Specialist Brian Michael Anderson- 1st Brigade Combat Team- Remembered

John 15:13:13



"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."





June 15, 2010

10th Mountain Division Soldier killed in Afghanistan

Fort Drum, NY – A Soldier from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division was killed in Za Khel, Afghanistan, Saturday June 12, 2010, from wounds sustained in an improvised explosive devise attack.
Killed is Specialist Brian Michael Anderson, age 24, of Harrisonburg, VA.
SPC Anderson joined the Army in March 2008 and after completing training arrived at Fort Drum in July 2008. He was an infantryman with the 1st Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment.

SPC Anderson's awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Overseas Service Ribbon.
He is survived by his mother, father, brother and sister.
http://www.drum.army.mil/sites/installation/pao/casualties/default.asp?local=Afghanistan

U.S., Afghan forces work to place joint combat outpost

By Spec. Cynthia S. Teears Van Cleve 1st Brigade Combat Team Journalist
 

BALKH PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Soldiers of A Company, 1st Brigade Special Troops Battalion have been working with the Afghanistan National Border Police to find a good setting for a proposed joint combat outpost.
Capt. Bradley Smith, company commander, and his Soldiers have been assessing sites and getting to know the ANBP personnel who keep the area secure.
One of the proposed sites was once a forward operating base used by the Soviets back in the late ’70s and early ’80s.
“We looked at the old Russian FOB, but we want to look at a couple of other places also,” said Maj. Cloyd Smith, operations officer with the battalion headquarters. “I want to build up the city and install the ANBP commander and Capt. Smith here. We want to be set up and prepared before anything happens.”
The process of building a combat outpost does not happen overnight, and there are many provisions that must be in place before building can begin.
“We were told if we provide electricity, we might be able to move into the customs building temporarily, for the three to four months that it will take to build the joint combat outpost,” Smith said.
In the past, the military has worked directly for governors and built up and improved areas, he said.
The JCOP will house members of the U.S. Army and the ANBP together. ANBP soldiers will be from their quick response force company.
Maj. Ismatula, commander of the QRF company from the ANBP’s 3rd Kandak, or battalion, was the commander who came here and freed people in this area from the Taliban a few years ago, Smith said.
“My men have been impressed with his men and with the commander himself,” Smith explained.
Ismatula has been a military commander in Afghanistan for nearly 16 years.
Many topics were discussed and agreements were made during the meeting; however, they are still in the beginning stages of getting the mission completed.
“Now is the time I should use your ideas and you help us with the technology,” Ismatula said. “Since you are our guests, we want to protect you.”
The mayor of the city also plays a key role in helping to acquire buildings and land for the placement of the JCOP.
“This is a very important place here, very important to Afghanistan,” said Kasinajibullah, mayor of Heyratan, a city near the proposed JCOP. “Many security forces are living here and working for us. I’m working very hard to keep the railroad secure.”
The kandak here is professional and good at their job, according to Kasinajibullah. They responded to threats and problems from accidents to rocket-propelled grenade attacks.
“My intelligence and security forces are working very well and doing a good job,” Kasinajibullah said. “Within a few days, we discovered the people responsible for a recent RPG (attack).”
Kasinajibullah expressed appreciation to U.S. forces for building up the Afghanistan Security Forces.
“Without you helping us, we would not have the security forces,” he said. “Any place you (choose), I will be of service and I will help.”
The mayor believes Afghanistan has hope for a good future.
“If at least each company of the U.S. forces works with each Afghan company, Afghanistan will be a good country,” Kasinajibullah said. “We appreciate you. You left your home and families to help us. We appreciate it.”

An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be the vanguard.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_afghanistan_111009/

U.S. troops likely added soon in Afghanistan

By Anne Gearan and Steven R. Hurst - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Nov 10, 2009 7:33:13 EST

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to add tens of thousands more forces to Afghanistan, though probably not quite the 40,000 sought by his top general there.

The White House emphasized that the president hasn't made a decision yet about troop levels or other aspects of the revised U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Administration officials told the Associated Press on Monday the deployment would most probably begin in January with a mission to stiffen the defense of 10 key cities and towns. An Army brigade that had been training for deployment to Iraq that month may be the vanguard. The brigade, based at Fort Drum in upstate New York, has been told it will not go to Iraq as planned but has been given no new mission yet. (1Bct- Warrior)

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the president would meet again Wednesday with key members of his foreign policy and military team but was unlikely to announce final plans for Afghanistan until late this month, when he returns from an extended diplomatic trip to Asia.

Gibbs said the Pentagon is "working on additional recommendations" to present to Obama and said Obama has made no decision on troop numbers, or even on what the ratio should be between combat troops and trainers.

Military officials said Obama will have choices that include a phased addition of up to 40,000 forces over some six months or more next year, based on security conditions and the decisions of NATO allies.

Several officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision has not been made also said Obama's announcement will be much broader than the mathematics of troop numbers, which have dominated the U.S. debate.

It soon will be three months since Afghan commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal reported to Obama that the U.S. mission was headed for failure without the addition of about 40,000 troops.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because final plans have not been disclosed, dubbed the likely troop increase as "McChrystal Light" because it would fall short of his request. They also said additional small infusions of troops could be dispatched next spring and summer.

The more gradual buildup, the officials said, would allow time to construct needed housing and add equipment needed for transporting the expanded force.

Besides being sent to cities and towns, the new forces would be stationed to protect important roads and other key infrastructure.

As he makes his decision, Obama told ABC News that he's been "asking not only Gen. McChrystal but all of our commanders who are familiar with the situation, as well as our civilian folks on the ground, a lot of questions that, until they're answered, may — may create a situation in which we resource something based on faulty premises."

He said he wanted to make sure "that if we are sending additional troops that the prospects of a functioning Afghan government are enhanced, that the prospects of al-Qaida being able to attack the U.S. homeland are reduced."

"I make known the end from the beginning, Drum BCT’s Iraq deployment canceled

Is 49:10 "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please."

Drum BCT’s Iraq deployment canceled

The Associated PressPosted : Friday Oct 16, 2009 8:42:15 EDT

FORT DRUM, N.Y. — The Army is canceling the deployment of 3,500 Fort Drum troops to Iraq in January.
Fort Drum spokeswoman Julie Cupernall says there’s no word yet on whether the 3,500 troops of the 10th Mountain Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team might be headed to Afghanistan instead as part of a troop level increase now being debated by the Obama administration.
President Barack Obama is expected to announce the results of a review of U.S. policy in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan has requested more troops to fight the insurgency there.
For now, Cupernall says the 1st BCT goes back into a pool of deployable brigades.