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AL ASAD, Iraq (Jan. 1, 2006) -- Like a quarterback who leads a team of many different positions, C-130 pilots lead a diverse aircrew, absorbing input and making reasoned decisions. Because of that unique role, the success of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 252’s mission is dependent on the abilities of its pilots not just to fly the aircraft, but to effectively lead a group of Marines with very different experiences and individual jobs. “Whenever more than one Marine is gathered in a room, one of them is a leader,” said Maj. Glenn Vogel, a native of Virginia Beach, Va.,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2005 – Iraqi and U.S. soldiers captured 23 suspected terrorists who were the targets of three raids Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 in northern Iraq. Elsewhere, Iraqi and U.S. forces captured weapons caches and rescued the kidnapped brother of a politician. Soldiers from Iraq's 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 5th Army Division, and the U.S. 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, captured the primary target of the operation along with 10 more suspected terrorists west of Muqdadiyah, Iraw. The operation was designed to pick up a Baath Party leader who was behind many attacks on Iraqi and...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 1, 2006 – The U.S. armed forces are prepared to handle whatever challenges arise in 2006, the nation's top general vowed today in an interview from Iraq. He also thanked troops and their families for sacrifices in the global war on terrorism. "We'll assess the situation and do the best we can with what we have at hand and be successful the way our nation needs us to be." Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on ABC's "This Week" program. Pace said the U.S. goal is to ensure Iraqi armed forces and...

AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq, Jan. 1, 2006 – Securing gains made and training local police are keys to victory over terrorists here in Anbar province, the commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force Forward said today. In the past few months, U.S. Marines and soldiers have aggressively attacked insurgents throughout the province, Marine Maj. Gen. Stephen Johnson, who is also commander of Multinational Force West, said. Coalition forces went into known insurgent areas and remained in those areas to ensure insurgents did not come back, Johnson said. "We are able to do this now because we have trained Iraqi...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 28, 2005) – Three weapons caches were discovered and destroyed by Iraqi and U.S. Soldiers Dec. 27 in north central Iraq. Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team discovered a large cache of mortar rounds and artillery fuses while patrolling near Hawijah. Nearly 400 mortar rounds of various types and sizes, along with 250 lbs. of explosive propellant, 878 artillery fuses, 1,900 rounds of small arms ammunition, a Russian-made anti-tank missile and an anti-personnel mine were blown up by an explosive ordnance disposal team at the site in a controlled detonation....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 28, 2005 — Last week Iraqi Prime Minister al-Ja'fari, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and I announced the decision not to deploy two brigades scheduled to come to Iraq early next year. The 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based out of Fort Riley, Kansas, was originally scheduled to deploy to central Iraq in December to replace the 29th Brigade Combat Team. Additionally, the Baumholder, Germany-based 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, was to deploy to the Iraqi province of Diyala in November to replace the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. The 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division will remain in...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29, 2005 – Iraqi soldiers captured six suspected terrorists and seized weapons in raids over the last two days, Multinational Security Transition Command officials reported. Troops from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, apprehended four men in Ramadi today after the men ran from the scene of a roadside bomb attack on a U.S. tank. A search of the area yielded wire consistent with wire used in the attack. Troops from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army, found dynamite and a pair of night-vision goggles in a raid, and took a man into custody North...

12/28/2005 - BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- A-10 Thunderbolt IIs continue taking the fight to the enemy by providing close air support to U.S. and coalition forces participating in Operation Enduring Freedom. Shortly after deploying in September to this base at the foot of the Hindu Kush mountains from Davis-Monthan Air Base, Ariz., the 354th Fighter Squadron “Bulldogs” began making history. “Our A-10s have provided non-stop presence and lethal firepower since we arrived,” said the squadron commander Lt. Col. Martha McSally. “From ensuring the success of Afghanistan’s first-ever provincial elections on Sept. 18 to the first seating of an...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2005 – U.S. and Iraqi forces thwarted a prison escape today and destroyed five weapons caches and seized money and passports yesterday, U.S. military officials in Baghdad reported. Four Iraqi prison guards, an interpreter and four prisoners died and a U.S. soldier and five prisoners were injured when 16 prisoners tried to escape after storming the armory and obtaining weapons. All prisoners are accounted for. The 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team found nearly 400 mortar rounds, along with explosive propellant, artillery fuses, small-arms ammunition, an anti-tank missile and an anti-personnel mine near Hawijah in north...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28, 2005 – Task Force Band of Brothers soldiers disrupted two terrorist bombing operations yesterday in Baqubah, a city about 20 miles north of Baghdad, killing two terrorists and detaining another at a new checkpoint, U.S. military officials in Baghdad reported. Just before noon, soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team stopped a suspicious car and detained the driver after discovering the vehicle was being prepared as a car bomb. An explosives ordnance disposal team found no explosives, but the car was laced with wiring used to detonate explosives. Later, soldiers fired at a second...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26, 2005 – Iraqi police, firefighters and Task Force Baghdad soldiers responded to a series of car bomb attacks in central and eastern Baghdad today, military officials reported. At 8:30 a.m., a suicide car bomber detonated in the Karadah district, killing an Iraqi civilian and wounding an Iraqi police officer and an Iraqi civilian. The second car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad at about 10 a.m., injuring five Iraqi police officers. At 10:43 a.m., a third car bomb detonated near an Iraqi police patrol in northeast Baghdad, killing four Iraqi civilians and wounding two Iraqi police officers. About...

FORWARD LOGISTICS AREA ANACONDA, Iraq, Dec. 26, 2005 – It doesn't matter how many troops you have or how well trained they are if you can't sustain them. Coalition logisticians are working with the nascent Iraqi army to build a logistics capability for the force. Army Lt. Col. Steven Shapiro, chief of operations for 3rd Corps Support Command and selected for promotion to colonel, said the command's soldiers are training Iraqis through schools and, mostly, through on-the-job experience. "We're training the Iraqis to follow up and provide support to their forces as they engage the enemy," Shapiro said during an...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec. 23, 2005 – The United States will have two fewer brigades in Iraq in 2006, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. Rumsfeld announced before a cheering group of Marines that the United States will drop from 17 to 15 brigades in the coming year. The change will drop the number of Americans in the country under the 138,000-level baseline, officials said. The decision reflects the proper balance between coalition and Iraqi forces, the secretary said. The coalition footprint must be large enough to help maintain security and allow the Iraq forces to train up,...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq, Dec. 23, 2005 – The United States has not discussed basing American troops in Iraq, and would do so only following negotiations with the new Iraqi government, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said here today. "At the moment, there are no plans for long-term bases in the country," Rumsfeld told a Marine during a question and answer session here today. The secretary said the subject has not been discussed because until the most recent election, there was no one to speak with. He said the United States has been working with successive transitional governments in Iraq about...

12/23/2005 - BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFPN) -- The 447th Air Expeditionary Group has teemed with members of the 48th Brigade Combat Team and Charlie Company, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion, to provide medical care near the Radwaniya Civil Military Operations Center. Soldiers constructed the clinic by refurbishing an existing building. The clinic addresses an urgent need of the people living to the South and West of Baghdad for medical care. “The area is poor, rural, and the Iraqi government currently lacks the resources to supply desperately needed medical services,” said Maj. Mark Cuttle, C/490 CA commander. “In the face of this need...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 23, 2005 – Two U.S. brigades will not deploy to Iraq as originally planned, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq said here today. Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said President Bush has accepted his recommendation that the number of American forces in Iraq drop over the coming months. Progress with the Iraqi security forces means the number of American brigades in Iraq can drop from 17 to 15. The 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, will remain at Fort Riley, Kan., and the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, will deploy to Kuwait...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2005 – Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to helping Afghanistan continue its road toward security and freedom during a joint news conference today with President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Afghanistan. Rumsfeld, who made a surprise visit to Afghanistan today after touring hurricane-devastated areas of Pakistan, told Karzai the United States will continue to stand by Afghanistan, even while making slight troop cuts there. The visit came two days after the Defense Department announced plans to reduce number of troops serving in Afghanistan, currently at 19,000, by about 2,500 during the next year. That...

AL ASAD, Iraq -- The Fighting Griffins of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 266 are witnessing a change in their mission as they provide tactical mobility and logistical support to the ground combat element in Iraq. More and more, the squadron’s missions focus on moving Iraqi soldiers in support of anti-insurgent operations along the frontlines of the battle. While participating in Operation Moonlight, Dec. 19, the Griffins flew Iraqi forces from the 1st Brigade, 1st Iraqi Army Division, along with their Marine advisors from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, in support of large-scale operations east of Ubaydi, in western Anbar province. Operation...

BAGHDAD, Dec. 21, 2005 – Mosul is a microcosm of Iraq. It's the second-largest city in the country, and contains all kinds of people who make up the ethnic stew that is this nation. Shiia Arab, Sunni Arab, Kurds, Turkomen, ethnic Iranians, Assyrians and many other ethnicities settled in Mosul, taking advantage of its location astride ancient trading routes, and amid fertile land that turned the region into the wheat belt of the Middle East. The city is the capital of Ninewa province. In Judeo-Christian heritage, Ninevah was the home of the prophets Jonah and Isaiah, and it has the...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21, 2005 – A Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed by a roadside bomb south of Baghdad Dec. 19, military officials reported today. The name of the soldier is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Task Force Baghdad soldiers on patrol today discovered a large cache of munitions in northeastern Baghdad. The soldiers -- from A Troop, 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment -- found 27 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, three 82 mm mortar rounds, 13 armor-piercing RPG launchers, 28 propellant chargers, 10,000 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, and 400 4.5 mm rounds. All munitions were turned over to...