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WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 30, 2008) - The Defense Department has
alerted six combat units for deployment to Iraq from January to
March 2009, officials said here today.
Though the announcement identifies forces for the current level
of effort in Iraq, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, it does
not try to predict decisions down the road.
"It's proper, prudent planning to give units the time to train
and to ensure they are notified in a deliberate fashion and well in
advance of when they would have to deploy," Whitman said.
The four Army combat brigades and two Marine regimental combat
teams cover about 33,000 personnel. These are normal rotation
forces, and all of the units have the capability of performing
full-spectrum combat operations.
The Marine units notified today are Regimental Combat Team 8 and
Regimental Combat Team 6, both based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.
The Army units are the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st and 2nd
brigade combat teams, based at Fort Hood, Texas; the 10th Mountain
Division's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Drum, N.Y.; and
56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the Pennsylvania National
Guard's 28th Infantry Division.
The announcement for the 12-month deployments assumes a force
level of 15 brigade combat teams in Iraq. "This is a planning
effort for maintaining a 15-combat-brigade level," Whitman
said.
"That doesn't mean decisions down the road couldn't affect
this," he added. "You can always have units that redeploy earlier
and deploy later. This is a planning effort to sustain the current
level of operations."
The last surge brigade will leave Iraq by the end of July. Some
45 days later, officials in Iraq, U.S. Central Command and the
Pentagon will assess conditions in Iraq "post-surge," Whitman said.
Decisions after that review could affect deployments, he said.
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