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Lewis SBCT part of Afghanistan increase

Soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, of Fort Lewis, Wash., will deploy to Afghanistan this summer as part of an increase in forces there, a senior Army official told Army Times.

The official confirmed the decision Tuesday after news leaked that President Barack Obama had approved the increase. The 5th SBCT was supposed to deploy to Iraq, but has now been “remissioned,” he said.

One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday the total troop increase in Afghanistan will be about 12,000 troops.

The deployment of the 5th SBCT marks the first time the Army has sent a Stryker brigade to Afghanistan. The brigade is the Army’s newest Stryker brigade. Its approximately 4,000 soldiers are training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

Canadian forces have been operating in southern Afghanistan with the Grizzly armored personnel carrier, which is much like a Stryker, the senior Army official said.

“That part of Afghanistan is more conducive to cross-country maneuver because it’s not as mountainous,” he said. “[The south] is one region where it’s amenable to it but there are other places they can use [the Strykers].”

He declined to say where the 5th SBCT might be stationed once they arrive in Afghanistan.

He did confirm that commanders on the ground in Afghanistan asked specifically for the capabilities of a Stryker brigade.

No decisions have been made about which brigade might backfill the 5th SBCT for its original mission in Iraq, the senior Army official said.

“The reasonable assumption is we’re planning to replace them in Iraq,” he said.

The long-standing requirement of two Stryker brigades in Iraq has not changed, he said. The two SBCTs in Iraq now are the 56th SBCT from the Pennsylvania National Guard and 1st SBCT, 25th Infantry Division, of Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

“There’s going to be some significant … work associated with backfilling [5th SBCT] in Iraq,” the senior Army official said. “With this announcement there’s going to be an increased frequency in deployments for Stryker brigades.”

Other Army units that have been called to boost boots on the ground in Afghanistan are 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, of Fort Drum, N.Y., and the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. The 10th Mountain soldiers are already in Afghanistan and the CAB is expected to deploy in the spring.

Other units, also known as enablers, likely will be sent to Afghanistan to support the combat troops, the senior Army official said. He declined to specify which combat support or combat service support units might be remissioned to Afghanistan.

Army Times has reported that the 143rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve unit from Florida, will deploy to Afghanistan later this month instead of to Kuwait as had been originally planned.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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