by Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown
210th MPAD
LSA ANACONDA, Iraq— The nation's 21st Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, thanked servicemembers for their service here Dec. 9 in a farewell tour of Iraq.
Rumsfeld stopped at the base for only a few hours visiting the Air Force Theatre Hospital, getting a tour of an F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the maintainers assigned to the 332nd Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.
He also spent time meeting with U.S. Army medical evacuation pilots and medics assigned to C Company, 2nd Battalion, 135th General Support Aviation Battalion, an Army National Guard unit from Lincoln, Neb.
"The reputation for this organization is sky-high," Rumsfeld said, addressing MEDEVAC Soldiers from the 36th Combat Aviation Brigade. "The appreciation people feel for speed, and the care and compassion that you all bring to your work is well known."
The second stop in short tour, the Secretary of Defense came to Anaconda after visiting Al Asad earlier the same day and before flying to Baghdad.
"I think about the people I meet in the hospitals at Bethseda and Walter Reed and so many of them are deeply appreciative," he said. "They're young, and I don't know if they know it or not, but in any other conflict, they wouldn't have made it...they give a lot of credit to the care they are given in the very first hour."
Rumsfeld will be replaced as Secretary of Defense Dec. 18 by Bush's nominee Robert M. Gates.
Rumsfeld will retain his position until Gates' official swearing-in ceremony, set for Dec. 18.
"We all appreciate you and thank you," Rumsfeld said before leaving Anaconda. "God bless you."
LSA Anaconda is the central logistics operations base near Balad, Iraq. Currently the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), from Fort Hood, Texas, operates logistics missions throughout Iraq from LSA Anaconda.