Posted on: Saturday, November 6, 2004
Troop return date not set
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Schofield Barracks officials added a cautionary note yesterday to news out of Iraq that the 2nd Brigade Combat Team should leave the country in late December, pending the arrival of a replacement unit.
The 25th Infantry Division (Light) and its family readiness groups were barraged with phone calls from families wanting to make "welcome home" plans.
However, Schofield officials yesterday said no word on redeployment has been received here in Hawai'i. "We have no timelines whatsoever when we can see those guys," spokeswoman Capt. Kathy Turner said.
Maj. Neal O'Brien, spokesman for the 1st Infantry Division in Tikrit, the headquarters for Schofield's 2nd Brigade, said in an e-mail to The Advertiser on Thursday that the Hawai'i troops are on track for the late December redeployment. "They should depart as scheduled in late December pending the arrival of the 116th Cavalry Brigade," he said.
The 2nd Brigade Combat Team has more than 4,000 soldiers. More than 5,200 soldiers from the 25th Division and U.S. Army, Hawai'i are serving in Iraq; another 5,800 are in Afghanistan.
The 1st Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment and 45th Corps Support Group, which includes the 84th Engineer Battalion, are among Hawai'i-based units in Iraq not part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Turner noted there are redeployment tasks that have to be completed before soldiers can return home. Air transport also has to be arranged. "So there are a lot of things that have to take place before those units can come back," Turner said.
The bulk of the Hawai'i soldiers deployed to Iraq in January for what was expected to be at least a year. The countdown didn't start until Feb. 19, when the 2nd Brigade took over for the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Kirkuk.
The Pentagon recently announced that 6,500 troops would be kept in Iraq through elections there scheduled for Jan. 27. O'Brien, in his e-mail, said the extension applies to elements of the 1st Infantry Division, but not to the 2nd Brigade.
The 4,300 soldiers of the Idaho National Guard's 116th Brigade Combat Team, which also includes soldiers from Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have been training since July to replace Schofield's 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Idaho newspapers reported that the brigade will begin moving into Kuwait later this month en route to Kirkuk. Several weeks are likely to be spent at desert camps in Kuwait in a fine-tuning of skills. The brigade is expected to replace the Schofield soldiers by January.
Schofield soldiers took 3 days to convoy to Kirkuk from Kuwait, with the last of the convoys arriving in the northern Iraq city on Feb. 7. The transfer of authority was held 12 days later.
Turner said uncertainty over the redeployment for the Hawai'i soldiers means they should rely on commanders and family readiness groups for specific return dates.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
