Major General Gary Volesky provided an update live from Baghdad Thursday on Fort Campbell’s 101st Airborne Division’s deployment in Iraq.
Besides talk of turkey season back home, the webcast was an opportunity for the 101st Airborne's leaders to detail their nearly month-long deployment in the fight against ISIS. Volesky said their mission is different from past Iraq deployments, and even different from their immediate predecessor, the 82nd Airborne Division. He says the 82nd was focused on retaking the Iraqi city of Ramadi, but the 101st is mainly conducting lethal airstrikes and training.
We clearly see the Iraqis have the initiative in the fight against #Daesh
— Gary Volesky (@GVolesky) March 31, 2016
“Doing some equipping of the Iraqi brigades that are really tagged to go to Mosul and seize Mosul, which is really ISIL’s crown jewel in Iraq,” Volesky said.
Volesky said the 101st is also advising Iraqi forces in a "lead from behind" manner.
“That’s really focused on planning and enabling them to go through a process of synchronizing their operations - talking about sustainment, finding out what their issues are and really helping them work through their own systems to get their issues resolved," Volesky said.
Volesky said he expects to sit down for at least two more webcasts during the division's nine-month deployment. The tour in Iraq comes on the heels of their work in Liberia last year to curb that country’s Ebola outbreak.
