Air Force fills out Army ranks in Iraq
Now Playing: By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer Sun Apr 15, 7:08 PM ET
Topic: News - troop rotations


CAMP BULLIS, Texas - A row of rumbling flatbed trucks and Humvees outfitted with gun turrets lurches toward a mock village of cinderblock buildings where instructors posing as insurgents wait to test the trainees' convoy protection skills.

The training range is Army, as is the duty itself — one of the most dangerous in Iraq these days. But the young men and women clad in camouflage and helmets training to run and protect convoys are not Army; they're Air Force. They are part of a small but steady stream of airmen being trained to do Army duty under the Army chain of command, a tangible sign the Pentagon was scouring the military to aid an Iraq force that was stretched long before President Bush ordered 21,500 additional U.S. troops there.
"What we've seen is the Department of Defense continues to find ways to meet the

 requirements imposed by the commander in chief," said retired Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, a senior fellow at Harvard University's Belfer Center in the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

No plans to expand the Air Force's role in convoy operations have been announced since Bush ordered the troop surge in Iraq, but Ryan said the Army and other branches of service have been looking at every possible job that can be shifted — from the Air Force performing convoy duty to the Navy setting up medical facilities far from waterfronts.

"I can't imagine there are any jobs that they could be doing that they aren't doing, but certainly, that doesn't mean they're not continuing to look to find every possible instance where we can use the full military to solve this problem and not just have this be an Army and Marine Corps issue," he said.

Read the entire article at Yahoo News

Gates extends deployments 90 days in Iraq, Afghanistan
Topic: News - troop rotations

Deployment extensions not going over well

 

LEILA FUJIMORI / LFUJIMORI@STARBULLETIN.COM "We're going to miss him bad, but watching the kids missing him is worse. He's going to miss out on a lot." Celina Malone Her husband deploys in November  Extended tours disappoint and irk isle military families » Reserve and Guard could also get longer deployment By Leila Fujimori and Gregg K. Kakesako lfujimori@starbulletin.com | gkakesako@starbulletin.com Some families do not like a new Pentagon policy that extends deployments by three months of Hawaii-based soldiers who will be going to or are already in Iraq. More than 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division will spend three months in addition to their standard 12-month deployment in Iraq, under the policy announced yesterday in Washington.   Families were displeased with news that Hawaii-based soldiers who face deployment to Iraq or are already there will have to wait an extra three months before coming home. "I really don't like it," Ashley Cruz, 19, whose husband will be deploying in November, said at McDonald's restaurant in Wahiawa. "I don't think they should be there at all. They need to pull everybody out." Cruz is expecting their first child in August, and the Arizona couple just arrived in Hawaii a couple of months ago. She's made a couple of friends so far and plans to stay in Hawaii. The Pentagon announced a new policy yesterday in Washington that will result in the more than 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division spending an extra three months in Iraq. The soldiers, the majority of them assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team that left here last summer, are among the 15,000 troops affected by the policy announced by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Under the policy, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours, three months longer than the usual standard deployment.   Many Schofield Barracks soldiers and their families were expecting such an announcement after the Pentagon last week extended by 45 days the tour of the division's headquarters unit, which included its commander, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon. The Tropic Lightning soldiers deployed to Iraq last summer in what was supposed to be a yearlong assignment. Yesterday's announcement covers all of the Schofield Barracks soldiers in Iraq, including Mixon's headquarters unit. The Pentagon's announcement does not affect the Marines Corps, the Air Force, Navy or the National Guard and Army Reserve. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the deployment extensions are a "difficult but necessary interim step" to stabilize Baghdad. Celina Malone, 22, said she'll take her 1- and 3-year-old daughters home to Georgia when her husband leaves Schofield for his first deployment. "We're going to miss him bad, but watching the kids missing him is worse," she said. "He's going to miss out on a lot." Daughter MacKenzie Malone, 3, piped up: "I don't want him to get hurt." But 22-year-old Spc. Mike Malone Jr. will leave his family sooner than November. He's off to California in July for training, returns in October, then deploys in November. Hawaii Air National Guard Capt. Rosemarie Ader, 33, said she may volunteer to serve in Iraq to spare others who have deployed multiple times. "My brother-in-law has been there three times and my sister has three kids," she said. "If I can bring a husband or a wife home, yeah, I'd like to do my part in the war." Ader said the lengthier deployment is not fair to people like her brother-in-law, an Army ranger in the infantry, who is already slated to go a fourth time after his return in August. Amber Marcotte, 21, whose husband deploys in November, is expecting their first child in August. "He's going to miss the first year of our baby," she said. "I'm just waiting for him to get it all over with," she said.

Gates announces longer tours in Iraq

 

PAULINE JELINEK; The Associated Press
Last updated: April 11th, 2007 01:47 PM (PDT)

WASHINGTON - Beginning immediately, all active-duty Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will serve 15-month tours - three months longer than the usual standard, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.

It was the latest move by the Pentagon to cope with the strains of fighting two wars simultaneously and maintaining a higher troop level in Iraq as part of President Bush's revised strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.

"This policy is a difficult but necessary interim step," Gates told a Pentagon news conference, adding that the goal is to eventually return to 12 months as the standard length of tour in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said the new policy does not affect the other main components of the U.S. ground force in Iraq: the Marines, whose standard tour is seven months, or the Army National Guard or Army Reserve, which will continue to serve 12-month tours.

Gates acknowledged that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are making life difficult for many in the military.

"Our forces are stretched, there's no question about that," Gates said.

He said the new policy also seeks to ensure that all active-duty Army units get at least 12 months at home between deployments. He said it would allow the Pentagon to maintain the current level of troops in Iraq for another year, although he added that there has been no decision on future troop levels.

Soldiers will get an extra $1,000 a month for the three extra months they serve, he said.

Without changing the standard tour length to 15 months, the Army would have been forced to send five brigades to Iraq before they completed 12 months at home, Gates said.

Some units' tours in Iraq had already been extended beyond 12 months by varying amounts. The new policy will make deployments more equitable and more predictable for soldiers and for their families, Gates said.

"I think it is fair to all soldiers that all share the burden equally," he said.

There are currently 145,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and when the buildup is completed by June, there would be more than 160,000, officials are calculating.

 

Washington state media reports:

Seattle Times - Ft. Lewis to feel the strain of longer Iraq tours

 Seattle Post Intelligencer - Soldiers' war tours extended
Most at Fort Lewis resigned to 15-month separation

Tacoma News Tribune (Tacoma, WA - Fort Lewis) -  Longer combat tours announced today will hit home at Fort Lewis

 The Olympian (Olympia, WA) - Two Fort Lewis brigades affected by tour extension

 The Columbain (Vancouver, WA) - Ft Lewis Strykers will have their Iraq tours extended by 3 months

 Tri-City Herald (Mid-WA, Richland, Pasco, Kennewick, WA) - Gates announces longer tours in Iraq

Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA) - Gates extends deployments 90 days in Iraq, Afghanistan

(items shared by Lietta Ruger)

from Fort Lewis Ranger - Announcement of next rotation - Dept of Army - DOD
Topic: News - troop rotations

from Fort Lewis Ranger newspaper's blog - Blog-Ah

The Army announced today the extension of one Army Brigade in Iraq, but made no mention of extending the 3rd Brigade, 2nd ID from Fort Lewis scheduled to return to Fort Lewis this summer. Standby. Below is the Army release from this morning.

(Army News Release) - The Department of the Army confirmed today the Department of Defense's announcement for the next rotation of one corps headquarters, two division headquarters and two brigade combat teams in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Additionally, the Department of Defense extended one unit in Iraq and added approximately 2,000 combat support Soldiers to maintain the momentum of operations.

The XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters, from Fort Bragg, N.C., will replace Headquarters, III Corps, of Fort Hood, Texas, as the Multi-National Corps - Iraq Headquarters in November 2007. The Multi-National Corps Headquarters element oversees day-to-day operations in Iraq, and this deployment of a corps headquarters and some of its subordinate elements is part of a routinely scheduled rotation of forces. No stranger to this mission, the XVIII Airborne Corps Headquarters last saw duty as the Multi-National Corps Headquarters from February 2005 - February 2006.

The 1st Armored Division Headquarters from Wiesbaden, Germany and the 4th Infantry Division Headquarters from Fort Hood, Texas, will deploy to Iraq in August 2007, and serve as multi-national force headquarters, assuming command and control of units and areas of operation as directed. Germany's "Old Ironsides" Division Headquarters last served in Iraq from April 2003 to August 2004 and Fort Hood's "Ivy Division" recently returned from an OIF deployment that started in December 2005 and ended this past December 2006.

The two brigade combat teams confirmed as part of the regular rotation to Iraq are the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y. and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C. (The Department of Defense previously announced this 82nd Airborne brigade's deployment Nov. 17, 2006.) Both Brigade Combat Teams are seasoned veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq. The "Warriors" of 1st BCT, 10th Mountain Division completed their latest OIF rotation in August 2006, and had served in Afghanistan from June 2003 to May 2004. The "Devils in Baggy Pants" from Fort Bragg served in Iraq from September 2003 to April 2004, and twice in Afghanistan from December 2002 to May 2003 and June 2005 to March 2006.

The Headquarters, 25th Infantry Division from Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, currently serving as Headquarters, Multi-National Division North, is extended 46 days past an anticipated 12-month rotation end date. These "Tropic Lightning" Headquarters Soldiers will now redeploy in September 2007.

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C., which was the first unit called forward from Kuwait as part of the Operation Iraqi Freedom plus-up operations, deployed from Fort Bragg in early January 2007. Though tentatively scheduled to redeploy in September 2007, they will now complete a full 12-month rotation and return in early January 2008.

The Army is also supplying an additional headquarters unit for the plus-up, the Headquarters, 214th Fires Brigade, from Fort Sill, Okla., placing additional combat support capability in theater. This headquarters will plan, coordinate and synchronize lethal and non-lethal effects for operational commanders. The 214th HQ is trained and ready, and will deploy at the end of this month.

Combat support and security operations remain keys to success on the ground, and the Army is answering theater's call to provide more of these capabilities. For these latest requirements, the Army National Guard will provide headquarters and line batteries from the 181st Field Artillery Battalion, 145th Field Artillery Battalion and the 131st Field Artillery Battalion, all Army National Guard units. The incredible Citizen-Soldiers who comprise these units hail from the states of Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Kansas, and Georgia. They will deploy this September.

The Army will only provide the best led, best trained and best equipped forces possible to the combatant commander for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though increasingly a challenge, the Army also remains committed to carving out the critical 12 months of dwell time for units, Soldiers, and families between combat rotations. This dwell time is required to properly organize, re-train, and re-equip forces, as well as allow Soldiers and their families well-deserved rest. Where the 12-month dwell is broken, and where unanticipated extensions are ordered, the Army will focus all available resources on those units, posts, Soldiers and family members to ease the challenges these conditions bring.

Soldiers and family members continue to make great sacrifices for the good of our country and in response to theater requirements. America's Soldiers are performing magnificently around the world during this time of war, and they appreciate and acknowledge the continued support of the American People.

(I left the post intact to provide our members with update of troop rotations.  Please remember this was posted to the Fort Lewis Ranger newsapaper's blog, and likely the tone reflects a bit about how news is reported to the Fort Lewis military community.    ... Lietta Ruger)