Schweinfurt, Germany’s Task Force Guardian deactivates

[unhappycamper]

First Sgt. David Morgan, right, and Lt. Col. Robert Whittle, sergeant major and commander of Schweinfurt, Germany's Task Force Guardian, case their unit colors Monday during a ceremony at Finney Fitness Facility on Conn Barracks. Activated for two years, the unit was responsible for rear detachment operations while 2nd "Dagger" Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division was planning, training and deployed to Iraq.


Schweinfurt, Germany’s Task Force Guardian deactivates
By Mark St.Clair, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, January 8, 2008

SCHWEINFURT, Germany — The members of Task Force Guardian assembled one final time Monday as their colors were cased at Finney Fitness Facility on Conn Barracks.

Members of the task force for two years, the unit’s 80-member cadre was responsible for holding down the fort while 4,000-plus soldiers in 2nd Dagger Brigade Combat Team were planning, training and deployed to Iraq.

In addition to the thousands of deployed troops, the unit was responsible for helping and informing the some 3,000 family members in the Schweinfurt community whose loved ones were far away.

“We wanted it to be more than what we’d seen in the past,” the task force commander, Lt. Col. Robert Whittle, said, speaking of the vision that he and the brigade commander, Col. J.B. Burton, had for TF Guardian.

What Whittle and Burton ended up with was more than they ever expected.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51471