Sons of Iraq
Over 14 months of combat and civil operations in the brigade area of operations resulted in improvement of the security situation, a period that coincided with the Iraq Surge and Sons of Iraq movement. Although the brigade had trained in conventional and direct action missions prior to deployment, the brigade conducted many traditionally unconventional operations, specifically the training of foreign internal defense forces and the support and utilization of irregular forces in combat and intelligence operations. The brigade also boasted the highest rate of re-enlistment of any brigade in the US Army during fiscal year 2007.