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thedrifter
12-30-08, 07:12 AM
Thousands of NC-based troops to deploy in '09
By KEVIN MAURER, Associated Press Writer
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. -

Aaron Quinn has deployed three times to Iraq. But the first sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division wasn't all that surprised or upset when his unit got the call to spend yet another year fighting overseas.

"Nobody wants to be a carpenter for 20 years and never build a house," said Quinn, 36, of Arlington, Va. "Most of us feel that our job is over there and it is to keep the terrorists from being over here. We fight them on their front so that we don't have to deal with them on ours."

Since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a constant stream of units from bases in North Carolina have headed to war each year. Next year won't be any different, as Quinn joins thousands of other North Carolina-based soldiers, airmen, Marines and National Guardsmen heading to Iraq and Afghanistan in 2009.

About 3,500 paratroopers from the 82nd's 3rd brigade left just before the holiday for a yearlong deployment to Iraq, and the 1st and 4th brigades are scheduled to deploy to Iraq in the new year. The unit's combat aviation brigade is headed to Afghanistan, raising the possibility that the entire division again could be deployed at once.

Quinn's tour with the 4th brigade will be his second deployment to Iraq. His wife and 16 month-old son prefer to have him home, but understand that he has to go, he said.

"Wives and children always want you home. I think in general most understand that this is our job," Quinn said. "The fact of the matter is that if you are a professional, it doesn't matter where you go your job is where it takes you. You kiss the wife. You kiss the kids and you walk out the door."

Staff Sgt. Jonathan Currigan wishes he could walk out the door. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2007, but had to leave early when his kidneys almost failed. He is now an instructor at the Advanced Airborne School and his unit, the 4th Squadron, 73rd Calvary Regiment, will deploy to Iraq next year without him.

"I recently volunteered to go back to Iraq for a year, but the medical people found out and sent me back," said Currigan, 33 from Lakewood, Colo. "I almost shed a tear. If everybody could turn a blind eye, I would be right back over there leading troops."

The 82nd paratroopers will join almost 4,000 North Carolina National Guardsmen deploying to Iraq with the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team and the 1st Battalion, 130th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion.

For the past five months, the Camp Lejeune-based II Marine Expeditionary Force has prepared to return to Iraq and again assume responsibility for Iraq's Anbar province. They will relieve the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based I Marine Expeditionary Force early next year.

The 23,000-person unit is made up of both air and ground forces from around the Marine Corps, including an infantry battalion from Camp Lejeune. The base's 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit will also deploy this spring, although its destination isn't yet clear.

Several hundred airmen from Pope and Seymour Johnson Air Force Bases will also spend 2009 overseas, including those attached to a pair of F-15E Strike Eagle squadrons.

Ellie