By Pfc. Alisha Nye
14th Public Affairs Detachment
Separate battalions within 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division traded one unit for another after recently deploying to Iraq. The units making the swap were 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment and 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.
"Bravo Battery, from 2-8, was switched with Bravo Company from 3-21," said 1st Lt. Justin Geen, 4th Platoon leader, Company B, 3rd Bn., 21st In. Regt., 1st SBCT, 25th In. Div. "It was mostly due to a personnel issue."
An artillery battery contains fewer Soldiers than an infantry company, Geen said.
"The sector for 2-8 was a little more active that they originally thought it was going to be," Geen said. "So they wanted an infantry company with Strykers in the area in order to augment the other two batteries."
Geen believes swapping the two units out was a good move and that it will help the two battalions complete their missions to the fullest extent, especially 2-8 FA.
"It gives 2-8 another asset to work with," Geen said. "Obviously not to take anything away from artillery, but we're a little more trained at what the Army is doing here in Iraq. So, it gives the 2-8 commander a little something more to work with."
Geen said one of the biggest assets the infantry company supplies the artillery battery with is Stryker vehicles, where the artillery unit would otherwise only have mine resistant ambush protected vehicles.
"We have Strykers, which are an excellent vehicle for the type of warfare in Iraq," he said.
So far, Geen said, the swap is going well.
"As far as our company is concerned, I think it is going very well," he said. "It is never easy, as far as personnel and property go, to detach and attach a unit, but we did the best we could and things are starting to fall into place, so I think it will work out well."
At first, however, it was a little difficult for some of the Soldiers to get used to.
"It was a little strange for some of the Soldiers really to understand what was going on," Geen said. "It was difficult for them to understand why things were happening the way they were."
Geen said despite the initial confusion, it is always good to get the chance to work with different people.
"I think, for the senior noncommissioned officers and officers, it is always good to work with different people and a different command," he said. "It's always a good thing to experience and now everybody is starting to get used to it."
After a careful approach of one another, Geen said, from what he's seen, Soldiers from both units have started working with each other.
"Working side by side at the staff level and also sharing living conditions has helped to get people to start working together," he said. "Half of Bravo Company is living out at the Diyala media center with Alpha Battery from 2-8. So, living out together out there has also helped people get used to one another and start working together."
Despite the initial friction, both units have started to work cohesively with one another and Geen believes it will turn out to be a binding experience that will help Soldiers in both units grow.
"When you stick two different units with each other out in the middle of nowhere, there's going to be some friction at first," he said. "But after a while, things will start coming together and people will start working together. They'll make things happen; for the better of both units."