AIR BASE – Task Force Wagram held its dissolution ceremony, chaired by French Brigadier General Jean-Marc Vigilant, French Senior National Representative, on Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, April 29.
Brigadier General Henderson, representing Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve, and Iraqi Major General Kassim, Commander of the Jazira Operational Command, attended the ceremony.
In his agenda, General Vigilant pointed out that since its engagement in 2016, TF Wagram integrated into the Coalition's fire support system and had been in every battle, from Mosul to Baghouz, to defeat the self-proclaimed ISIS caliphate in Iraq and Syria. He then praised the commitment of the French soldiers who participated in Wagram’s adventure.
"The 130 men and women of the Task Force present here, with whom all previous mandates must be associated, can be particularly proud,” General Vigilant said. “This magnificent collective record is as much that of the artillerymen as that of the logisticians who made it possible for the shells to be transported to the firing positions and for the Task Force to be supplied as close as possible to the fighting."
TF Wagram’s dissolution ceremony marked the end of the largest engagement of CAESAR artillery guns in external operations, with a record of more than 2,500 fire missions conducted. However, the action of the French artillerymen in Iraq is not over yet. It continues with the training and advisory missions carried out for the benefit of the Iraqis, particularly within Task Force Monsabert.