Army Times – by Michelle TanAbout 250 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will deploy in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, officials announced Monday.
The soldiers from 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, will begin deploying in late December.
They will deploy for nine months to the Central Command area of responsibility to conduct security operations.
“The 1st Battalion, 505th PIR is a well-led and highly trained unit with extremely talented and adaptable paratroopers,” said Col. Curtis Buzzard, the brigade commander, in a statement. “I know they are ready for any contingency and am confident they will accomplish the mission.”
The soldiers are not part of the 1,500-troop increase authorized Nov. 7 by President Obama.
That increase almost doubles the number of troops already in Iraq, including the 1st Infantry Division headquarters, which took command in theater Oct. 31.
The military has not provided details on the 1,500-troop increase, including who or what types of troops might deploy.
These troops will deploy in “a non-combat role to train, advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces,” according to the White House announcement Nov. 7.
With these additional troops, U.S. Central Command will establish two expeditionary advise and assist operations centers in locations outside Baghdad and Erbil. The centers will provide support for the Iraqis at the brigade headquarters level and above, and they will be supported by an appropriate array of force protection capabilities, officials have said.
CENTCOM also will establish “several sites” across Iraq to accommodate the training of 12 Iraqi brigades — nine Iraqi army and three peshmerga brigades.
The locations, which have not been finalized, will be in northern, western and southern Iraq, officials have said.