FORT POLK, La. - Troopers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, concluded their culminating training event at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La., June 26.
The training was designed to prepare the "Long Knife" brigade for missions and operating conditions which will exist when the brigade deploys this summer as the first "Advise and Assist Brigade" to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn, the next phase of U.S. operations in Iraq.
"The importance of Operation New Dawn is the synchronization of foreign military integration with our Iraqi Security Forces brothers," said Command Sgt. Maj. Duane Detweiler, senior noncommissioned officer of the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th BCT. "Our Troopers are better prepared now to advise, assist and enable our ISF brothers to assume responsibility for their own country."
As the first brigade to deploy solely in support of Operation New Dawn, the 4th BCT Soldiers will have the responsibility of advising, assisting, training and enabling elements of the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, Directorate of Border Enforcement, and local provincial government through the U.S. Department of State's provincial reconstruction teams.
ISF units will have the responsibility to lead operations, to include those the 4th BCT participates in. The "Long Knife" brigade trained on incorporating these procedures during JRTC.
"This gave us a great opportunity to work with actual Iraqi Army officers," said Capt. Daron Moreno, commander of B Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment. "This was a great experience planning and conducting missions and combined arms rehearsals with our Iraqi counterparts."
Capt. Moreno's company partnered with actual officers serving in the Iraqi Army and a replicated battalion from the 3rd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division during JRTC.
The brigade will begin to pack their equipment over the next several weeks for shipment to Iraq and is scheduled to deploy later this summer.
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