FORT DRUM — It's another first for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. Seven units from the brigade were awarded the first ever Combat Action Streamer in a ceremony Wednesday morning.

The streamer, a companion to the new Combat Action Badge, is new to the Army and is given to units that typically would not experience direct combat during a deployment — like a supply unit or a logistics unit that would deal with construction equipment. Those units had to have 65 percent of the soldiers receive the Combat Action Badge in order to receive the streamer.

"These soldiers were serving duties that in the past were further from the front," said Col. David M. Miller, the commander of 2nd BCT. "But this isn't a linear fight; this is a 360-degree fight. And the new counterinsurgency model for the surge was written to replicate what these soldiers pioneered. They were getting forward and amongst the population, which showed them what was happening but also exposed them more."

The units that received the streamer were Alpha, Bravo and Charlie Troops, from the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry; Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Bravo and Gulf Batteries from the 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, and Alpha Company, 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion.

"I was told that these are the first of this kind in our Army," said Col. Kevin W. Mangum, the division rear commander. "It is certainly fitting that the most deployed brigade in the most deployed division gets them first."

The 2nd BCT served a 15-month tour in South Baghdad, in the area famously referred to as the "triangle of death." During its tour, which lasted from August 2006 to November, it lost 54 soldiers. The same region has experienced only one fatality since November.

"It's good to see we got some recognition for what we did," said Spc. Phillip L. Martinez of the 1st Squadron, 89th Cavalry. He was a scout during his tour and spent his time on reconnaissance missions and patrols.

"In the beginning," he said, "we would find roadside bombs every day, but as the deployment went on the engagement level went down."