Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Mike Brantley | (From left to right) St. Paul, Minn., native, Col. Mark E. Drake, commander, 10th...... read more read more
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By Sgt. 1st Class Mike Brantley
10th Sustainment Brigade
CAMP TAJI, Iraq -- The 10th Sustainment Brigade made history Dec. 6 during a transfer of authority ceremony from the 1st Sustainment Brigade, Fort Riley, Kan., marking the Muleskinner's first step into Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The brigade, which departed Fort Drum in early November, is stationed at Camp Taji in support of the Multi-National Division – Baghdad and will be deployed for 12 months.
As the brigade colors took their spot atop the flagpole in front of the brigade headquarters building, Col. Mark E. Drake, commander and St. Paul, Minn., native, 10th Sust. Bde., took over from Clinton, Md., native, Col. Kevin G. O'Connell, 1st Sust. Bde. O'Connell's brigade served a 15-month deployment.
The Muleskinners assumed command and control of one sustainment brigade troops battalion and three combat sustainment support battalions from across the U.S., consisting of Soldiers from 22 different states. Task Force Muleskinner's command and control encompasses more than 4,500 Soldiers and provides support to more than 90,000 Soldiers in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"We provide all the food, water, ammunition, repair parts and distribution, and all the truck transportation to 17 different locations in and around the Baghdad area," said Drake. "We feed and fuel the force in those areas."
Drake feels that the most challenging part of that mission is to ensure that what the Soldiers need is delivered on time and in the right quantities, he said.
Another aspect of the mission is "to build on the foundation with our Iraqi partners. We need them to get their systems back in place so they can support their own divisions and allow us to redeploy."
"We are extremely prepared to take over this mission," Drake said.
This is the brigade's first deployment to Iraq, following deployments as the 10th Division Support Command in Florida for Hurricane Andrew Relief Operations in 1992. In December of that year, they deployed again to Somalia in support of Operation Restore Hope. In September 1994, the 10th DISCOM deployed to Haiti to support humanitarian operations as part of Operation Uphold Democracy.
In August 1999, elements of the 10th DISCOM deployed to the Balkans for peacekeeping operations as part of Task Force Eagle in Bosnia. In November 2001, elements again deployed to Kosovo in support of Task Force Falcon.
In 2001, elements of the 10th DISCOM deployed to Uzbekistan in support of the Global War on Terrorism. In August 2003, the DISCOM headquarters deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom IV.
The 10th DISCOM was redesignated the 10th Sustainment Brigade in May 2005 and deployed back to Afghanistan in February 2006 for OEF 7.
| Date Taken: | 12.17.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 12.17.2008 06:25 |
| Story ID: | 27801 |
| Location: | TAJI, IQ |
| Web Views: | 228 |
| Downloads: | 80 |
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