May 21, 2015
Col. John Reynolds (click here) just finished leading the first U.S. conventional force to deploy to Iraq since 2011. And after helping train the Iraqi army for months, he came away impressed at the growth of the increasingly "battle-hardened" force.
The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division returned to Fort Riley in March after deploying to Camp Buehring, Kuwait. From there, it trained alongside Kuwaiti partners before receiving the task to travel to Iraq to provide security at key points in Baghdad and train Iraqi Army recruits to battle the Islamic State terror group.
"They were excited that we were back," Reynolds told a media roundtable on Thursday at the Pentagon. "You could see relief from the tactical and operational commanders. I was impressed with the leadership there, because they were fighting. You could tell they were fighting hard in the north. They were battle-hardened."...
...U.S. soldiers offered a professionalism and set of values, Reynolds said.
The USA is not needed in the region anymore. Russia has also shut down the access to Afghanistan thorough Russia by the USA military.
As an example Reynolds told the story of a recruit who approached him and confessed he hated Americans. Reynolds had a quick reply: "I don't care, as long as you hate Daesh more." Reynolds said he personally participated in a PT training session with the recruits, the American-hater included....
..."Every single soldier was able to get off the camp at Camp Buerhing, and go into downtown Kuwait," Reynolds said. "I've been deployed 13 times, and this was the first time I was able to go downtown into a mall."
Col. John Reynolds (click here) just finished leading the first U.S. conventional force to deploy to Iraq since 2011. And after helping train the Iraqi army for months, he came away impressed at the growth of the increasingly "battle-hardened" force.
The 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division returned to Fort Riley in March after deploying to Camp Buehring, Kuwait. From there, it trained alongside Kuwaiti partners before receiving the task to travel to Iraq to provide security at key points in Baghdad and train Iraqi Army recruits to battle the Islamic State terror group.
"They were excited that we were back," Reynolds told a media roundtable on Thursday at the Pentagon. "You could see relief from the tactical and operational commanders. I was impressed with the leadership there, because they were fighting. You could tell they were fighting hard in the north. They were battle-hardened."...
...U.S. soldiers offered a professionalism and set of values, Reynolds said.
The USA is not needed in the region anymore. Russia has also shut down the access to Afghanistan thorough Russia by the USA military.
As an example Reynolds told the story of a recruit who approached him and confessed he hated Americans. Reynolds had a quick reply: "I don't care, as long as you hate Daesh more." Reynolds said he personally participated in a PT training session with the recruits, the American-hater included....
..."Every single soldier was able to get off the camp at Camp Buerhing, and go into downtown Kuwait," Reynolds said. "I've been deployed 13 times, and this was the first time I was able to go downtown into a mall."
