5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

Story by Sgt. Michael Tuttle

By Sgt. Michael Tuttle
5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment

KIRKUK, Iraq – The Iraqi army added 1,895 soldiers to its ranks upon their graduation from basic combat training during a ceremony at the K-1 Iraqi Army Base's Regional Training Center.

The soldiers will help to form the new 4th Brigade, 4th Iraqi Army Division, which will officially stand up in late May. Commonly known as the Samarra brigade, their area of responsibility will include the north of Baghdad up to Samarra.

The same soldiers who have trained together during basic combat training will also train with their future brigade officers and noncommissioned officers.

"Today's graduates learned and trained together which will help them be successful," said Iraqi army Lt. Col. Yashar Medhat, RTC operations officer. "Since they arrived to K-1 to join the new brigade, they've been happy to train and ready to go wherever they are needed."

It's the first time that Iraqi soldiers will have completed basic training as a unit and then gone on to train with their brigade leaders before officially standing up, according to Lt. Col. Gerald Snell, RTC officer in charge.

A military transition team from the 82nd Airborne Division will advise the brigade during the rest of its RTC training and after it officially stands up.

The eight-week basic training included daily physical training, AK-47 qualification, first-aid, checkpoint operations, cordon and search, and convoy training.

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