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

4 3rd Infantry Division Operations
in order to return to a reasonable state of what it described as
"combat readiness." Each brigade and the division's headquarters
would receive new personnel, be issued new equipment,
and then train in a set sequence. Many of its veterans had remained
in the division following one, or even two, deployments
since the war began in March of 2003. So, "getting ready" had
become the norm for Soldiers in southeastern and far western
Georgia.
The division was well-practiced at deployments. There was
a real sense of urgency. Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) was in
its fourth year. That summer saw the continuance of violence
that shocked onlookers. Iraq was boiling over in what some
experts and media called a sectarian civil war. Masses of Iraqis
had abandoned their homes in the nation's capitol. A decades
old feud had been reignited following an attack on the al Askari
"Golden Mosque" in Samarra in February of 2006. Retaliation
by majority Shiites on minority Sunnis was nearly immediate
and violence rippled outward across the land. Sunni and Shia
Muslims were killing each other in large numbers. News reports
said that headless bodies littered the streets. There were
mass kidnappings and subsequent executions. Daily, brutal
street battles were broadcast via television around the world.
No one, not the new Shia-dominated government or the powerful
coalition forces, seemed to be in control. It was as if no one
was capable of holding Iraq together.
The spiral downward toward complete failure promised
dire strategic consequences for the U.S. and perhaps the entire
world. Al-Qaeda had begun to experiment with horrifying
weapons. The worldwide terror network had combined poisonous
chlorine with explosives, to create an urban nightmare. Al-
Qaeda had planted its fangs in the nation's flesh.
Essential services were almost nonexistent. Disease fol-