Last outpost in Wasit back in Iraqi hands

Photo By Spc. Allison Churchill | Capt. Bradford Brannon, commander, Service Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 172nd Brigade Combat Team, and Sameer Al-Haddad, receivership secretariat and representative of the prime minister, sign documents giving Iraqi security forces authority of Combat Outpost Summers during a ceremony June 29.  

AL KUT, IRAQ

06.29.2009

Story by Sgt. Allison Churchill 

Multi-National Division-South

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq — The Service Battery of 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 172nd Brigade Combat Team, handed control of Combat Outpost Summers, near Suwayrah, over to the 32nd Iraqi Army Brigade during a ceremony June 29.

COP Summers is the fifth and final security station to be returned to Iraqi control before the June 30 deadline for U.S. Soldiers to withdraw from major Iraqi cities.

"Tomorrow you should be standing very tall," Col. Dick Francey, 41st Fires Brigade commander and commander of U.S. troops in Wasit province, told the Iraqi soldiers at the ceremony.

"Iraqi security forces are capable of protecting their people," Francey continued. "We stand by you as friends and realize you are in the lead."

"We have all worked together," said Brig. Gen. Abed Gabr Mazloum, 32nd IA Bde. commander. "Everyone is part of the safety and security of the area."

Capt. Bradford Brannon, commander, SVC Btry., and Sameer Al-Haddad, receivership secretariat and a representative of the prime minister, signed the papers making the handover of COP Summers official.

In compliance with the June 30 deadline, 1st Bn., 77th FA Regt. Soldiers moved to Forward Operating Base Delta after the ceremony. The battalion will take authority of the FOB and U.S. troops in Wasit when the 41st FB redeploys to Fort Hood, Texas, in early August.

The SVC Battery Soldiers have lived and worked with their Iraqi partners on COP Summers since January 2009.

Although the U.S. troops will no longer live among their Iraqi partners, both leaders assured security in the area will continue.

"I promise you and I promise your people to work for security in the area," said Mazloum.

"I am very proud of you," Francey told the troops.

• Date Taken: 06.29.2009
• Date Posted: 07.01.2009 03:02
• Story ID: 35831
• Location: AL KUT, IQ