197th Fires Brigade Deployment 2010-2011

Throughout the numerous missions and miles driven by 1-119th FA CETs, enemy contact was a constant threat. As of 30 June 2011, over 9 months into the deployment, the Battalion Soldiers have been awarded 15 Combat Action Badges and 2 Purple Heart Medals. Additionally, they experienced very few vehicle accidents; 3 no fault accidents while travelling over 2 million miles. There has been no loss of life due to enemy action or accidents.

One noted achievement was the Battalions ability to find IED’s and EFP’s (Improvised Explosive Devices, and Explosively Formed Penetrators or "shape charges"). On three separated occasions, Soldiers of the Battalion located enemy devices. The most notable incident occurred on 10 December 2010 on Route Aspen. The convoy escort commander identified a well hidden device after repositioning his vehicle. The photographic evidence of the device obtained by the Convoy Escort Team proved that the device was nearly impossible to spot but allowed the battalion to improve on detection techniques for spotting IEDs. The device consisted of 12" EFP, 40lbs of explosive material and a passive infrared sensor triggering device. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team determined that the device's transmitter was very sophisticated. Both the Landowner and the EOD team commended the Battalion on being able to find an intact device of this complexity. The Iraqi Army conducted a raid of the bomb maker from the information that was gathered from the EFP. The successful raid captured IED making material and a working EFP IED. 1-119th FA developed and implemented a sustainment training program while in theater to ensure all Soldiers maintained Warrior proficiency with the assigned mission. The Battalion fired over 250,000