With everybody home from Iraq and all their gear and vehicles delivered via the Port of Olympia, the soldiers of Fort Lewis’ 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division finally get to enjoy a holiday and a month off, beginning today.
But first they assembled Wednesday to say farewell to the two men who led them – the Army’s original Stryker brigade – through 15 hard months in Iraq.
Col. Stephen Townsend and Command Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Du turned over the reins in a ceremony at Gray Army Airfield.
Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, the Fort Lewis commander, praised the unit as nothing less than “one of the finest formations in the storied history of our Army” for its work across Iraq.
“Insurgents feared them, Iraqis wanted them nearby and we are inspired by them,” Jacoby said.
Townsend, 48, is moving on to become executive officer to Adm. William Fallon, commander at the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla. Beyond that, his fortunes rest with the Army board that selects brigadier generals.
Du, 50, has decided to retire next spring after 30 years in uniform and two combat tours as the 3rd Brigade’s top noncommissioned officer.
They were succeeded Wednesday by two men with Iraq experience of their own.
The new brigade commander is Col. David Funk, 44, who led a battalion from the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq in 2003 and 2005. He most recently studied at the Army War College in Pennsylvania.
Du’s replacement is Command Sgt. Maj. Al Bjerke. The 44-year-old held the same position in one of the 3rd Brigade’s three smaller infantry units – the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment – on both of its Iraq deployments.
Funk, a West Point graduate, said that throughout his 21-year career he has “been blessed with one single talent, just one, and that is the uncanny ability to be at the right place at the right time to be surrounded by excellence.
“As I look out over the tarmac today I’m proud to know that trend is continuing.”
If the security situation in Iraq has begun to turn the corner, Funk said, the Fort Lewis brigade he inherited deserves a lot of the credit.
The 3rd Brigade left Fort Lewis in June 2006 and worked several months in Mosul before heading south to Baghdad in November to fight in the capital’s toughest quarters. In March one of its battalions moved to Baqouba, with most of the rest following in June for Operation Arrowhead Ripper, one of the largest offensives of the surge.
The brigade lost 48 soldiers and suffered 700 wounded during the 15-month tour.
Townsend said the brigade saw things turn for the better in Mosul and later in sectors of Baghdad where it worked. And after that security improved in Baqouba, where its sister Fort Lewis unit, the 4th Brigade, is now in charge.
“If people want to give us credit for the situation that’s there now, I appreciate that. I certainly believe our soldiers have a lot to do with it,” Townsend said after Wednesday’s ceremony. “We were there during a very rough patch.
“Now it just seems to be breaking out all over,” he said. “I’m encouraged by it, and I pray for it to continue. … Because it’s such a fragile thing. It could be fleeting.”
Funk said the brigade will begin retraining in January when soldiers return from their time off. There will be “a fair amount of turnover” in the ranks, but hundreds of soldiers have re-enlisted to remain with the brigade.
The Army has directed the brigade to get one of its infantry battalions ready so that it would be available for deployment in an emergency, Funk said. After that the rest of the brigade will follow suit.
There’s no timetable set for when the brigade might be deployed again. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said units returning from Iraq will get at least 12 months at home.
The Army has six other Stryker brigades: three in Iraq now, one in Alaska that’s completing its reset after a 15-month tour in Iraq, and one each at Fort Lewis and in the Pennsylvania National Guard that are in initial development.
“All bets are off with the political terrain being what it is today. Who knows what’s going to happen after the next election?” Funk said. “But we think we can look out far enough to know that we will eventually be back into the fight.”
Michael Gilbert: 253-597-8921
mike.gilbert@thenewstribune.com
blogs.thenewstribune.com/military
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