Army Unit’s Deployment Accelerated

American Forces Press Service ^

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2007 – The 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters, based in Fort Stewart, Ga., will deploy to Iraq sooner than originally scheduled, DoD officials announced today.

The unit was scheduled to begin its deployment in June, but will now begin its deployment in March. The headquarters was identified for deployment on Nov. 17.

The headquarters will provide command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities in support of Baghdad security operations, Army Lt. Col. Mark Ballesteros, a DoD spokesman, said.

This three-month acceleration affects about 1,000 servicemembers.

“Force levels in Iraq continue to be conditions-based and are determined upon the recommendations of military commanders in Iraq and in consultation with the Iraqi government,” Ballesteros said.

In January 2005, the 3rd Infantry Division became the first Army division to serve a second tour in Iraq. The division headquarters took control of Multinational Division Baghdad, with headquarters at Camp Liberty and with responsibility for the greater Baghdad area. The division redeployed to Fort Stewart and Fort Benning in January 2006.

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

[Jet Jaguar]

Better get them there before Murtha can defund them.

[OCCASparky]

Personally, I'd love to know the standards which Murthaf***er has established. Are they so impossibly high no unit could meet them?

This coming from a guy who served in the military with McNamara's 100,000. Yeah, he should know about quality and readiness...[/sarc]

[68skylark]

This is rough on these troops and rougher on their families. It's what soldiers sign up for. But still -- we owe them a real debt of gratitude.