About 10,000 troops from two brigades of the Army’s 1st Armored Division will head to Iraq later this year, the Pentagon announced this week.
But the entire division is not going.
The 1st Brigade, based in Friedberg, and the Baumholder-based 2nd Brigade and their detachments are the units off to the desert in mid-to-late 2005. The detachments are based throughout Germany.
But the announcement does not include the Hanau-based 4th Brigade and its 3,000 soldiers. The 1st AD has a maximum of 17,000 soldiers available to it.
The Pentagon press release follows earlier “deployment warning orders” alerting 1st AD troops and families that some of them would be deployed to Iraq. But those orders didn’t mention specific units.
“They were told by an announcement coming out that elements of the 1st Armored Division will be deploying,” said Maj. Mike Indovina, division spokesman.
The military plans for the brigades to be deployed for one year, but that could change.
“Actual tour length will be determined by the theater commander based on events on the ground,” Indovina said.
The Defense Department release said the Pentagon would continue to announce large unit movements to Iraq as they are identified.
Soldiers from the 1st AD told Stars and Stripes earlier this week that they expected a return to Iraq even before the warning orders.
The division celebrated its official return from Iraq last October, but had actually left in July. Troops were initially told their tour would last one year ending in April, but were extended as troubles churned in Najaf and Karbala, the Pentagon has said.
Some troops had actually returned in April and were ordered back to Iraq once the military announced the extension.
