Task Force Band of Brothers Assumes Command in North-Central Iraq

TIKRIT, Iraq, Nov. 2, 2005 – Task Force Band of Brothers and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) officially took command of military operations in north-central Iraq in a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Danger here Nov. 1. The ceremony marked the transfer of authority from Task Force Liberty and the 42nd Infantry Division, a National Guard unit from New York that has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for a year, to TF Band of Brothers.

TF Band of Brothers is composed of two brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, from Fort Campbell, Ky., and two brigade combat teams of the 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Stewart, Ga.

The task force is named "Band of Brothers" after the bestselling Stephen Ambrose book and award-winning cable miniseries by the same name that told the story of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II. The unit was reactivated in October and is now called the 506th Regimental Combat Team. The 506th is now deployed to Iraq as part of Task Force Band of Brothers.

The 101st will continue the work Task Force Liberty began in the region by continuing to train the Iraqi army and Iraqi security forces and assisting them as they protect their country from terrorist elements and insurgents, officials said.

TF Band of Brothers is dedicated to preserving the evolving, democratically elected government of Iraq, and ensuring the safety of its people, a unit spokesman said in a statement.

He was just a rookie trooper,

And he surely shook with fright.

As he checked all his equipment

And made sure his pack was tight.

"Is everybody happy?",cried the sergent, looking up,

Our hero feebly answered "Yes", and then they stood him up

He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked,

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock

He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop,

He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome

The lines were snarled and tied in knots around his skinny bones

The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground,

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

The days he's lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,

He thought about his girl back home, the one he left behind,

He thought about the medics and he wondered what they'd find,

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild,

The medics jumped and screamed with glee, they rolled their sleeves and smiled

For it had been a week or more since last a 'chute had failed

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

He hit the ground, the sound was "SPLATT", his blood went spurting high

His comrades then were heard to say "A Helluva way to Die!"

He lay there rolling 'round in the welter of his gore

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon his 'chute

Intestines were a'dangling from his Paratrooper boots,

They picked him up, still in his 'chute and poured him from his boots.

HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE

(Chorus)

Gory, Gory, What a Helluva Way to Die!

With a Rifle on your Back and you're Falling Through the Sky!

Gory, Gory, What a Helluva Way to Die!

And HE AIN'T GONNA JUMP NO MORE!

Task Force Band of Brothers and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) officially took command of military operations in north-central Iraq in a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Danger here Nov. 1. The ceremony marked the transfer of authority from Task Force Liberty and the 42nd Infantry Division, a National Guard unit from New York that has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom for a year, to TF Band of Brothers.

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