FOB Hammer Offers Up a Slice of Home

Soldiers and civilians applaud the official opening of a pizza concession on Forward Operating Base Hammer, March 22. Col. Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr., from Prince George’s County, Md., commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, officiated the event.

Soldiers and civilians applaud the official opening of a pizza concession on Forward Operating Base Hammer, March 22. Col. Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr., from Prince George’s County, Md., commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, officiated the event.

By Staff Sgt. Sean Riley
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Divison

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER, Iraq – Soldiers and civilians flocked around the newest addition to Forward Operating Base Hammer as a pizza concession stand opened at the base’s town square, March 22.

During a short ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate the official opening of the pizza stand, Col. Wayne W. Grigsby, Jr., from Prince George’s County, Md., commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, offered his take on the service the unassuming pizza stand provides.

“This is a combat multiplier,” Grigsby said. “Soldiers can come to Hammer off of a mission, or in from one of our many outposts. They can go to the gym, they can go the coffee house and they can go to the shopette. They can recharge their batteries here.”

Grigsby said the shops, and the new addition of the pizza concession, bring a sense of normalcy to the deployment.

“Now, Soldiers can get a slice of America right here,” he said.

The 3rd BCT, 3rd Infantry Division, from Fort Benning, Ga., has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March 2007.