U.S. 4th Infantry Division Heading for Gulf

reuters ^ | march-26-2003 | By Charles Aldinger

[green team 1999]

U.S. 4th Infantry Division Heading for Gulf

By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will fly its high-tech 4th Infantry Division and other units totaling more than 30,000 troops to the Gulf within days to join the invasion of Iraq (news - web sites), the military said on Wednesday.

Troops from the division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, and considered one of the most modern forces in the military, will begin flying to the Gulf on Sunday to join its tanks and equipment now approaching Kuwait on ships, defense officials said.

The division, with a total of 16,000 troops at Fort Hood and Fort Carson, Colorado, has been awaiting deployment for more than two months. It was originally scheduled to go to Turkey to open a northern front against Baghdad, but Ankara refused to grant basing rights for American forces.

The division's equipment, including more than 200 M-1A2 tanks, is currently being shipped from waters off Turkey to Kuwait and the troops are expected to go there.

Dan Hassett, a spokesman at Fort Hood, refused to say exactly where the troops would be flown, but officials in Washington said the movement would begin on Sunday. They said it could be mid-April before the troops were ready to move into Kuwait.

"The 4th Infantry Division has received orders to move and will be going in the coming days," Hassett told Reuters.

He said other military units totaling about 14,000 troops were also moving with the division. The mobile 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, with 5,200 troops, announced at Fort Carson on Tuesday that it had received orders to go.

PENTAGON (news - web sites) DEFENDS WAR PLAN

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and America's top military officer defended U.S. war plans in Iraq on Tuesday amid criticism from many experts who questioned the size and punch of the invasion force being used in the week-old war.

Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the U.S. strategy "a brilliant plan" that has thrust invading troops more than 200 miles into Iraqi territory -- "on the doorstep of Baghdad" -- in less than a week of hostilities.

But analysts told Reuters U.S. military leaders may have erred in using an invasion force that is too small and not packing enough armor while leaving critical forces at home.

They also questioned why ground troops were rushed into Iraq before U.S. and British air power could soften up Iraqi resistance, why Pentagon officials assumed Iraq's military would surrender in droves and why no sizable invasion force was inserted in the north.

The 4th division is the Army's first "digitized division" and is considered the most deployable heavy division in the world. It uses America's newest battlefield technology, including advanced digital communications equipment, night fighting gear, and cutting-edge weaponry.

Its M-1A2 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles are equipped with digital command and control systems and other features that the Army says provide unprecedented information of events as they unfold on the battlefield.

for information and discusion only,not for profit etc,etc.

[dinok]

About a couple of weeks late.

But better than never.

[Steve_Seattle]

I wish we had given up on Turkey about two weeks sooner so we could have had these guys in place this weekend rather than mid-April.

[Rockiesrider]

Sounds like the 5P's to me. Once thy couldn't get into Turkey they should have been diverted to Kuwait, IMEDIATELY!

5P's = Poor preparation means piss poor performance.

[green team 1999]

but they are coming,and will head north for the siege of baghdad(much needed help)

[Teetop]

Time for Texicans to kick a$$ now! Too bad they weren't on the northern edges of Baghdad right now, as planned.