Home » Archives » "Heading North"

Heading North

Jan-26-2009 » Filed Under: 56th SBCT

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review the 56th SBCT is preparing to head into Iraq from Kuwait soon.

More than 4,000 soldiers from Pennsylvania have spent four months training in Mississippi and Louisiana. After a brief trip home for Christmas, they are moving in stages to Kuwait and then Iraq. Pennsylvania has the National Guard's only Stryker unit. All the brigades using the armored fighting vehicle are part of the regular Army.

When about 2,000 soldiers with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team deployed in 2005, it represented the largest deployment to a combat zone since World War II, but a noncombat deployment during the Korean War was larger. Capt. Cory Angell, public affairs officer for the unit, said the 4,000 soldiers in this deployment make it the largest of any type of deployment since World War II.

Most of the 56th Stryker Brigade is based in central and eastern Pennsylvania, but several soldiers from the western half of the state volunteered to fill gaps in other units, he said.

"Every National Guard unit across Pennsylvania has members in this brigade," he said.


Advertisements