The Louisiana National Guard is 'in the forefront'

[sunny]

Thought there may be a few interested in this article.

nola.com


IN THE THICK OF THINGS
The Louisiana National Guard is 'in the forefront' in an offensive against insurgents near Baghdad

Wednesday, June 08, 2005
By Joe Darby

West Bank bureau

LAFAYETTE -- Louisiana National Guard soldiers are heavily involved in an offensive against Iraqi insurgents in the Baghdad area, their brigade commander said Tuesday.

"We've hit more than 100 targets and have detained more than 150 insurgents," said Brig. Gen. John Basilica, commander of the 256th Brigade Combat Team. "We've been involved in a tremendous amount of offensive operations in the last six weeks."

Called Operation Lightning, the mission is aimed at catching insurgents before they set car and roadside bombs in attacks on coalition troops and Iraqi civilians. Basilica, who is commanding 6,000 troops, including 3,000 Louisiana soldiers, gave a status report on the brigade's progress via satellite Tuesday from Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

"We're in the forefront of all that," Basilica said.

The brigade, which has seen 21 soldiers killed in action and has awarded more than 150 Purple Hearts, has not suffered any serious casualties in rocket and mortar attacks on Camp Liberty in recent days, Basilica said. Six Louisiana soldiers have received minor injuries, he said.

"Camp Liberty is a very large base that contains 30,000 soldiers and Iraqi civilians," he said. "The mortar attacks had very little effect, and the rocket attacks were ineffective."

Louisiana soldiers, including members of the 1st Battalion of the 141st Field Artillery based in New Orleans, are serving with an Illinois National Guard battalion and the Army's 1st Squadron of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

"We're looking for weapons and explosives, and we're having a fair amount of success. We are never going to take the pressure off of the insurgents," Basilica said.

Members of the brigade formerly operated in a large rural area, but their zones of responsibility now include urban areas of Baghdad.

"This is still a very dangerous place," he said. "But our soldiers are performing very courageously, doing everything possible to allow the Iraqi government to bring democracy to their society. And most Iraqis appreciate what we're doing."

In addition to their combat operations, the brigade's soldiers are working on more than 100 projects worth $212 million aimed at helping Iraqi civilians, including providing services such as electrical power, fresh water, sewerage and trash collection.

The Louisiana troops are expected to return home in about four months. They were deployed in October.

Their hectic operational pace will be maintained almost until the time of their return, Basilica said. Toward the end of their deployment, they will assist a replacement unit, going on patrols with the new soldiers, teaching them about the area and helping to make them combat ready, he said.

The Louisiana troops won't all come home at once, Basilica said.

"Some will go to Kuwait to help ship our equipment back home, then planeload after planeload of soldiers will return home over several weeks time," he said.

They will return to civilian life after physical examinations and a check of their Army and medical records during demobilization at Fort Polk.

Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, state adjutant general, who attended the news conference, said that once the soldiers are home, "they won't even be looked at for an overseas deployment for at least five years. And hopefully five years from now, we won't need to look at them."

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Joe Darby can be reached at jdarby@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3786.