Salman Pak, Iraq
THE 3RD INFANTRY Division (known as the “Marne” Division) has a long, storied history as a mechanized unit. For years they have brought the big guns of tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, as well as M-113 Armored Personnel Carriers and dismounted infantry patrols, to the fight wherever they may be needed.
The third of the five ‘surge’ Brigades, the area of operations (AO) covered by the Marne Division’s 3rd Brigade–a region just southeast of Baghdad–is made up of a population that is majority Shia but predominantly Sunni to the east along the Tigris River, and includes the site of the Iraqi nuclear reactor that was destroyed by the Israelis in 1981, as well as Highway 8, which runs directly to Iran, and the former terrorist training center (and resort town) of Salman Pak.
