3rd BCT honors awardees from OIR deployment

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Hewitt | The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, holds an Operation Inherent Resolve End of Tour Award Ceremony at Fort Bragg, N.C., Oct. 23, 2015. Paratroopers were awarded for their excellence and dedication during a nine-month tour in Iraq, where they helped train and advise more than 12,000 Iraqi Security Forces. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt/Released)  

FORT BRAGG, NC, UNITED STATES

10.26.2015

Story by Sgt. Anthony Hewitt 

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Over 1,000 paratroopers assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division were honored with military awards and decorations during a ceremony at Fort Bragg, Oct. 23.

The ceremony honored paratroopers who contributed to an incredibly complex mission overseas in Iraq, and the ones who led the Surge Ready Force at Fort Bragg, said Col. Curtis Buzzard, commander of 3rd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div.

The many awards presented included the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Combat Action Badge. Additionally, two paratroopers received battlefield promotions.

While every award presented enhanced the prestige of the units and paratroopers assembled, the battlefield promotions were significant as the paratroopers who received them represent two out of the only three Soldiers who have been awarded battlefield promotion since the Operation Inherent Resolve began.

Sgt. Ali O. Al Saeedy, a linguist assigned to the 307th Engineer Battalion, 3rd BCT is one of the two paratroopers recognized for promotion for overseas service.

“This is my first duty station and I am proud to serve in the 307th [Engineer] Battalion, this famous brigade and the most prestigious division in the Army,” said Al Saeedy.

Clear and sunny skies shone over Fort Bragg and bright smiles filled the ranks of the 3rd BCT formations while more than 1,000 paratroopers stood tall in their ranks, with their medals pinned upon their chests.

“Bottom line, I’m enormously proud of this unit and what they accomplished in Iraq and here at Fort Bragg over the last nine months,” said Buzzard. “They achieved the vision of this BCT: the Panther family is fit, disciplined and adaptive. I’m proud, the commanding general is proud and their nation is proud.”

• Date Taken: 10.26.2015
• Date Posted: 10.26.2015 10:55
• Story ID: 179931
• Location: FORT BRAGG, NC, US