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closeBrigade deployment schedule changed to meet surge needs
By Don Kramer, Northwest Guardian
By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
One of the five Army “surge” brigades sent to Iraq last year as part of an escalation — and credited, in part, with improving security — is on its way home.
The 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, went to Iraq in April 2007 and was sent to Diyala Province, north of Baghdad. That region was one of the areas where many insurgents had fled when the U.S. and Iraqi troop presence was boosted in Baghdad.
A series of operations in Diyala targeted these insurgents, though in some cases, the militants had moved on before American troops arrived.
Now, the 4,000 Soldiers of the brigade are beginning the process of returning to Fort Lewis, officials said.
“We have been extremely successful during our 14 months of operations in Taji and Diyala,” Col. John Lehr, the brigade commander, was quoted as saying in a news release.
“Operations in concert with the Iraqi Security Forces have made the province safer and more stable,” he said.
The successes did not come without a cost: Officials said 37 of the brigade’s Soldiers died during this deployment.
Among the brigade’s accomplishments were training and supporting nearly 20,000 Iraqi police in 64 stations throughout the province. A police academy was established, and the first 500 graduates are expected next month.
Violent incidents went down from their peak by 70 percent during their tour, brigade officials said.
“They are working hard to create a better police force — a force that is non-sectarian and non-corrupt,” Lehr said.
Additionally, the brigade helped restart three electrical generator farms, which increased the available electrical power to the province by 25 percent.
The 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team is the fourth of the five “surge” brigades to leave Iraq.
Used with permission from Stars and Stripes. © 2008 Stars and Stripes. Please do not reprint.
The 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division was caught squarely in the troop surge of 2007 that turned U.S. fortunes in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Originally programmed to deploy in May, the brigade was not only accelerated by a month to join surge forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom in April, but extended three months to serve a 15-month combat tour.
The one-month adjustment in its arrival date, however, required a major shift in the brigade’s Mission Readiness Exercise plans. The site shifted from the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. to Fort Lewis.
With the help of the Joint Readiness Training Center staff from Fort Polk, La., brigade planners devised a scenario to exercise all elements of the Dragoon Raider Brigade. Together, they transformed the installation into Baghdad to test the brigade’s urban fighting skills.
During the brigade farewell ceremony March 12 on Watkins Field, the commander, Col. Jon S. Lehr, expressed confidence in his unit’s expedited preparations. It was the first brigade, for example, to deploy with all 10 variants of the Stryker vehicle, including the Mobile Gun System and the NBC Reconnaissance Vehicle. The Manchus of 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment took with them the Army’s latest force multiplying system for infantrymen, the Land Warrior.
“There is no unit to enter the field of battle better prepared to execute the balanced application of culture, tactics, and technology against the enemies of our country and the free world,” Lehr said.
The brigade validated its commander’s confidence.
The Dragoon Raiders methodically exploited gains in the cities of Tarmiyyah, Khan Bani Sa’ad, Husseiniyah, and the Baghdad districts of East Rashid and Doura.
Fourth Brigade Soldiers fought Shiite militia members and al-Qaida terrorists, killing more than 500 enemy fighters, wounding nearly 200 more, finding 440 caches of enemy weapons and equipment, detaining 1,700 suspected insurgents, clearing 2,220 improvised explosive devices and capturing more than 200 high-value targets. After following 3rd Brigade’s lead in throwing off insurgent influence in Diyala and the area known as the Breadbasket, 4th Bde., 2nd Inf. Div. Soldiers handed off responsibility to Iraqi Defense Forces to monitor.
Command Sgt. Maj. John Troxell said the brigade had endured “brutal combat every day” upon its arrival, but by the end of the deployment, the Sons of Iraq, mostly Sunni fighters who worked for the Iraqi Defense Forces, were defending their own neighborhoods against terrorists.
Though not at peace, there is far less insurgent activity and freedom of maneuver in the areas where 4th Brigade conducted operations. Casualties have dropped and communities are returning to normalcy as a direct result of the efforts and sacrifices of the Dragoon Raiders.