Retired Lt. Gen. David Barno visits Task Force Spartan area of operations

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

10.21.2011

Story by Spc. Melissa Stewart 

3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division

KANDAHAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Retired Lt. Gen. David Barno, accompanied by Maj. Gen. James Huggins, Commanding General of the 82nd Airborne Division and Regional Command South, and a party of civilian political advisors visited the Task Force Spartan Area of Operations, Oct. 21, to gain a better understanding of daily operations in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.

Among the civilian visitors were: Max Boot, Council on Foreign Relations; Catherine Dale, Congressional Research Service; Jeffrey Dressler, Institute for the Study of War; William Kristol, “The Weekly Standard,” and Jamie Fly, Foreign Policy Initiative.

Upon arrival at Forward Operating Base Pasab, Col. Patrick D. Frank, commander of 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and Command Sgt. Maj. James Carabello, Command Sergeant Major of 3rd IBCT, met Barno, Huggins and the other visitors and escorted them to the brigade conference room for a briefing on the Spartan Brigade’s accomplishments and challenges during the past six months.

The group then received a tour of Sangsar, Nalgham, and Rustum Aka. These are all significant places in the TF Spartan area of operations because the progress in those areas is most visible.

At Sangsar, the former village of Mullah Omar, Lt. Col. Kenneth Mintz, Commander of 1st Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment, met the group and showed them the new school and refurbished bazaar that his battalion helped to create.

After Sangsar, the group moved to Nalgham, which was formerly a Taliban stronghold, but Soldiers in 1-32 Infantry have worked hard to secure. Previously, Nalgham was a dangerous place; now, groups of people could move through the bazaar in near complete safety.

The group stopped briefly at the Combat Outpost at Rustum Aka, which is also a significant strategic point for soldiers in 1-32 Infantry. After seeing the river, the group moved back to Combat Outpost Nalgham, where Huggins and Mintz recognized three soldiers in 1-32 Infantry for valorous actions in combat.

• Date Taken: 10.21.2011
• Date Posted: 10.26.2011 08:21
• Story ID: 79026
• Location: KANDAHAR PROVINCE, AF