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

The Surge 99
Looking back, Marne Rugged set conditions for long term
security in the Abbas al Amir. ISF had operated alongside U.S.
forces throughout and there were options for sustained economic
and social development continuing through legitimate local
government, GoI initiatives, and civic action.
Piledriver to Dauntless
A remarkable thing happened on March 24th, 2008. From
a studio in Baghdad, the commander of the 3rd Brigade, 101st
Airborne Division unveiled the next in a series of Task Force
Marne Operations to media at the Pentagon. Seated to his right
was the leader of the Provincial Reconstruction Team embedded
with the Rakkasans. To his left was the Iraqi Army Brigade
commander that shared battle space with the Brigade and was
the main effort in the coming operation "Piledriver."
Piledriver was the first operation that was designed, planned,
and executed under the Marne Fortitude II campaign plan. It
was to transition from a pure focus on security to focus on stability,
infrastructure improvement, and economic development.
While other operations had relied on set timelines, Piledriver
was open-ended. Where other operations directed the use of
force against enemy formations, Piledriver allocated money to
civil affairs projects.
Piledriver was launched in April of 2008. Its end date was
not set in stone. It represented the beginning of a new chapter
in the history of Iraq, authored as part of a campaign called
Marne Fortitude II.
A new patrol base was established along the Euphrates River.
Radio stations were established for areas that heretofore had
had no media of its own. Over 40,000 fertilized chicken eggs
were delivered from Europe in order to rekindle Iraq's poultry