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WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2007 – New York National Guardsmen will start deploying to Afghanistan late this year, Defense Department officials said today. About 1,700 Guardsmen of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will relieve South Carolina National Guardsmen of the 218th Brigade Combat Team as the primary trainers of the Afghan National Army. The New York brigade is based in Syracuse. “Thousands of New York Guardsmen have answered the call from serving at Ground Zero when the Twin Towers fell to commanding combat troops in Central Iraq and now to the mountains of Afghanistan,” said Army Lt. Col. Paul Fanning,...

Elite brigade is his to rev up By Tom Infield Inquirer Staff Writer CLEM MURRAY / Inquirer Staff Photographer Pa. National Guard brigade gets a new Fighting Machine Map: Stryker Brigade Combat Team Locations Lt. Col. Marc Ferraro was 6,000 miles from Iraq when six national guardsmen from Pennsylvania were killed by bomb blasts during a four-day period in August 2005. It fell to him, as commander of their home battalion, to notify most of the soldiers' families. He recalls it as the most trying period of his life, except for the two times his younger son had to undergo...

At the end of a challenging tour of duty in southern Iraq, the personnel of 19 Light Brigade have received high praise from their Commander, Brigadier Tim Evans MBE. 19 Light Brigade, replaced in Iraq by 1 Mechanised Brigade today, Friday 1 June 2007, now returns to the UK, with most of its units already back. Brigadier Evans, said: "19 Light Brigade had a very challenging and dynamic tour but maintained an impressive momentum. The Brigade had to fight hard to retain the initiative and keep on the front foot against a professional and well motivated enemy who were determined...

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2007 – The fifth and final brigade of the troop surge has arrived in Baghdad and should be fully operational by mid-July, the deputy director for operations on the Joint Staff said here today. “We are starting to see a shift in momentum that comes with having additional forces on the ground,” Army Brig. Gen. Perry Wiggins told Pentagon reporters in a news conference. Troops will clamp down on Baghdad’s northern and southern belts -- areas where insurgents “have had the opportunity to sit back and plan some of these attacks,” Wiggins said. “What we’re trying...

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2007 – Army Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffery Hartless, an airborne ranger and master parachutist, served nearly his entire 24-year career jumping out of planes. He earned parachute badges from Italy, Jordan, Norway, Korea, Germany and Honduras. His airborne career ended, though, when he was crushed under a 10-ton front loader in Afghanistan in 2005. Once stable, Hartless was taken to Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. He has since recovered, but in an ironic and unlikely career twist for an infantryman, Hartless’ injuries have brought him back again to Walter Reed -- this time to apply...

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Feb. 23, 2007 – The 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team here is the first unit to employ the Army’s new “reset” process to rapidly refurbish everything from M-16 rifles to state-of-the-art Stryker combat vehicles. Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is briefed about the reset of the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- formerly the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Feb. 22. Photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen, USAF  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Marine Gen. Peter Pace,...

PHOENIX -- A National Guard Brigade from Arizona is headed for its first combat tour since World War II. More than 600 members of the Arizona National Guard's 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment left their families Saturday. They will train at Fort Bragg, N.C. before shipping off for more than a year in Afghanistan, where insurgents continue to battle with U.S. and NATO forces. "I expect the worst and hope for the best," said Pvt. Jose Flores, a Glendale resident who looked both exhausted and excited as he shared some final moments with his wife and three sons Saturday. Flores...

BAGHDAD, Jan 2, 2007 — The 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division headquarters, and two of its battalions, trekked from Mosul to Baghdad over a two-day period recently, performing combat operations along the way. Other elements of the brigade had made the trek earlier. The arrival of the Stryker brigade headquarters in Baghdad marks a reunion for 3-2 SBCT. Two battalions, 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment and 1st Squadron, 14th Calvary Regiment, had been detached from the brigade since its initial deployment, in late July and early August. They have been operating in the Baghdad area while there...

Camp Striker, Iraq – Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), detained nine suspected terrorists in three separate incidents, Dec. 14 - 15. Company D, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment detained five men near al Taqa, west of Yusufiyah, Iraq Dec. 14. The Soldiers observed three men near a blue flat bed pick-up truck congregating around a pot hole in the side of the road. The men fled on foot into a house as the Soldiers approached to investigate. The Soldiers entered and cleared the house, detaining the three. As the Soldiers searched the outlying area,...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 15, 2006 -- Army leaders praised military families here during ceremonies this week for standing solidly behind the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team during its 16-month deployment to Iraq. Ashley McCulloh and her son, Brooke, welcome home their husband and father, Army Capt. Timothy McCulloh, at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, after his 16-month deployment to Iraq with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Courtesy photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Secretary Francis Harvey told families of brigade members during the “Arctic Wolves’” redeployment ceremony here Dec. 12 that the Army recognizes their sacrifices and will...

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Dec. 13, 2006 – Some 4,000 members of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team gathered here yesterday to celebrate their accomplishments during 16 months in Iraq and mourn their losses as they uncased the unit’s colors during a stirring redeployment ceremony. Servicemembers of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team salute the colors during a redeployment ceremony near Fort Wainwright, Alaska, Dec. 12. Photo by William D. Moss  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The soldiers assembled at the Carlson Community Center, just down the road from Fort Wainwright here, to reflect on their deployment and receive a...

FORT HUACHUCA — The Thunderbirds were treated to more than a turkey dinner Wednesday as part of a Thanksgiving event. The Thunderbird Dining Facility was deck out with the sounds, smells and sights of the holiday. Solider cooks of the 11th Signal Brigade, the unit usually referred to as the Thunderbirds, went all out in preparing food for the feast. The rations noncommissioned-officer-in-charge of the military eatery listed the amount of meat, fowl and seafood the cooks prepared for the meal. The list from Sgt. Brisher McGrath included 330 pounds of prime rib, 150 pounds of turkey, 108 pounds of...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2006 – The decision to pull an Iraqi police brigade off the streets for intensive retraining is part of the Iraqi government’s overall reform plan and will improve the professionalism and confidence within the national police, the U.S. general in charge of training Iraqi police said today. The Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced Oct. 3 that the 8th Brigade, 2nd National Police, was being recalled to go through intensive training in anti-militia and anti-sectarian violence operations, due to poor performance and possible complicity with sectarian violence. “I really believe that the decision to withdraw the 8th Brigade...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (NNS) -- The 354th Civil Affairs Brigade (CAB), the first civil affairs brigade in Iraq made up primarily of Sailors, completed its first four months here, Aug. 16, as the primary administrative controlling manager for civil affairs units throughout Iraq. During the first months of its year-long deployment to Baghdad, the 354 CAB coordinated and ensured the successful completion of numerous community-oriented projects. Among the active-duty individual augmentees and Reservists called upon to deploy with the unit, more than 75 percent of the brigade headquarters is Navy. Army Col. Vernon Harris, 354th CAB's commander, said working in a...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 – The Army has authorized award of the Bronze Star Medal for Service to the living Canadian veterans of the 1st Special Services Force for their service to the U.S. Army during World War II. The unit was known as “the Devil’s Brigade” during the war and was one of the first U.S. special operations forces units in the war. The unit included U.S. Army soldiers and soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Parachute Battalion and 2nd Canadian Special Service Battalion of the Special Operations Group. From 1942 to 1944, about 2,500 soldiers served in the unit...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2006 – The most important thing military leaders can offer their people is an up-front assessment of what they’re facing, as exemplified by the way the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team’s leaders informed the troops about their extension in Iraq, DoD’s top enlisted adviser told American Forces Press Service. Army Command Sgt. Maj. William J. Gainey, senior enlisted adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shared his thoughts after returning from Alaska, home of the “Arctic Wolves.” The Defense Department announced July 27 that the brigade, which was in the midst of wrapping up...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE MAHMUDIYAH, Iraq, Aug. 17, 2006 – The 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, officially assumed responsibility for security in parts of Mahmudiyah, Yusufiyah and Lutufiyah, Iraq, earlier this week. Iraqi army soldiers from 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, stand with the colors of their country held high during a transfer of authority ceremony in Mahmudiyah on Aug. 14. Photo by Spc. George Welcome, USA  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. During the Aug. 14 transfer of authority ceremony at the Iraqi army compound in Mahmudiyah, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, transferred to...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 15, 2006 – Three hundred one soldiers with an Alaska-based unit extended in Iraq will return to the combat zone to serve with their comrades in arms, Army officials announced yesterday. A total of 378 soldiers with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team had returned to Alaska in June and July at the end of their scheduled 12-month tour in Iraq. But before the rest of the 4,000-soldier unit could redeploy, officials halted their return to bolster Iraqi and coalition forces in Baghdad. Now, 301 of those soldiers who made it back to Alaska will return to their...

Soldiers from the 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division capture insurgents during a demonstration of military ability that took place at Forward Operating Base Mahmudiah South Monday. Story and photos by Sgt. Trevor Snyder124th Mobile Public  Affairs Detachment BAGHDAD -- Iraqi forces took control of another area of Baghdad on Monday after the latest in a series of transfer of authority ceremonies near the capital. Army Col. Claude Ebel, commander of the 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division said responsibility for Forward Operating Base Mahmudiyah South, a base of operations for security forces south of the capital, was transferred to...

WASHINGTON, August 6, 2006 – The 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team handed over operations in Mosul, Iraq, and other surrounding areas in the Ninewa province to the 3rd SBCT, 2nd Infantry Division, in a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Forward Operating Base Marez today. The 172nd SBCT soldiers were deployed in August 2005 and since have conducted more than 15,000 missions, including cordon and searches, combat patrols, counter-mortar and rocket missions, raids, escort missions and humanitarian aid throughout Dohuk, Ninewa and Irbil provinces. “The accomplishments of the 172nd SBCT have been truly remarkable,” said Army Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner, commanding general of...