2-2 BCT adjusts to life on remote combat outposts

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2-2 BCT adjusts to life on remote combat outposts
By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, November 9, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — The 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team has been in Baghdad at its darkest point for U.S. troops.

The 5,000 troops under Col. Jeffrey Bannister have worked their way through the security “surge,” pushing out from Forward Operating Base Loyalty and into remote combat outposts.

And now, less than two months before heading home to Fort Carson, Colo., the brigade is reaping the benefits, Bannister said Wednesday by telephone from FOB Loyalty.

“It’s something to say, that we were part of that change,” Bannister said. “Without a doubt, it feels good.”

The 2-2 BCT operates in East Baghdad, “over here in Shia-land,” Bannister said, in an area known as New Baghdad.

The counterinsurgency plan U.S. military commanders developed in conjunction with the “surge” called for U.S. troops to move out from the large FOBs and start living among the population.


Rest of article at: http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50140