82nd to ready troops for deployment

[SR-25]

82nd to ready troops for deployment


By Henry Cuningham
Military editor

The 82nd Airborne Division will begin preparing a brigade combat team Nov. 1 for a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan, even though an official order has not been received.

"We are going to go ahead and take the necessary actions and preparations in anticipation of receiving an order," Maj. Gen. Bill Caldwell, the 82nd Airborne Division commander, said Thursday. "If we don't start planning today to occur in November, then you haven't resourced it and organized it, and you can't execute it."

A possible deployment would happen in April and May and involve a task force of from 2,400 to 2,800 people, Caldwell said.

"Currently, we still have no official order directing us to provide any forces to Afghanistan," he said. "The Army leadership is continuing to do the assessment as to who will fulfill that responsibility."

One of the division's three infantry brigades probably would be sent to Afghanistan, Caldwell said. During the past two years, the brigades have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"They all will have had about the same amount of time down back here," he said. "We could easily send any one of the three brigades."

The division is forming a fourth infantry brigade, which should have a staff in operation by October, Caldwell said. The new brigade probably would not be certified to deploy to combat until July or August, he said.

The headquarters for the mission to Afghanistan will be the U.S. Army Southern European Task Force (Airborne), Caldwell said. The rapid-reaction task force is based in Vicenza, Italy, and operates and conducts exercises with other countries throughout Europe and Africa.

The deployment may involve paratroopers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which falls under the Southern European Task Force, Caldwell said.

"There is a possibility they will come to us and ask us to provide some forces to supplement that organization," he said.

Caldwell said in July that he expected parts of the division to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan within the next year.

Three soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment died in Afghanistan. Sgt. Steven Checo, 22, of New Jersey, was shot Dec. 21, 2002, while on patrol. Pfc. Jerod R. Dennis, 19, of Oklahoma, was shot in a firefight on April 25, 2003. Spc. Kelvin Gutierrez Feliciano, 21, of Puerto Rico, died when his vehicle rolled over.

Seventeen people assigned to Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base have died in Afghanistan since 2002