The entire 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team has arrived in Iraq after two weeks of intense training in the Kuwait desert.

A company of 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment soldiers was the first to cross into Iraq last week. They've hooked up with the 10th Mountain Division at its tactical operations center near the Baghdad airport.

According to Maj. Joe Sowers, public affairs officer, the rest of the Sledgehammer brigade is now based at the Butler Range Complex, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) east of Baghdad, near the 4,000-year-old walled city of Besmiya.

"We are calling it Forward Operating Base Hammer," said Sowers, adding that the name has not yet been approved by the 3rd Infantry Division. "But that is what we will propose."

The brigade is not yet officially in charge of the sector. "Our first priority has been establishing security, getting everything into our new FOB and linking up with our counterpart unit," Sowers said.

The job of turning FOB Hammer into a livable home for 3,800 soldiers has been given to Lt. Col. Kelly Lawler, commander of the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion.

The 1st Armored Division built the multi-purpose range complex in the fall of 2003 at an area the Iraqis call Kirzah. It is so large that that soldiers are able to hone their gunnery skills in everything from small arms to tanks.

The return of the brigade to Iraq marks the third time the Fort Benning-based unit has been deployed to that country since the outbreak of hostilities four years ago. In 2005, the majority of the brigade soldiers were assigned to FOB Warhorse, a converted airport near the town of Baqouba. In 2003, the brigade was one of the first to enter Baghdad when U.S. troops and their allies fought their way into the country.