Army Extends Deployment Of 3rd Infantry

Associated Press ^ | 07-14-03

[Brian S]

Soldiers Had Word They Were Going Home; Insurgent Attacks Blamed

POSTED: 7:42 p.m. EDT July 14, 2003 UPDATED: 7:54 p.m. EDT July 14, 2003

SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Thousands of soldiers in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division will stay in Iraq longer than planned.

The Army blamed the extended deployment on increased attacks on coalition forces.

The announcement dashes hopes that the troops will be home by September, as the division's commander had suggested last week.

The 3rd Infantry Division deployed 16,500 troops to Iraq and was the leading force in the assault on Baghdad. The division suffered 36 deaths -- more than any other unit in the war -- and some of its troops have been in the region since last September.

Several thousand 3rd Infantry troops began returning last week. Their homecomings are not affected.

The 3rd ID is based at Fort Stewart, Ga.

[Brian S]

More from Reuters...



U.S. Extends Iraq Deployment of Key Army Division

2003-07-14
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing mounting security threats in Iraq, the U.S. military said on Monday thousands of soldiers from a key Army division would not return home by September as expected and instead stay in Iraq indefinitely.

The 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) was the first American unit to enter Baghdad during the war after thrusting from Kuwait through southern Iraq to reach the Iraqi capital, and soldiers from the division now are shouldering a heavy load in the effort to stabilize postwar Iraq.

Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, the division's commander, last week announced plans for the division to return home during July and August after a protracted deployment in the region.

But the Army reversed itself on Monday, saying the return of 9,000 of the division's troops had been put on hold.

The Pentagon deployed about 16,500 3rd Infantry Division soldiers during the war, and about 15,000 remain in Iraq and Kuwait. Thirty-seven soldiers from the division have been killed in the war and its aftermath.

Rich Olson, a spokesman for the Army's Fort Stewart in Georgia, said some elements of the division will return as previously announced, including the 3rd Brigade Combat Team. About 1,000 soldiers have come home in the past week, Olson said, and others are in the process of returning.

But Olson said the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 2d Brigade Combat Team, the 7th Cavalry's 3rd Squadron and other elements of the division will remain in Iraq until further notice.

Olson said he knew of no new time table for their return.

"We could speculate on and on," he said. "I'm sure the commander over there has some expectations."

The decision to delay the return of thousands of Army soldiers illustrates the seriousness of the ongoing security problems in Iraq.

U.S. troops have staged repeated crackdowns on resistance fighters amid continuing attacks on American soldiers. Thirty-two U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1.

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[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

More from Fox News and AP: infantry

[mark502inf]

The 3d Brigade has been in Kuwait/Iraq since September, so they are definitely due to return.

Over & above the danger, the living conditions for the combat units are horrendous--100+ degree temps & unlike Viet Nam--no R&R or fixed bases to return to for a shower or to get a clean uniform or a beer or a visit to the ville. Not even a DEROS to look forward to--just a lot of uncertainty. At least the mail is finally starting to turn up. Probably have not had American troops in similar conditions for extended periods since Korea.

[OldFriend]

Bosnia was and is a hell hole. Old women with 2X4s with nails embedded attacking our troops who were ordered not to defend themselves. Early troops deployed had to deal with terrible flooding. Their tents inundated, equipment bogged in the mud.....

Kosovo, barely any potable water, conditions deplorable.

All kept from us by a compliant media who wanted to protect X42. Remember the Bosnia mission would be over by Christmas.......that was at least 8 yrs. ago.....we're still there.

[mark502inf]

And let's not forget Somalia. "Like the moon with air" was the description from one of the 10th Mountain unit commanders.

However, the overall conditions and the combat circumstances put the Iraq experience--especially for the 3ID--a couple cuts further up on the misery scale than those other ones!

[AGreatPer]

What ever happened with rotating troops? What on earth is going on? They should have been out of there 4 months ago.

[niteowl77]

For perspective, consider the combat of the 2nd Battalion of the 47th Inf. Regt. in WWII: land in France just after D-Day, immediately swing back to slug it out in front of Cherbourg, then turn and proceed across NW Europe through a climate which is initially hot, gradually becoming miserably cold. Adapt to terrain that ranges from flat and open to the ruggedness of the Ardennes, all the while facing artillery, mortars, panzerfaust, tanks, assault guns, mines, rockets and whatever else a determined Wehrmacht can bring to bear. Do this this for 234 days straight, stop to collect a second Presidential Unit Citation following a mess in front of the Roer River, and then face East, and battle across the Rhine before the Ludendorff Bridge collapses. Continue fighting on into the Reich until the surrender on May 8.

Then imagine your surprise at being "requested" to now be part of the Army of Occupation. Just think- over ten months of combat, invariably also dealing with a civilian population that ranges from ecstatic to homicidal, only to mop up and play cop... with no cell phones.

S**t deployments are nothing new. Only the ability and/or the will to deal with them change.

[mark502inf]

Rotate with who? As General Shinseki said when he retired: "Beware the 12-division strategy for a 10-division army."

1st Inf Div: 1 Bde Europe, 1 Bde in Iraq & 1 Bde @ Ft Riley
2d Inf Div: Korea
3d inf Div: Iraq
4th Inf Div: Iraq
10th Mountain: Afghanistan w/dets in Iraq/Djibouti(?)
25th Inf Div: 2 Bdes Hawaii--Pacific reinforcements, 1 bde transitioning to Strykers
82d Airborne: 1 Bde in Iraq, Div(-)recently returned from Afghanistan
101st Airborne: Iraq
1st Armor Division: Iraq
1st Cav Division: Ft Hood
173d Airborne Brigade: Iraq
2d Cavalry Regiment: Iraq
3d Armored Cavalry Regt: Iraq
2 NG Brigades

Covers all 10 divisions & the major separate brigades/regiments. You have to figure the 25th Inf Div has to be ready for Korea and the 1st Cav is our heavy reserve. Other than that--the national guard.

[mark502inf]

Yeah, but we also had 80+ divisions & rotated units into and out of the line; both whole divisions and regiments/battalions. We can push the guys pretty hard & the majority will soldier on, but eventually people just plain get worn out.

Irrespective of whether or not the troops get tired, just look at how we're committed in the post above. The army is just too small right now. We have darn little flexibility if Mr Whacky in North Korea causes trouble or something completely unforeseen occurs somewhere.

[Fred Mertz]

Excellent reply. RumDum wants to downsize the Army to 8 divisions.

What an idiot!

[OldFriend]

Most, if not all of our ships are out of the area. Many of the troops have returned home. To my knowledge we have not rotated new troops into Iraq. We have drawn down the numbers.

Personally, I would like to see an aircraft carrier return to the area but I don't know if that is in the plan at the moment.

[mark502inf]

Overall numbers have gone down in the Iraqi "theater", but those reductions were mostly navy & air force elements. Very few army troops have come home. An aircraft carrier or ten aircraft carriers wouldn't do any good at this point, but we sure could use another combat division or two. Some of the marines are still there although some have also redeployed.

As I understand it, the marines stay in theater until they run out of film; at which point they return to the states for a new supply and for extensive reconditioning of their worn-out audio-visual recording equipment.

[AGreatPer]

Now you guys are po'ing me off. I didn't realize it was that bad.

Gees, if something really serious would happen, we're in the deep. POED here.

[OldFriend]

Just meant that the return of a carrier would send a message, we have had enough!!!!!!

A few well guided missiles wouldn't hurt either!

[TexKat]

Leaner, faster military is what he wants. This one went so fast that it is still going. The 3rd ID needs to be rotated. Very very poor planning in my judgement. This will be the 2nd time the 3rd ID have been given a departure date only to have it changed.

[BushMeister]

I didn't know that a brigade from the 1st I.D. was in Iraq. are you sure of this?

[mark502inf]

I didn't know that a brigade from the 1st I.D. was in Iraq. are you sure of this?

Pieces that make up most of a brigade; attached to the 173d & 1AD.

[niteowl77]

I won't argue the troop commitments and military size points, but the overall scope of WWII is irrelevant to the illustration I provided. I simply find many peoples' new standards for deployment interesting - and in some cases extraordinarily myopic - especially given our own not-so-distant past.