Service Members Redeploy to the U.S.

November 1, 2011, Iraq

Staff Sgt. Luis Bermudez, who was deployed with the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Joint Base Balad, Iraq, carries his bags through customs at the Al Asad Air Base Passenger Terminal in Iraq prior to departing for the U.S., Nov. 1. Bermudez and his fellow service members were deployed in support of Operation New Dawn and helped create a more stable, sovereign, and self-reliant Iraq. The U.S. military is on track to honor its commitment to the U.S.-Iraq Security Agreement and redeploy the remaining 33,000 troops by December 31, 2011. At the height of the surge in 2007, there were 165,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. This drawdown is one of the largest military operations since World War II.

 

Image courtesy of U.S. Air Forces Central, Baghdad Media Outreach Team, photo by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo