<\/p>\n
Fort Stewart, GA –<\/strong> During a visit today with Oregon “Oregon soldiers and their Oregon commanders have trained “I was very impressed by the readiness and skills of the The Department of Defense had originally ordered the nearly Wyden and Merkley flew to Fort Stewart in Georgia today to Fort Stewart, GA – During a visit today with Oregon National Guard troops bound for Iraq next month, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced that the Department of Defense has reversed an earlier order and agreed to keep the Oregon soldiers under their Oregon commanders. “Oregon soldiers and their Oregon commanders have trained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[38,55],"class_list":["post-7112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-foreign-policy-and-national-security","tag-honoring-our-veterans"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nNational Guard troops bound for Iraq next month, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and
\nJeff Merkley announced that the Department of Defense has reversed an earlier
\norder and agreed to keep the Oregon soldiers under their Oregon commanders.<\/p>\n
\ntogether and they deserve to serve together,” Wyden said today. “To do
\nanything else would have diminished their cohesiveness, undermined their
\neffectiveness and dampened morale. I give great credit to Secretary Gates and
\nto the Department of Defense for recognizing that this is a cohesive unit that
\nhas come to rely and trust in each other.”<\/p>\n\n
\nOregon soldiers we visited today. They are well-prepared for their
\nmission ahead, but it is gratifying to know that they will continue to serve
\nunder their Oregon commanders,” said Merkley. “Strong unit cohesion
\nand camaraderie is critical to their success and the Department of Defense made
\nthe right decision to keep the Oregon soldiers reporting to the officers they
\nhave trained under and served with.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n3,000 members of the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Brigade to be
\nbroken up into more than 20 smaller units and attached to other active U.S.
\nArmy Brigades under different commanders. Wyden wrote a letter to Secretary of
\nDefense Robert Gates last September protesting the order and arguing the
\nbenefits of keeping the 41st under their Oregon commanders<\/p>\n
\nvisit with troops and commanders of the 41st Brigade and observe
\ntraining exercises. The 41st Brigade has been in Georgia for a
\nmonth. Deployment to Iraq is scheduled for early July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"