56th BCT wraps up deployment

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Michael Little, of Tyler, Texas and an infantryman of the Texas Army National Guard's, Company B, 1-141st Infantry Battalion, currently assigned to Company C, 2-142nd Infantry Battalion, 56th Brigade Combat Team, 36th Infantry Division, takes time to pose for a photo with two young Iraqi Bedouin girls that he befriended during a patrol in southern Iraq.  

12.01.2005

Courtesy Story

207th Public Affairs Detachment

As the 56th Brigade Combat Team from the Texas National Guard prepared to redeploy in late November, its commander reported that the unit had accomplished its mission in central and southern Iraq.
Speaking on behalf of nearly 3,500 Soldiers in his command, Col. James Brown reported to the Pentagon that the 56th was proud to return home after serving as a theater security brigade based out of Camp Adder in south-western Iraq.
"The Thunderbolt Brigade's main effort is the protection and command and control of theater logistics convoys, or what we refer to as combat logistics patrols [CLPs]," Brown said. "These missions originate in southern and western Iraq, and the commodities we protect are delivered throughout the nation to five different corps logistics hubs."
Mobilized in August, 2004, the 56th performed over 7,000 combat logistics patrols, escorting CLPs over 1.3 million miles, Brown said. These patrols also protected more than 150,000 logistics vehicles.
Approximately 90 percent of the operations took place at night, and the normal logistics patrol was 12 to 14 hours in duration, he said.
Brown said that his Soldiers also conducted joint operations with Iraqi security patrols, interdicting criminal elements and finding several weapons caches and tons of unexploded ordnances.
In the course of the deployment, six brigade Soldiers were killed and 58 others were injured or wounded due to hostile action from insurgents, Brown said.
The 56th's Soldiers encountered over 330 improvised explosive devices and about 250 incidents of small arms fire by anti-Iraqi terrorists during the year, Brown noted.
Despite the terrorist attacks, the Thunderbolts conducted an impressive number of humanitarian missions. The 56th worked with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Iraqi Ministry of Education to build 15 schools in southern Iraq.
"This effort, utilizing local contractors, provided much needed economic stimulus to the local economy and certainly provided for the future of the Iraqi children," Brown said.
Moreover, the 56th provided oversight and support for reconstruction and medical aid to the local population. In one case, the 56th gathered a coalition of private companies, non-governmental organizations, and civic institutions to transport a local child to Texas Children's Hospital. The child returned to Iraq after a successful life-saving surgery.
"Our civil affairs mission has been 49 projects with a total cost of $2.1 million," Brown said.
Brown credited the unit's success to his Soldiers" dedication and to the support that they received from their families at home.
"The Soldiers of the brigade have performed in an exceptional manner and have served America and Iraq in a most professional manner," Brown said. "I must also acknowledge the exceptional support we have received from our families, our employers and our friends at home. They have also served America well during our deployment. We could not have accomplished our mission here in Iraq without their unwavering support."
Based out of Fort Worth, Texas, the 56th consists of an infantry battalion, two armored battalions, a field artillery battalion, and an engineer battalion.
The 2-44th Air Defense Artillery Battalion of the 101st Infantry Division also served under the 56th's command. The troops are expected home in early December.

• Date Taken: 12.01.2005
• Date Posted: 12.01.2005 05:38
• Story ID: 3911