El Paso native Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard to be replaced as leader of US forces in Iraq this month

Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, who has led the Joint Operations Center in Baghdad since late June, will be replaced in late October Department of Defense officials announced recently.

Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk, 1st Infantry Division Commander out of Fort Riley, Kansas, will replace Pittard.

Pittard’s next assignment has not been announced.

About 200 of the 1st ID soldiers will join Funk in going to Iraq and another 300 will be elsewhere in the Central Command area of responsibility, according to the Army.

The Big Red One soldiers from Fort Riley will replace service members who have been in Iraq since June.

There are a total of about 1,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq in a variety of capacities.

Of the 1st ID soldiers deploying to Iraq, 138 will go to Bagdad and another 68 will serve in Erbil, near where Peshmerga (Kurdish) troops are pushing back forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known as ISIL, from the borders of Kurdistan.

In Baghdad, 1st ID soldiers will staff the Joint Operations Center and provide command and control of U.S. troops in the country, who are advising and assisting Iraqi security forces.

The division headquarters should not be confused with an additional six Advise and Assist Teams from elsewhere that will embed with various Iraqi headquarters, Kirby said.

Division soldiers will also conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance flights, according to 1st ID leaders. They said this will “increase the United States’ capacity to target ISIL and coordinate the activities of the U.S. military across Iraq.”

The 1st ID headquarters and headquarters battalion last deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, as Task Force Defender, Regional Command East. The headquarters returned to Fort Riley in March 2013.

Pittard, who is deputy commanding general of operations for U.S. Army Central Command, has not been available for interviews since beginning his new command in June but past pieces on him give a glimpse into his leadership style and how he might be approaching the Iraq mission.

Pittard spoke about leadership and the importance of coalitions during a speech to Middle East students in Dec. 2013.

Pittard, a native of El Paso and graduate of Eastwood High School, was commanding general of Fort Bliss starting in 2010 and 1 st Armored Division in May starting in 2011. He relinquished both positions in May 2013.

He then became the deputy commander for the Third U.S. Army in Kuwait, where his duties included overseeing the American military operation in Jordan.

Pittard and President Barack Obama have met on at least a couple of occasions when the president visited Fort Bliss in 2010 and 2012. Obama visited the post in Aug. 2010, the same day he announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq.

Army.mil contributed to this report.