Free Republic

FORT HUACHUCA — Calling Col. John B. Hildebrand “the epitome of a soldier-leader,” Brig. Gen. Jennifer Napper said the 11th Signal Brigade has been well-served during Hildebrand’s time as its commander. On Thursday morning, Hildebrand turned over the brigade to Col. Francis J. Huber during a change-of-command ceremony on the fort’s historic Brown Parade Field. Signal Corps history, going back to the Civil War, was part of the event, as two soldiers, Staff Sgt. Kevin Kinnari and Sgt. Dustin Anderson, both members of Company B, 86th Signal Battalion, waved commands using red and white semaphore flags. In relay of the...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — For now, Spc. John Martinez’s sense of community is this bustling military installation, which is actually a network of a number of camps between the Baghdad International Airport and the International — sometimes called the Green — Zone. Martinez is one of slightly more than 100 11th Signal Brigade headquarters soldiers from Fort Huachuca who pulled up stakes, trading one desert climate for another for 15 months. Besides the 11th, more than 400 soldiers of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion from Fort Huachuca, as well as other GIs from the fort, are now serving away from...

SIERRA VISTA — Army Chief Warrant Officer Lisa Stansbury's family has plenty of work to do while she's in Iraq for the next 15 months. There's the horse to take care of and ride, plenty of homework to finish and weekly letters to write — not to mention building a house. "We've got to have it done before she gets done," said her husband, Doug, who along with 11-year-old daughter Sarah saw Stansbury off Thursday morning during a departure ceremony for the 11th Signal Brigade. Stansbury, along with more than 100 other soldiers from the unit, departed from Fort Huachuca's...

FORT HUACHUCA — The first group of the 11th Signal Brigade to head to Iraq is tentatively scheduled to depart from the post’s Libby Army Airfield Thursday morning. The brigade’s headquarters and headquarters company, of about 120 soldiers, will first head to Kuwait for additional training before going to Iraq. The 11th’s mission will be to support 3rd Corps initially and then XVIII Airborne Corps. The brigade’s soldiers will replace the 3rd Signal Brigade currently deployed to various locations in Southwest Asia by accomplishing a relief in place, meaning they will occupy equipment, systems and networks already in the region...