thedrifter
04-23-09, 07:01 AM
THURSDAY APRIL 23, 2009 :: Last modified: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 10:11 PM MDT
Transfer to Afghanistan 'extremely unlikely' for Wyo troops
By TOM MORTON
Star-Tribune staff writer
While the Pentagon is transferring some troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, it very likely will not do so with Wyoming Army National Guard troops deploying this week for Kuwait, the Guard's top officers said Tuesday.
"It's extremely unlikely," Brigadier Gen. Olin Oedekoven of the Wyoming Army National Guard said.
Oedekoven and other officers and government leaders spoke at the third and final deployment ceremony at the Casper Events Center for 97 soldiers in the Casper-based 960th Brigade Support Battalion.
The 960th BSB and about 600 other Wyoming National Guard soldiers will be under the command of the 115th Fires Brigade and part of the 2,600-troop deployment to Fort Hood, Texas, and then to two bases in Kuwait to provide convoy support to and from Iraq.
It's no small job, Lt. Col. John Papile said. "The importance of your duty is not proximate to your distance from Baghdad."
President Obama is shifting the focus on the War on Terror from Iraq by ordering 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to assist the 38,000 American troops battling the resurgent Taliban. For example, the 500 combat engineers from the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Division were in Iraq for a few weeks before learning of their transfer to southern Afghanistan.
Barring a major change, the 115th Fires Brigade will stay in Kuwait, Wyoming Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Ed Wright said.
The convoy support is a form of infrastructure, Oedekoven added.
"This mission is a requirement regardless of troop levels in the [Iraq] theater," he said.
The troops being transferred to Iraq are combat troops, whose missions can change quickly, Oedekoven said.
Unlike the faster transfer of combat troops, there's no military unit available to replace the work of the 115th Fires Brigade, he said.
So any change of plans is highly unlikely, Oedekoven said.
Capt. Andrea Habel knows the soldiers in her unit have been following the news about the shift in the war on terror, but she hasn't heard of any widespread discussion or concern, she said.
"Our soldiers are trained to do any mission set before us," Habel said. "I don't know of any change in the assigned mission set before us."
Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at tom.morton@trib.com. Read his blog at tribtown.trib.com/TomMorton/blog.
Ellie
Transfer to Afghanistan 'extremely unlikely' for Wyo troops
By TOM MORTON
Star-Tribune staff writer
While the Pentagon is transferring some troops from Iraq to Afghanistan, it very likely will not do so with Wyoming Army National Guard troops deploying this week for Kuwait, the Guard's top officers said Tuesday.
"It's extremely unlikely," Brigadier Gen. Olin Oedekoven of the Wyoming Army National Guard said.
Oedekoven and other officers and government leaders spoke at the third and final deployment ceremony at the Casper Events Center for 97 soldiers in the Casper-based 960th Brigade Support Battalion.
The 960th BSB and about 600 other Wyoming National Guard soldiers will be under the command of the 115th Fires Brigade and part of the 2,600-troop deployment to Fort Hood, Texas, and then to two bases in Kuwait to provide convoy support to and from Iraq.
It's no small job, Lt. Col. John Papile said. "The importance of your duty is not proximate to your distance from Baghdad."
President Obama is shifting the focus on the War on Terror from Iraq by ordering 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to assist the 38,000 American troops battling the resurgent Taliban. For example, the 500 combat engineers from the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Division were in Iraq for a few weeks before learning of their transfer to southern Afghanistan.
Barring a major change, the 115th Fires Brigade will stay in Kuwait, Wyoming Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Ed Wright said.
The convoy support is a form of infrastructure, Oedekoven added.
"This mission is a requirement regardless of troop levels in the [Iraq] theater," he said.
The troops being transferred to Iraq are combat troops, whose missions can change quickly, Oedekoven said.
Unlike the faster transfer of combat troops, there's no military unit available to replace the work of the 115th Fires Brigade, he said.
So any change of plans is highly unlikely, Oedekoven said.
Capt. Andrea Habel knows the soldiers in her unit have been following the news about the shift in the war on terror, but she hasn't heard of any widespread discussion or concern, she said.
"Our soldiers are trained to do any mission set before us," Habel said. "I don't know of any change in the assigned mission set before us."
Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at tom.morton@trib.com. Read his blog at tribtown.trib.com/TomMorton/blog.
Ellie