Deployment information

From MNF-I, the Associated Press and DoD. It's a little long but it may add some clarity to the Joe rumors out there:

Upcoming U.S. Iraq, Afghanistan Rotations Announced

Tuesday, 20 May 2008

By Donna Miles American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON — The Defense Department today announced force rotations for Iraq and Afghanistan, including upcoming active-duty deployments later this year and alerts to Army National Guard units to deploy in spring 2009 and 2010. About 25,000 active-duty troops assigned to a division headquarters and seven brigade combat teams will begin to deploy to Iraq this fall, and continue through the year’s end, Bryan Whitman, deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, announced today. In addition, four Army National Guard brigades have been alerted of an upcoming deployment to Iraq, he said. About 14,000 affected soldiers are slated to begin deploying in spring 2009 to provide base defense and route security in Iraq and Kuwait. In other news, the Vermont Army National Guard’s 86th Brigade Combat Team received an alert that it will deploy to Afghanistan in the spring of 2010 to support Afghan national security forces training. All identified units will replace redeploying units, with no change in force strength, Whitman said. He emphasized, however, that longer-range deployment forecasts could change, based on conditions on the ground and commanders’ recommendations. The 86th BCT’s alert, issued two years before its anticipated deployment date, represents the model the Defense Department would like to reach to give National Guard units maximum notice of upcoming deployments, Whitman said. “This is where the department is trying to get to with respect to predictability and early alert,” he said. “This unit will be replacing a unit … that has not yet deployed,” he said. The 86th BCT will replace the Georgia Army National Guard’s 48th BCT, scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in summer 2009. The longer lead time will give National Guard soldiers more time to prepare for their deployment. “They can start their training now, knowing that they are going to be training the Afghan national security forces, knowing that they will be doing it in Afghanistan and not Iraq or somewhere else,” Whitman said. “And being able to plan for a 12-month mobilization two years out from now is something pretty significant about where the department is now,” compared to five or even two years ago, he added. More notice also gives families more planning time and employers more flexibility in preparing for their employee’s absence, Whitman said. Active-duty units receiving deployment orders to Iraq based on today’s announcement include: - 25th Infantry Division: Headquarters and 3rd Brigade, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii; and 1st Brigade, Fort Wainwright, Alaska; - 4th Infantry Division: 2nd Brigade, Fort Carson, Colo.; - 1st Infantry Division: 2nd Brigade, Fort Riley, Kan.; - 82nd Airborne Division: 3rd Brigade, Fort Bragg, N.C.; - 1st Cavalry Division: 3rd Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas; and - 172nd Infantry Brigade, Schweinfurt, Germany. National Guard units are receiving alert orders now to allow maximum time to prepare for next year’s deployments and to give greater predictability to families and employers, officials said. Units alerted of upcoming deployments to Iraq and Kuwait are: - Texas National Guard: 72nd Brigade Combat Team; - Pennsylvania National Guard: 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division; - Louisiana National Guard: 256th Brigade Combat Team; and - Tennessee National Guard: 278th Brigade Combat Team.

From the Associated Press:

7/24/08

WASHINGTON - Top Pentagon leaders are expected to recommend soon that Defense Secretary Robert Gates order hundreds of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan over the next month or so, according to a senior military official.

The units are likely to be small and could include engineers, ordnance disposal troops and other support forces needed to shore up fighting needs and the training of Afghan forces. Officials have not ruled out identifying a larger, brigade-sized unit before the end of the year that could either be shifted to Afghanistan from a planned deployment to Iraq or moved from some other location. U.S. commanders in Afghanistan have been asking for three combat brigades, or roughly 10,000 more troops, to help quash rising violence there.

The senior official said the recommendations have not yet been approved by Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or delivered to Gates. The Joint Chiefs and military commanders are reviewing a number of options.

Officials have said that if improved security conditions in Iraq hold, they hope to be able to devote more troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban is resurgent.

On Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said that any sizable increase in troop levels in Afghanistan may not come until the new administration takes over next year.

Any decision to shift large units such as combat brigades into Afghanistan after they've been preparing to go to Iraq later this year would take additional training and time, Morrell said.

"You can't snap your fingers and make this happen, unfortunately," he said. He added later that the Pentagon is not kicking any decisions down the road to the next White House. Rather, he said, decisions made now may require months to execute.

From DoD 7/1/08

The units - which include about 33,000 troops - would replace forces already in Iraq, and allow the U.S. to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through 2009 if needed.

The units are:

- 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas

- 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas

- 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.

- 56th Stryker Brigade, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania National Guard

- 6th Regimental Combat Team, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

- 8th Regimental Combat Team, Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The deployment decisions could change depending on whether Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, decides in the fall to further reduce troop levels in Iraq.

If he decides that fewer brigades will be needed in Iraq during the next year, there is the chance that units could simply be directed to the war in Afghanistan instead. Military leaders have said they want to send more troops to Afghanistan because of the increase in violence there.