Sons of Iraq
After ten-days of training in Kuwait in September 2009, units continued movement north into Iraq. On 28 September 2009, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division transferred authority of western Baghdad to 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (4/2 SBCT). Raider soldiers, conducting operations since mid-September, completed familiarization of their new operational environment and Iraqi partners. 4th Brigade's Task Force Viking (consisting of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment reinforced by "F" Company, 52nd Infantry Regiment) partnered with the 6th and 9th Iraqi Army Divisions, the 6th Brigade, 2nd Federal Police Division, local Iraqi Police, and the Sons of Iraq in an area often considered Iraq's "Center of Gravity". TF Viking's AO stretched from the Baghdad International Airport (FOB Victory/Liberty) in the west to the Tigris River in the east (excluding "The Green Zone"), and from Route Irish in the south to the merging of routes Senators and Vernon into Route 1 just outside the town of Taji. This area, in-and-around the contentious Abu Ghraib Qada – previously the "home" of the insurgency – contained more than 2.5 million people (comparable to the city of Baltimore), and contained 18 important Iraqi government buildings (including the Iraqi Parliament) as well as 23 international embassies (to include that of the United States).