2008 Year in Review

The past 12 months proved to be an eventful year for the Fort Drum community. Before leaving the past year to the history books, here is a look back at the events of 2008.

JANUARY
* Fort Drum began the year by adopting some economically and environmentally friendly practices. Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes officials announced all newly constructed homes on post will be certified in the New York Energy Star Labeled Homes Program, which would save energy by 30 percent.
* Col. David Paschal, 1st Brigade Combat Team commander, hosted a video teleconference to report on the brigade’s progress in Iraq.

FEBRUARY
* Fort Drum launched an on-post shuttle service, which offers two separate routes designed to stop at all major locations on North Post, South Post and Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield.
* Iraqi citizens took steps forward in their stand against terrorism, approaching coalition forces and requesting help in establishing programs to allow local residents to help fight back against insurgents.
* Two National Hockey League teams, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings, paid tribute to Sgt. Alex Jimenez and Pfc. Byron W. Fouty, both from 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, and presumed captured by insurgent forces in Iraq. Team captains presented jerseys to the Families, and an honor guard presented the colors.
* The U.S. Postal Service offered its first military discount for service members serving overseas.
* Military Families and community members participated in a Warrior Walk, symbolizing the distance between Watertown and Baghdad, Iraq, to show their support of Soldiers serving in Iraq.
* Rep. John M. McHugh (R-NY) came to post to visit with wounded warriors to discuss medical care provided to them and how to improve the Army’s medical system.
* Fort Drum community members participated in the National Prayer Breakfast and listened to guest speaker Chaplain (Col.) Sonny Moore, Office of the U.S. Army Forces Command chaplain.
* The Army announced a new program for Soldiers, the Comprehensive Care Plan, which focuses on healing the whole person – body, mind, heart and spirit – and not just physical well-being.

MARCH
* To raise awareness, the post newspaper began publishing police reports and photographs of Soldiers charged with driving while intoxicated or driving while ability impaired.
* Members of the Fort Drum Swim Strong Aquatic Club competed in their first meet, earning a trophy, placing second out of nine teams in the small team category, and winning numerous ribbons and medals in individual categories.
* Officials pledged to crack down on pet abuse after noticing an increase in cruelty and abandonment cases.
* Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, conducted a mission they called Chaos Thunder Strike II, an air-assault mission that disrupted terrorist activity in northern Iraq.
* Gen. George W. Casey Jr., Army chief of staff, visited Fort Drum to get a firsthand look at the division’s readiness for deployment.
* A new Army initiative was formed to improve housing for single Soldiers. The program would speed the process in which troops receive barracks rooms upon arriving at Fort Drum and give them more “ownership” of their living quarters, just like married Soldiers residing in on-post housing.
* The Department of Veterans Affairs opened a new Vet Center in Watertown.
* Fort Drum journalists won Army-level awards in the Department of the Army’s 2007 Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware Journalism Competition.
* Ashley Forsyth, a Fort Drum teenager, won first-place medals in the state swimming championship.

APRIL
* Iraqi tribal leaders sign a contractual agreement to assist in security efforts in the region, becoming “Sons of Iraq.”
* The Fort Drum Commissary was named Best Large Customer Service department in the 2007 DeCA East overall best department awards.
* The 10th Mountain Division Culinary Arts Team won 19 awards out of 20 entries submitted at the 33rd U.S. Army Culinary Arts Competition at Fort Lee, Va.
* Officials dedicated a new clinic at Forward Operating Base Warrior in honor of Staff Sgt. Carletta S. Davis, a combat medic with 10th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, who was killed in Iraq.
* The Family of Sgt. Nathan Barnes, a division Soldier killed in action, collected enough donated items to fill a 40-foot shipping container for children in Iraq.
* Fire Capt. Jeff Spellman and firefighters Jim Haggerty and Aaron Sherman went out of the way during off-duty hours to assist during emergencies. They came upon a truck accident near West Carthage and rendered first aid to the woman involved until an ambulance arrived. The same week, they went to the scene of a fire while they were off duty.
* Diana Abu-Jaber, 2008 North Country Reads author, visited McEwen Library for a book discussion and reading.
* President Bush announced that deployments for U.S. Soldiers in Iraq would be shortened from 15 to 12 months, starting in August, and that troops would have at least a year at home between deployments.
* A Fort Drum teenager, Christian Valledor, became valedictorian of his class at Indian River High School and earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
* The Fort Drum community welcomed a new garrison commander, Col. Kenneth H. Riddle, and his wife, Maria.

MAY
* Army, state and local officials gathered with Fort Drum community members at Sexton Field to support Soldiers from 10th Mountain Division Special Troops Battalion and the division headquarters as they prepared to deploy to Iraq. Among those who attended were Gen. Richard A. Cody, Army vice chief of staff; New York Governor David Paterson, making his first visit to post since taking office; Congressman John M. McHugh (R-N.Y.); state Senator Darrel J. Aubertine; Tony Keating, civilian aide to the secretary of the Army; Brig. Gen. Paul Genereaux, 42nd Infantry Division commander; Jeffrey Graham, mayor of Watertown; and Robert F. Hagemann III, Jefferson County administrator.
* Soldiers from 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, flew to White Sands Missile Range, N.M., to participate in the Bataan Memorial Death March.
* Division Soldiers deployed to Iraq to take on the mission of the Multinational Division – Center.
* Secretary of the Army Pete Geren visited to witness the area’s commitment to support Soldiers and their Families at a ceremony commemorating the Army Community Covenant signing.
* Soldiers of 63rd Ordnance Battalion deployed to Iraq to support 10th Mountain Division in the counter improvised explosives device fight.
* Fort Drum remembered the Holocaust with a Days of Remembrance ceremony, honoring the 11 million people who died in the concentration camps under the Nazi regime.
* Nearly 400 former Sons of Iraq members successfully completed eight weeks of training at the Kirkuk Police Academy.
* Eric King, a Fort Drum civilian employee, earned a prestigious 2008 Watertown Jaycees Young Professional award.
* The Fort Drum Commissary unveiled the first of many changes in its expansion project.
* Soldiers of 2nd Brigade Combat Team observed Memorial Day with a ceremony to pay respect to those who fell during the brigade’s last tour in Iraq. Fifty-two Commandos did not return from that rotation.
* The Fort Drum Public Affairs Office announced its newspaper name change contest.
* Soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat Team completed their rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La.
* Emergency medical personnel held a mass casualty exercise to evaluate readiness and strengthen relationships with local, state and federal emergency response agencies.
* The Fort Drum MEDDAC, in collaboration with Samaritan Medical Center and Health Net Federal Services, developed a satellite behavioral health clinic in Watertown for Soldiers.

JUNE
* Leaders of 3rd Infantry Division transferred authority of Multinational Division - Center headquarters to 10th Mountain Division (LI), in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
* The Post Exchange expansion received approval.
* Officials marked the financial closing of a project to develop, construct and manage an additional 554 Energy Star-certified, single-family and duplex-style homes on Fort Drum.
* The post community welcomed to the team Col. Kevin W. Mangum, division rear commander, and Col. Valerie Jircitano Jacocks, deputy to the division rear commander.
* Re-enactors dressed in period piece uniforms brought Fort Drum’s past to the present at the Heritage Center as part of the installation’s Centennial Celebration.
* More than 150 personalized bricks were laid on the walkway in front of the statue at Memorial Park.
* Coalition forces bring a literacy program to Iraq.
* The Fort Drum Blizzard staff unveiled the top five names and a wildcard in the name change contest.
* The 10th Mountain Division began using a new Army web content platform to establish a home on the Internet for stories about Soldiers, Families and Army civilians.
* A ribbon-cutting marked the opening of the new Fort Drum / Samaritan Behavioral Health Clinic.
* Hundreds of Soldiers and Family Members made the journey to Alexandria Bay to participate in the 2008 Centennial Riverfest.
* The Watertown Wizards baseball team played the U.S. Military All-Star baseball team at the Alex T. Duffy Fairgrounds in Watertown.
* Troops from 2nd BCT completed a 25-mile road march from Sackets Harbor to Fort Drum to follow in the footsteps their predecessors took 100 years ago.

JULY * Fort Drum celebrated its 100th year during the 23rd annual Mountainfest celebration. Kicking off the celebration, Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation hosted a free concert featuring country music singer-songwriter Gary Allan, Grammy-nominated rock band Bowling for Soup and country singer Katie Rae Davis.
* Fort Drum held its Centennial Air Show to wrap up the post’s anniversary celebration. During the two-day event, division Soldiers gave an air-assault demonstration for the crowd, members of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command executed parachute demonstrations, jet fighters went through their paces and aircraft performed close-formation flying and aerial acrobatics. There were also vintage and modern aircraft on display.
Officials estimated 35,000 to 45,000 spectators attended the event.

AUGUST
* Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) met with Soldiers from Fort Drum’s Warrior Transition Unit and their Family Members to discuss medical care provided to them and how to improve the Army’s medical system.
* Seven units of 2nd Brigade Combat Team were honored during a ceremony Aug. 6 as the first in the Army to receive the Combat Action Streamer. The streamer recognizes units in which at least 65 percent of Soldiers have earned a Combat Action Badge.
Soldiers were honored for their service in Iraq from August 2006 to November 2007.
* Coalition, provincial and Iraqi leaders from Multinational Division – Center met with U.S. Embassy and Department of Defense representatives for the first Civil-Military Coordination Conference to promote economic growth in Iraq.
The conference helped provincial reconstruction teams and local leaders synchronize capacity-building goals in the provinces south of Baghdad. Discussions focused on agricultural improvement, private investment and housing construction.
* Leaders from Task Force Mountain, Multinational Corps - Iraq and units working with Iraqi Security Forces met with Iraqi Army commanders for a conference on manning, equipping and training the ISF to be a more effective and self-sustaining force.
* Fort Drum Mountain Community Homes, the partnership between Actus Lend Lease and the U.S. Army under the Residential Communities Initiative program, received the 2008 Private Sector Partner of the Year Award from the Association of Defense Communities.

SEPTEMBER
* Col. Jefforey Smith, Multinational Division – Center and 10th Mountain Division (LI) deputy commanding general for support, became the Army’s newest brigadier general during a ceremony Sept. 11 at MND-C Headquarters.

OCTOBER
* Fort Drum Soldiers were among more than 26,000 runners who participated in the 24th annual Army Ten-Miler, the largest 10-mile race in America and second largest in the world.
* Nearly 100 Fort Drum delegates participated in the Army Family Action Plan conference at the Commons.
* Gen. George W. Casey Jr., Army chief of staff, visited Fort Drum to speak to Soldiers and their Family Members as 3rd Brigade Combat Team prepared for its upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.
During his second visit to post this year, Casey met with Spartan Brigade leaders to discuss their change of mission from Iraq to Afghanistan and their adjustments to training and preparation.
“I came up particularly to see how the brigade was reacting to, and adapting to, the mission change from Iraq to Afghanistan,” Casey said. “And I have to tell you that with the leaders and Families and the lieutenants and captains and sergeants (whom) I have talked to, I couldn’t be prouder of what I am seeing.”
* Fort Drum and local community leaders gathered at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield to support Soldiers from 10th Combat Aviation Brigade as they prepared to deploy to Iraq.
The brigade assumed command of two additional battalions and formed Task Force Falcon. Brigade leaders took charge of more than 4,200 Soldiers and 250 manned and unmanned aircraft in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
* Government of Iraq officials and coalition Soldiers gathered Oct. 10 at Forward Operating Base Volunteer in the Rusafa district of eastern Baghdad to transfer responsibility of the Sons of Iraq to the Iraqi government. Iraqi officials, Iraqi Security Forces and Sons of Iraq members invited Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 89th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team.
* Officials from across the North Country came together Oct. 15 at the Commons to sign a covenant that focuses on one of the most important groups on Fort Drum: the children.
Fort Drum leaders and 19 North Country school district superintendents stepped up to sign a memorandum recognizing how important the installation and schools are to each other. It stressed partnership, support and flexibility, as students may have to travel at inopportune times during the school year.
* Officials held a grand re-opening for one of the United Service Organizations’ largest facilities. The newly expanded Fort Drum USO, located in the Heritage Center on Riva Ridge Loop, now occupies more than 8,000 square feet.
* Fort Drum’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation put on a scary face night to frighten more than 1,300 children and adults alike during the annual Haunted Hayride at Remington Pond.
* Fort Drum’s Pine Plains Physical Fitness Center hosted the Sesame Street Experience. More than 1,500 Family Members came out Oct. 28-29 to be a part of Sesame Street’s tour of 43 military installations in support of children with deployed parents.

NOVEMBER
* Fort Drum and local community leaders gathered at Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield to give a North Country send-off to Soldiers from 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, as they prepared to leave for Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga. The squadron will become a permanent part of 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade and play a significant role in the unit’s transformation to a medium combat aviation brigade.
* Some 300 Soldiers of 10th Sustainment Brigade, 10th Sustainment Brigade Troops Battalion and 91st Military Police Battalion prepared to exchange snow for sand in a deployment ceremony at Magrath Sports Complex.
* Brig. Gen. Michael Harrison, director of the Joint and Futures Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, presented the Distinguished Service Cross to the Family of Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins for his heroism in combat during the 2nd Brigade Combat Team’s 15-month deployment in Iraq.
The second-highest military award of heroism is presented to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the Army, distinguished himself or herself by extraordinary heroism.
Atkins sacrificed his life during a route clearance mission June 1, 2007, while engaging in hand-to-hand combat with a man who had a suicide bomb strapped to his chest.
* Brig. Gen. Kevin W. Mangum, division rear commander, received his first star during a ceremony at the Commons.
* Maj. Gen. Mike Oates, Multinational Division – Center and 10th Mountain Division (LI) commander, said much progress has been made during the first six months of the division headquarters’ deployment in Iraq, but more work is needed to improve the nation’s security.
Speaking to reporters via teleconference, the commander said attacks on Iraqi and coalition troops are down significantly since the division headquarters’ arrival in country beginning in May. He discussed security advances in the headquarters’ area of operations in the eight southern provinces of Iraq, which is roughly the size of the state of Washington with more than eight million people.
* Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody became the first female four-star general in the U.S. armed forces during a promotion ceremony in the Pentagon. Among other assignments, Dunwoody formerly served as commander of 10th Mountain Division Support Command at Fort Drum.

DECEMBER
* Before troops of 3rd Brigade Combat Team began deploying to Afghanistan, selected Soldiers trained on one of the Army’s newest and most advanced combat vehicles – the Mine Resistant Ambush Protectant vehicle.
* Members of the Fort Drum community came together to officially welcome home 3,500 Soldiers of 1st Brigade Combat Team during a ceremony at Magrath Gym.
Soldiers of 1st BCT deployed to the Kirkuk Province of Iraq in September 2007. They partnered with three Iraqi Army brigades and the Kirkuk Provincial Police.
The brigade played a leading role in establishing the Sons of Iraq, Civil Service Corps and reconciliation program. Led by Col. David Paschal and Command Sgt. Maj. Corbly Elsbury, Warrior Brigade’s efforts resulted in a 70-percent reduction in violence across its area of responsibility.
* Members of 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment welcomed retired Sgt. Maj. of the Army Jack Tilley who came to speak with Chosin leaders before their deployment to Afghanistan.
* Fort Drum and local community leaders gathered to support Soldiers from 3rd Brigade Combat Team as they prepare to deploy to Afghanistan.
The Spartan Brigade will deploy more than 3,500 Soldiers to secure an area in Afghanistan the size of Connecticut. Its area of operation will include the Wordak and Logar Provinces south of Kabul, and one battalion will serve near the Pakistan border.
* The 10th Sustainment Brigade accepted command during a transfer of authority ceremony from 1st Sustainment Brigade, Fort Riley, Kan. The brigade, which departed Fort Drum in early November, is stationed at Camp Taji in support of the Multinational Division – Baghdad.
* Fort Drum Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers served up free food and festivities for Soldiers who couldn’t make it home for the holidays.