On June 20, the Department of Defense announced the major units scheduled to deploy as part of the next Operation Iraqi Freedom rotation. The rotation will begin in late 2006.

Army units include: from Fort Hood, Texas, III Corps Headquarters; 1st Cavalry Division Headquarters; 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division; 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division; from Fort Richardson, Alaska, 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division; and from Fort Carson, Colo., 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Individual services will announce the smaller, supporting units for this rotation.

On June 13 President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and to speak to the troops. The President had been meeting at Camp David, Md., with his national security team to discuss the way forward in Iraq. He was scheduled to meet with Maliki and other Iraqi leaders via teleconference but traveled in secret to Baghdad overnight instead.

When he addressed the American troops, he told them their mission is to make the world a better place, adding: “I truly believe the work that you’re doing here is laying the foundation of peace for generations to come, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

At a press conference on June 20, Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, the Multinational Force-Iraq spokesman, explained that nationwide, Iraqi forces accounted for 34 percent of the operations conducted between June 10 and 16, or 143 operations, while combined coalition-Iraqi forces accounted for 245 operations, or 58 percent. Coalition forces launched only 36 operations on their own.

MOUNTAIN THRUST IN AFGHANISTAN
Coalition forces killed 35 Taliban extremists at a compound in the village of Ghach Zar, Afghanistan, on July 4 as part of Operation Mountain Thrust.

The operation is part of an ongoing offensive campaign to disrupt enemy forces, interdict safe havens, extend the reach of the Afghan government and facilitate good governance, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance. The raids have produced a number of killed or captured enemy forces as well as a number of arms caches.

The Taliban has increased its attacks in recent months. Taliban extremists have been implicated or have claimed responsibility for damaging more than 45 schools, assassinating teachers and intimidating Afghan school-aged children in the past year. They may have also been responsible for triggering an explosion that destroyed the Haji Adam Khan Mosque in Oal a-I Oadzi on June 6.

ENLISTMENT AGE RAISED TO 42
The Army has raised the maximum enlistment age to 42, through a provision of the fiscal year 2006 National Defense Authorization Act. The Army raised the active duty age limit to 40 in January as an interim step while it worked out the additional medical screening requirements for recruits ages 40 to 42. Before January, an applicant who had reached his or her 35th birthday was ineligible to enlist. The Army Reserve age limit was raised from 35 to 40 in March 2005.

All applicants must meet eligibility standards, which include passing the physical standards and medical examinations; however, those 40 to 42 will be given additional medical screening. Recruits of all ages are eligible for the same enlistment bonuses and other incentives based on their individual qualifications.

NG FIGHTS FLOODING AROUND NATION
From the northeast coast to the south central plains, National Guard soldiers have been helping local authorities battle the floods that inundated parts of the United States in May and June. They have also helped subdue incidents of violence in New Orleans.

A combined 1,350 National Guardsmen from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey assisted in nearly 1,000 water rescues and tens of thousands of evacuations after widespread flooding from torrential rains swept across the northeast in late June.

Much of the Pennsylvania Guard’s efforts focused on the Wilkes-Barre area where most evacuations took place. In addition to flying missions throughout the commonwealth, Guard members from the 2nd Battalion, 104th Aviation Regiment, and the 628th Division Aviation Support Battalion flew over the border to New York in CH-47 Chinook and UH-1 Huey helicopters to help evacuate the town of Conklin, where locals were trapped by Susquehanna River floodwaters, which rose nearly 30 feet. Meanwhile, soldiers from the New York National Guard’s 204th Engineer Battalion evacuated residents of the town of Walton who had been trapped by historic flood levels. In New Jersey, Guard units assisted in last-minute evacuations along the swollen Delaware River.

The Army and Air National Guards of New Hampshire and Massachusetts were activated to respond to flooding and road closures across both states on May 14.

In New Hampshire, 400 members of the National Guard—300 soldiers and 100 airmen—were on standby to assist first responders with evacuations, traffic control points and other flood-related operations. About 75 Guard members assisted with traffic control in the towns of Hooksett and Goffstown and with home evacuations in Raymond.

In Massachusetts, National Guard units assisted with public safety operations. About 270 soldiers were placed on state active duty in response to the severe weather conditions. They were tasked with transportation, traffic control and flood mitigation missions by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The Guard units helped with flood mitigation in Medford, Mass., and transportation and traffic control in Methuen and Peabody.

Torrential rain across New England forced hundreds of people from their homes as water flowed over dams and washed out roads.

On June 20, National Guard troops were called to duty in Louisiana and Texas in response to an outbreak of violence in New Orleans and flooding in Houston.

About 300 Louisiana National Guard troops were called to duty to support the New Orleans Police Department in the wake of weekend violence that left six people dead. The troops were posted in less-populated parts of the city—mostly the 9th Ward and Lakeview—to prevent looting and to free up city police officers for duty in the more populated areas. Both areas were devastated during Hurricane Katrina, and many residents have not yet been able to move back into homes there.

In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry mobilized about 120 Texas National Guard troops after torrential rain flooded low-lying areas in the southeastern part of the state. The Guard provided high-water vehicles with crews, a satellite communications system, HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters with flight crews and an element of the 6th Army National Guard Civil Support Team.

LAST CHEMICAL BOMB DESTROYED
On June 9 the last chemical-agent filled bomb in the United States’ chemical stockpile was safely destroyed at the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency’s Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in northeastern Oregon.

This marked not only the end of more than 2,400 MC-1 bombs, each of which contained 220 pounds of liquid sarin (GB) nerve agent, originally stored and monitored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, but also the final destruction of the nation’s entire chemical agent-filled bomb stockpile. The United States chemical weapons stockpile originally had about 13,500 GB-filled bombs.

NEW VETERAN STORIES ONLINE
The Library of Congress Veterans History Project has added categories to its “Experiencing War” web site and has begun putting on a selection of veterans’ stories. Military medicine, prisoners of war and military intelligence are just some of the new categories. Each category contains a number of veterans’ stories, newspaper clippings, letters and photographs.

To view the site, go to www.loc.gov/warstories. To see military medicine specifically, go to www.loc.gov/vets/stories/med-doctors.html.

PROSTHETIC DEVICE WINS AWARD
A device that will allow amputees to control a prosthetic device with their brains was announced as one of the inventions of the year by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The device, developed by Protagoras Cutchis, enables amputees to communicate reflexive movements simply by thinking about them. The invention involves an array of electrodes implanted radially around the sheath of a peripheral nerve, each recording pulses that travel up and down the nerve endings and thus recreating stimulations that could be used to control the prosthesis.