3ID returns from Operation Iraqi Freedom
Army News Service
Release Date: 8/26/2003
By Sgt. Raymond Piper
FORT STEWART, Ga. (Army News Service, Aug. 26, 2003) -- Fort Stewart's commanding general said it felt good having the majority of the 3rd Infantry Division home from Iraq during a welcome home ceremony Aug. 22.
The 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) commander, Maj. Gen. Buford C. Blount III, returned to Fort Stewart, Ga., with 197 soldiers.
The last of the division's equipment is being loaded onto ships and about 1,500 soldiers remain in Kuwait and should return to the United States within the next four or five days, Blount said.
Blount said he did not think that a deployment in the next 12 months would be in the future for the division. The focus will be on training and rotations for each of the division's four brigades to the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif., in 2004.
"First, we have to get our equipment out of storage and get it back into shape, and get back to training and focus on the NTC rotations for each brigade," Blount said.
The divisions' first homecoming was postponed because the fighting turned from open warfare to guerilla warfare and terrorist attacks, Blount said. Members of the division have been redeploying for the past month. Prior to the redeployment the soldiers conducted peacekeeping actions in Al Fallujah, Iraq.
"We were helping to stabilize the situation in Iraq. Fallujah is a great example," Blount said. "The city was in great turmoil. When we left, it was fairly stable."
He added that the majority of the people in Iraq support the coalition and are trying to take control of their destinies.
"You have a small minority that are still fighting the inevitable," Blount said. "We have to take care of them, and we are making progress everyday."
(Editor's note: Sgt. Raymond Piper is a member of the 3rd Inf. Div. Public Affairs Office)
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