3rd Infantry Division Operations - Fort Stewart - U.S. Army

The Surge 11
of forming wedges with heavy armor on an open desert they
learned to "stack" Soldiers in files to enter buildings. Soldiers
learned how to quick fire their individual weapons from the hip,
and patrol without their armored vehicles. Drivers were trained
and tested on the heavier armored wheeled vehicles not available
at home station. Canals and narrow roads, potholes and
human traffic, coupled with limited visibility had contributed
to vehicle roll over accidents so crew drills were practiced in
hydraulic vehicle simulators. Safety was the focal point for
everything that unit leaders planned to do but they each understood
that they could not be averse to risk and still accomplish
their missions.
In Ramadi
The Anbar province was notorious as a sanctuary for al-Qaeda
in Iraq (AQI). Even the name "Ramadi" held a certain air of
foreboding in those days. Hard battles had been fought in the
cities of Ramadi and Fallujah for three years. AQI even named
Ramadi the capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and had conducted
a parade in October of 2006 to illustrate their point.
The majority Sunni population had been staunch opponents
of the Shia led national government. The Raiders were about
to confront a hateful enemy, a distrusting host, and a desperate
social condition which tore at the fabric of national stability for
all Iraq. The challenge to the 1st BCT was clear but first it had
to get there. The brigade would move north by air and ground.
Next, it would relieve a unit that had held its ground during the
previous year. It would then fight the enemy on his home turf.
The relief in place and Transfer of Authority (TOA) is difficult
in any condition. The outgoing unit must familiarize
the incoming unit with the ground on which it will fight. New