Fourth of five ‘surge’ brigades completes 14-month deployment

[unhappycamper]

Fourth of five ‘surge’ brigades completes 14-month deployment
By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, May 30, 2008

One of the five Army "surge" brigades sent to Iraq last year as part of an escalation — and credited, in part, with improving security — is on its way home.

The 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, went to Iraq in April 2007 and was sent to Diyala province, north of Baghdad. That region was one of the areas where many insurgents had fled when the U.S. and Iraqi troop presence was boosted in Baghdad.

A series of operations in Diyala targeted these insurgents, though in some cases, the militants had moved on before American troops arrived.

Now, the 4,000 soldiers of the brigade are beginning the process of returning to Fort Lewis, Wash., next month, officials said Thursday.

"We have been extremely successful during our 14 months of operations in Taji and Diyala," Col. John Lehr, the brigade commander, was quoted as saying in a news release. "Operations in concert with the Iraqi Security Forces have made the province safer and more stable."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55189



uhc comment: This is the first time I've seen the word 'escalation' mentioned in the military rags.