{"id":16403,"date":"2018-07-26T20:49:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T20:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/26\/near-peer-threats-disparate-units-changing-missions-this-army-brigade-did-it-all-on-its-recent-deployment\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:53:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:53:51","slug":"near-peer-threats-disparate-units-changing-missions-this-army-brigade-did-it-all-on-its-recent-deployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/07\/26\/near-peer-threats-disparate-units-changing-missions-this-army-brigade-did-it-all-on-its-recent-deployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Near-peer threats, disparate units, changing missions: This Army brigade did it all on its recent deployment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A brigade combat team that is spread out over distances that span multiple nations, running security operations against a near-peer threat<\/a>, while simultaneously conducting conventional artillery missions and hitting violent extremist groups with precision targeting<\/a> and a coalition partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is this a future fight scenario<\/a> dreamed up by training commanders?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. It\u2019s the real-world deployment completed earlier this summer by soldiers of 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent meeting with reporters post-deployment, Col. Brian Sullivan, the brigade commander, ran through the varied and evolving mission set his soldiers experienced during their nine-month deployment from September 2017 to May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the BCT had forces in 17 locations throughout Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Afghanistan, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tour was not without its tragedy. Spc. Alexander Missildine, 20, of Tyler, Texas, died on Oct. 1 as a result of injuries sustained from an Improvised Explosive Device. He was serving with the 710th Brigade Support Battalion of the 3rd BCT, 10th Mountain Division in Salah ad-Din Province, Iraq at the time of his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mission varied considerably from the previous unit\u2019s work. That was when the 82nd Airborne Division\u2019s 2nd Brigade Combat Team spent much of its deployment in fixed tactical locations around Mosul and Tal Afar, helping Iraqi Security Forces retake the areas from Islamic State fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sullivan\u2019s brigade headquarters alone moved four times in the nine-month mission \u2014 from Baghdad to Erbil to Qayyarah Airfield West and then to Kuwait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As brigade staff mobilized, their soldiers did the same. The colonel said their unit motto became, \u201cdon\u2019t ever get comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one case, soldiers with one of the brigade\u2019s artillery batteries headed to Iraq to provide base security but were later transitioned back to an arty mission \u2014 even though it was not what they\u2019d trained for and not where they\u2019d expected to be located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 105mm-trained artillery soldiers were sent to Afghanistan, where only 155mm artillery pieces are available. They provided firepower to Afghan forces at two locations near Kandahar, Sullivan said. Another artillery unit later supported operations in the Middle Euphrates River Valley and in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An infantry battalion worked in Baghdad, helping secure the city\u2019s operations center and provide elections security. Another infantry battalion and a cavalry squadron deployed to Q-West to help Iraqi troops clear ISIS remnants out of the Hawija pocket near Kirkuk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An engineer battalion also performed route clearance across northern Iraq in connection with that operation, while its headquarters provided security and ran tactical drones from the base. And once the pocket was liberated, the cavalry squadron fell under a Marine Corps headquarters along the Iraq-Syria border and supported an Iraqi division with a final push to cut ISIS out of that area, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t