Our association proudly supports the mission of our deployed troops in their fight against world terrorism. To that end, we have put together this set of pages, consisting of news about the deployed elements of our division, a message board for posting messages of support, and links to other sources for these purposes.

War On Terror: Our Honored Dead
Our division has lost soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have created a memorial page in remembrance of them.
Kaziah Hancock, an artist based in Utah, has created Project Compassion, a remarkable undertaking which provides the families of fallen soldiers with an oil painting of their soldier, at no charge. She has been joined by other artists, and together they have given over 500 paintings to the families. Their gallery contains portraits of several Tropic Lightning soldiers.

"Spartan Brigade"
The 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) of the 25th Infantry Division is based at Fort Richardson, Alaska. From October 2006 to December 2007 they conducted operations in Iraq and were involved in some of the most difficult combat of the war. Visit their site, Spartanheroes.org to learn more about the "Spartan Brigade," the fallen troopers who have lost their lives in the pursuit of freedom and the Memorial Project underway to honor their sacrifice and preserve their memory.

Recent News Stories

PHOTOS: Patrolling Through Taji
NewsBlaze - Folsom, CA, January 20, 2008
This is a series of photos by Spc. Aaron L. Rosencrans of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs office, showing elements of the 2nd Brigade patrolling Taji, Iraq and interacting with the citizens.

Bittersweet return: The 4th Brigade Airborne
Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage, AK, December 20, 2007
Sgt. Maj. David Turnbull began roll call, with the terse, barked responses from the paratroopers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division echoing throughout Sullivan Arena. Then the responses stopped. The darkened arena went silent as 53 names were called off unanswered. Those soldiers never made it back from Iraq.
Ceremony Photos.
Photos taken during the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division redeployment ceremony at the Sullivan Arena on Wednesday, December 19, 2007.

Stryker Soldier Awarded Distinguished Service Cross
United States Army (press release), December 13, 2007
A 1st Stryker Brigade Soldier who saved the life of his platoon leader was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross Dec. 12 at Fort Wainwright for his actions during an ambush in Iraq. Sgt. Gregory Williams was a squad leader in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1/5th Infantry, 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division. "When I want to talk about the quality of the force, I talk about Sgt. Williams," said Gen. Casey. "(Soldiers like Sgt. Williams) are the heart and soul of the Army."

Schofield ceremony honors final sacrifice of 41 soldiers
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, December 13, 2007
Several hundred soldiers, family members and friends gathered at Schofield Barracks' main chapel yesterday to remember and honor 25th Infantry Division members who died during the latest deployment to Iraq.

Paratroopers return from Iraq
KTUU Television - Anchorage, AK, November 5, 2007
Members of Fort Richardson's airborne unit are headed home from Iraq. So far, 100 members of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division (Airborne) have arrived back in Alaska, landing at Elmendorf Air Force Base at 2:30 a.m. today. The troops constitute the advance party for the 3,500-member brigade.

A month's many happy returns
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, October 5, 2007
More than 7,000 isle soldiers will return in the next four weeks

Contingent of soldiers returns to Hawaii
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, September 13, 2007
The first 260 soldiers of Hawaii's 25th Combat Aviation Brigade returned to Wheeler Army Airfield yesterday from Iraq. The rest of the brigade's 2,400 soldiers are scheduled to return next month.

Strykers loaded onto ships for California
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, August 2, 2007
Some 4,000 25th Infantry Division soldiers and 310 of the Army's latest combat vehicle -- the 19-ton, eight-wheeled Stryker -- will leave for Southern California and then later to Iraq and are not expected back in the islands for at least 18 months.

Salute to Service: Specialist Timothy Harlan
WKYC-TV - Cleveland, OH, July 25, 2007
Each week, Channel 3 News Today gives a special Salute to Service to military personnel currently stationed overseas. In this video, Cleveland reporters talked to Specialist Timothy Harlan of Cleveland. Specialist Harlan was deployed to Iraq last October and spoke live from Froward Operating Base Kalsu. He is serving with our Brigade Special Troops Battalion (Airborne), 4th Bde Combat Team.

Army tours extended
Chicago Tribune - Chicago, IL, April 12, 2007
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that all active-duty Army soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan will now serve 15-month tours, three months longer than the standard deployment.

Judge allows Stryker training to resume
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, December 30, 2006
A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Army can resume Stryker training at Schofield Barracks and at Kahuku Training Area, citing a need to prepare soldiers for their deployment to Iraq next year.

Tidings from Tikrit
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, December 24, 2006
Far from home for the holidays, Schofield soldiers in Iraq express their gratitude for family, colleagues, the public's support -- and just being alive.

Soldier: 'I'd go back to Iraq in a second'
Muskegon Chronicle - Muskegon, MI, December 11, 2006
Life can change in an instant. And for Spring Lake Township resident Tony Griffin, that instant came Sept. 23 as four trucks from the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division, Unit 2-27, were patrolling the outskirts of the city of Rayat in northeastern Iraq.

The battle for hearts and intel in Kirkuk
Stars and Stripes - Mideast edition, October 4, 2006
On the third floor of a ramshackle housing complex in northeastern Kirkuk where scores of insurgents are rumored to live, 1st Lt. Michael McCave and two members of his squad gathered around a dented metal door Sunday and arranged themselves to go in.It was the kind of door soldiers in Company B, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division might otherwise want to kick down, but this time McCave just knocked.

Thousands of Fort Rich soldiers headed to Iraq
Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage, AK, September 27, 2006
Thousands of soldiers from Fort Richardson will leave Anchorage in coming days to serve for a year in Iraq in one of the largest Army deployments Alaska has seen in decades. The 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division will be honored in a departure ceremony this afternoon at Fort Rich. This will be the first combat deployment for the 4-25th.

New Brigade Takes Control of Air Operations
US Department of Defense (press release) - Washington,DC, August 31, 2006
The 25th Combat Aviation Brigade from Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, relieves the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade which has served at Contingency Operating Base Speicher since August 2005.

Iraq-bound mostly teens
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, August 5, 2006
The 291 soldiers the 2nd Battalion of the 27th Infantry Regiment begin a year in northern Iraq after a month training in the Mojave Desert.

7,000 from Schofield are to be sent to Iraq
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, July 8, 2006
The deployment will take place over five weeks and last a year.

Isle soldiers learn from 'fatal' errors
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu, HI, April 23, 2006
25th Infantry Division soldiers, who will be deployed to Iraq beginning in July, are training in this Mojave Desert location that the Army has set up to replicate a wartime deployment in Iraq -- the heat, the pressure, the dust, the sand and even the fatigue.

War without end: a four-part series. Joan Ryan of the San Francisco Chronicle tells the story of two wounded 1/5th "Bobcats", Sgt. Michael Buyas and Sgt. Brent Bretz, both of Charlie Co. as they work through physical therapy, learn to use their prosthetic legs, and connect again with their families and their regiment. A gallery of photos and audio interviews related to the text are included with each article. Sgt. Michael Buyas can be contacted by email; Sgt. Brent Bretz has a website with guestbook, journal and photos.
Part 4:Sgts. Michael Buyas and Brent Bretz fight a second war to rebuild their broken bodies and reconnect with their families
San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco,CA, March 29, 2006
The final story in the series reunites Sgt. Michael Buyas and Sgt. Brent Bretz with their buddies in C Company, 1/5th "Bobcats" at their homecoming ball at Fort Lewis.
Part 3:For double amputee Sgt. Brent Bretz, the medical complications of his injuries are only part of the challenge of becoming whole again
San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco,CA, March 28, 2006
The third story in the series follows Sgt. Brent Bretz, C Company, 1/5th "Bobcats", as he transfers to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio to be closer to his family in Arizona.
Part 2:For severely wounded soldiers like Sgt. Michael Buyas, it's a long battle back to what passes for 'normal' life
San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco,CA, March 27, 2006
This second of a four articles continues the story of Sgt. Michael Buyas, C Company, 1/5th "Bobcats", as he returns home to Chelan County, Washington and later resumes physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
Part 1:Damaged soldiers start their agonizing recoveries
San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco,CA, March 26, 2006
Sgt. Michael Buyas and Sgt. Brent Bretz, both of Charlie Co., 1/5th "Bobcats", endure the challenges of physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Schofield's new training center uses computer simulations to prepare soldiers for battle
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu,HI, February 19, 2006
It was almost deja vu when a 25th Infantry Division soldier got behind the wheel of his Humvee. "He said that's the same intersection in Iraq where they were ambushed," said Tom Earley, a trainer at Schofield Barracks. But this time, the soldier from the aviation brigade wasn't sitting in the desert of Iraq, but in an air-conditioned trailer on an concrete pad next to the 25th Division's new $26 million Battle Command Training Center.

Judge bans live-fire training at Makua
Honolulu Star-Bulletin - Honolulu,HI, February 3, 2006
The Army plans to continue using Makua Valley as a training ground for the 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers headed for Iraq this summer, despite an adverse ruling by a federal judge. But instead of firing live ammunition, they will be shooting blanks.

On Iraq's Front Lines, Digital Memorials For Fallen Friends
Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2006
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips. They gave him shots of Sgt. Solorio sporting a newly shaved head and leaning against a burned-out truck on an Iraqi roadside. They found footage of Sgt. Solorio reaching for his pistol, dropping it in the mud and laughing. Spc. Bass strung all the images together into a video and added a soundtrack, "The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC" by punk band the Ataris. Then he played it at a memorial service in Iraq.

Other Division News Sources

• Newspapers:
  Honolulu Advertiser Dispatches Has a series of special reports, stories filed by a staff writer and photographer embedded with the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Light) in Iraq. Sections within that area of their site include:
  Postcards from the Field. These are quick notes from soldiers to their families, and include a photo.
  Share your aloha (messages). As with our message board, these messages from family, friends and supporters of the troops are reviewed before posting.
  Audio clips, photos, and miscellaneous "Notebook" reports round out the main content of this rich site.

  Honolulu Star Bulletin: a Soldier's Story This is a diary of sorts, a weekly set of articles written by 1SGT Robert Jennings of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division (Light). It runs in the Star Bulletin each Sunday.
  1SGT Jennings' stories are also carried on the A Company (Gators) page. In addition, that page has a photo gallery of A/1-21 (Gators) pre-deployment, in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

  Hawaii Army Week You will find numerous stories from the division's public affairs reporters in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as news about the Army in general.

  US Army, Pacific Has two publications of interest: Freedom Watch (Afghanistan) and The Coalition Scimitar (Iraq). Both publications are in Adobe Acrobat format.

• Association Chapters:
  Our 5th Infantry Chapter has two sections of their site devoted to the Bobcats in Iraq and Bobcats in Afghanistan.

  Hounds in Iraq Instructions on how to address mail to Wolfhound troops in Iraq, plus a couple of deployment news links.

  Hounds in Afghanistan Instructions on how to address mail to Wolfhound troops in Afghanistan, plus a couple of deployment news links and an update from the 2-27th XO.

• Other Resources:
  Remembering the Fallen of the 3/509th Infantry The father of a soldier in this unit created this memorial page to honor the memory of their fallen.

  Stryker Brigade News: 1/25 Brigade News Archive This excellent site has compilations of news stories about the 1st Brigade, photos, links and more.

  Golden Dragons in Iraq Frank Lopinto, whose son, SPC Stephen Lopinto, is a B Co., 1-14th Infantry medic, has put together a 'blog' (web log) that compiles stories, photos and commentary from visitors to his site.

  Deuce Four Recon Platoon The recon platoon of our deployed 1-24th Infantry have a "blog" site rich with photos and messages to and from family and friends.

  Michael Yon : Online Magazine Michael Yon is a writer embedded with the Deuce Four. His blog is very interesting reading. Among the topics he has covered are the swearing-in ceremony for new U.S. citizens among the Deuce Four, and the uncovering of a huge cache of terrorist weaponry in Mosul ("The Devil's Foyer").

• Deployment Photos
  The division site has a page of photos of our deployed troops, plus some pre-deployment photos.

• Any Soldier Inc.
  Any Soldier Inc. started as a family effort to help a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade who deployed to Iraq in 2003. Their mission has since expanded to support other military units. They provide soldier contacts in specified units, including numerous 25th Infantry Division units in Iraq and Afghanistan, on the Where to Send page. To locate contacts in a particular unit, select Parent Unit in the left navigation section, then scroll down to the 25th Infantry Division Section. You will see contacts from the 2-5th Infantry, 125th Signal Bn., 2-35th Infantry, and others. The contacts in the deployed units list what they need and want. The soldiers are volunteers for this effort. They see the "ATTN: Any Soldier" line and put your letters and packages into the hands of soldiers who don't get much or any mail. Because this list changes all the time due to unit movements, soldier transfers, or even soldier casualties, DO NOT send any letter or package to a soldier's address unless you check the Any Soldier web site the same day you mail your packages.

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Last modified 3-5-08