197th Fires Brigade Deployment 2010-2011

“To the 511th, you accomplished a lot over the past 12 months. You have done an excellent job representing the detachment, the Army and diving as a whole,” de Courreges said. “You have exceeded all my expectations coming into this deployment.”

The 25 soldiers of the 511th completed 88 missions in Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and Qatar. They spent a combined 1,650 days diving in water temperatures from 40 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. In Iraq, they recovered more than $3 million of military equipment and executed numerous force protection missions safe guarding billions of dollars of military sea transport equipment.

In total, the 511th divers spent more than 18,000 minutes underwater in support of U.S. Navy, Army and Coast Guard vessels as a part of Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. Despite the high operation tempo, the detachment was able to qualify four Unlimited Diving Supervisors and nine Salvage Divers, allowing divers to compete for promotion to higher rank.

“By all measures, the 511th Dive Team well fulfilled its requirements as a strategic asset to the CENTCOM Theater of Operations,” said Col. Peter Corey, commander of the 197th Fires Brigade. The brigade provides command and control for the dive mission based at KNB. For the 7th Dive Team, this marks a return engagement to the Middle East.

Biggerstaff and one of his senior divers, Staff Sgt. John Geffert, were here with the unit in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. This time, as the unit leaders, they bring a brand new group of divers.

“511th Dive leaves behind them a great reputation,” Biggerstaff said. “7th Dive is prepared to continue to build upon this reputation.”

The 511th not only accomplished a great deal, but made the extra effort to keep the 7th appraised on operational changes during the last year, Biggerstaff said. “That exchange of information makes us better prepared."

For a captain, the mission was “a good deal,” de Courreges said. “I think that I’ll miss it.”

For more info on the 7th Dive Team, checkout its facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/pages/7th-Engineer-Dive-Team/105525036159201 [References: Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System, http://www.dvidshub.net, Granite Thunder]