1,100 Drum soldiers to get sendoff today

[unhappycamper]

1,100 Drum soldiers to get sendoff today
Staff report
Posted : Friday Apr 25, 2008 6:04:56 EDT

Nearly 1,100 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division will receive a sendoff Friday at Fort Drum, N.Y., before deploying to Iraq to take command of Multi-National Division-Center.

The division headquarters, led by Maj. Gen. Mike Oates, will replace the 3rd Infantry Division, led by Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch.

Oates and his staff will be responsible for command and control of coalition forces south of Baghdad. Their area of responsibility is the same area where two 10th Mountain soldiers went missing after a May 12 ambush.

Spc. Alex Jimenez, 25, and Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain, disappeared after the ambush, which also claimed the lives of seven fellow soldiers and one Iraqi interpreter. Soldiers from 2nd Brigade returned to Fort Drum in November.

This will be the division headquarters’ first tour in Iraq. Its last deployments were from 2003 to 2004 and 2006 to 2007 in Afghanistan.


Article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/army_drum_deployment_042408w/