Major General Gregory Anderson, the commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division, has made more than his fair share of deployments to Iraq, including one with the 10th Mountain.

“I’ve been there in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009,” Maj. Gen. Anderson said. “I was there in 2018 as the assistant division commander for General Piatt when he took the division headquarters forward to Iraq.”

And now, as Anderson prepares for yet another deployment, this time to Europe, he cannot help but reflect on the past 20 years the 10th Mountain of Fort Drum has spent in Iraq.

What You Need To Know

  • Monday marks the 20th anniversary of the U.S.' war in Iraq

  • It’s a conflict that heavily involved the soldiers of Fort Drum

  • The 10th Mountain Division is currently preparing for deployment to Europe

“We have a lot of history there. We have a lot of deployments. This division [has] given a lot to those campaigns against al Qaeda and against ISIS in a very troubled region of the world,” Maj. Gen. Anderson said.

The most deployed division in the U.S. Army earned that moniker starting in July 2004. The division averaged at least one unit in Iraq for the entirety of the campaign until the main 2011 drawdown.

“This division availed itself and distinguished itself many times in its 20 years,” Major General Anderson said. “We're proud to have played our role.”

President George W. Bush framed it as a mission to free the Iraqi people, end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism and root out weapons of mass destruction. The U.S.-led war deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for nearly a quarter of a century.

Two years later, the CIA’s chief weapons inspector reported that no stockpiles of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons were ever found. The last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011, turning responsibility for security over to the Iraqi army and police.

It’s the Americans who chose to wear the uniform that Anderson says he holds closest. And as the division heads to Europe, it's an uncertain future, but one he says his soldiers will be prepared for no matter when, no matter where.

Taking Afghanistan deployments into account, the 10th Mountain has deployed united more than 20 times since 2004.