Gen. David H. Petraeus arrived in Baghdad in February and took command of Coalition forces in Iraq as the new security plan for the nation commenced.

Coalition forces, alongside Iraqi soldiers and police, now man posts constructed by U.S. Army engineers throughout Baghdad, in areas which had been racked by small arms and mortar fire, car and truck bombs and suicide bombers. Iraqi Lt. Gen. Abboud Gambar has taken command of the Iraqi forces. Gambar was once a naval commander under Saddam Hussein and was captured by U.S. forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, according to The Washington Post.

Gambar has two deputy commanders—one in charge of east Baghdad, the other of the western sector, on either side of the Tigris River, which runs through the city. The deputy commanders are in charge of nine security districts. Approximately 90,000 troops, half of whom are Iraqi soldiers, are now assembling. Both Shiite and Sunni politicians called for accelerating the security plan to protect civilians from violence and death squads. Gen. Petraeus has said that the Iraqis have to take control of the military situation in order for the strategy to work.

Speaking with reporters about the new strategy for Baghdad, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Effects in Iraq, said, “The key difference is, this time it’s an Iraqi-led plan. Not only are they planning it, they are leading it.”

As the ground action has intensified, insurgents have also stepped up their attacks on U.S. helicopters. Between mid-January and mid-February, at least four helicopters were shot down, killing 20 people. According to Caldwell, “It appears they were all the result of some kind of ground fire.” One of the worst incidents occurred on January 20, when a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carrying 12 soldiers was shot down, killing all on board.

The insurgents are using small-arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and other weapons against the helicopters, which are equipped to defend against high-tech radar-guided missiles. “We do not have the ability to detect small-arms caliber weapons [and] RPGs,” Lt. Col. Orlando Lopez, a member of the Army’s Aviation Task Force, said in an interview with The Boston Globe. “We have our own eyes and our own intuition.” Approximately 60 helicopters have been lost in the war so far, according to a report from the Brookings Institute.

In the past, to avoid attacks, helicopter pilots have flown low, hugging rooftops in cities to neutralize the threat of radar-guided missiles. With the new threat, the Pentagon is reexamining helicopter strategy. On-the-ground intelligence is being used to figure out the best routes for flights. Constantly altering flight patterns could also increase safety.

Helicopters are vital to the military’s ability to control Iraq, specifically Baghdad, as the crackdown continues. They are used to transport personnel and supplies quickly, avoiding the threat from improvised explosive devices.


AFGHANISTAN TOUR EXTENDED
The Defense Department recently announced that some 3,200 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), will have their tours in Afghanistan extended for up to 120 additional days, keeping them in country until late May 2007.

Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the commander of Combined Forces Command in Afghanistan, said that he anticipated a Taliban offensive in the spring. He told reporters he expects the enemy to attack in the south and east, and that he is preparing to counter it.

The troop extension was approved by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and endorsed by the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. American troops remain the largest force among NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.


JOINT SYSTEM FOR DoD AND VA
In an effort to improve veterans’ health care, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced plans for a feasibility study for a common inpatient electronic health-record system to replace their separate systems, both of which are in need of upgrades.

Common needs and the potential benefits led the two departments to discuss the possibility of jointly implementing a common inpatient electronic system.

Both agencies have clinical and business process similarities and both regularly transfer millions of electronic records and data messages between each other.

Adopting a joint electronic system would allow the DoD and VA to seamlessly transfer active duty servicemembers to veteran status. DoD and VA health care providers will also be able to immediately access beneficiaries’ inpatient health care information. The new system will potentially save both departments money through joint development or acquisitions efforts.

Both agencies will examine their respective clinical processes and requirements, and assess the benefits and the effects on each department’s timelines and costs before making a final decision.


BLUM CONFIRMED AGAIN
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum as the chief of the National Guard Bureau for an additional two years. Gen. Blum has been serving in the position since April 2003.

As the chief of the Bureau, Blum has presided over a National Guard at war, helping to transform it from a strategic reserve to an operational force.

He oversaw the largest mobilization of the Guard since World War II. He also restructured the Guard to ensure at least half of every state’s Guard force is available to its governor in the event of catastrophic events.

During Hurricane Katrina, Blum directed the largest military response to a national disaster in American history, sending more than 50,000 Guardmembers from every state and territory to relieve the badly stricken Gulf states. Last year, he sent up to 6,000 troops to support the Customs and Border Patrol mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.


ADDITIONAL TROOPS TO BORDER
Texas Gov. Rick Perry sent an additional 600 Army and Air National Guard troops to the state’s 1,200-mile Mexican border as part of Operation Wrangler, an interagency law effort. Perry said the effort was to “rid our state of drug trafficking and human smuggling.”

The recent increase adds to the 1,700 Texas Army National Guard troops already on the border as part of Operation Jump Start, a federal effort to block illegal immigrants and reduce crime while the border patrol trains additional officers.

The Guardmembers will form 12 armed security platoons, each accompanied by a border patrol agent and a local police officer. They will man traffic crossovers along the Rio Grande River. Most of the soldiers are combat veterans who volunteered for the mission.

The Guardmembers patrol the border only on a support basis. If they spot illegal activity, they report it to the proper authorities. Although the soldiers are armed, they can only use their weapons when in imminent threat of danger. On January 3, soldiers of the Tennessee Army National Guard relocated from their observation post after spotting a group of armed men along the Arizona-Mexico border. No shots were fired and the border patrol was called in to confront the situation.


SDDC NOW REPORTS TO AMC
The Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), which used to report directly to the Department of the Army, is now a major subordinate command of U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), which is headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Va. It will, however, remain the Army service component command of the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).

SDDC turned over 34 of its 179 regulatory authorities to AMC for administrative purposes. The new alignment will help support AMC’s emerging capabilities while SDDC continues its responsibility for all end-to-end surface deployment and distribution, such as tracking cargo and containers, under the combatant command of USTRANSCOM.

The reorganization is part of a larger Army initiative that eliminates the term “Major Army Command” or MACOM. Several of these commands have been reorganized under what are now termed Army Commands (Forces Command, Training and Doctrine Command and Army Materiel Command).


BLUE TO GREEN MILESTONE
The Army’s “Blue to Green” program, which allows airmen, sailors and marines to transfer into the Army, recently reached a milestone when its 1,000th servicemember “joined” the Army.

With the Air Force and Navy downsizing, there are fewer opportunities for airmen, sailors and marines to continue in their career fields. The Army’s Blue to Green interservice transfer program, open to officers and enlisted servicemembers, affords an alternative to leaving military service.

The services are promoting Blue to Green as an option for anyone leaving the service and looking into other job alternatives. For the servicemembers, it offers a new career and the challenges associated with it. For the Army, it provides new soldiers who already have military experience.


VIDEOS WANTED
The Military Channel is seeking personal videos from servicemembers and veterans who are in, or have been in, a combat zone. The videos will be used as part of a new television series that features personal accounts of life on the frontlines.

Personal videos can be submitted online at www.mywardiary.com, or sent to MILITARY VIDEOS, Discovery Productions, 8045 Kennett Street, Silver Spring, MD 20910. For more information, e-mail mywardiary@discovery.com.


INSIGNIA AND MOTTO COMPETITION
The Army is looking for a shoulder sleeve and unit insignia and a motto for its new Maneuver Center of Excellence (MCOE) at Fort Benning, Ga. The insignia should represent both the infantry and armor schools, which will collocate and form the MCOE over the next five years. The motto must be in English and is limited to 26 characters (letters and spaces). The competition will end on March 31, 2007.

Designs should be drawn on paper or provided as a JPG or BMP electronic file and should be sent on diskette or CD-ROM via normal mail or as e-mail attachments. Current and retired military personnel and Department of the Army civilians are eligible to participate. All submissions must include a name, phone number, e-mail address and mailing address. The designer of the winning entry will receive a framed final patch. Top entries in each category will receive an MCOE coin and a certificate of recognition. Prizes will be awarded in fall 2008.

Submissions of no more than three megabytes should be e-mailed to MCOE_Insignia_Suggestions@knox.army.mil or mailed to ARMOR Magazine, ATT: ATZK-DAS-A (MCOE Patch), 201 6th Ave., Ste. 373, Building 1109A, Fort Knox, KY 40121-5721 or to Headquarters, U.S. Army Infantry Center, ATTN: ATSH-ATH, Building 4, Room 451, Fort Benning, GA 31905-5000.