Army's 3rd Division returns to Iraq

The Washington Times ^ | February 26, 2005 | Rowan Scarborough

[neverdem]

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The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com

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Army's 3rd Division returns to Iraq

By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published February 26, 2005

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The Army's 3rd Infantry Division is back in Iraq, 22 months after it stormed the country from Kuwait and was the first U.S. unit to penetrate downtown Baghdad to oust Saddam Hussein.

    The Fort Stewart, Ga.-based division has a new commander and a whole new combat configuration. Of its roughly 20,000 soldiers, about 50 percent participated in the invasion and subsequent occupation that saw a rise in lawlessness and a burgeoning insurgency.

    "Our soldiers, for the most part, feel like this is the right thing to do," said Maj. Gen. William Webster, the 3rd Infantry commander, who was deputy commander of all U.S. ground forces during the drive to Baghdad.

    "They understand that the mission is not complete," he said at a Baghdad press conference. "It wasn't complete when we left the first time. They were very happy to have 15 to 18 months back home with their families, and they're proud to be back here serving in the U.S. Army again, to help the Iraqi people get control of their country."

    Gen. Webster's troops are returning to a changed landscape, politically and militarily.

    The Iraqis now run the government in a transition that ends with the convening of a national assembly that will elect new leaders. The Iraqi armed forces and police, disbanded after Baghdad fell April 9, have been reconstituted and now number more than 135,000.

    And an insurgency that seemed sporadic when the 3rd Division left in 2003 is a powerful killing force that attacks at any time, 40...

[OldFriend]

Bless them all.

[stm]

May God be with them. My Guard unit was attached to them for the entire war and into the reconstruction. The majority of them left Iraq in Sep 03. They are coming back to a radically different country than the one they left 17 months ago. In a lot of ways it is more dangerous now then back then. At least back then you knew who the enemy was.

[Ros42]

I'm so proud of them all! God Bless them and keep them safe!

[EGPWS]

"Our soldiers, for the most part, feel like this is the right thing to do,"

Bless them all, however I would like to have a sit down conversation with the one's that aren't a part of the most.

[stm]

"Bless them all, however I would like to have a sit down conversation with the one's that aren't a part of the most."

Someone has to fill sandbags.........

[leadpenny]

And ask them . . . .?

[EGPWS]

And ask them . . . .?

Why?

[leadpenny]

You said you'd like to have a conversation. I'm just curious what you wanted to learn from them.

[EGPWS]

Someone has to fill sandbags.........

Lest we forget the body's excrement's and the location of such which, from time to time, need cleaning. ; )

[EGPWS]

That is my conversation with them for starters...."why"?

If I am confusing you with my posts my FRiend I apologize, however it is late.

[leadpenny]

You're not confusing me.

conversation >noun. An informal spoken exchange of news and ideas between two or more people.

[EGPWS]

You're not confusing me.

Super!

[leadpenny]

Cute! I'm not impressed, either.

[iopscusa]

It is getting late, early for me but after re-reading the exchange you had with EPGWS, my take on the statement; "Bless them all, however I would like to have a sit down conversation with the one's that aren't a part of the most" is rhetorical and makes a good point about the Commander's statement; "Our soldiers, for the most part, feel like this is the right thing to do,". IMO, EPGWS is implying Watch Your Back, may not be able to trust some of your own and it is prudent to question those not included in the most part. Not bad advice.

[leadpenny]

Thanks for your comment but I've seen more than enough of egpws to know that I couldn't care less what he/she was implying.

[mark502inf]

The 3d Infantry Division did the "Thunder Run" to take Baghdad in April 2003---used their armor in a city to take down the Hussein regime in a way that most people said could not be done; our mainstream media commentators were obsessing about urban combat as per Mogadishu & Grozny, but our soldiers were obssessing about killing the enemy and accomplishing the mission--which they did.

Of note, the original guidance for this deployment of 3d Infantry Division was to take one-third of their armored vehicles and then mount their soldiers in HMMWVs in Iraq. MG Webster, the commander, fought hard and finally got permission to take all their armor. It'll be interesting to see if the extensive use of armor in occupation duties is as unexpectedly successful as was the 3d Infantry Division's armored attack into Baghdad was during the initial invasion.

[petertare]

Does the approval of the use of all division armor to Iraq suggest the Rumsfeld theory of armor is under the assault of the truth?

His light armor "shuffle and duck" strategy seems shortsighted. When will, or has it been, challenged by someone of authority in or out of govt?

Might have to put aside some of those AF shiny toys and anteup some funds for the guys in the malestrom. GIs do matter, Mr. Rummy.

[neverdem]

I tried to google mtoe+units+action+heavy+division, but I had no luck, just the prospect of hours checking the 944 results.

For those who don't know, MTOE stands for modified table of organization and equipment.

Does anyone have any references to how these units of action are organized and what equipment they have?

[mark502inf]

I have a very detailed death-by-powerpoint briefing at work, but this is the best I can find on the web. Note the 4 "units of action" on the right side-bar instead of the 3 brigades that were there previously. You cna click on the UA names & see that each UA has 2 maneuver bns & 1 cav/recon sqdrn versus the previous 3 maneuver bns; that each UA has its organic arty & engr & CSS ertc vs the old centralized system where such units were farmed out from DIVARTY, DISCOM, and so on. None of this stuff is classified, so I bet its on the web somewhere, but globalsecurity.org is the best I could come up with.