250 Rakkasans deploy for Iraq

[unhappycamper]

250 Rakkasans deploy for Iraq
By Michele Carlton - Kentucky New Era via AP
Posted : Monday Oct 1, 2007 11:04:23 EDT

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Sgt. Marcus Holder leaned back on his olive camouflage rucksack outside the 3rd Brigade Combat Team barracks at Fort Campbell as he talked with Capt. Benjamin Neusse.

Holder and Neusse relaxed in the mid-afternoon sun just hours before boarding a flight back to Iraq, Sept. 21.

The men, both 25, were among 250 soldiers in the 187th Infantry Regiment, called “Rakkasans,” that deployed Friday to Southwest Baghdad for a 15-month tour. They will replace the 2nd Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y.

Holder, a father of three and Huntsville, Ala., native, had said his goodbyes to his wife and children earlier in the day.

“There’s nothing you can say,” he said about comforting his family before a deployment. “They understand that you just do your job.”

~snip~

By the end of this tour, the 3rd Brigade will have been deployed a total of 45 months since 2001, said Brigade Commander Col. Dominic J. Caraccilo.


Rest of artile at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_rakkasans_070930/