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Planned drawdown may delay some rotations

An Army plan to reshuffle areas of responsibility in Iraq as part of an initial drawdown could have a ripple effect on the planned deployment schedules of other brigades.

The 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team is scheduled to begin deploying next month to Iraq for a 15-month rotation, and is 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 re-deploying to Fort Hood in December after 15 months in theater, will not be replaced. Instead, soldiers from the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team working in neighboring Salahuddin province will expand their area of operations into Diyala province.

The spokesman cautioned, however, that the possible delay of other deployments is still in the planning stages and no decisions have been made.

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.

DISCUSS: Deployment and downsizing