FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – The 41st Fires Brigade transferred responsibility of Coalition operations in Wasit province, to 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 172nd infantry brigade in a ceremony at Forward Operating Base Delta Aug. 3.
For the Soldiers of the 41st FB, the ceremony marked the end of a 15-month deployment that has spanned the transition from counterinsurgency to nation building.
“It has been an interesting journey,” said Col. Richard Francey, Jr., 41st FB commander. “Fifteen months ago, we arrived here on the heels of a volatile time for this province with an insurgency that was trying to hold on.”
During their deployment, the 41st FB formed partnerships with Iraqi Security Forces and had success cleaning the Hahwar canal system, bringing water from the Tigris River to more than 2,000 farmers in southwest Wasit. In addition, 41st FB made strides in educating farmers and restoring medical capacity to Wasit, said Maj. Gen. Rick Nash, Multi-National Division-South commanding general, in a speech to 41st FB, members of 1st Bn., 77th FA Regt. and several prominent Iraqi officials, including Wasit Governor Abd al-Latif Hamad Taraf.
“The successful efforts of the 41st Fires Brigade, working with our Iraqi allies and our Georgian, Salvadorian, Lithuanian, Kazakhstani, Polish and Romanian partners, have set the stage for the 1st Bn., 77th FA Regt. to advance the work that has been accomplished over the last 15 months,” Nash said. “Fourteen months ago, we talked repeatedly about the great security and the improving governance and economy. We talked (about) this as daily (improvised explosive devices) exploded and regular indirect fire landed on the FOB,” said Francey.
“Fourteen months ago, we had a perception of what needed to get done but we really didn’t know how to do it.
“Fourteen months ago, we spread out over the 10,000 km of Wasit province as some of the first Americans to live there. “Fourteen months ago, we met some people who were warm but tentative towards us. “Fourteen months ago, we didn’t know what to expect.
“Fourteen months later, security is not words we speak in an attempt to create a perception of normalcy to the people,” said Francey. “Today, we have true security, implemented in full by the Iraqi Security Forces.”
The ceremony also marked the transfer of authority from a brigade to a smaller battalion unit, resulting in an overall reduction of American troops in Wasit province in accordance with the Security Agreement.
“We’re making our footprint smaller to give the Iraqi people the ability to make Iraq a sovereign country,” said 1st Sgt. Edward Peterson, 772nd Military Police Company, 1st Bn., 77th FA Regt.
Like units all over Iraq, Peterson and his troops are working with Iraqi police. “In my eyes, it’s a chance to give the Iraqi people a police force that can sustain itself,” said Peterson, a Billerica, Mass. native.
By working in tandem with the Iraqi Police for the benefit of the Iraqi people, Peterson and his troops represent the crest of a new military paradigm, one that was advanced by the 41st FB during their time in Iraq.
While 41st FB’s time in Iraq is ending, they know their work will continued by the new occupants of FOB Delta.
“I am confident,” said Francey, “that the 1st Bn., 77th FA Regt. will do great things to facilitate the path of success in Wasit.”
