Schofield units may deploy
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
As U.S. troops rotate home from Iraq, two brigades from Schofield Barracks and 2,100 Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers are part of a relatively small pool that could be tapped as replacements.
"No option is off the table," Department of the Army spokesman Maj. Gary Tallman said yesterday in Washington.
Of 33 Army active-duty combat brigades, Tallman said, 26 are deployed worldwide or otherwise operationally committed. That leaves just seven brigades — two at Schofield; a Stryker Brigade at Fort Lewis in Washington state; three brigades of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas; and a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division that is based at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was deployed to Afghanistan last summer.
Tallman said it's possible some of those brigades will be deployed to Iraq.
"Given the number of units that have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan, any (remaining) unit has a good likelihood for potential deployment," Tallman said.
But he cautioned that he was not aware of any plan or any announcement to deploy soldiers from Hawai'i's 25th Infantry Division (Light).
Among the troops the Pentagon is keen to send home are remaining elements of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division that have spent eight months in the Persian Gulf.
Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said at a briefing Wednesday that the two brigades would be replaced by September with Army units that would serve yearlong deployments.
Abizaid said six division-plus equivalents, or about 148,000 Americans and 13,000 coalition troops, is the size of the force needed in Iraq for the short term.
Published reports said the Army also is seeking to deploy to Iraq its first Stryker Brigade of wheeled vehicles out of Fort Lewis, and one or more combat-ready Army National Guard brigades.
The 29th Separate Infantry Brigade of the Hawai'i Army National Guard is one of 15 such "enhanced" units nationwide capable of deploying within 90 days of activation.
About 2,100 Hawai'i-based soldiers, 90 percent of them part-timers, are part of the unit that also draws elements from California, Oregon and Minnesota.
Tallman said the likelihood of a call-up of reserve components has increased, and that includes enhanced separate brigades, but again, no decision has been made.
Relatively few Hawai'i-based troops were sent to Afghanistan or Iraq with the need to keep adequate forces in reserve for a North Korean contingency.
The last federal call-up of the 29th was during the Vietnam War. About 1,100 soldiers with the unit were sent to Southeast Asia.
Maj. Chuck Anthony, a Hawai'i National Guard spokesman, said no warning or "heads up" has come through for possible activation of the brigade, which is conducting 15 days of annual training or gearing up for it on the Big Island, at Schofield Barracks' East Range, or on the Mainland.
The 25th Division's last major deployment was to Bosnia last year when more than 1,000 soldiers served as NATO peacekeepers.
The 2nd and 3rd brigade combat teams at Schofield each have about 3,500 soldiers. Capt. Kathy Turner, a base spokeswoman, said "there has been no talk of us being in a rotation over there (in Iraq)."
"We just continue to train and perform as we normally would," she said. "We're prepared for any mission."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
