PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — An Army Patriot missile battalion at Camp Carroll is ready to end its one-year rotation and return to the United States.

This month, the 1st Battalion, 44th Air and Missile Defense, which spent the past year at Carroll, will be replaced by the 4th Battalion, 5th Air and Missile Defense as part of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. Each battalion has about 600 soldiers.

The 4-5 AMD comes to South Korea from Fort Hood, Texas. The 1-44 AMD will spend a brief period at Fort Bliss, Texas, before heading to For Hood in mid-November.

The 35 ADA Brigade is headquartered at Osan Air Base and maintains eight firing batteries around the peninsula. Patriot missiles are designed to down cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles and aircraft.

The brigade brings a new battalion to the peninsula every six months for a one-year tour. During such rotations, the troops change places but the missiles and other inventory stay put.

The changeover is to be completed later this month.

Whichever battalion is stationed at Camp Carroll maintains one of its batteries at Kunsan Air Base. That practice will continue when the 4-5 AMD is in place.

The brigade also maintains firing batteries at Suwon and Osan air bases

A transfer of authority ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 24 at the Camp Carroll gym. During its year in Korea, the 1-44 AMD found training opportunities that surpassed those available in the United States, said commander Lt. Col. Christopher Todd Burgess.

Because battalion troops deploy together for the year, the unit was able to conduct missile defense training at levels higher than what would have been possible if they were subject to the 10 percent to 20 percent quarterly turnover typical of stateside duty, he said.

"But because we were here for a year, we were able to do a lot more aggressive training, including what the Patriot community refers to as Table 12," which is decidedly advanced, Burgess said.

The battalion also logged thousands of road miles deploying to training sites at night over Korea’s highways, Burgess said.

At Fort Bliss, the unit might have moved about 20 to 60 miles during a training event, he said.

"But the fact is that here, you’ve got them out on the roads with Korean drivers — at night — and moving distances that are considerably farther than that," Burgess said. "There’s no way to replicate that in the United States."

Also while in Korea, the battalion kept up a robust program of visits to area schools, orphanages and retirement homes, and contacts with South Korean military units.

In addition, this year the battalion’s Staff Sgt. Richard Dwyer, of Battery C, was named 8th Army Soldier of the Year; South Korean augmentee Cpl. Lee Dong-kyoon was named 8th Army KATUSA of the Year; and Sgt. Henry Negron-Diaz received a U.S. Forces Korea award for his contribution to good relations with the South Korean community.