5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd ID “Welcome Home” and Change of Command Ceremony
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Joint Base Lewis-McChord will formally welcome home the Soldiers of the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division during a Redeployment and Change of Command Ceremony on Thursday, July 22, at 10 a.m. on Watkins Field.
The 5th Stryker Brigade (also known as the “Strike and Destroy” brigade) was deployed from July 2009 to July 2010 to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
During the ceremony the brigade will uncase its colors, signifying the completion of its deployment and its return to Joint Base Lewis-McChord. Also during the ceremony, a Silver Star medal will be presented to one Soldier, and Wounded Warriors will be reunited with the brigade.
During the ceremony Col. Harry D. Tunnell, IV, will relinquish command of the brigade to Col. Barry F. Huggins. Tunnell has commanded the 5th Stryker Brigade since its activation at Joint Base Lewis-McChord on May 4, 2007. Tunnell’s follow-on assignment is with the U.S. Army Accessions Command at Fort Knox, Ky.
Huggins is very familiar with the Stryker Brigades at JBLM. He was the 3rd Stryker Brigade executive officer when the unit deployed to Iraq from Nov. 2003 to Sept. 2004, and he commanded 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade when the unit again deployed to Iraq from June 2006 to Sept. 2007. Huggins’ returns to JBLM from the National Defense University.
5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, is the seventh Stryker Brigade in the U.S. Army, and it is the fourth Stryker Brigade Combat Team to be formed, equipped and trained at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. U.S. Army Stryker Brigades have been deploying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since November 2003. In July 2009, 5th Stryker Brigade was the first of the Army’s Stryker Brigades to deploy to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
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