BAGHDAD - It couldn't have been better timing for 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division; a day with such numerical significance; a day for 210 of 2/10 on 2/10/2010 to show their commitment.
On that special day, 210 Soldiers from brigade reenlisted while deployed to Iraq.
"While it's an individual endeavor, each one of your reenlistments, combined together, adds up to the 210 great Commandos that are reenlisting today," 2nd Brigade commander Col. David Miller said to the 39 Soldiers reenlisting at Joint Security Station Carver, Iraq.
Miller and 2nd Brigade Command Sgt. Maj. Joe Montour traveled to five different locations within the brigade operational environment to administer the oath of enlistment, and to remind Soldiers of how important their reenlistment is to the unit, and to the U.S. Army as a whole.
"Your individual choice to reenlist, which we deeply and greatly appreciate, has a direct impact on the Commandos, the entire United States Army mission, [and] the call of freedom all over the world," Miller said.
Without that effort, he said, the mission could not be accomplished.
Staff Sgt. George Jones, a native of Granada, Miss., and a squad leader with Company A, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion, who has been in the Army six years, said having Soldiers re-enlist on the same day demonstrated the unity of 2/10.
"It shows camaraderie," Jones said. "It brings us together as a unit. It's one team, one fight, so when we repenlist together, it shows a team."
Staff Sgt. Harlan Terry, of Partyville, Wis., and the operations noncommissioned officer in charge for 2nd Bn., 14th Infantry Regiment, has been with the unit for 12 years. He said he re-enlisted because he would like nothing better than to stay with the unit. He and 324 others have reenlisted since the brigade deployed in October 2009.
"It's kind of a pride thing," he said. "It's been a long and wonderful 12 years, so I figure [reenlisting] is the best I can do for myself and for the battalion."
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