82nd heads back to Afghanistan

Staff photo by Marcus Castro
Maj. Gen. Mike Scaparrotti, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne Division, announces that his headquarters company will deploy to Afghanistan later in the spring.

From the Fayetteville Observer

By Henry Cuningham
Military editor

The 82nd Airborne Division headquarters has received orders to deploy to Afghanistan this spring, the Pentagon announced Monday.

“We’ve anticipated the announcement of this deployment, obviously,” said Maj. Gen. Mike Scaparrotti, commander of the division at Fort Bragg. “It was in the planning, and so we’ve been doing some very specific training.”

About 800 soldiers will deploy for about a year, division officials said.

The division headquarters will replace the 101st Airborne Division headquarters in Regional Command East in Bagram as part of a normal rotation of forces, 82nd officials said. The 101st is from Fort Campbell, Ky.

Scaparrotti will oversee a 23,000-person task force that includes U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, foreign troops, Department of Defense civilians, defense contractors, and federal employees from the Department of State and other governmental and nongovernmental agencies. The Pentagon also announced Monday that the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo., will deploy to Afghanistan.

“We’ve maintained a close relationship with the 101st throughout their rotation,” Scaparrotti said.

The 82nd turned over command of the headquarters to the 101st in April.

“This is a year later, and we are going back to replace them,” Scaparrotti said.

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