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  Troop Rotation to Iraq Continues, Units Assuming Control By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, March 31, 2004 – The largest rotation of U.S. forces since World War II continues in Iraq, Defense Department officials said today. In all more than 250,000 U.S. service members are affected. Planning for the rotation began months ago. New units worked with units in Iraq to learn their new missions and to plan the movement. In December, new units began flowing into the region, and in January, they began the relief-in-place process. Officials expect the rotation to continue through May, when 110,000 U.S....

Brigade Becomes First to Receive Indianhead Combat PatchSsince Korean War MOSUL, Iraq - All across northern Iraq, Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) stepped forward to be recognized for their service to Operation Iraqi Freedom in ceremonies held over the past two weeks. The men and women of the Arrowhead Brigade received their combat patches, and infantrymen and medics in the unit were awarded with Combat Infantrymen Badges and Combat Medic Badges. Everyone who served in the brigade or attached to the brigade since they entered Iraq is eligible for the patch, according Maj....

HAMAM AL ALIL, Iraq — Two weeks after Pvt. Seth Tribble was wounded by a grenade in the northern Iraqi town of Gab Adr, his buddies went back to send a message to his attackers. The 2nd Infantry Division’s Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment marched into Gab Adr on Sunday along the newly named Phase Line Tribble, which runs past the place where the grenade attack occurred. Soldiers raided several nearby houses searching for weapons and terrorists, but there was no all-out attack by anti-coalition forces that informants had warned would happen the next time Company B entered...

HAMAM AL ALIL, Iraq — One town is home to terrorists, the other is full of criminals. In the middle are the Strykers and soldiers from 2nd Infantry Division’s Company B, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment. It’s their job to keep the peace in one of northern Iraq’s most volatile battlegrounds. While the leaders of Task Force Olympia and the 3rd Stryker Brigade live in comparative luxury in one of Saddam Hussein’s sprawling palace complexes in Mosul, Company B troops find shelter from rocket attacks and sporadic gunfire in muddy hooches at Firebase Aggie on the edge of Hamam Al...

SEOUL – The U.S. military has asked South Korea to ban lap dancing and other lewd acts at local nightclubs near its bases, saying they negatively impact military discipline. The officials said the military was taking similar steps at other bases in the United States and overseas against lap dancing. The U.S. Army's 2nd Infantry Division, which has 15,000 troops near the border with North Korea, recently sent letters to the South Korean Special Tourist Association and local mayors urging a crack down on lap dancing clubs near barracks. Describing "client-focused exotic dancing" as the principal cause of worsening military...

Soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division -- Stryker Brigade Combat Team -- detained people suspected of anti-coalition activities and recovered weapons and other explosives in northern Iraq Feb. 1. The unit is under the operational control of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, conducted a cordon-and-knock operation in Mosul and detained four people associated with anti-coalition activities, including one target suspected of involvement in planning attacks on coalition forces. Members of the Coalition for Iraqi Unity, a concerned group of citizens in northwestern Iraq, turned in 13 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, seven boosters,...

By Seth RobsonStars and Stripes Pacific Edition CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea - The 2nd Infantry Division wants lap dancing banned in Area I nightclubs frequented by U.S. soldiers, according to documents to be presented this week to the Korean Special Tourist Association and local mayors. Club owners and mayors will have 30 days to respond to a proposed association and 2nd ID Good Commerce Practices Guide, which sets out standards expected of clubs near U.S. bases in Area I. Last year lap dancing was explicitly authorized in an attachment to the 2nd ID's 2002-2003 policy. The proposed guide states:...

CAMP RED CLOUD, South Korea - The 2nd Infantry Division wants lap dancing banned in Area I nightclubs frequented by U.S. soldiers, according to documents to be presented this week to the Korean Special Tourist Association and local mayors. Club owners and mayors will have 30 days to respond to a proposed association and 2nd ID Good Commerce Practices Guide, which sets out standards expected of clubs near U.S. bases in Area I. Last year lap dancing was explicitly authorized in an attachment to the 2nd ID's 2002-2003 policy. The proposed guide states: "Though lap dancing is authorized under 2nd...

  101st Transfers Authority To 2nd Infantry Division MOSUL, Iraq – On what was described as a bittersweet day for the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the soldiers of 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division formally relieved 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division of its responsibilities in the western Nineveh province.The ceremony marked the first turnover from the 101st Abn. Div. (AASLT) to the Arrowhead Brigade. Soldiers from both units gathered at a forward operating base west of Mosul where the Rakkasans of 3rd Brigade cased their unit colors as the Warhorse squadron unfurled theirs for...

US troops to shift from S. Korea By Richard Halloran The United States will reassign some troops from South Korea to Afghanistan and Iraq and shift most of the 7,000 people in its headquarters in Seoul out of the capital beginning within a year, military officials say. Thought also is being given to disbanding the United Nations headquarters in South Korea and ending the practice of keeping a four-star general in command of operations in the country. The moves are part of a gradual disengagement of U.S. land forces from Korea and a greater reliance on sea power to maintain...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (AP) - About 4,000 members of the Army's first Stryker brigade got their formal farewell Thursday before they ship out next week for a yearlong mission in Iraq. "A year from now we'll probably return to Fort Lewis knowing that Iraq is a better place because of our time there," Col. Michael E. Rounds, the brigade commander, told the troops and their friends and relatives during a 60-minute departure ceremony. The brigade is built around the Stryker, the Army's first new combat vehicle in 20 years, which can carry as many as 11 soldiers. The brigade's 300...

TACOMA, WASH. - The Army's new Stryker armored vehicles are headed for their first operational assignment -- service in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Vehicles of the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade Combat Team began rolling onto ships today at the port of Tacoma, Wash. The Stryker vehicles and related equipment will support 3,600 soldiers from the I Corps' 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who will begin their assignment in Iraq in a few weeks. This week’s move at the port of Tacoma represents several benchmarks for the port, according to the Military Traffic Management Command. It’s the biggest movement of military cargo...

SEOUL, South Korea — Washington's request that South Korea dispatch thousands of infantry troops to Iraq has sparked a new round of anti-American protests in Seoul. The controversy erupted after Seoul officials acknowledged that the United States has requested the deployment of a "light infantry division" consisting of between 2,000 and 10,000 combat soldiers to Iraq. Hundreds of anti-U.S. activists staged a rally in central Seoul Tuesday to oppose any further role for South Korean troops in Iraq. In May, South Korea dispatched about 675 army engineers and medics to assist the U.S.-led rehabilitation of post-war Iraq. Sending troops to...

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (AP) - A whisper of cool, mountain air slips through an open window in Col. Michael Rounds' office at this quiet Army post in the shadow of the Cascades. The setting could hardly be more unlike what Rounds' soldiers will face shortly in hot and chaotic Iraq. Rounds commands a newly formed Stryker brigade combat team - the first of its kind, intended as a model for the Army of the future, and scheduled to make its combat debut in Iraq within two months. ``The brigade is ready to go,'' Rounds said in an interview. Rounds' unit,...