Retired General Visits Cavalry Troopers

By Staff Sgt. Sean Riley
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division Public Affairs

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment hosted a visit by retired Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff, at Patrol Base Assassin near the town of Narwahn on Aug. 8.

Keane visited the Troop A, 3-1 Cavalry, command post before proceeding to the four-corners area. The four-corners area is named for a main intersection between Jisr Diyala, Narwahn, Baghdad, and Forward Operating Base (FOB) Hammer. The intersection is surrounded on all sides by a bustling marketplace. Over the past month, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team has been building up checkpoints at each corner to improve security for the shops surrounding the intersection.

Keane visited the Iraqi national police responsible for the security of the commercial zone. He continued his tour by visiting several local shop owners to gain awareness of the area.

Upon completion of the tour, Keane went to FOB Hammer to meet with the brigade leadership. At Hammer he received briefings about ongoing operations and projects in the brigade’s area of operations.

According to Capt. Aaron Schwengler, of Bismarck, N.D., the brigade’s operations officer, among the topics discussed, Keane spent the majority of his time talking about Jayaish Al-Mahdi influence and Iraqi security forces capability in the brigade’s area of responsibility.

“General Keane wanted to understand what the standards were for the ISF (Iraqi security forces) and if they were being met,” Schwengler said.

The 3-1 Cavalry is assigned to the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division from Fort Benning, Ga. The 3rd HBCT has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom V since March, 2007.