Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

Guard Unit Takes Over Command


By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

TIKRIT, Iraq — Under the shadows of one of Saddam Hussein’s sprawling sand-colored palaces, the Rainbow Division replaced the Big Red One in a ceremony Monday signifying the first division-sized National Guard unit activated during wartime since the Korean War. Officials transferred authority from the 1st Infantry Division, known as the Big Red One after the patch its soldiers wear, to the 42nd Infantry Division, a New York National Guard division nicknamed the Rainbow Division during World War I by then-Col. Dou glas MacArthur.

The change means the 278th Regimental Combat Team, a Tennessee National Guard unit, now will answer to a new command in Iraq.

Col. Dennis Adams, commander of the 278th, said it would be business as usual for the regiment’s more than 3,000 soldiers who have been patrolling segments of two provinces in Iraq since late December.

"First ID officers said we changed their impression of the Guard by working with us," said Col. Adams, one of nine 278th soldiers in attendance for Monday’s hand over. "We did so well with the 1st ID that the 42nd is really looking forward to working with us."

Outgoing commander Maj. Gen. John Batiste, the head of the 1 st Infantry Division, said the 278th already has had a dramatic impact on the mission. "I was very impressed with how they came into the Diyala Province and went to work," he said, referring to the section of Northeastern Iraq where the 278th is stationed. Maj. Gen. Batiste said he made no distinction between the 278th National Guard soldiers and his regular army units. The 278th has juggled intelligence gathering, combat operations and peacekeeping relationship building with ease equal to full-time soldiers, he said.

He said this bodes well for the area, with the arrival of the 42nd adding more of a National Guard flavor to Iraq. The 42nd, based in New York, has units in nine more states: Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan and Illinois.

In the past year, soldiers with the 1st Infantry Division fought major battles in Najaf, Samarra and Fallujah. More than 100 soldiers in the division died and more than 1,000 were wounded. Signifying the emphasis on post-election peacekeeping, the task name for operations here changed Monday, as well, from Task Force Danger to Task Force Liberty.

Both Maj. Gens. Batiste and Joseph Taluto, commander of the 42nd, spoke Monday about the Iraqi people and the Iraqi security forces rather than about U.S. soldiers.

Maj. Gen. Batiste in his speech spoke about the "irreversible momentum" toward freedom his unit has helped create by giving the Iraqis an alternative to the insurgency.

"Iraq’s destiny belongs to Iraqis," Maj. Gen. Batiste said. "They want to control it."

He praised the sacrifices Iraqi police and soldiers made to move their county forward.

"You are making an Iraq your children truly deserve," Maj. Gen. Batiste said to the several hundred Iraqi officers, elders and political leaders at the event. "The insurgents know they are fighting a losing war, because the Iraqi police and Iraqi army continue to grow in numbers."

Maj. Gen. Taluto’s division will be taking over a sector that had a 63 percent voter turnout rate in the Jan. 30 elections. Speaking directly to the Iraqis sitting around the podium, Maj. Gen. Taluto said the 42nd would work with locals to eliminate those who kill and intimidate innocent people.

"They are the true enemy of Iraq," he said. "Do not let criminals and insurgents steal your future."

Monday’s festivities occurred on the front steps and under the elaborate arches and columns of a palace belonging to Iraq’s ousted dictator.

This and other nearby palaces in Mr. Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit have been converted into an expansive U.S. military base. American troops captured Mr. Hussein in December 2003 near Tikrit.

1st Sgt. John Forgety of Athens, Tenn., sat below glass chandeliers and among the marble columns and floors inside the palace after the festivities and shook his head at the riches on display.

"I see the gold inlaid toilets and doors and the hand-cut marble, and I think of all the malnourished, ragged, barefooted children I’ve seen since we’ve been here," said 1 st Sgt. Forgety, the top enlisted soldier in the 278th’s regimental headquarters troop.

Sgt. David Marbut, 28, one of thousands of 1st Infantry Division soldiers returning to their home station in Germany, said he would take home with him the knowledge that it really can get as hot as 130 degrees in Iraq. He said he learned as well that the Iraqi people, their needs and their lifestyles are not much different from Americans.

Pvt. 2nd Class Kenneth Geib, 20, of Albany, N.Y., with the 42nd, said since arriving here in early February he already has realized the poverty of Iraq. While traveling to Tikrit he saw countless Iraqi children on the roadsides begging for food by rubbing their stomachs or gesturing their hands to their mouths, he said.

"When I got here and saw all these clay huts, I knew what I am doing is important," he said. "I felt like this place really needs my help."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com


Staff Photo by Edward Lee Pitts - Soldiers attend a ceremony in Tikrit, Iraq, on Monday transferring authority from the 1st Infantry Division to the 42nd Infantry Division. The ceremony means the 278th Regimental Combat Team now will answer to a new command in Iraq.


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