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These words flashed across the TV screen as I was getting ready for work one recent morning. It was just some copy that came up there, rather matter of factly, and it was followed by the name of a U.S. Army Cavalry unit that has now had its deployment tour extended in Iraq at least twice. Its current time in country is approaching fourteen months. It is not alone. Virtually every unit there now will be affected, I am sure. Total U.S. troop strength will soon reach the 150,000 man level in anticipation of security needs for the upcoming elections...

10,000 Troops Get Iraq Extension Associated Press December 2, 2004 WASHINGTON - With the insurgency still a threat to Iraq's planned elections, the U.S. force is about to expand to its highest level of the war - even higher than the initial invading force in March 2003. The force will grow from 138,000 today to about 150,000 by mid-January, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Extra troops are needed to bolster security before the national elections scheduled for Jan. 30. The increase in troop strength also underscores the fact that, despite enormous effort and cost, American commanders have yet to train...

MICHAEL GILBERT/THE NEWS TRIBUNE FILE Col. Mike Rounds, facing camera, meets Gen. John Abizaid, right, commander of the U.S. Central Command, in Mosul, Iraq, in January. Rounds gave up command of the first Stryker brigade Wednesday. The man who led the Army's first Stryker brigade from the training ranges at Fort Lewis to the streets of Mosul, Iraq, and back again handed over command Wednesday. Col. Mike Rounds led the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division for 29 months. "As much as I'd love to stay, the Army's got a system," the 45-year-old infantry officer said in an interview Wednesday. Brigade...

Marine Harrier pilots fly into history over Fallujah Submitted by: 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Story Identification #: 2004111222824 Story by Cpl. Paul Leicht AL ASAD, Iraq (Nov. 12, 2004) -- Since Alfred A. Cunningham first flew in 1912, the tradition of Marine aviation has had a singular, versatile focus: supporting the Marine on the ground. As U.S. Marines make their assault through the narrow streets of Fallujah against anti-Iraqi forces and terrorists, the physical and mental demands of Marine pilots flying overhead are proving no less intense. Whether flying convoy escorts, close air support or aerial reconnaissance in conjunction with...

Lejeune troops get orders for Iraq October 28,2004 STAFF REPORTS DAILY NEWS STAFF About 14,000 Marines and sailors with II Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune will head to western Iraq in early 2005, military officials announced Wednesday. The deployment will be conducted in phases beginning in January and ending by March, according to the release from II MEF command at Camp Lejeune. The troops, which include forces from New River and Cherry Point air stations, should assume control of their assigned area by March, the release stated. The troops are expected to provide security and help stabilize the region....

WASHINGTON - A senior Army leader says the coming third rotation of U.S. military forces into Iraq has begun, with called-up Army National Guard units deploying to the war zone over the next three months and regular Army forces beginning to shift in to replace other units in December. The Army official, who asked that his name not be used, said the rotation was being phased so it stretches out over four to five months. He said that schedule meets the tactical requirements of U.S. Central Command. He denied that any plan was afoot to bunch up the rotating American...

Pentagon planners and military commanders have identified 20 to 30 towns and cities in Iraq that must be brought under control before nationwide elections can be held in January, and have devised detailed ways of deciding which ones should be early priorities, according to senior administration and military officials. Recent military operations to quell the Iraqi insurgency in Tal Afar, Samarra and south of Baghdad are the first and most visible signs of the new, six-pronged strategy for Iraq, approved at the highest levels of the Bush administration, the officials said. While elements of the plan have been discussed in...

Sadness overwhelming as 278th heads out on 'great adventure' Sunday, July 18, 2004 By WILLIAM D. JESSIE EDITOR'S NOTE-Capt. William D. Jessie today begins the first of a series of columns. Jessie is a member of 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which has been deployed for active duty in the war on terrorism. His company is based in Kingsport, and his occasional columns will appear in Sunday editions of the Times-News. The column will not be a news report about military operational developments in the war on terror. That's not the focus. It will be way for Tri-Cities readers to experience...

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait — At nearly 50 years of age, the hardest working members of the 1244th Transportation Company have proved they can do everything their younger counterparts can do, and then some. The 1244th, an Illinois National Guard unit from North Riverside, is one of only two units currently supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom II that uses the old M818 semi-trucks, according to Capt. Rhonda Petersen, unit commander. The trucks rolled off the assembly line in the 1950s. But age hasn’t stopped the unit from chewing up roads in Kuwait and Iraq. “We’ve driven a total of 3.4 million miles,...

Speed and Power: Complements, Not Substitutes June 2004 By William R. Hawkins Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wants to radically restructure the U.S. military, particularly the Army, to put even more emphasis on the speed of strategic deployment. Under the so-called "10-30-30 plan," major forces must be capable of deploying to a distant theater in 10 days, defeating an enemy within 30 days and then be ready for redeployment to a new battle somewhere else within another 30 days. This is a much more ambitious goal than the previous standard of being able to deploy a corps-sized force of up...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The U.S. military will consult Iraq's interim leaders before engaging in future offensives and is shifting its priorities from fighting guerrillas to training Iraqi troops and protecting Iraq's fragile new government, the U.S. general who heads military operations said Thursday. "Combat becomes a lower priority than it has been for much of the insurgent fight to date," said Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz, who took command of the new Multinational Corps Iraq headquarters last month. Metz said American forces "certainly have the right" under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Tuesday "to conduct operations as we...

The Associated Press IN a rapid-fire deployment of US troops to Iraq, some 10,000 US Marines will arrive in Kuwait this month and travel into Iraq in July, the US military said today. The deployment occurs in the fierce heat of summer and under an extraordinarily tight schedule, with troops expected to land in the war theatre a few weeks after receiving orders. "We'll be pushing them through the theatre and getting them up north" into Iraq, said Army Colonel Gary McKown, who oversees US troop movements into Iraq from this desert base south of Kuwait City. The Marines, who...

New Commands in Iraq to Replace Combined Joint Task Force By John D. BanusiewiczAmerican Forces Press ServiceWASHINGTON, May 14, 2004 – Two new military commands will stand up in Iraq May 15, replacing the current coalition military organization. Multinational Corps Iraq and Multinational Force Iraq will replace Combined Joint Task Force 7. Coalition military spokesman Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, at a Baghdad news conference today, said the change addresses a concern that a combined joint task force headquarters was not sufficient to handle the military workload in Iraq efficiently. "It's certainly more than a formality," he said. "It...

BOISE, Idaho -- Members of the Idaho Army National Guard's 116th Calvary Brigade are being mobilized to take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Maj. Gen. Jack Kane announced Saturday. The mobilization order affects about 750 Idaho guard members in support, administration and intelligence. The brigade has been on alert since Feb. 29. It has about 3,500 citizen soldiers from five states. About 2,600 are in Idaho. The brigade's chief mission is providing tanks, heavy artillery and personnel. "The initial call-up of Idahoans is taking place to prepare the rest of the 116th Cavalry Brigade for mobilization," said Kane, Idaho's adjutant...

GOTTA SEE THIS - WarEndur.FreedomA History of the War as composed by Diogenesison FreeRepublicGod Bless America!The beginnings...Gotta See This - 03/14/03  - al-Qaqa, Rafah, Youssifiya , Ibn,  Firna, drones, Tikrit Gotta See This - 03/15/03 - Camps Virginia, New York, Op TELIC, USS Gary, Al Hakam Gotta See This - 03/16/03 - Heroes Prepare, B-2, GR7, A10, AV-8B, Leaflets Gotta See This - 03/18/03 - 193rd SOW, Widowmakers, 101st, 1st MEF, Irish Guards, Roy.Eng Gotta See This - 03/19/03 - GR7s, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Heroes Gotta See This - 03/20/03 (part 1) - First Blood, Baghdad, Kuwait Gotta See This...

Have you heard of Operation Iraqi Freedom II? That is the reference troops overseas are already accustomed to using, and they are anticipating operations that will endure as OIF III and OIF IV. These designations, of course, refer to approximately one-year increments for stationing troops in the shooting gallery that is present-day Iraq. One year, plus another 120 days. Or more. At this writing, California National Guard troops from companies with home bases in the Antelope Valley, Riverside and Sacramento are anxiously awaiting word as to whether they will be extended past their yearlong "boots on ground" tour of duty...

Since the American media is having a hard time reporting on the good news that is coming from Iraq, I think I will be nice enough to report on what they are not sharing. Here is the good news that you probably have not been hearing: --------------- Email Message Below --------------- Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1: - The first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active d uty (~60,000 Iraqis providing security to citizens). - Nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. - The Iraqi judiciary is...

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Citing a need to protect the troops, the Marine Corps operating in Fallujah and elsewhere in the volatile Sunni Triangle of central Iraq is restricting the information it releases about insurgent attacks that kill Marines. On Friday, for example, a statement from the Marines? base camp outside Fallujah said a Marine had been killed the day before ?as a result of enemy action? in Anbar province. In a break from the practice of other U.S. forces in Iraq, the Marines gave no details. The Army and the Pentagon, in their news releases announcing service members? deaths in...

  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....

 Marine Prepositioning Force sets the table for OIF IISubmitted by: MCLB AlbanyStory Identification Number: 200432517146Story by Staff Sgt. Timothy C. Hodge BLOUNT ISLAND COMMAND JACKSONVILLE, Fl (March 25, 2004) -- SHUAIBA PORT, Kuwait - The overall concept of the Maritime Prepositioning Force revolves around one thing - the rapid deployment of equipment and supplies to decrease the time it takes to insert Marines into a contingency or combat environment. The Marines, Sailors, government workers, and civilian contractors that comprise Blount Island Command have teamed up with I Marine Expeditionary Force to do exactly that. Earlier this month, the Technical...