BY JAKE LOWARY • THE LEAF-CHRONICLE • July 28, 2010
The 4th Brigade Combat Team has ceremonially begun its deployment, and a sense of urgency, albeit slight, will accompany the soldiers to Afghanistan.”It’s a war,” said Capt. Matt Ellett, commander of Bravo Company, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion. “I’d say there’s always a sense of urgency.”
Col. Sean Jenkins and Command Sgt. Maj. Tim Coop cased the brigade’s colors on Tuesday at the 101st Airborne Division’s Parade Field, starting their tour and ending Fort Campbell’s involvement in the surge of forces in Afghanistan ordered by President Barack Obama last December.
Obama said the excess troops would begin to come home in less than a year, effectively placing a timetable on the nine-year war that has dragged out as the war in Iraq escalated and is now winding down.
Those in the “Currahee” 4th BCT say there’s not necessarily added pressure on them to get the job done faster, but there is a determination to show progress in their area almost immediately.
“Producing results above and beyond is what we do,” Ellett said.
Jenkins directly challenged the perception of progress in Afghanistan as “difficult or impossible” during his remarks to the crowd of family members, soldiers and former members of the 506th Infantry Regiment.
“The difficult we do immediately, but the impossible takes us a little longer,” he said.
Of all the Fort Campbell infantry brigades, the 4th BCT likely has the biggest advantage heading to Afghanistan: They’ve been there before.
They are the only 101st infantry brigade to serve there in back-to-back deployments. Additionally, 55 percent of the brigade’s soldiers were with the 4th BCT on its previous tour in Afghanistan.
“That’s what we call campaign continuity,” Jenkins said.
They will be augmenting the 101st Airborne’s 3rd BCT, which has already logged about six or seven months in the region of Paktika, Paktya and Khowst provinces. The 4th Brigade will take over Paktika and perform its in-country run-up with members of the same division they’ve been in contact with daily.
Having served there in 2008 and 2009, they know the landscape and terrain, one of the biggest obstacles in the rugged, mountainous region. Also, they will be responsible for just one province, compared to six at the beginning of the 2008-09 deployment.
“You are honed to a razor’s edge and ready to get the job done,” Jenkins said to the leaders before him. “This is our time, and we will not falter. We will not fail.”
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