Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Mark Moore | Col. David S. Doyle (left), commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Roger D. Parker, 2nd...... read more read more
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FORT DRUM. N.Y. - Soldiers assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team “Commandos”, alongside distinguished quests, family members, and friends gathered to celebrate the Brigade's transformation during a ceremony held at Magrath Sports Complex Oct. 16.
The change occurred following the deactivation of 3rd BCT and falls in line with the Army’s 2020 force restructuring plan. The plan increased the 2nd Brigade Combat Team’s total combat power by nearly 1,000 Soldiers gained from the deactivated unit.
“All together we are adding about 1,000 Soldiers to our ranks,” stated Col. David S. Doyle, commander, 2BCT. “Going forward, this brigade combat team will be even more combat ready and capable as a unit.”
Strengthening the base of the “Commando” mountain are Soldiers assigned to 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment “Catamounts”, who uncased their colors during the ceremony signifying their return to the brigade after nearly 10 years of separation.
“I’d say welcome home,” continued Doyle. “This is a return trip to the ‘Commando’ Brigade, 2-87th IN had served successfully with 2nd BCT until the formation of 3rd BCT in 2004.”
The commander of 2-87th IN, Lt Col. Johnathan M. Chung, described the most important yet most challenging part of the transition as being the movement of personnel, establishment of barracks, office space, and work areas.
“Any time you face transition there is always a little bit of angst,” said Chung. “But I’ll tell you, the leadership here in the ‘Commando’ team has absolutely done everything to help with the integration and transition, they’ve made it very easy for us to come back and join what we were a part of in the beginning.”
Chung continued to say the additional of his maneuver element of nearly 700 infantrymen absolutely increases the lethality and maneuverability of 2BCT on the battle field.
Additional changes were the deactivation of 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion who cased their colors and were reflagged as the 41st Engineer Battalion, ending their almost 10 years of service with the Brigade.
“Today we took our special troops battalion, which is an organization of many different specialties and we reflagged it as an engineer battalion, giving it more of a centralized mission,” explained Doyle.
While the core structure of the unit didn’t change the addition of an engineer company doubled their ability to conduct route clearance operations, emplace road obstacles, or conduct demolition missions, magnifying the brigade’s mobility, counter mobility, and survivability during combat operations.
”We also brought over an artillery battery with larger cannons (M777 Howitzers) so we have increased range and lethality for our formations,” said Doyle. “We brought over a whole host of logicians in order to support all the additional Soldiers.”
Now bolstering nearly 4,500 Soldiers the “Commando” Brigade has expanded their abilities to go where others dare not go.
“We are going to be able to do a lot more missions as a self-contained organization,” conveyed Doyle. “We’ll be able to provide the Army and the 10th Mountain Division with increased capabilities; if we get called upon to do a mission we’ll have the skills and the personnel to accomplish that mission right within our brigade.”
| Date Taken: | 10.16.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 10.21.2014 10:59 |
| Story ID: | 145624 |
| Location: | FORT DRUM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 94 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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