Hood brigade tapped for Afghanistan

[Woodmonkey]

Hood brigade tapped for Afghanistan


The Pentagon has tapped 3,500 1st Infantry Division soldiers to deploy to Afghanistan late this summer as part of the next combat rotation.

The 1st ID’s 3rd Brigade, which is based in Fort Hood, Texas, will replace one of the two active brigade combat teams operating in the eastern part of the country, according to a Defense Department press release Friday.

There are currently about 28,000 American troops in Afghanistan. That number will grow to 31,400 by this spring as the Pentagon is in the process of deploying 3,400 Marines to boost combat power in the south, where most of the international coalition is located and where the Taliban have begun regaining strength.

Combined Joint Task Force 82, which is under the headquarters of the 82nd Airborne Division, makes up most of the combat power on the ground in Afghanistan. It includes the 82nd Airborne’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team and several brigade- and battalion-level aviation, logistics and support task forces, provincial reconstruction teams, Special Forces teams and one Polish battle group.

The task force area of operations is more than 30,000 square miles — about the size of South Carolina — 1,507 miles of which are along the border with Pakistan. The population in their area is 10 million, and there are 32 forward operating bases, 27 combat outposts and 29 observation posts.

The DoD rotation announcement also maintained that “Afghan security forces continue to develop capability and assume responsibility for security, and this U.S. force rotation may be tailored based upon changes in the security situation.”

The Source