Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Joe Thompson | Maj. Stanley Allen, 41st Fires Brigade chaplain, shakes hands with the Soldiers of...... read more read more
FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq — Soldiers from Battery C, 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Fires Brigade headed to Kuwait from Forward Operating Base Delta, finishing up their 15 month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom July 10.
"The guys did all right," said Sgt. 1st Class Steve Robitaille, operations non-commissioned officer-in-charge, Btry. C. "I got to hand it to them."
"Looking back it's just a blur, just one long blur. The biggest thing we did was re-mission from a field artillery battery to our [police training team] and [military transition team] operations down in Basra and it worked out extremely well," said Robitaille, of Lewiston, Maine.
From hugging the wife and kids, calling mom and dad or having that first drink, the Soldiers from Btry. C are ready to go home after 15 months and three different missions in Iraq.
"The only thing I am going to miss from this place is all the good times and memories I had with the guys," said Spc. Pete Kniskern, of Birmingham, Ala.
Btry. C started its deployment in April 2008 at Camp Bucca conducting detainee operations. Then the unit went to Camp Buehring, Kuwait, retraining for a maneuver mission in Basra. After almost eight months in Basra, the unit ended up at FOB Delta, escorting the Wasit Provincial Reconstruction Team.
For Sgt. Alex Williams, this was his second tour in Iraq and he said there has been a lot of improvement from his last time here.
"Things are getting better outside the wire. There's more security and things have calmed down a lot," said Williams, of Colorado Springs, Colo.
"I'd say a 180 from last time I was here. There's less violence and you can tell the people are starting to do a lot more for themselves in both the economy and they are starting to govern themselves better. They've come a long way in the last three to four years," added Williams.
The rest of the Soldiers in 41st Fires Brigade are continuing the redeployment process throughout July with the entire brigade scheduled to be back in Fort Hood, Texas, by early August.
| Date Taken: | 07.10.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 07.15.2009 04:06 |
| Story ID: | 36387 |
| Location: | AL KUT, IQ |
| Web Views: | 214 |
| Downloads: | 158 |
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