197th Fires Brigade Deployment 2010-2011

to home station. The TAC also coordinated the actions of the redeployment support cells sent to McCoy by NH, WV, RI, and MI. The brigade Deputy Commanding Officer (DCO) provided oversight and command authority for this operation.

In August all elements of the brigade were fully engaged with the 1/34 counterparts for the RIP while the 197th began to send forces out of theater every 3-4 days in groups of two to three hundred. The middle of the month was punctuated with the Transfer of Authority (TOA) ceremonies culminating with the Brigade HQs on 19 Aug. The last brigade elements departed Kuwait on 23 Aug and the brigade TAC departed Ft. McCoy on 29 Aug. The last few brigade personnel departed Ft. McCoy on 2 September 2011 marking an end to the brigade’s deployment operations.

As a final commentary, during the course of the deployment Soldiers assigned and attached to the 197th conducted operations in 12 countries in the CENTCOM (Central Command ) area of responsibility. In addition to our core missions of force protection, convoy security, and camp commands, the brigade supervised and coordinated the US, French, and British participation in the ground parade of the Kuwaiti 50/20 celebration, provided manpower to the DRMO (Defense Reutilization Management Office) and W2N (the facility designation) equipment processing facilities on Camp Arifjan, sent several teams to Afghanistan in support of container management and property accountability, supported the destruction of hundreds of thousands of pounds of Kuwaiti and US unserviceable munitions, supported Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Army Dive Team operations in many countries throughout CENTCOM, trained and readied a Tactical Combat Force to deploy on short notice anywhere in JSA Georgia, participated in site security analysis of all US Patriot Missile sites in the gulf states, drove more than 300 Maxx Pro plus MRAPs to the warfighter in Iraq, assisted with locating and recovering the remains of both Iraqi and Kuwaiti Soldiers killed during the First Gulf War, and integrated two battalions of the Oklahoma Army National Guard (OKARNG) into the formation growing our ranks to more than 3,200. These events coupled with the millions of escort miles safely driven, tons of supplies securely