7,000 Schofield troops to deploy to Afghanistan

By William Cole and Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writers

More than 7,000 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division (Light) will be sent to Afghanistan next year as part of the biggest combat deployment from Schofield Barracks since the Vietnam War.

As the Pentagon yesterday laid out a new troop rotation plan for Iraq and Afghanistan, Schofield officials announced the 2nd Brigade will go in February as a combat team of about 3,500 soldiers with helicopters and artillery, to be followed by the 3rd Brigade of an equal number of soldiers six months later.

The deployments are to last six months each.

Some Wahiawa shopkeepers expressed worry that the Schofield deployment will hurt the local economy — as did the deployment of 3,700 soldiers to Haiti for peacekeeping duties in 1995.

The mission of the brigade combat teams, which will replace elements of the 10th Mountain Division from New York, will be to conduct combat patrols and provide continued "force protection" and humanitarian assistance.

A division headquarters also will serve as the Combined Joint Task Force headquarters for U.S. units in the country. About 7,500 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan, and another 148,000 are in Iraq.

"Our soldiers are extraordinarily well trained and ready for this mission in service of our great nation," said Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, commanding general of the 25th Division. "We take great Tropic Lightning pride in answering our nation's call to fight and win the global war on terrorism."

The deployment may be followed by the activation of the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade of the Hawai'i Army National Guard for overseas or replacement duty at Schofield.

Some members of the brigade, with 2,100 soldiers in Hawai'i, believe it's a matter of when, not if, they will be called up. Hawai'i National Guard spokesman Maj. Chuck Anthony said no word on a call-up has been received.

More than 100 Schofield soldiers recently returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the Hawai'i division of about 15,000 soldiers has largely been kept at home during the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq as a back-up force for a North Korea contingency.

Some Schofield soldiers yesterday expressed an eagerness to go to Afghanistan.

"I think everyone is trained and ready to go," said Capt. Andrew Warninghoff, a Schofield soldier who was in Wahiawa on his lunch hour yesterday. "A lot of soldiers are excited."

First Lt. David Laney and 2nd Lt. Mark Barglof were among the soldiers who were excited about the deployment.

"It's just that everyone you know, from college, or from Ranger school, has already gone over," he said. "It's sort of like being an athlete on the side lines. We're ready to get off the bench."

"It's what we are supposed to do," Barglof said.

Spc. Jose Garcia, who was finishing up lunch at McDonald's, shrugged when asked what he thought about the deployment.

"It's something to do," he said. "Something that's got to be done, and somebody's got to do."

Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu, said military planners kept the bulk of the division back from the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"(But) they're just running out of people to send," Cossa said. "What we're doing is really stretching these guys thin, and we've got them going in all different directions."

Cossa said Afghanistan is still a pretty inhospitable place — despite the greater attention focused on Iraq.

"In Afghanistan, there's still cave-to-cave fighting in some cases," he said.

Capt. Kathy Turner, a Schofield spokeswoman, said she wasn't sure what other U.S. forces would be serving with the 25th.

Recent complaints by service members about the length of time they have been in Iraq — particularly by soldiers from the U.S. Army 3rd Division who have been deployed for eight months — preceded the announcement of new troop rotations.

The 25th Division said its troops will be deployed for six months. Cossa said he doesn't believe that time will be extended.

"It sounds like they are trying to get on some kind of predictable schedule," he said. "If they're laying it out this far in advance and they're saying six months, they probably mean that."

During the Vietnam War, the 25th Infantry Division sent 2,200 troops to Southeast Asia by mid-1965, and 4,000 3rd Brigade infantrymen in December of that year.

Members of the 27th Infantry "Wolfhounds" deployed for Desert Storm in 1991, and more than 1,000 Schofield soldiers served on peacekeeping duty in Bosnia last year.

Olson said family readiness groups and chaplain support programs will focus on families so deploying soldiers know their loved ones will be taken care of during the Afghanistan duty.

"Taking care of our family members while our soldiers are deployed will remain a top priority," Olson said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.

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