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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday approved the deployment of the USS Bataan amphibious readiness group and the 26th Marine Expeditional Unit to the Gulf region, according to US officials. The readiness group consists of three ships, including the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship. An expeditional unit usually consists of about 2,500 Marines. In an announcement, US Central Command said the deployment will provide "even greater flexibility and maritime capability in the region.” The announcement did not name the ships, but US officials detailed the units involved in the deployment on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. Along with...

Reflecting the Pentagon’s new focus on China, US aircraft carrier strike groups almost doubled deployments to the South China Sea in 2021 compared to the year before. According to the Beijing-based South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), US carrier strike groups entered the South China Sea 10 times in 2021, compared with six times in 2020, and five in 2019. “The US military have drastically reinforced their military deployment in the South China Sea since last year, in terms of training scales, sorties and scenarios,” SCSPI director Hu Bo said Friday, according to The South China Morning Post. Hu said...

National Guard leaders suggested on Tuesday that state governments should start footing part of the bill for missions. Major General Laura Yeager, commander of the California National Guard's 40th Infantry Division, spoke about the issue during a panel at a conference for the Association of the U.S. Army. With the cost for National Guard deployments being reimbursed fully, Yeager said that governors have become too reliant on the guard for extended periods, creating too much idle time.... ...With troops being held on missions for extended periods, Yeager explained that there were frequently times when they were idle. In addition to...

...Ryan, chairman of the Legislative Branch Subcommittee, said in a virtual press conference said that troops are still around the U.S. Capitol building due to threats "around the impeachment and just generally, given what's happened, and the fact that we don't have a reset for the security apparatus around the Capitol building. We are in the process of figuring that out." "How can we learn everything we need to learn to reset the posture on Capitol Hill?" Ryan asked. "We're not going to let the National Guard go home, or we're not going to create an unsafe environment for the...

The U.S. military is planning to deploy more than 400 troops to help train Syrian rebels to fight the Islamic State, along with hundreds of U.S. support personnel, a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.

The Department of Defense announced today the deployment of units as part of an upcoming rotation of forces supporting Operation New Dawn in Iraq. This rotation involves one division headquarters totaling 775 personnel and two brigade combat teams totaling 6,400 personnel. The scheduled rotation for the forces begins in mid-summer and continues through the fall of 2011. In accordance with the security agreement between the United States and Iraq signed in 2008, all U.S. forces will depart Iraq by Dec. 31, 2011. Headquarters unit: 3rd Infantry Division Headquarters,Fort Stewart, Ga. Brigade Combat Teams: 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division,...

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2010 – Defense and USO officials joined military families at the U.S. Navy Memorial here yesterday to celebrate the launch of a new DVD created to help military children cope with a parent’s deployment. Trevor Romain, award-winning author and children's books illustrator, jokes with military children after a USO-sponsored film screening of the DVD "With You All the Way” at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C., March 30, 2010. The DVD was designed for military children dealing with deployment. USO photo by Mike Theiler  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "With You All the Way” --...

WASHINGTON, March 10, 2010 – Children with a strong nondeployed parent or caregiver and a solid support system have a better ability to cope with deployments, two recent studies have shown. Anita Chandra, a behavioral scientist from Rand Corp., and Leonard Wong, a research professor from the Army War College, highlighted the findings of these studies during testimony to the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. Both studies focused on military children ages 11 to 17. “We had a very strong relationship between the caregiver’s mental health and their ability to cope as well as the ability for their children to...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Thousands of National Guard soldiers who served extra-long deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts were supposed to get paid time off when they came home three years ago. Now, they may finally be about to get their money after years of frustration. An Army spokesman said Wednesday that 6,800 Army National Guard soldiers are in line to receive the tardy checks. Among those still waiting: About 2,500 of Minnesota's Red Bulls with the 34th Infantry Division, who served the longest tour of any military unit in Iraq as part of the 2007 troop surge....

12/23/2009 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- Each year thousands of military children are affected by either a mother or father deploying, and when this happened to the Choate family here, it sparked an idea helps prepare military children deal with deployments. In October, Maj. Eric Choate, an Air Operations Squadron Det. 1 delivery control officer, deployed leaving behind his wife, Dorothy, and their 7-year-old son, Philip. During the course of the six months away, Mrs. Choate, the 86th Services Squadron Family Member Programs chief, noticed that Philip was having a difficult time coping with the absence of his...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19, 2009 – While admitting initial reservations, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told a National Guard conference today he sees benefits of a new plan that allows reserve-component servicemembers to conduct pre-deployment training before the clock starts ticking on their 12-month mobilization cycles. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates speaks to nearly 2,400 participants in the first National Guard Joint Senior Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C., Nov. 19, 2009. DoD photo by Cherie Cullen  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates told the National Guard Bureau Senior Leadership Conference he wasn’t initially a fan of the so-called “contiguous mobilization”...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2009 – Pentagon officials today announced additional replacement units scheduled to deploy next year to Afghanistan as part of the requirement to maintain the current level of security efforts there, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. More than 11,000 soldiers from three units – two from the active duty Army and one from the Army National Guard -- will rotate into Afghanistan in the spring, summer and fall of 2010. The units that received orders are: -- 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, from Fort Campbell, Ky.; -- 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment from Vilseck, Germany; and...

THANKS to a mix of patriotism and high unemployment, every one of our military services exceeded its recruiting goals for fiscal year 2009. That's the good news. The bad news is that, after eight years of indecisive war and ravaged personal lives, the Army's losing the experienced officers and NCOs it needs to train and lead those new recruits. The Army's tough. But after years of voices crying wolf for political purposes, there's real trouble looming on the personnel front. I joined a broken Army after Vietnam. I don't want to see an Army resembling that one again. Yes, we...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Oct. 7, 2009 – For Army Sgt. William Altman, an operations noncommissioned officer with the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, doing his job with excellence is the motivation that carries him through his daily shift. Army Sgt. William Altman, operations noncommissioned officer for the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade, stands outside the brigade’s tactical operations center. Altman has logged seven deployments during his 18 years in the military. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Dale Shade  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “I just enjoy doing a good job,” said Altman, an 18-year veteran with seven...

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2009 – Defense Department officials are working aggressively to reduce the impact of multiple deployments on the children of military families. “The department recognizes that these multiple, long-term deployments are really tough on families,” said Barbara Thompson, director of the Pentagon’s Office of Family Policy/Children and Youth. Deployments since fighting began in Iraq and Afghanistan have affected nearly 2 million military children, and about 234,000 of those children currently have at least one parent deployed, according to a 2007 Defense Manpower Data Center report. Surveys of active-duty and reserve-component spouses in 2008 included questions regarding military children....

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Jan. 27, 2009 – The 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team is taking up positions in eastern Afghanistan that until now have had little coalition presence. A CH-47 Chinook helicopter airlifts a 155 MM howitzer onto Forward Operating Base Shank, Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Amber Robinson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The BCT, known as ‘Task Force Spartan,’ and based at Fort Drum, N.Y., was rerouted from Iraq to Afghanistan in the fall. As the first substantial illustration of the new military focus in Afghanistan, the brigade will be moving into forward...

ARLINGTON, Va. — Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said he expects a slight increase in the number of soldiers deployed through the middle of 2010. The increase is not expected to hinder the Army’s efforts to give soldiers more time at home between combat tours, Casey said Wednesday. As of Jan. 13, about 104,000 soldiers were deployed to Iraq and 23,000 soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan, according to figures provided by the Army. The Army is expected to draw down in Iraq but increase its presence in Afghanistan, where commanders have requested about 30,000 additional troops. So far,...

CAMP VICTORY, Dec. 28, 2008 – Soldiers serving in the Army Reserve long had the stigma of being second-class soldiers. "Be all you can be ... one weekend a month," was a taunt used by drill sergeants for reservist recruits. A transformation in the role of the Reserve and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan make frequent deployments a reality for these "weekend warriors," and many reservists are looking at their part-time service more as a second career. "It's good to have the Reserve as a cushion, a back-up in case somethinggoes wrong. I don't have a 40-hour a...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2008 – The Defense Department today announced replacement units scheduled to deploy next year to Iraq. About 26,000 troops from an Army corps headquarters, an Army division headquarters, a Marine expeditionary force headquarters, an Army fires brigade and six Army brigade combat teams are scheduled to rotate into Iraq between this winter and next summer, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Units receiving deployment orders are: -- 1st Corps Headquarters, Fort Lewis, Wash.; -- 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas; -- 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; -- 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2008 – An organization based here is working to help military infants and toddlers cope with the stresses of a parent’s deployment unique to their age group. Zero to Three, a Washington-based nonprofit organization, helps even the youngest military children cope with the stresses of having a parent deployed. Photo courtesy of Zero to Three  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The mission of “Zero to Three” is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers, said Lynette Fraga, the organization’s director of military projects. “‘Coming Together Around Military Families’ is an initiative to...