Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Reasons to dislike rotations (Part II): Turning it over to fatties from the 1st ID

Speaking of rotations, as we were yesterday, Maj. Christopher Rowe, who was a company commander with the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan in 2009-10, in a recent Leavenworth interview recalled the handoff to a 1st ID unit: "I think it was with 3rd Brigade, 1st ID, 1-26. When they came in, their heavy weapons company commander replaced me ...

Wikimedia
Wikimedia
Wikimedia

Speaking of rotations, as we were yesterday, Maj. Christopher Rowe, who was a company commander with the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan in 2009-10, in a recent Leavenworth interview recalled the handoff to a 1st ID unit:

Speaking of rotations, as we were yesterday, Maj. Christopher Rowe, who was a company commander with the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan in 2009-10, in a recent Leavenworth interview recalled the handoff to a 1st ID unit:

"I think it was with 3rd Brigade, 1st ID, 1-26. When they came in, their heavy weapons company commander replaced me there. That was kind of interesting too because that was getting to be the time of Wanat. They did not seem very well prepared at all. There were reports of guys from my other platoon that was attached, Chosen Company, guys getting up into the watch towers for night security, without night vision goggles (NVGs), without ammo in their weapons, falling asleep in the guard towers; it was scary. Okay. We had been in country and you go through the natural weight loss, hardening progression but they were showing up fat and just — how are you an Infantry guy? It was very visible. The majority of us did not want to handoff to them. We would have rather stayed there until another unit was ready, honestly."  

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.