Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Next deployments include 22,000 troops

About 22,000 troops will deploy in upcoming war-zone rotations, the Pentagon announced this week.

The Pentagon said Wednesday that about 1,700 soldiers from the New York National Guard’s 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will deploy to Afghanistan to train the country’s National Security Forces.

The soldiers will begin deploying at the end of the year, but most will deploy in mid-2008.

Force levels in Afghanistan continue to be based on conditions in theater, and are determined based on recommendations by commanders on the ground and in consultation with the Afghan government, a Defense Department announcement said.

The announcement of the Afghanistan rotation came one day after the Pentagon identified the Army and Marine Corps units tapped to go to Iraq beginning late this year. Some 20,000 troops will deploy in that rotation. The units cited for that rotation include an Army brigade out of Fort Hood, Texas, and three Marine Corps elements out of Camp Pendleton, Calif:

• 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division.

• I Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters.

• Regimental Combat Team 1.

• Regimental Combat Team 5.

A Defense Department press release said the deployments were part of a scheduled rotation to replace units in Iraq and not part of the current surge of forces into the combat zone. The Army currently has 18 brigade combat teams in Iraq, five of which are part of a surge effort to quell violence in and around Baghdad.

The announcement follows one on May 8 in which Defense Department and Army officials said 10 BCTs — or about 35,000 soldiers — will deploy between August and December to Iraq. Those units will replace 10 BCTs that are now in theater.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced in April that Army units in the Central Command area of responsibility will now serve 15 months in theater and spend no less than 12 months at home.

There are two active Army brigade combat teams currently in Afghanistan.