Planned drawdown may delay Hood deployment

[CommunityEditor]

The 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team may get to delay its next deployment if an Army plan to shuffle areas of responsibility in Iraq as part of an initial drawdown is approved.

The 1st BCT’s 4,000 soldiers, headquartered at Fort Hood, Texas, have deployment orders for a 15-month rotation to Iraq, and are scheduled to ship out beginning next month.

The brigade was slated to replace the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd BCT in Diyala province, a turbulent area north of Baghdad. But an Army spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the 3rd BCT, which is redeploying to Fort Hood in December after 15 months in theater, will not be replaced. Instead, soldiers from another unspecified brigade working in neighboring Salahuddin province will expand their area of operations into Diyala province.

The spokesman also confirmed the possible deployment delay for 1st BCT, 4th Infantry, but could not say how long that delay might be.

The decision not to replace 3rd BCT, 1st Cavalry Division, signals the beginning of a downsizing in the surge of five additional brigades that began pouring into Iraq in the spring.

The troop strength in Iraq is around 160,000, of which about 130,000 are soldiers.

Elements of the 1st Cavalry Division began redeploying this week, with more than 300 soldiers from the 15th Sustainment Brigade and the division band. The division’s 1st and 2nd BCTs will begin redeploying in December and the 4th BCT, which is headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas, will start returning next month along with the Combat Aviation Brigade.


Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...ation_071017w/