stryker Company he was speaking to had taken more casualties than any unit since 9/11 when kicking this new strategy into high gear – 21 KIA so far, one of the largest losses borne by a single unit in this entire war.
But the Stryker guys had been through this before. One told us how they'd been at the frontline of counterinsurgency in Iraq, and they'd seen it turn things around after initially being skeptical the plan would work.
"We've closed the gap on human intel," Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann told us, ticking off what he saw as gains tallied against soldiers lost. He told a ragged group of reporters traveling with chairman Mullen that the intel from Afghans, which started flowing once locals were convinced the Americans would stay, meant his guys had been able to sweep up caches of weapons and stockpiles of explosives at a record rate.
Photos: Secretary of the Army Visits Afghanistan
DVIDS has a new album of photos featuring the 5/2 SBCT.
Group photograph of U.S. Soldiers from 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division and the Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 16.
Photos: 5th Brigade Photo Album
Northwest Military has a new album of photos featuring the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan. The photos were taken by JM Simpson, who is currently embedded with the brigade.
Northwest Military in Afghanistan
J.M. Simpson of Northwest Military is currently embedded with the 5/2 SBCT. There are five dispatches up right now on the site.
Michael Yon Dispatch
Yon has a new dispatch embedded with the 5/2 SBCT, "Arghandab & The Battle for Kandahar".
Afghan elections were scheduled for 20 August 2009. With the Canadians effectively neutralized by enemy resistance, the 5/2 Stryker Brigade combat team was tasked to operate in Arghandab to help facilitate voting. The Brigade Commander, Colonel Harry Tunnell, had little intel on the region. (Though I have found 5/2 soldiers reading and discussing everything they can find on the Soviet experience.) The enemy started by making small bombs but those were not effective against Strykers, and so they kept upping the charges to a thousand pounds or more. Enough to destroy any vehicle on the planet.Early in the tour, two soldiers were killed about twenty minutes apart by IEDs. Their buddies “knew” that the soldiers had been killed, but the bodies could not be found. The U.S. military will practically stop the war to look for a missing soldier. Every available asset was sent to Arghandab and they gained huge intelligence and flooded the place for the first time. Remains were found and the men joined America’s honor roll. The Taliban suffered humiliation.
The enemy is not defeated, but our people were now operating among them. U.S. casualties continued during the next three months but there are indications that the enemy is today in disarray. The enemy became afraid to sleep indoors where they might be killed by an airstrike—or by U.S. soldiers, who have a tendency to burst in during periods of maximum REM sleep. The Taliban were terrorized and began sleeping in the orchards at night, rigging homes with explosives, which they arm at night. (I’ve heard similar reports from Pakistan. Pakistanis have said that drone strikes are demoralizing and terrorizing the Taliban, and though drone strikes are controversial, some Pakistanis want to see the strikes increased.)
Soldier Gets Rocked by Stone Throwing Afghan Crowd
Story by Sgt. Chris Florence
KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan - "Sticks and stones may break my bones" is an old adage that has new meaning for Sgt. Kathryn Burke, 402nd Brigade Support Battalion, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Burke was manning the gunner's hatch of a Mine Resistant Armor Protected vehicle in a resupply convoy bound for Forward Operating Base Frontenac when she gained her new insight.
After a few convoy briefs and a few cigarettes, Burke climbed into the MRAP and took up her place in the hatch as gunner for the first time. The rest of the soldiers loaded into the vehicles and the convoy moved outside the wire.
Afghanistan's limited highways cause convoys to frequently travel the same routes. Highway 1 goes straight through the heart of Kandahar City, capital of the Kandahar province and home to nearly 500,000 Afghans. This particular day was the beginning of Eid al Ahda, the festival marking the culmination of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca and commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham. The streets were crammed with locals who were on holiday from work and school.
Photos: "Sole for Souls"
DVIDS has a new album featuring photos of the 4-23 INF, 5/2 SBCT on a humanitarian mission. Description:
U.S. Soldiers with 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, prepare to distribute shoes, Boragay Village, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Dec. 4. U.S. Soldiers are conducting a humanitarian relief project "Sole for Souls," providing Afghan children with shoes. (Photo by: Tech. Sgt. Efren Lopez)
Trying to Build Trust in Afghan Government
Army Times reporter Sean Naylor has an embedded report with the 2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
The situation captured in a microcosm what U.S. officers here say is their greatest challenge: In a war in which they are trying to build popular support for the Afghan government, that government is almost totally absent from the lives of the population here in Maywand district, at the western edge of Kandahar province.“The Afghan government does nothing for me or for the village,” said Sher Mohammed, a 22-year-old mechanic, through an interpreter. Asked what services he would like to see the government provide, he ticked off a list: fixing the irrigation systems for the fields, installing electricity, providing more schools and establishing security.
Michael Yon Dispatch from Afghanistan
Yon has filed his first dispatch after embedding with the 5/2 SBCT.
Photos: Joint Patrol in Shabila Kalan
DVIDS has a new photo album featuring the 4-23 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
U.S. Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division conduct a joint patrol with Afghan national army soldiers and Afghan national policemen in Shabila Kalan, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Nov. 30, 2009.
Slideshow: 2-1 INF on Patrol
22nd MPAD put together the following slideshow featuring the 2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
Photos: Soldiers Patrol Kandahar Provice, Meet With Locals
DVIDS has an album with 16 photos of the 5/2 SBCT. Description:
U.S. Soldiers with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment conduct a dismounted patrol, Rajankala, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Nov. 27. The U.S. Army operates from combat outposts to add flexibility to operations in their sectors.
HooahMail means speedy delivery of letters to Afghanistan
[Thought this might be of interest to the families of the 5/2 SBCT. Thanks to Andrew for the link. - Ed.]
By C. Todd Lopez, Army News Service
The Army's HooahMail program makes it possible for friends and family members to put a paper letter and photograph into the hands of their loved ones in Afghanistan, in some cases, on the same day it's sent.
The one-year pilot program is scheduled to begin Dec. 1 and makes use of the Internet combined with physical mail delivery to create a hybrid mail system that can get letters into the hands of Soldiers in remote locations much faster than regular mail delivery alone.
"This gives Soldiers actual printed correspondence that is sent from their family members that they can take out on a mission with them and read and reread again," said Bill Hilsher, Army postal program manager.
Family members that want to send a letter and a photograph to a Soldier in Afghanistan would log into the program's Web site at www.hooahmail.us. There, they type in their message and attach a digital photo. They also add delivery information for their Soldier, as though they were addressing a paper envelope.
Their electronic letter is sent via the Internet to one of 10 locations in Afghanistan where special equipment will automatically print it, fold it, stuff it into an envelope, address it, and seal it. The sealed envelopes are then placed into the regular intra-theater APO mail delivery system.
Michael Yon with Strykers in Afghanistan
Independent journalist Michael Yon is now embedded with the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan. You can track his longer dispatches on his website, or get more micro-updates via his Twitter feed. Should be interesting.
Impact of Deployment on Families
NPR interviewed Georgie Hanlin, the wife of an officer with the 5/2 SBCT, about the effects of multiple deployments on military families.
Stryker Related Surge Articles
- Troops in Afghanistan take in Obama's speech - Stars and Stripes
- Afghan Journal | A wounded West Point graduate returns on a big night - Seattle Times
- Local troops would like some help in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Video: Learning the Terrain
Video about 8-1 CAV, 5/2 SBCT learning both the geographical and human terrain in Spin Boldak, Afghanistan by traveling great distances in order to connect with local people. Produced by Ruth Owen.
(via DVIDS)
Brigade Awaits Decision on Troops
An embedded report from the Washington Times.
A Washington Times reporter and photographer spent much of October - the deadliest month for American troops there thus far - with U.S. Army soldiers in southern Afghanistan, who spoke openly of the need for more boots on the ground, the more and sooner the better."We need more troops," said Army Staff Sgt. Daniel Paul Rabidou, 24, stationed at a small combat outpost in the Maywand district. "It's just as simple as that."
The Blackwatch unit - Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, with the 5th Stryker Brigade - arrived at the outpost Sept. 13. Since their arrival, they have lost three soldiers and two civil-affairs officers. Bombings have destroyed three of their four Stryker vehicles.
Photos: Monitor the Village
DVIDS has five photos of soldiers from 2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT during operations in Afghanistan.
Photos: Thanksgiving Visits to Afghanistan
U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and actor Gary Sinise both visited Stryker troops in Afghnaistan.
Thanksgiving R&R
A local paper catches up with an officer from the 5/2 SBCT home on leave.
Johnson, 23, described his first months of work in a remote Army camp in southeastern Afghanistan, where he leads a 40-soldier platoon on foot patrols, often at night, trying at the same time to combat Taliban fighters and engage Afghan civilians on friendly terms.“We check every single house, every single orchard,” said Johnson, clad in a Harley-Davidson T-shirt and jeans in his College Township living room. “We’re checking for weapons caches, trying to make contact with any enemy that wants to fight us and check for bomb-making materials especially.”
Johnson’s is one of four platoons in Charlie Company, a 170-member force that is part of the 5th Stryker Brigade in the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division and among the 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan prosecuting the war against the Taliban.
Impact of Afghanistan Surge on Strykers
The Wall Street Journal has an article describing the potential impact of additional troops in Afghanistan.
As Gen. McChrystal's team scrambles to reverse Taliban gains in Kandahar, they will also dispatch thousands of American soldiers to secure the major highways that pass through the city to Pakistan and southern Afghanistan.As soon as this weekend, officers expect to order the fast-moving armored Stryker Brigade to devote itself full time to securing roads plagued by hidden bombs and illegal checkpoints run by insurgents, bandits and corrupt police. [...]
The Stryker Brigade will have road engineers and intelligence teams on board, and will likely use high-tech surveillance equipment to try to ensure that insurgents don't plant explosives or extort money from passersby, officials say.
Photos: Medical Civlian Affairs Patrol
DVIDS has an album of photos featuring the 4-23 INF, 5/2 SBCT.
Embedded with 2-1 INF
An Army Times reporter is currently embedded with the 2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT in Southern Afghanistan.
HUTAL, Afghanistan — The denizens of this dusty market town had never seen anything like the sight that greeted them at midday Oct. 12.The previous day, a handful of insurgents in a nearby village had made the mistake of shooting at a pair of U.S. OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters. Stryker-borne infantry rushed to the scene and, together with the helicopters, engaged the Taliban, killing one, wounding another, who got away, and detaining three more.
Now, rolling slowly down the main street of the bazaar, came five Stryker vehicles with the weapons captured in that fight tied to their fronts on full display for the locals.
SPC Joseph M. Lewis
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Joseph M. Lewis, 26, of Terrell, Texas died on Nov. 17 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Bomb kills Fort Lewis soldier - The News Tribune
Man fulfilled a childhood ambition by becoming a soldier - Star-Telegram.com
Memorial: Fort Lewis honors Spc. Joseph M. Lewis - The News Tribune
Stryker Memorial
Ft. Lewis held a memorial yesterday for two 5/2 SBCT soldiers killed in Iraq. The News Tribune provided coverage.
[I]nsurgents detonated a bomb underneath their 20-ton Stryker, killing Spc. Aaron Seth Aamot and Spc. Gary Lee Gooch Jr., both 22 years old.Hundreds gathered at the North Fort Chapel on Thursday to mourn the 27th and 28th losses from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Aamot, a soldier from Custer, near Bellingham, was remembered for his deep Christian faith and deep love of military history. Gooch, a radio telephone operator from central Florida, was remembered for having a wicked sense of humor.
The men served with the hardest-hit unit in the brigade: 2nd Platoon of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment. Their unit has lost 11 soldiers since July, fighting in the Arghandab Valley of Kandahar province.
Related:
Fort Lewis remembers two soldiers from a hard-hit platoon - Seattle Times
Mechanics Keep Task Force Legion Rolling
Story by Pvt. Luke Rollins, 22nd MPAD
FORWARD OPERATING BASE RAMROD, Afghanistan – This year marks the first time the sands of southern Afghanistan have seen the tire treads of Army Strykers. The 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division's campaign in the Kandahar province depends upon the vehicles freely roaming the desert, disrupting counterinsurgency patterns and enemy supply chains.
While the Soldiers inside the Strykers score victories against enemy forces in the Afghan countryside, behind the scenes teams of mechanics work to keep the motor pool at full strength.
At Ramrod, the task of repairing not only Strykers but all the vehicles attached to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, falls to the team of mechanics and other repairmen from Combat Repair Team 1, 402nd Brigade Support Battalion.
"On a daily basis we have anywhere from seven to 10 vehicles for different reasons," said Chief Warrant Officer Heriberto Rivera, a technician at the Ramrod motor pool and battalion maintenance chief.
The two main types of repairs are scheduled repairs, such as annual and semiannual services, and unscheduled repairs, which are the damages vehicles see outside the wire, said Rivera.
Task Force Legion Arrives in Maywand District
Story by Pvt. Luke Rollins
FORWARD OPERATING BASE RAMROD, Afghanistan – Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, have spent the first months of their deployment introducing themselves to the people of the Kandahar region and its terrain.
2/1 Soldiers, part of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, are patrolling along Afghanistan's Highway 1 to prevent the insurgent flow of men, weapons and equipment.
The mission has seen success in its early stages, said Capt. Matt Quiggle, commander of Alpha Troop, on loan from the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment of 5th SBCT.
"Along the highway there have been a reduced number of attacks. We've had success partnering with the Afghan national army and [Afghan] national police, and meeting the local leaders," said Quiggle.
Quiggle's troops and other units have been pushing north into areas that haven't seen ISAF forces in a long time. The introduction of Strykers to the region has allowed ISAF forces to disrupt what traditionally has been an insurgent stronghold.
"The terrain here is very challenging," he said. "Getting to the villages is stage one. I think that's our biggest challenge right now."
Once there, Quiggle has been meeting with village leaders in an effort to make the Coalition presence known and to find out who's doing what in those towns.
"[We'll] continue pushing north into the mountains as long as it disrupts the [insurgents] and gets the locals involved in that process. We're here to stay, and we're here to provide them security."
(via DVIDS)
Michael Yon to Embed With Strykers in Afghanistan
According to a new update on his website, Michael Yon is headed back to Afghanistan. Yon tends to embed for long periods of time, so it will be nice to have additional first-hand reporting re: the 5/2 SBCT.
As of today, this is the first set of paperwork for Afghanistan. Minutes ago, I completed and emailed these forms to Afghanistan for an embed with the Stryker Brigade. Looking forward to getting back with the infantry.
Embedded Report With 5/2 SBCT
Sara Carter of the Washington Times has an article featuring the 2-1 INF, 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
KASHK-E-NOKHOWD, Afghanistan | Army Capt. Casey Thoreen wiped the last bit of sleep from his eyes before the sun rose over his isolated combat outpost.His soldiers did the same as they checked and double-checked their weapons and communications equipment. Ahead was a dangerous foot patrol into the heart of Taliban territory.
"Has anyone seen the [Afghan National Army] guys?" asked Capt. Thoreen, 30, the commander of Blackwatch Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment with the 5th Stryker Brigade. "Are they not showing up?"
4-23 INF Operates in Zabul
Stars & Stripes reports on the 4-23 INF, 5/2 SBCT as it operates in Shah Joy District, Afghanistan.
SHAH JOY DISTRICT, Afghanistan — An old man approached U.S. soldiers and Afghan army troops and told them he knew of a madrassa where it was rumored that Taliban fighters had indoctrinated young men to become suicide bombers.U.S. soldiers saw the tip as a huge break. Shortly after they had moved into the area in August, a Taliban suicide bomber had struck during a patrol in the Shah Joy bazaar, killing two civilians and wounding 12 soldiers.
The discovery of the Taliban religious school was the biggest find during a three-day operation in late October in Zabul province’s Chineh villages, which U.S. troops described as an important Taliban stronghold. No weapons or explosives were found, but graffiti inside the mud-brick compound indicated that the building had served as a Taliban safe house.
In a remote region where U.S. and Afghan security forces are scarce, villagers have largely thrown their lot in with the Taliban, either by choice or necessity. The madrassa tip was a small sign, the Americans hoped, that those sentiments may be beginning to shift.
Previous:
U.S. forces chafe under challenges of working with Afghan forces-| Stars and Stripes
NPR Follow Up
NPR has posted a follow up (article, audio, photos) to its article the other day about the 5/2 SBCT.
It's still pitch black on Nov. 6 when the Stryker armored vehicles roll out of their hilltop compound in Afghanistan's Arghandab Valley, a Taliban stronghold outside the southern city of Kandahar. The soldiers of the Army's 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Lewis, Wash., know the Taliban is out there, watching, so they are using the cover of darkness to begin this recovery mission.The day before, a massive bomb tore apart an armored vehicle, killing two soldiers of the 2nd Platoon. Now, the troops are heading out of their outpost to recover their still-smoldering Stryker.
Pvt. Dylan Higden bounces along inside the tight crew compartment of his Stryker. Along the way, he talks about his unit — and the attacks it has endured — in the first three months of its yearlong deployment.
Previous:
With the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan
With the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan
NPR has an article, audio report and photo album featuring the 5/2 SBCT in Southern Afghanistan. The reporters were with a platoon as it was attacked by an IED that killed two members of the unit - Spc. Aaron Aamot and Spc. Gary Gooch.
One of the most lethal areas in Afghanistan for U.S. troops is the Arghandab Valley, a Taliban stronghold just outside the southern city of Kandahar. The Army's 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., patrols the area, facing the risk of huge roadside bombs.One platoon already has lost 11 soldiers, and several more were seriously wounded — about one-third of the force.
One day last week, more bad news crackled over the radio: a Taliban attack and casualties in 2nd Platoon.
Stryker Memorial
The following are articles regarding the memorial held today at Ft. Lewis for seven soldiers from the 5/2 SBCT.
- Biden Offers Condolences for Slain Stryker Squadron - DVIDS
- 7 fallen Stryker Brigade soldiers honored at Fort Lewis - Seattle Times
- Biden calls 7 Fort Lewis soldiers 'fallen angels' - The News Tribune
A Husband at War
Georgie Hanlin, whose husband is deployed with the 5/2 SBCT, wrote a Veterans Day editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Returning to my hometown of San Francisco for this year that my husband is deployed to Afghanistan with the Stryker Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division, I am quite aware of the dichotomy of my experience: That is, of being an Army wife on a military base versus being an Army wife in a city where the only thing remotely military is the preserved Presidio, the Army post that closed in the 1994 and is now a national park.On a military base, everywhere you turn, you see uniforms that constantly remind you, even on your busiest day, that there are people training for war. Your neighbors, who might be complete strangers, are easy to confide in as they know your life: They've moved as much as you, they've worried as much as you, they've sacrificed as much as you, they've celebrated as much as you. The emotions behind each deployment and its homecoming cannot even begin to be captured on television.
I think about aspects of this war each day. Will additional troops sent to Afghanistan be enough influence to strengthen the Afghan government? Can the Taliban be reduced so the country can attempt its own democracy? Will my husband return safely? Admittedly, my questions don't always fall in that order.
Parting Thoughts
Hal Berton of the Seattle Times shares his thoughts as he leaves Kabul to return to the US.
Sometimes I have been discouraged by what I have seen here, and, on some occasions, I've been overwhelmed. [...]I have plenty of doubts about what will happen in the months and years ahead to this country. Will it stay a single country or eventually splinter apart? How long should troops from the United States and other NATO nations be the glue that binds this nation? [...]
As I return home, the Fort Lewis-based soldiers I stayed with in the Arghandab Valley in the southern province of Kandahar continue to shoulder a disproportionate share of the losses. [...]
Still, there are some signs of progress.
SPC Gary L. Gooch Jr.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Gary L. Gooch Jr., 22, of Ocala, FL, died Nov. 5 in Jelewar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Gooch was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Two more from Fort Lewis confirmed killed in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Ocala soldier dies in Afghanistan attack - Orlando Sentinel
Fallen soldier was to return for Thanksgiving - Star Banner
Soldiers killed by bomb remembered - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldier killed in Afghanistan buried at Arlington - washingtonpost.com
SPC Aaron S. Aamot
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Aaron S. Aamot, 22, of Custer, WA, died Nov. 5 in Jelewar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Aamot was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
'Faith will help us out,' Fort Lewis soldier's family says - TheNewsTribune.com
Ferndale High grad served with Fort Lewis' 5th Stryker Brigade - Bellingham Herald
Two more from Fort Lewis confirmed killed in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Custer son, soldier laid to rest - Bellingham Herald
Ferndale mayor declares Nov. 14 Aaron Aamot Day - Bellingham Herald
Soldiers killed by bomb remembered - The News Tribune
Update: Injured Stryker Soldier
The News Tribune has a long article and photo album featuring Lt. Dan Berschinski, who was seriously injured in Afghanistan is now recovering at Walter Reed. He is a member of the 5/2 SBCT.
WASHINGTON – No one knows how long the bomb lay under the packed earth of southern Afghanistan. How many times had the soldiers stepped over it? Each member of Lt. Dan Berschinski’s platoon had, at least twice. The Fort Lewis officer figures he walked by the area two times with no problems.But the bomb lay there, inches below the dirt path. It was likely made of plastic and triggered by a pressure switch.
Bombs like this one kill and maim indiscriminately. It didn’t target Berschinski on Aug. 19 because he was an officer or because he was leading a Stryker platoon on foot into a Taliban-controlled area. Nor did other enemy explosives pick out his comrades from the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Of the 26 men from the brigade reported killed to date, all but one died in bomb blasts, and many others have been wounded by bombs.
Berschinski, like the others, just happened to be in the wrong place. And it rendered him a disabled war veteran just a month into his first deployment.
Cordon and Knock in Afghanistan: Combat Advisors See ANA in Action
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Afghan Soldiers in armored humvees led a combined convoy of Afghans and Americans down Highway 1 in the early morning. As dawn broke they passed an Afghan national police checkpoint and dismounted by an ANA combat outpost. Their objective was Shah Hasan Kheyl, a village about a kilometer off the road.
Starting in August 2009, small embedded training teams dispersed throughout Afghanistan started getting replaced with combat units from 4th Brigade Combat Team (Task Force Fury), 82nd Airborne Division to serve as combat advisors. The battalion-sized operation involved several companies of the Afghan National Army, their combat advisors, the ANP, and a company from 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
It was the first large-scale mission conducted by 3rd Kandak, 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps of the ANA in conjunction with their new combat advisors from 4th BCT, and was aimed at increasing ANA presence in the village and surrounding communities in Zabul province, Afghanistan.
As the Soldiers made the uphill journey to the village they spread out across multiple avenues of approach up terraces and into orchards. Green grass and trees by the Tarnak river made the area look like a completely different country from the broad desert they just came from.
Updates on SSG James Clark
The family of SSG James Clark, a 5/2 SBCT soldier who was seriously injured in Afghanistan, has set up a CaringBridge website to keep people updated during his recovery at Walter Reed.
On October 15, 2009, while on patrol in Kandahar, the stryker he was in hit a large IED. The explosion picked the stryker up off the ground. The driver landed on top of James. His helmet was blown off. The stryker driver landed on top of him. He was positive at the time that he had lost both of his legs. But he never lost conciousness. He was instructing everyone what to do - he put a tourniquet on his right leg, and got another soldier to do the same on the left leg. He made sure the area was secured. He made sure a helicopter was coming for him. And he reminded them to bring both of his legs with him on the flight.
PFC Brian R. Bates, Jr.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Brian R. Bates, Jr., 20, of Gretna, La., died Oct. 27 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Fort Lewis Memorial: Going back to Louisiana - The News Tribune
Deadly Mission
Jonathon Burch with Reuters has a long article on the mission in Afghanistan that took the lives of seven soldiers from the 5/2 SBCT.
The mission was simple.Some 20 U.S. soldiers were to patrol a riverbed in the dead of night, camp until morning, and provide backup to Afghan troops and their Canadian mentors in a clearing operation in Chahar Bagh village, an insurgent hotbed on the outskirts of Kandahar City.
Less than 12 hours later, seven of the soldiers and their Afghan interpreter would be dead, killed by a massive homemade bomb buried deep under pebbles along the dried-out riverbed.
PFC Christopher I. Walz
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Christopher I. Walz, 25, of Vancouver, WA, died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
President meets families of Vancouver soldier, others killed in Afghanistan - OregonLive.com
Vancouver soldier killed in Afghanistan - Columbian.com
Slain soldier's family returns to Vancouver - The Columbian
SPC Jared D. Stanker
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Jared D. Stanker, 22, of Evergreen Park, Ill, died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Soldier from Evergreen Park killed in Afghanistan - Chicago Tribune
SGT Patrick O. Williamson
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Patrick O. Williamson, 24, of Broussard, LA, died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Family mourns NI soldier - The Daily Advertiser
Local soldier dies in combat - The Daily Iberian
Soldier to make final journey - The Advertiser
SGT Issac B. Jackson
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Issac B. Jackson, 27, of Plattsburg, Mo, died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Plattsburg soldier killed in Afghanistan - Kansas City Star
Plattsburg soldier honored and mourned - Photo Gallery - KansasCity.com
SGT Dale R. Griffin
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Dale R. Griffin, 29, of Terre Haute, IN, died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Coming home: Sgt. Dale Griffin returns to USA - Terre Haute Tribune Star
Somber return - Roanoke Times
SGT Fernando Delarosa
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Fernando Delarosa, 24, of Alamo, Texas, of South Ozone Park, N.Y., died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Alamo serviceman killed in Afghanistan - TheMonitor.com
SSG Luis M. Gonzalez
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Luis M. Gonzalez, 27, of South Ozone Park, N.Y., died Oct. 27 in Arghandab Valley, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Queens Loses Another Son To War - Queens Tribune
5/2 SBCT Suffers Casualties
Ft. Lewis public affairs has confirmed that the eight casualties in Afghanistan are all from the 5/2 SBCT. No additional details have been released.
Related:
8 US troops killed in bomb attacks against Strykers - KOMO News
Brigade loses eight in one day - TheNewsTribune.com
Interview With Hal Bernton
KUOW recently interviewed Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton about his experiences in Afghanistan, which included an embed with the 5/2 SBCT.
(via FOB Tacoma)
SPC Kyle A. Coumas
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Kyle A. Coumas, 22, of Lockeford, Calif., died Oct. 21 in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Bomb kills Fort Lewis Stryker soldier - FOB Tacoma
Another 1st Battalion casualty from Fort Lewis - Seattle Times
Last words shared at funeral - Recordnet.com
Funeral Procession for Spc. Kyle A. Coumas - Calaveras News
Fallen Stryker soldier: ‘Not once did he quit or complain’ - The News Tribune
SPC Michael A. Dahl Jr.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Michael A. Dahl Jr., 23, of Moreno Valley, Calif., died Oct. 17 in Argahndab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Bomb kills Fort Lewis soldier in Afghanistan - FOB Tacoma
Fort Lewis soldier dies in Afghanistan - Seattle Times
23-year-old soldier from Moreno Valley dies in Afghanistan battle - Valley News
Moreno Valley soldier dies in Afghanistan - North County Times
Farewell to another 'good soldier' - TheNewsTribune.com
Fort Lewis Strykers remember their own - KOMO News
Stryker Soldier Featured
The Livingston Daily has an update on Spc. Ryan Peplinski, a soldier serving with the 1-17 INF, 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
For the Peplinski family of Marion Township, news about their son's exploits in Afghanistan is typically scary.In his second tour of duty in Operation Enduring Freedom, Army Spc. Ryan Peplinski — a 2003 graduate of Hartland High School — is no stranger to danger.
Since he deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, on July 14, his family has heard secondhand how the Army gunner has been shot at, had his vehicle blown up by tank mines and was left unconscious and lacerated.
In a letter home received Saturday, Ryan Peplinski wrote that he's set to receive a Purple Heart for injuries he received in a late-August attack.
Afghanistan Journal
Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times has two new blog entries re: his time embedded with the 5/2 SBCT.
A Different Kind of Enemy
Daphne Benoit, an AFP reporter embedded with the 5/2 SBCT, has a new article. I've never seen a Stryker vehicle referred to as a "van" before.
At the front of the convoy, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles equipped with reinforced V-shaped bodywork to deflect explosions were tasked with opening the route for the more lightly armoured "Stryker" vans.Progress was expected to be slow but impossible without the MRAPs: improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the weapon of choice for the Taliban, are the primary cause of international troop deaths.
"It's going to take us 12 hours," said Staff Sergeant John Jenkins from infantry company Charlie 2-1.
But at 9:00 am, destination confidential for security reasons, the latter half of the convoy still hadn't moved. One of the MRAPs was stuck in sand near the base.
After four hours waiting, the heavily armed Strykers finally moved.
Make A Soldier Smile
The News Tribune has details on a volunteer group collecting donations to send to the 5/2 SBCT.
Volunteers in Puyallup are collecting snacks, books, playing cards, used CDs and DVDs, and other items for soldiers of Fort Lewis’ 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in Afghanistan.But the deadline for making donations to Operation Make A Soldier Smile is coming up fast – it’s Monday.
Donations of food, music, games, stamps, pens, envelopes and personal hygiene supplies may be dropped off at Puyallup City Hall, 333 S. Meridian, or at the Puyallup Chamber of Commerce, 323 N. Meridian, Suite A, according to a flier.
Memorial for Stryker Soldiers
Ft. Lewis held a memorial yesterday for three soldiers from the 5/2 SBCT.
- Three more fallen Stryker soldiers honored - KOMO News
- Fort Lewis Memorial honors three - The News Tribune
Latest From Afghanistan
Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times has a new article featuring the 5/2 SBCT.
CHAHARQULBA, Afghanistan — As the sky hinted at dawn, U.S. soldiers went hunting for Taliban in the Arghandab Valley. They had satellite-linked monocles to display the locations of platoons. They could summon an aerial drone to buzz overhead with a surveillance camera. They could call on Kiowa helicopters for search-and-destroy missions.One of their most valuable assets, however, was an informant: a farmer with a taste for opium.
"It all came down to one guy who said, 'The Taliban stole my motorcycle.' He was high, and he was pissed, and he gave us the tip on where to find them," said Sgt. Kenneth Rickman, 34, of Vandalia, Ill.
In Afghanistan
Hal Bernton from the Seattle Times has two new articles with the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
- For troops, Afghanistan 'like Vietnam without napalm'
- For U.S. Troops in Afghanistan, home is where they make it
Embedded with 5/2 SBCT
Here's the first article from Hal Bernton of the Seattle Times - he is currently embedded with the 1-17 INF, 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
JELEWAR, Afghanistan -- The man in the brown robe was digging in the desert sand. He was accompanied by three teenage boys and a donkey pulling a wooden cart.Was he scooping up sand to help make concrete? Or was he trying to bury a roadside bomb?
The soldiers in this Stryker convoy from the Fort Lewis-based 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division stopped to investigate.
SPC Kevin J. Graham
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Kevin J. Graham, 27, of Benton, Ky., died Sept. 26 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Roadside bomb claims life of Lewis soldier - FOB Tacoma
Bomb kills Fort Lewis-based Stryker soldier - The News Tribune
One family’s pain - FOB Tacoma
SPC Joseph V. White
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Joseph V. White, 21, of Bellevue, Wash., died Sept. 24 in Omar Zai, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. White was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Bellevue soldier among 3 Strykers killed in Afghanistan - KOMO News
Roadside bomb kills three Fort Lewis soldiers - FOB Tacoma
Fort Lewis soldier knew ‘duty and desire’ - The News Tribune
Three more fallen Stryker soldiers honored - KOMO News
Fort Lewis Memorial honors three - The News Tribune
SGT Edward B. Smith
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Edward B. Smith, 30, of Homestead, Fla., died Sept. 24 in Omar Zai, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Smith was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Roadside bomb kills three Fort Lewis soldiers - FOB Tacoma
Soldier from Homestead killed in Afghanistan - MiamiHerald.com
Army soldier killed: Army soldier killed in Afghanistan was from southwest Miami-Dade - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Three more fallen Stryker soldiers honored - KOMO News
Fort Lewis Memorial honors three - The News Tribune
SGT Titus R. Reynolds
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Titus R. Reynolds, 23, of Columbus, Ohio, died Sept. 24 in Omar Zai, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. Reynolds was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Roadside bomb kills three Fort Lewis soldiers - FOB Tacoma
Area soldier killed in Afghanistan - The Columbus Dispatch
Slain soldier's wife speaks of her loss - FOB Tacoma
Three more fallen Stryker soldiers honored - KOMO News
Fort Lewis Memorial honors three - The News Tribune
Heading South
Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton is heading south from Kabul, Ahghanistan to link up with the 5/2 SBCT.
KABUL AIRPORT... Late this afternoon, I put on my ballistic vest, buckled the chin strap of my helmet and took my seat in the back of an SUV for the drive from NATO headquarters in the center of the city to the airport.After more than three weeks here in Kabul, I am headed south to join the Fort Lewis-based 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which is patrolling the Kandahar region with the aid of eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles.
Possible Stryker Casualties in Afghanistan?
From the Associated Press:
KABUL — Five American troops were killed in attacks in southern Afghanistan, where the U.S. and NATO have ramped up operations against the Taliban and seen casualties rise quickly in what has been the deadliest year of the war for international forces.Four soldiers died Thursday in the same small district of Zabul province, including three killed when their Stryker vehicle struck a bomb, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Robert Carr. The fourth was shot to death in an insurgent attack, Carr said. The Stryker brigade in Zabul is part of the influx of U.S. troops sent by President Barack Obama over the summer to try to reverse Taliban gains.
Related: Reports: Stryker soldiers killed in Zabul - FOB Tacoma
Stryker Soldiers Mourned
The News Tribune was there as Ft. Lewis held two memorials for Stryker soldiers from the 3/2 SBCT and 5/2 SBCT.
The true toll of a Stryker rollover in Iraq earlier this month was two lives ended, but countless others impacted.Staff Sgt. Todd W. Selge and Sgt. Jordan M. Shay died in the accident on Sept. 3. Selge leaves behind a widow and two sons; Shay, a fiancée whom he planned to marry when he returned from Iraq next year.
And the death shook many members of Fort Lewis' 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which avoided losing any of its soldiers through the first month of its yearlong deployment to Iraq. Many of them gathered Thursday afternoon at the Main Post Chapel on Fort Lewis for a memorial ceremony honoring the lives of Selge and Shay.
First Lt. David T. Wright II taught fellow soldiers what he learned from years of martial arts and collegiate track and field. Sgt. Andrew H. McConnell was known for his high-intensity attitude, no matter what the situation.Both left impressions of being leaders among their peers, but now their colleagues in the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division must continue the mission of battling the Taliban in southern Afghanistan without them. The two soldiers were killed Sept. 14 when a roadside bomb detonated near their Stryker vehicle.
Hundreds gathered at Fort Lewis’ North Fort Chapel on Thursday to pay respects to the two soldiers, assigned to the brigade’s 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment. Commanders delivered speeches, friends eulogized the fallen and tears flowed during the final roll call, rifle salute and playing of taps.
SGT Robert D. Gordon II
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Robert D. Gordon II, 22, of River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, from a non-combat related illness, after becoming ill Sept. 11 in southern Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
SGT Andrew H. McConnell
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Andrew H. McConnell, 24, of Carlisle, Pa., died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device Sept. 14 in southern Afghanistan. McConnell was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Two Stryker soldiers killed in explosion - Fort Lewis Ranger
Two Fort Lewis soldiers dead in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
'You made us proud' - PennLive.com
1LT David T. Wright II
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
1st Lt. David T. Wright II, 26, of Moore, Okla., died of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device Sept. 14 in southern Afghanistan. Wright was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Two Stryker soldiers killed in explosion - Fort Lewis Ranger
Two Fort Lewis soldiers dead in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Stryker Memorial
The News Tribune covered the memorial held at Ft. Lewis this week to honor four 5/2 SBCT soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
In the final hours of their lives, four Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers were helping save others.The soldiers from 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division had arrived at a cholera-stricken area of southern Afghanistan to provide injections to sick villagers.
An hour later, the four men were dead.
A massive bomb hidden in a culvert under the road ripped through their 20-ton Stryker vehicle as they returned to base on Aug. 25. The blast instantly killed the four on board: Capt. John L. Hallett III, Capt. Cory J. Jenkins, Sgt. 1st Class Ronald W. Sawyer and Spc. Dennis M. Williams.
MSNBC Embed
It appears that MSNBC's Richard Engel is currently embedded with the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan. His report also mentions being on NBC Nightly News, so keep an eye out for that footage.
KABUL, Afghanistan – It is a brutal first impression. The moment my feet touch the sand as I step out of a Stryker armored vehicle, I hear an explosion. It’s far away; about half a mile. I hear a big deep thud and look over my shoulder. I see a cloud of brown dust expanding in an Afghan village.The village walls and houses are all made of mud. One of the houses has just exploded into a brown cloud. American soldiers were inside the booby-trapped structure. Within seconds, we hear radio traffic.
One American is dead. Others are wounded. The radio calls are urgent, but formal. No names. They don’t use names so soldiers who listen to the radio don’t become upset in the midst of what is now a rescue operation to save the wounded soldiers.
I’ve been here for less than five minutes.
Update: Here's the video report that aired on NBC Nightly News on 9/8.
Stars & Stripes in Afghanistan
Stars & Stripes has a new article describing the activities of the 5/2 SBCT in the Zabul province.
ZABUL PROVINCE, Afghanistan — It’s the forgotten province in a nation time seems to have forgotten.And until the recent boost of U.S. forces to Afghanistan, it’s the province that the military paid less attention to than others in this ongoing war.
But that is changing with the recent arrival of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, out of Fort Lewis, Wash. — the first Stryker brigade to be deployed to the rural, poverty-stricken 6,500-square-mile province in southeastern Afghanistan.
Video: Strykers and ANSF Hold Village Elder Shura
DVIDS also has a new video featuring the 5/2 SBCT. Description:
Package about U.S. forces working with Afghan National Security Forces to create a better life for the Afghan people.
In Afghanistan
Seattle Times reporter Hal Bernton will be spending the next month in Afghanistan. I don't know if it will happen, but I'm hoping he connects with the 5/2 SBCT while he's there. Bookmark his blog, Afghanistan Journal, to keep track of his travels there.
(via FOB Tacoma)
PFC Jordan M. Brochu
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Jordan M. Brochu, 20, of Cumberland, Maine, died Aug. 31 in Shuyene Sufia, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Brochu was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Fort Lewis Stryker soldier killed in Afghanistan - The News Tribune
Roadside bomb kills three Fort Lewis soldiers - FOB Tacoma
Two more Fort Lewis soldiers killed by bomb in Afghanistan Monday - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis mourns three Stryker soldiers - The News Tribune
Three fallen Stryker soldiers remembered at Fort Lewis - KOMO News
SPC Jonathan D. Welch
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Jonathan D. Welch, 19, of Yorba Linda, Calif., died Aug. 31 in Shuyene Sufia, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Welch was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Roadside bomb kills three Fort Lewis soldiers - FOB Tacoma
Two more Fort Lewis soldiers killed by bomb in Afghanistan Monday - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis mourns three Stryker soldiers - The News Tribune
Three fallen Stryker soldiers remembered at Fort Lewis - KOMO News
SPC Tyler R. Walshe
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Tyler R. Walshe, 21, of Shasta Calif., died Aug. 31 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Roadside bomb kills three Fort Lewis soldiers - FOB Tacoma
Two more Fort Lewis soldiers killed by bomb in Afghanistan Monday - The News Tribune
Fort Lewis mourns three Stryker soldiers - The News Tribune
Testing New Technologies
The News Tribune reports on new communication systems being used by the 3/2 SBCT and 4/2 SBCT in Iraq.
Gunmen fire on American troops in Iraq. The soldiers pursue, but they can run into problems if the terrain is unfamiliar. Landmarks are confusing. They focus on the wrong building. Or they get turned around in the urban setting.Now, a communications system that two Fort Lewis Stryker brigades are fielding in Iraq aims to provide leaders with more real-time information – and a better chance of tracking insurgents.
The Tacticomp system can link soldiers on the ground with commanders back at the operations center, using troops’ geographical coordinates and live video from cameras soldiers carry or from drone aircraft circling overhead.
FOB Tacoma Updates
Scott Fontaine's FOB Tacoma blog has a couple recent Stryker updates worth noting.
PFC Dennis M. Williams
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Dennis M. Williams, 24, of Federal Way, Wash., died Aug. 25 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Slain FWay soldier worried about future - The News Tribune
Former teacher: Slain soldier ‘sweet young man’ - The News Tribune
Stryker soldier 'knew he was in harm's way' - The News Tribune
Amid goodwill, a fatal blast - FOB Tacoma
SFC Ronald W. Sawyer
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. 1st Class Ronald W. Sawyer, 38, of Trenton, Mo., died Aug. 25 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Area soldier killed in combat - St. Joseph Press-News
Amid goodwill, a fatal blast - FOB Tacoma
CPT Cory J. Jenkins
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Capt. Cory J. Jenkins, 30, of Arizona, died Aug. 25 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
BYU graduate killed in Afghanistan - Salt Lake Tribune
Mesa soldier killed while serving others - eastvalleytribune.com
Amid goodwill, a fatal blast - FOB Tacoma
CPT John L. Hallett III
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Capt. John L. Hallett III, 30, of California, died Aug. 25 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Related:
Wife: Hallett ‘always put the needs of others before his own’ - The News Tribune
Concord soldier dies in Afghanistan blast - SF Chronicle
Amid goodwill, a fatal blast - FOB Tacoma
SPC Troy O. Tom
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Troy O. Tom, 21, of Shiprock, N.M., died Aug. 18 in Arghandab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash..
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and fellow soldiers.
Related:
Two Stryker soldiers killed in Afghanistan - FOB Tacoma
Beclabito soldier killed in Afghanistan - Farmington Daily Times
Fellow soldiers remember Tom, Yanney - FOB Tacoma
PFC Jonathan C. Yanney
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Jonathan C. Yanney, 20, of Litchfield, Minn., died Aug. 18 in Arghandab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash..
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones he leaves behind.
Related:
Two Stryker soldiers killed in Afghanistan - FOB Tacoma
Fellow soldiers remember Tom, Yanney - FOB Tacoma
Ships, Planes Deliver Stryker Brigade to Afghanistan
Story by Gerry Gilmore, Pentagon Public Affairs
WASHINGTON - Military transportation experts used ships and planes to deploy an Army combat unit that arrived in Afghanistan last month, marking a notable milestone for U.S. Transportation Command.
The 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., began departing from nearby Tacoma by ship in early May; the unit's equipment arrived in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province July 25, about five days earlier than requested by U.S. Central Command, Army Lt. Col. John Kaylor, a transportation expert assigned to Transcom's headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., said Aug. 20.
More than 3,800 troops and 900 pieces of the unit's equipment, including more than 300 Stryker armored combat vehicles, were deployed to Afghanistan during the movement, Kaylor said. This latest large-scale movement, he added, avoided millions of dollars in costs and improved Transcom's Joint Task Force Port Opening operations.
The movement to Afghanistan was the Stryker brigade's first combat deployment.
New Technology Deployed to Afghanistan
An embedded AP reporter describes some of the technology being used by the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan — Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Henson goes out on patrol with a computer on his back and a joystick in his holster. He also carries a rifle, but the military is hoping he'll soon have less need for it.A wired generation of U.S. soldiers is about to battle-test a high-tech weapon calculated to reduce civilian casualties in Afghanistan.
A key component is the "Dragon Egg," a softball-sized robotic camera that can be thrown over a hill or into a building without endangering troops. It rights itself like a Weeble Wobble toy and delivers a 360-degree view through its four tiny cameras. If any innocents are in the area, the soldier can mark the spot using his backpack computer to ward off an air strike.
Stars & Stripes in Afghanistan
Stars & Stripes has a new piece about the continued handover of real estate to the 5/2 SBCT in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Canada has handed over about half of its battle space in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province to newly arrived U.S. soldiers, allowing Canadian forces to concentrate on counterinsurgency and reconstruction efforts in the provincial capital, according to a senior officer.The move also effectively doubles the size of NATO-led combat forces within Kandahar province, birthplace of the Taliban movement, from two to four battalions, although they will operate under separate U.S. and Canadian commands.
The transfer of responsibility to soldiers of the U.S. 5th Stryker Brigade includes Spin Boldak district — site of an important border crossing with Pakistan — and the districts of Arghandab, Shah Wali Kot, and Kakrez, north of the city of Kandahar, said Lt. Col. Mike Patrick, chief of operations for Canada-led Task Force Kandahar.
Dangerous Job
The Associated Press is reporting that two of its journalists embedded in Afghanistan, Emilio Morenatti and Andi Jatmiko, were seriously injured in a bomb blast on Tuesday. There was no mention of injured troops, or even which unit the pair was embedded with at the time. We wanted to post this story because as of Monday Morenatti was with soldiers from the 5/2 SBCT (see his photos). Our thoughts and prayers will be with them as they recover.
KABUL, Afghanistan — As violence builds across Afghanistan ahead of elections next week, The Associated Press reported Wednesday that two of its journalists who were embedded with the United States military in the south of the country had been wounded in a roadside bombing. [...]The A.P. said a photographer, Emilio Morenatti, and an A.P. Television News videographer, Andi Jatmiko, were traveling with the American military when their vehicle was struck by the bomb on Tuesday. Both were immediately taken to a military hospital in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. Mr. Jatmiko, from Indonesia, suffered leg injuries and two broken ribs, while Mr. Morenatti, a Spaniard who was badly wounded in the leg, underwent an operation that resulted in the loss of his foot, The A.P. said.
Update: The News Tribune just published an AP article confirming the journalists were with the 5/2 SBCT at the time.
Update 2: Another AP article indicates that two soldiers, in addition to the journalists, were injured and evacuated. (via The News Tribune)
Mission Change
The Associated Press examines the relatively last minute decision to send the 5/2 SBCT to Afghanistan instead of Iraq. FYI to AP, there aren't 5,000 soldiers in a Stryker Brigade.
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (AP) -- More than 100 soldiers in the brigade studied Arabic for 10 months. Their officers boned up on Iraq by reading dozens of books.Then, five months ago, the 5,000 troops of the U.S. Army's 5th Stryker Brigade were told they were headed to Afghanistan instead. [...]
The Fort Lewis, Wash.-based Stryker brigade, which arrived in southern Afghanistan last month as part of the U.S. troop surge, is among those scrambling to adapt.
5/2 SBCT Assumes Responsibility
The Vancouver Sun describes how the 5/2 SBCT is taking control of territory previously patrolled by Canadian forces.
As Kandahar's governor, the province's top Afghan general and several dozen wizened Pashtun elders listened intently, Brig-Gen. Jon Vance of Task Force Kandahar introduced Col. Harry Tunnell IV, commander of the U.S. army's 5th Stryker Brigade. [...]The Stryker brigade, which Vance described Sunday as perhaps "the most advanced in the world" is part of a huge influx of U.S. forces that was ordered to the south of the country by U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this year to try to turn around a war that many observers say is at a stalemate.
On the outside, the eight-wheeled Stryker armoured vehicles resemble the LAV 3s that Canada operates in Afghanistan, but the U.S. vehicles are more heavily armoured and have added capabilities.
The arrival of Tunnell and his Fort Lewis, Wash., brigade's fast and manoeuverable Stryker armoured vehicles will suddenly triple the number of combat forces in Kandahar to about 6,000.
Afghan Elections
The Associated Press has an article mentioning recent operations by the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan.
Last week, American soldiers of Bear Troop, 5th Stryker Brigade rolled into Loy Karez, 20 miles (30 kilometers) from the Pakistani border, to check out the town's two planned polling stations and make sure police had a plan to protect voters.It was the soldiers' first patrol in Afghanistan — their first up-close-and-personal encounter with local Afghan authorities since arriving in the country last month as part of President Barack Obama's troop surge. [...]
Troop commander Capt. Dennis Lorte of Raymond, Oregon, sipped five cups of tea with the local border police commander, who uses the single name Lala, while trying to keep his dusty boots from soiling his host's carpets. Outside, Lorte's soldiers took up defensive positions, down on one knee, weapons ready.
5/2 SBCT on the Ground
The News Tribune has compiled a nice photo gallery featuring the 5/2 SBCT in Afghanistan. This is pretty much the first coverage I've seen of the unit - I hope there will be more to follow.
From the Homefront
Georgie Hanlin's husband recently deployed to Afghanistan, a subject she writes about in an editorial in the Christian Science Monitor.
One might think I'd be used to deployments. My husband is recently into his sixth. I consider myself to be pretty tough: I am, after all, an Army wife during a time of war. My husband's deployment is a reality I've had to accept. It doesn't come without heartache and worry, and it is ridden with patience and hope.I think of the courage it takes for the members of our military to leave their families, deployment after deployment, year after year, well aware of the possibility that they might not return; that is extraordinary. The majority of people I come across who learn that
Stryker Presence in Afghanistan
Canwest News Service has an article about Canadian troops in Afghanistan that mentions the 5/2 SBCT as well.
Which country will be responsible militarily for what parts of Kandahar is not something Canadian or American officers have wished to discuss in precise detail, but the rough overlay is expected to have the Canadians concentrating their effort against the Taliban insurgency primarily in heavily populated areas such as Kandahar City and its southern and western approaches.The 3,000 or 4,000 fresh U.S. troops from a cutting edge, light-armoured Stryker Brigade will cover the rest of the province, including a few distant places that Canada has until now usually maintained a presence.
Snipers Take Aim
FORT LEWIS, Wash. – He laid perfectly still as he concentrated on the target 600 meters in front of him. His spotter peered through the scope and jotted down a few things in his field notebook. The spotter leaned over and told the shooter the vital information needed to take out their target. Once the shooter was ready, he focused all his effort as he prepared to take the shot.
Having to consider distance, elevation and weather conditions, shooters have to adjust their weapon to make sure the first shot is the last shot.
The Army is fielding the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System to help snipers hit their target. The M110 SASS was dubbed by the Army as one of the inventions of 2007. The M110 SASS was tested by snipers in 5th Striker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Lewis, Wash., July 15.
"Versions of this rifle have been out for a while now, but this is one of the newer models," said Sgt. James Clark, sniper section leader for 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. "The M110 SASS will be replacing the previously used SR-25."
5/2 SBCT Arrives
DVIDS has two videos of the 5/2 SBCT arriving in Kandahar.
(via Northwest Guardian)
Base Construction in Afghanistan
Stars & Stripes describes the flurry of construction activity taking place in Afghanistan to accommodate the influx of new coalition forces, including the 5/2 SBCT.
TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan — The first wave of construction at more than a half-dozen bases across southern Afghanistan designed to accommodate the Obama administration’s buildup of U.S. forces in the region will be finished by the end of July, according to senior U.S. officers involved in the effort.More than 2,700 civilian contractors and 2,100 Army, Navy and Air Force engineers have been working to either expand existing bases or build new ones from scratch at eight locations in Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul provinces, they said. [...]
The 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash., is currently flowing into Kandahar Airfield, the main NATO airbase in southern Afghanistan, but has yet to push out to several bases in eastern Kandahar and Zabul provinces that are currently being expanded.
Gen. David Petraeus Visits Seattle
Gen. David Petraeus, CENTCOM commander, recently visited Seattle to discuss the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. His address was covered by the Seattle Times, and includes a five-minute video segment as well. Once again he specifically mentioned the deployment of the 5/2 SBCT to Afghanistan as being crucial to the renewed efforts there.
Speaking before the Seattle World Affairs Council, the head of the U.S. Central Command said this summer's military campaign in Afghanistan will focus on the 10 percent of provinces that are the source of about 70 percent of a sharp escalation in violence. [...]In Afghanistan, Petraeus is trying to turn around a faltering U.S. military effort with an infusion of new troops, including more than 3,800 soldiers from a Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade who are now en route there.
Petraeus said the armored Stryker vehicles performed well in Iraq and that commanders were keen to have them in Afghanistan. He expected they would be deployed in Kandahar province — a major focal point of Taliban violence — as well as in some surrounding areas.
Petraeus on Strykers
Centcom commander, Gen. David Petraeus, outlines what the 5/2 SBCT will bring to the fight in Afghanistan.
Reinforcements for Kandahar will be part of the next wave of troops, Petraeus said."The next group that deploys is a Stryker Brigade combat team — it's a very substantial force," he said.
The Stryker Brigades are built around eight-wheeled armored vehicles that are very similar to the LAV 3s that are used by Canadian battle groups in Afghanistan.
"You know the Stryker vehicle has proven to be very sought after in Iraq. It has superb connectivity, satellite (communications), distributed command and controls and it is well protected for an environment that has seen increasing use of improvised explosive devices," Petraeus said.
Editorial From Military Spouse
The wife of a 5/2 SBCT soldier recently had an editorial published in the Washington Post.
My husband is an infantry captain for the U.S. Army. This week, he left on his sixth combat deployment with the 2nd Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade. He is to be gone for one year to launch Stryker vehicles into Afghanistan under President Obama's new surge. My husband served with the 1st Ranger Battalion in Savannah, Ga., for 2 1/2 years before attending the Marine Corps' Expeditionary Warfare School.We have been married for three years; he's been deployed for half that time. My husband loves his country and serves it proudly, and for that I love him. Is being an Army wife easy? Not at all. The moving, the worry, the separation, the danger, the evening news and the politics of having your spouse risk his life for wars that most of us don't understand or don't accept certainly does stir something within me.
Land Warriors
Wired magazine takes a look at some of the high-tech Land Warrior gear the 5/2 SBCT will be deploying with soon.
The soldiers of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division are shipping out to Afghanistan this month — equipped with a controversial array of infantryman gadgets: electronic maps, GPS beacons, wearable computers, and digital radios. The troops are wondering just how useful the eight-pound, $48,000-per-soldier “Land Warrior” gizmo collection will really be, and whether the benefit will really be worth the extra weight.It’s not the first time G.I.s have expressed concerns about the Land Warrior system. Nor is it the first time the technology array has proven its its value, despite its doubts.
Double Deployment
The News Tribune profiles a military family with two children as both parents prepare to deploy at the same time.
If Tara Schneider can steal a few minutes during her lunch break, she’ll rush to her Steilacoom home and fire up her webcam. On the other end are her two daughters, 3-year-old Autumn and 6-month-old Teagan, both now living in Miami.Schneider, an Army sergeant at Fort Lewis, admits this bit of bonding can’t compare with hugging them and talking in person. “It can be kind of tough,” she said. “I miss them, and the webcam really just isn’t the same.”
But with yearlong deployments looming for Tara and her husband, Sgt. Brandon Schneider, the couple doesn’t have much choice. Their daughters are living in Florida with Tara’s father and stepmother, and the family is preparing for the stress of being apart.
5/2 SBCT Deployment
The Northwest Guardian has two new articles regarding the pending deployment of the 5/2 SBCT to Afghanistan.
5/2 SBCT to Deploy With Land Warrior System
The News Tribune provides an update on the Land Warrior System the 5/2 SBCT will be using on its upcoming deployment.
Land Warrior is real-time network the Army believes should make missions in Iraq and Afghanistan quicker, more efficient and less prone to accidents.An earlier version was field-tested by a single Fort Lewis Stryker battalion in Iraq. Now it moves to the big stage – an entire brigade, in a different war-torn country.
“I used it on every mission we went on, and frankly, it was one of the best pieces of equipment we had over there,” said Staff Sgt. Dennis Davis, who used Land Warrior during his 2007 Iraq deployment with the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
“It helps with situational awareness on the battlefield,” Davis said. “I can’t imagine doing a mission now without the luxury of having it.”
5/2 SBCT Deployment Ceremony
Provided below are links to various stories covering the deployment ceremony of the 5/2 SBCT that was held last Friday.
- Stryker brigade ready to leave Fort Lewis - KOMO 4 News
- Stryker brigade soldiers depart Fort Lewis for Afghanistan - Seattle Times
- Stryker brigade ready to go to Afghanistan - The News Tribune
- Fort Lewis bids farewell to 5th Stryker Brigade - FOB Tacoma
Simulated Training
The Olympian has a bit more on the new Stryker simulator used to train troops from the 3/2, 4/2 & 5/2 SBCTs.
FORT LEWIS – A $1.1 million simulator will help soldiers assigned to the three Stryker combat brigades based here make the most of their time before they deploy to combat by this fall.To train on the Mobile Gun System – the behemoth of the 10 variants of the armored, eight-wheeled vehicles – gunners and vehicle commanders trekked over to the Yakima Training Center, an area both large and isolated enough to fire off the system’s 105 mm cannon. Now they can step inside a trailer parked behind the Battle Command Training Center, the post’s center for virtual training, saving them time, money and ammunition.
Related:
Stryker unit gives new gunnery training system first Armywide test run - Northwest Guardian
Preparing to Deploy
The Seattle Times visits a fair sponsored by Ft. Lewis to prepare military families for upcoming deployments.
FORT LEWIS — Inside a huge white tent staked out in the forest alongside Interstate 5, the Army is holding a fair.There are no carnival games or rides. Instead, soldiers who will soon head to Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families, visit booths that offer information about child care, art programs, high-interest savings accounts and other support services. [...]
This year, some 18,000 Fort Lewis soldiers — more than half the 30,000 soldiers stationed at the post, and a peak since 9/11 — are scheduled to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
That compares with the previous peak of roughly 12,000 soldiers two years ago.
AMC begins moving Strykers into Afghanistan
(Via FOB Tacoma)
by Capt. Justin Brockhoff, 618th Tanker Airlift Control Center
6/8/2009 - SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Air Mobility Command's hub for global airlift, air refueling and aeromedical evacuation is "all in" with its commitment to support joint worldwide operations, kicking off efforts this week to airlift more than 300 Stryker vehicles to military forces in Afghanistan.
The term Stryker applies to a family of armored troop-transport vehicles used by the U.S. Army for ground operations. One vehicle can carry up to 11 troops and weighs approximately 19 tons, depending on the variation, according to an Army fact sheet.
Moving the Strykers, which are assigned to the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Lewis, Wash., is being accomplished by a combination of sealift and airlift assets. The vehicles and equipment are being taken by ship for the majority of the trip around the world, and then the Air Force takes over to fly the last portion of the journey into land-locked Afghanistan.
Air Mobility Command officials plan to move the 300-plus vehicles and support equipment, totaling nearly 9,500 tons, into Afghanistan over the next two months on Air Force C-17 Globemaster IIIs flown by military crews, and AN-124s, operated by commercial partners.
Family at War
The News Tribune has a nice profile of the Ewens family, which will soon send its fourth son off to war with the 5/2 SBCT. One did not return.
Ewens, a Gig Harbor resident, marched near the front of a group holding large banners in the May 16 parade in downtown Bremerton. On his banner was a photo of a soldier wearing body armor and the patch of the 10th Mountain Division.The photo is of Forrest Ewens, Michael’s son who was killed in Afghanistan on June 16, 2006. [...]
For the remaining Ewens brothers, Oaken, Elisha and Stephen, serving in Afghanistan has become a way to honor their brother’s memory. The three soon will be within 150 miles of each other.
“I feel that this is now our family’s war,” said Stephen, a specialist with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. “All four of us will finally be back together sharing the same fight, walking on the same dusty ground.”
Strykers Mission in Afghanistan
Via FOB Tacoma we learn from an article in The New York Times what is likely to be the initial mission of the 5/2 SBCT when it deploys to Afghanistan this summer.
ZANGABAD, Afghanistan — American commanders are planning to cut off the Taliban’s main source of money, the country’s multimillion-dollar opium crop, by pouring thousands of troops into the three provinces that bankroll much of the group’s operations. [...]Many of the new American soldiers will fan out along southern Afghanistan’s largely unguarded 550-mile-long border with Pakistan. Among them will be soldiers deployed in the Stryker, a relatively quick, nimble armored vehicle that can roam across the vast areas that span the frontier.
All of the new troops are supposed to be in place by Aug. 20, in order to provide security for Afghanistan’s presidential election.
Farewell Ceremony
The News Tribune describes how Good Samaritan hospital came together to bid farewell to soldiers from 8-1 CAV, 5/2 SBCT as they prepare to deploy.
The soldiers of 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment were preparing for a deployment to Iraq, where they were to help rebuild the country. Squadron leaders contacted Good Samaritan and asked for help.“We approached them and said, ‘We want to learn how to run a hospital on a daily basis,’” recalled Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel Willing. “They were all for it. I teamed up with the maintenance crew. Others shadowed guys in the ER.”
His squadron was linked with Puyallup through Community Connections, a nine-year-old program that twins a Fort Lewis unit with one of the surrounding communities. And even though the 5th brigade has since been redirected to Afghanistan – it will deploy early this summer – Willing stressed the importance of the experience.
5/2 SBCT Training for Afghanistan
Via FOB Tacoma comes this article from the Army Times regarding the 5/2 SBCT.
The 2nd Infantry Division’s 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team will mark a series of firsts when it deploys to Afghanistan this summer from Fort Lewis, Wash.It will be the first Army brigade to deploy to Afghanistan with Strykers. It will be the first full combat brigade to deploy with Land Warrior. And this will be the first combat tour for the Army’s newest Stryker brigade.
But Col. Harry Tunnell, commander of the 5th SBCT, downplayed the firsts.
“We’re trained, we’re ready [and] we’re anxious to do our duty,” he told Army Times on April 8.
Prepping for Afghanistan
The Northwest Guardian features the 5/2 SBCT as it prepares for its upcoming deployment in the following article.
Fort Lewis Soldiers will operate this summer in southern Afghanistan, the birthplace of the Taliban, where Mullah Omar invited Osama bin Laden to rebuild al-Qaida. Some call it the center of hatred and lawlessness in Central Asia.If the Stryker Soldiers of 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division accomplish their goals, they will continue the restoration of order in the southern provinces and set systems in place to help tenuous local governments and tribal councils rebuild their societies and reconstruct their cities. [...]
The terrain, culture and languages are different than those 5th Bde., 2nd Inf. Div. had trained for two years to engage. Officially notified of the mission change in February as it deployed to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., for its final readiness test, leaders of the Destroyer Brigade rapidly shifted their sights to meet the threats in Central Asia. But no Soldiers were affected more than those in the brigade’s special troops battalion.
5/2 SBCT to Afghanistan
Thanks to all of you who alerted us to the following announcement by the DoD today.
Pursuant to President Obama’s decision today, Secretary Gates ordered the deployment of two additional combat units, totaling more than 12,000 troops, to Afghanistan. The 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), from Camp Lejeune, N.C., with approximately 8,000 Marines will deploy to Afghanistan in late Spring 2009.The 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Ft. Lewis, Wash., will deploy approximately 4,000 soldiers to Afghanistan in mid-summer 2009. This Stryker Brigade and the MEB will deploy to increase the capabilities of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Approximately 5,000 additional troops to support these combat forces will receive deployment orders at a later date.
Related:
Lewis SBCT part of Afghanistan increase - ArmyTimes.com
Fort Lewis Stryker Brigade being sent to Afghanistan - Seattle Times
Fort Lewis Stryker brigade headed to Afghanistan - The Olympian
Strykers ordered to go to Afghanistan - Northwest Guardian
Stryker unit will be tested in Afghanistan - TheNewsTribune.com
Fort Lewis 5th Stryker Brigade bound for Afghanistan - Seattle P-I
Soldiers Become Citizens
Soldiers from the 3/2 SBCT and 5/2 SBCT were among those granted US citizenship at a ceremony yesterday.
They entered the room "green card soldiers" from nearly every branch of the armed forces, men and women serving the United States in wartime though they were not U.S. citizens.Within an hour, the platoon-size foreign legion of 41 was leaving with relief, smiles and in the arms of family and friends, having taken an oath and validation as newly minted U.S. citizens.
A Cuban man and a South Korean woman, a Kenyan chaplain who is a captain in the Army and more, representing 29 nations around the world, took the oath of allegiance Thursday at the all-military Veterans Appreciation Naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration District 20 offices in Tukwila.
56th SBCT Blog
Bravo Company 1/112th, 56th SBCT has created a blog to document the unit's training and eventual deployment. Head on over and bookmark the site if you'd like to get daily news about the unit.
(via Meadville Tribune)
Training Incident
FOB Tacoma links to a news story in The Salt Lake Tribune investigating a training incident last spring that almost killed two 5/2 SBCT soldiers in Utah. Excerpt:
The radio was too loud.For whatever reason, that's what stuck out in the mind of 1st Lt. Jared Cox when an investigating officer asked him about the night of April 8 - the night he and another soldier nearly died.
Dozens of pages of interviews and written testimony reveal a night that was, in many respects, a routine shift at the Utah Test and Training Range - before things went dangerously wrong.
As such, the report sheds light on a world little appreciated outside military circles, where even in the relative safety of a training exercise, the difference between life and death is measured in inches, in seconds, and in trust.
Deployment Announcements
The DoD just announced the next units scheduled to deploy to Iraq - both the 3/2 SBCT and the 5/2 SBCT are on the list. These deployments will begin in the winter and extend into the summer of 2009. There was no specific indication when each unit will leave. This will be the first deployment for the newly formed 5/2 SBCT and the third for the 3/2 SBCT.
Related:
Surprise surprise: Fort Lewis units to Iraq - FOB Tacoma
Army sending 10,000 Fort Lewis soldiers to Iraq - Seattle Times
Area troops ordered to Iraq - Seattle P-I
5/2 SBCT Almost Ready
Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune has a nice long article about the 5/2 SBCT as it trains to reach certification. Excerpt:
The Army’s seventh and final Stryker brigade is in the home stretch of its buildup to enter the U.S. fighting forces.When that’s done, it will be the fourth Stryker unit built at Fort Lewis.
And it will further cement the reputation of the medium-weight, highly mobile combat brigades. They faced skepticism from no less than then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld – doubts that were quickly overcome after the original brigade left Fort Lewis five years ago for the proving grounds of Iraq.
Though all this may be a milestone, soldiers with the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division have their sights set on what’s likely to come next: a yearlong combat tour.
End of an Era
Mike Gilbert, the military reporter for The News Tribune, announced he was leaving the paper after 21 years. For my money he has been the best reporter covering Ft. Lewis and its Stryker Brigades. I hope you join me in wishing him the very best. Thanks Mike.
Stryker Soldier Injured in Training
Various news outlets have reported that a 5/2 SBCT soldier was critically injured during the brigade's training exercise in Yakima, WA. His condition has been upgraded to serious.
- Soldier injured at Yakima - FOB Tacoma
- Condition of injured Fort Lewis soldier upgraded - The News Tribune
- Soldier seriously injured in Yakima Training Center mishap - The Yakima Herald
Land Warrior in Training
The Northwest Guardian has an article featuring the 5/2 SBCT's use of the Land Warrior system during training in Yakima, WA. Excerpt:
Land Warrior systems will cover new ground next week, borne by unprecedented numbers of Soldiers in 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division into their next phase of training.The Destroyer Brigade, the first scheduled to deploy to combat with all of its maneuver elements equipped with the sophisticated Soldier-worn combat system, has completed a summer of intensive training and will travel next week to Yakima for a field training exercise.
Land Warrior is a “system of systems” that enhances Soldiers’ situational awareness on the battlefield, provides maps, imagery and graphics that can be modified on the fly, and connects Soldiers digitally through text and voice transmissions.
Land Warrior Update
The Arizona Republic reports on a new contract for General Dynamics to supply the 5/2 SBCT with an updated version of the Land Warrior system that the 4/2 SBCT tested in combat during its recent deployment. Excerpt:
The Army initially deployed about 400 of the systems, which are now getting rave reviews from soldiers, who helped get initial bugs out of the system.The new contract is for an additional 900 systems to equip the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Land Warrior was first deployed to Iraq with the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment.
Stepping Into the Past
The News Tribune has an article describing a recent visit by members of the 5/2 SBCT to an old Army fort. Excerpt:
American soldiers fighting a counterinsurgency. The enemy using hit-and-run tactics. Troops struggling at times to determine who’s an ally or an enemy.On this day, we’re not talking about Iraq. Try a century and a half earlier, when soldiers fought off attacks by Indians at Fort Steilacoom.
The similarities between the two conflicts drew 30 Fort Lewis soldiers from the 402nd Brigade Support Battalion to the grounds of the old fort in Lakewood on Thursday. Today, it is better known as Western State Hospital.
Related:
Similarities to past draw Stryker soldiers to Fort Steilacoom - FOB Tacoma
5/2 SBCT Soldiers Learn Arabic
The Seattle Times has an overview of a new program by the 5/2 SBCT to teach its soldiers Arabic. Excerpt:
Kelmanskiy and 125 other soldiers assigned to Fort Lewis' newest Stryker Brigade Combat Team are part of a new program to teach soldiers rudimentary Arabic. The idea is that once deployed to Iraq, they'll be able to communicate with local Iraqis to help their units better distinguish between allies and enemies."It's a tough language," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann, the battalion commander for the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. "I can introduce myself [in Arabic] and give a couple greetings, but after that, I'm pretty much out of steam."
Two groups of soldiers already have graduated from the class that teaches Modern Standard Arabic. Another group will graduate Friday. Graduates typically have the verbal and written skills of a fourth- or fifth-grade Arab child.
Sec Def Visits Ft. Lewis, Strykers
Mike Gilbert has a nice write-up in The News Tribune about Secretary of Defense Robert Gate's recent stop at Ft. Lewis. Excerpt:
Making his first public visit to Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base, Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Army Rangers and military spouses over two days.He lunched with airmen, checked out the Strykers and got his picture taken with newborn babies and their moms at Madigan Army Medical Center. [...]
It was the first local visit by a defense secretary since Donald Rumsfeld came to Fort Lewis in April 2002.
Related:
Gates at Fort Lewis - FOB Tacoma
Gates Visits Troops in Washington State - AFPS/NW Guardian
Photos: Gates Visits Fort Lewis, Washington - US Department of Defense
Land Warrior System
Paul McLeary of Defense Tech International has an after action report regarding the Land Warrior system the 4-9 INF, 4/2 SBCT took into combat. Excerpt:
In February 2007—despite a cumulative $500 million price tag—the program had its funding cut, despite the fact that the 4/9 has been training with the gear and was about to start its deployment. The 4/9 deployed with the equipment anyway, and more than a year later, it looks like Land Warrior might have been saved from the dustbin of history.According to Mark Showah, General Dynamics’ director of the Integrated Systems Group, the feedback that the company has received from soldiers has been largely positive, and the company is currently working to secure a contract to supply 1,000 Land Warrior systems to the Strykers of the 5/2, which is slated to deploy to Iraq some time early next year. This is a sharp increase from the 440 units that went to war with the 4/9.
So what changed?
Related:
We posted a video (embedded below) a while back featuring LTC Bill Prior talking about the battalion's use of the system in combat.
NW Guardian Articles
The Northwest Guardian has two new articles regarding the 5/2 SBCT and the Stryker concept.
Soldiers train on new Strykers
New Stryker vehicles arrived at 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment in May, fueling morale and firing thrusters on an already rocketing training schedule.Soldiers and leaders of the Buffalo Battalion spent the first weeks of June at Yakima Training Center, getting to know their new vehicles, pivoting instantly to employ them in day and night combat operations. In the course of one busy YTC deployment, the battalion conducted operator-and-new-equipment training on its Strykers, then transitioned immediately into platoon-level evaluated exercises.
The compressed time lines served to do more than acquaint 1-17 Inf. Soldiers with their combat vehicles, according to A Company Commander, Capt. Eric Schwartz. As it turns out, “familiarization” applies to Soldiers and their leaders also. Small unit leaders got the opportunity to demonstrate their infantry skills with the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jonathan Neumann, supervising and acting as lead observer/controller during the blank- and live-fire exercises.
Feedback to aid in future Stryker
In its continuing mission to keep today’s Stryker brigade combat teams equipped with the latest and greatest upgrades, the Training and Doctrine Command capabilities manager, SBCT, and program manager, Stryker showcased its new innovations, June 18 at the 8th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment motor pool.Not only did the TCM SBCT want to give Soldiers a glimpse into future Stryker add-ons, They were looking for input, too. TCM SBCT Senior Program Analyst for Futures and Current Operations, Sean Hunter, said they were there to get feedback from Soldiers familiar with the vehicle.
“What we did today was we took the user feedback from the Soldier and I’m going back as a user rep working with the program manager to continue to work and develop or move forward with what we showed up with here today,” Hunter said. “We go back and take their comments and feedback and we try to put out what the Soldier wants. Some things we can affect now and some things we can affect later.”
Runners hit Tacoma streets
A unit of the 5/2 SBCT from Ft. Lewis took part in a recent road race.
SCOTT FONTAINE, The News Tribune
Some say distance running is a young man’s activity. Rich Wall disagrees.
The Lakewood man easily finished the Sound to Narrows 12-kilometer race Saturday morning – two weeks before his 69th birthday.
It’s the 15th time Wall has competed in the Sound to Narrows. And it was a tough 12 kilometers. The course winds through Tacoma’s West End and Point Defiance Park before finishing with a grueling run up Vassault Hill.
More than 5,000 people ran or walked during this year’s annual event, which included 5- and 12-kilometer courses, a 1.2-mile children’s race and a 20-yard “diaper dash.” [...]
Entire brigade to deploy with Land Warrior
Debi Dawson | Army News Service
FORT BELVOIR, Va. - As Land Warrior reaches its first anniversary in combat, the Army is seeking to equip an entire brigade combat team with the high-tech system, which increases mission speed and effectiveness and decreases risks to the warfighter.
The Army has approved an operational needs statement to field the Land Warrior system to the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, in 2009.
During the past year, Soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment have faced the challenges of asymmetric warfare in Iraq using Land Warrior, and the battalion's success has prompted others to ask for the system. The 4-9 Infantry is part of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash.
Brigade to Get 'Land Warrior' System
by Debi Dawson, Army News Service
FORT BELVOIR, Va. - As Land Warrior reaches its first anniversary in combat, the Army is seeking to equip an entire brigade combat team with the high-tech system which increases mission speed and effectiveness and decreases risks to the warfighter.
The Army has approved an Operational Needs Statement to field the Land Warrior system to the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, in 2009.
During the past year, Soldiers with the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment have faced the challenges of asymmetric warfare in Iraq using Land Warrior, and the battalion's success has prompted others to ask for the system. The 4-9 Infantry is part of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash.
Army may spend $102 million for more Land Warrior units
Max Jarman, The Arizona Republic
General Dynamics C4 Systems' $3 billion Land Warrior program is showing signs of life after being terminated by the U.S. Army last year.
The Scottsdale-based General Dynamics Co. subsidiary was the prime contactor on the program and was dealt a significant blow when it was canceled in what the unit's President Chris Marzilli calls a "pre-emptive strike."
But soldiers, who were initially slow to accept the technology, are now clamoring for the high-tech gear.
Future Ft. Lewis Deployments
Mike Gilbert at The News Tribune takes a look at the recent rotation announcement and suggests what this might mean for future 3/2 and 5/2 SBCT deployments.
A new source of mental health care for veterans
By MICHAEL GILBERT, The News Tribune
A group of mental health care providers in Washington is offering free help to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and their families who either can’t or don’t want to go through traditional channels for care.
The Soldiers Project Northwest is modeled after a similar effort in Los Angeles, where volunteer therapists since 2004 have seen clients without charge for help with their war-related problems.
“The war just feels so big. The problems of the country feel so big. This is something that I can do,” said Tim Mallon, a University Place mental health counselor who is taking part in the Northwest effort. “I’ve got the training to do it, and the need is there. It’s pretty simple, really.”
Fort Lewis fixing up old barracks with $2.8 billion
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press
Soldiers at Fort Lewis live in buildings that date back as far as 1927, but base officials say an ambitious barracks construction and renovation project is keeping soldier housing entirely hospitable.
Fort Lewis, base for about 28,924 soldiers, has been building new barracks and upgrading old ones for the past seven years, mostly to accommodate population growth as new Stryker brigades are formed or moved to Washington state.
Pride Week at Fort Lewis puts soldiers to the test
FORT LEWIS — Pride Week traditionally has involved soldiers cleaning the post and removing debris from training areas.
Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr., commanding general of Fort Lewis and I Corps, expanded this year's weeklong event to celebrate what soldiers have done and can do together.
For the first time, Pride Week includes unit-sponsored competition, including marksmanship, boxing and weightlifting, in an effort to build camaraderie and morale.
Fort Lewis preparing for summer population surge
This summer, post exchange and commissary patrons may find the stores a little more crowded, traffic may be a little thicker and unit operations officers may have to plan a little further ahead to use high-demand training facilities on post.
That’s because Fort Lewis will welcome about 6,500 Soldiers home from deployment between May and September, hiking the post’s troop population to almost 29,000 in what many are calling the “summer surge.”
But Fort Lewis garrison officials have been hard at work for eight months, planning to accommodate the returning units with many new unit buildings, facelifts for existing barracks and facilties, and and a delicately crafted plan to ensure Soldiers, families and units get the support they need during the surge.
Fort Lewis air assault drill has flavors of Germany and Iraq
MELISSA SANTOS; The News Tribune
Dust and gravel swirl as two Chinook transport helicopters land near a complex that looks like a World War II Bavarian village.
About 50 Fort Lewis soldiers jump out and enter the complex, holding off enemy fire as they search for their target.
Within 10 minutes, a group finds him hiding on an upper floor in the midst of making a bomb and forces him to his knees. In 10 more, they have escorted him outside.
Fort Lewis sees growth, change
FORT LEWIS — Before bombs dropped on Baghdad in 2003, Fort Lewis already was on the forefront of change in the Army, developing and fielding a new, cutting-edge combat brigade.
And little around the installation has remained the same since.
Like other military posts, Fort Lewis has adjusted to the demands of fighting two protracted conflicts five years in Iraq and nearing seven in Afghanistan. Those demands include improving the care of wounded soldiers and increasing the number of services and programs available to families to help them through the stress of long periods of separation.
Some changes are unique to Fort Lewis, including an assessment program to ensure that any lingering effects from combat aren't ignored. The war has accelerated the development of the Stryker combat brigades; three of the Army's seven Stryker brigades are based at Fort Lewis.
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Stryker Brigades: Where Are They Now?
Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune has a nice summary of where each Stryker Brigade is right now (deployed/dwelling), and when each might be called on again to head overseas.
NW Guardian
The NW Guardian is the official newspaper of the Ft. Lewis community, and they have consistent coverage of the various Stryker Brigades. We haven't done a very good job of featuring their stories, but we'll try and correct that in the future. Right now they have a number of stories online regarding 3/2 SBCT homecoming activities. Stop by their website, spend a few minutes browsing their content, and bookmark it for future reference.
Fort Lewis park will honor those killed in war
The names of eight members of the armed forces from Washington killed in Iraq in July will one day be inspiration for quiet thought at the 10-acre Reflection Park being created in the historic garrison section of Fort Lewis.
The names and dates of all the fallen from this state's towns and military bases, from every service branch in every war beginning with World War I, will be engraved on granite walls set amid the sound of trickling water.
Four-star boss calls on Fort Lewis
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The day-to-day boss of the Army came to Fort Lewis on Monday to pump up the troops, listen to their spouses and check in on new measures aimed at improving care for wounded soldiers.
Gen. Richard Cody fielded tough questions from soldiers’ wives who are holding up despite extensions to their husbands’ combat tours. And he heard from wounded and injured soldiers who said they are still struggling with the bureaucracy of the Army’s disability evaluation system.
Fort Lewis soldier stabbed to death
In the wake of recent casualties in Iraq comes word that a 5/2 SBCT soldier was stabbed to death on Post last Friday. The Army identified him today as Pvt. Timothy W. Crislip.
FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Army officials identified a Stryker brigade soldier stabbed to death last week as Pvt. Timothy W. Crislip of Elmhurst, Ill., whose mother described him Monday as "an awesome young man."
Crislip died at Madigan Army Medical Center on Friday after being "stabbed by another soldier," Fort Lewis said in a news release. The other soldier was taken into custody but was not identified Monday.
Military police and the Army's criminal investigation division were reviewing the case. Additional details, including a motive, were not immediately available.
No easy job ahead for new chief
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. arrived Monday to take charge of Fort Lewis as it endures its most difficult months yet in the war in Iraq.
The 52-year-old Detroit native pledged at his assumption of command ceremony to support the families of deployed soldiers and the rear detachments of deployed units “as they truly shoulder the load during this tough fight.”
Fort Lewis rethinks end of individual memorials
Fort Lewis leaders are reconsidering a decision to end individual memorial ceremonies for soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A post spokesman said Thursday that Brig. Gen. William Troy, acting commander at Fort Lewis, has decided to review his decision to hold a single memorial once a month to honor soldiers recently killed in action.
Lt. Col. Robert Gilpin said Troy’s final ruling “will take into account the views of commanders, family readiness groups and our senior noncommissioned officers.”
Memorial Changes
On his blog Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune discusses a new protocol for Ft. Lewis memorials honoring fallen soldiers.
Related Article:
Fort Lewis moves to monthly memorial - The News Tribune
New Stryker brigade added to Fort Lewis
The following story also contains video after the link.
By Keith Eldridge, KOMO 4 News
The war means as many as 15,000 more people are moving to Ft. Lewis. The Army is adding a new Stryker Brigade to the fort. It's like dropping an instant city into the area.
The 4,000 men and women of the brand new 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division held their activation ceremony at the army base.
Some of them are seasoned combat veterans with several tours in Iraq. But many are young recruits who've never seen battle.
Stryker brigade readies for war
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The Army officially activated the last of its seven Stryker brigades in a ceremony Friday at Fort Lewis, with one mission clearly in mind: getting its 4,000 mostly new soldiers ready to go to Iraq.
The 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is scheduled to complete its training and preparations by early 2009.
The commander, Col. Harry Tunnell, was asked whether he thinks U.S. combat troops will still be in Iraq by then.
“That’s a question you’ll have to ask someone else,” Tunnell said. “We are training to go to war.”
Fort Lewis' latest Stryker brigade to be activated
The Army's seventh Stryker brigade will be officially activated in a ceremony Friday at this post south of Tacoma.
The ceremony will include an uncasing of the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division's colors, to signify its status as an active duty military unit, Fort Lewis spokesman Joseph Hitt said Thursday. The 10 a.m. event will be held at Soldiers Field House on post.
The 5th Brigade is the fourth such brigade to be formed and trained at Fort Lewis, which is also home to the 3rd and 4th brigades - currently in Iraq. The Stryker is the Army's eight-wheeled, medium-weight vehicle.
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Dubik gives up Fort Lewis helm
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Fort Lewis’ departing commander offered a sobering assessment of the nation’s enemies Monday and expressed appreciation for the people he’s worked with the past 21/2 years at the local Army post.
Lt. Gen. James Dubik relinquished command in a ceremony to Brig. Gen. William Troy, who will serve as interim commander.
Virtual Stryker, real training
Stryker drivers of all experience levels are using advanced simulators at Fort Lewis to hone their skills operating the 19-ton armored vehicles.
The $800,000 simulators allow new drivers to become acquainted with the vehicle’s handling and maneuverability and enable experienced drivers to fine-tune their skills without risking injury to soldiers or damage to the $4 million vehicles, Army officials said.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say this training capability is going to save lives in combat, and it’s going to give us a more capable force than we’ve had before,” said Brig Gen. William Troy, deputy commander of Fort Lewis and I Corps, during a short ribbon-cutting ceremony for the simulators Tuesday.
Fort Lewis soldiers test latest Army concept vehicles
SEATTLE - Taking a page from auto manufacturers, the Army has rolled out several concept vehicles it hopes will help spawn new technologies for the next generation.
The two utility trucks and two maneuver sustainment vehicles are part of a $60 million Army program to modernize military tactical vehicles like the Humvee and the Hemmet, the Army’s large transport truck. They are to be used strictly for demonstration and aren’t likely to go into production, Army officials said.
The trucks, which arrived at Fort Lewis earlier this month, were tested Wednesday by soldiers with the 14th Battalion and the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
Ft. Lewis Stryker unit delayed by troop boost
MELANTHIA MITCHELL, The Associated Press
FORT LEWIS - President Bush's decision to send more troops to Iraq has slowed the establishment of the Army's seventh Stryker brigade, to be based at Fort Lewis.
The bulk of the newly named 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division had been expected to arrive at Fort Lewis by the end of March, but that has since been postponed until May and June, base spokesman Joseph Piek said Wednesday.
Ft. Lewis Readying For Its 3rd Stryker Brigade
SEATTLE -- The Army is in the early stages of establishing a third Stryker brigade at Fort Lewis as it nears its goal of creating seven of the units named for the eight-wheeled armored vehicles.
About 200 senior leadership members for the newly named 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division have been arriving at the Army post south of Tacoma since September, said Joseph Piek, a spokesman for the post.
