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Change unlikely for Hawaii forces

Sep- 9-2007 » Filed Under: 2/25 SBCT

The following article mentions the upcoming deployment of the 2-25 SBCT.

By William Cole, Honolulu Advertiser

The long-awaited report from Army Gen. David Petraeus on the "surge" of 30,000 extra troops to Iraq that President Bush ordered in January probably won't have much of an impact on Hawai'i troops.

Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, briefs Congress tomorrow and Tuesday on progress in Iraq and whether it would be wise to begin pulling back the troops sent there as part of the surge.

While there are nearly 8,000 Hawai'i-based soldiers and Marines in Iraq, none was part of the troop surge, so it is unlikely their deployments will be directly affected by Petraeus' report.

[...]

Among those new troops will be Schofield's Stryker brigade, with 4,000 soldiers and more than 300 of the 19-ton armored vehicles that give the unit its name.

The unit will be making its first combat deployment to Iraq — to a base north of Baghdad — in late November and December.

[...]

Amid talk of a possibly more defensive role for U.S. forces in Iraq next year, Maj. Gen. Benjamin "Randy" Mixon, the commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division in Hawai'i and current commander of U.S. troops in northern Iraq, said he doesn't expect much of a change for Hawai'i's Stryker brigade.

"I have not seen the Stryker brigade's specific mission but I do not suspect it will change much from what we are currently doing; on the offense taking the fight to the enemy," Mixon said by e-mail to The Advertiser.

While the Stryker brigade is gearing up to deploy, the 7,000 Schofield Barracks soldiers now in Iraq are coming home this month and in October after finishing up more than a yearlong tour.

[...]


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