The Department of Defense announced Thursday, they have identified the 1st Infantry Division as the headquarters unit to deploy as part of the upcoming transition of authority in Iraq. The deployment involves a division headquarters element to support the combatant commander’s mission requirements.
About 500 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division’s headquarters and headquarters battalion will deploy to the Central Command area of responsibility in late October. Of those 500, about 200 will deploy to Baghdad and Iraq, as part of the 475 troops the president authorized earlier this month to deploy as part of the nation’s strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL.
The Big Red One Soldiers will replace service members who have been in Iraq since June. These forces provide a similarly sized headquarters staff to oversee the expanded range of activities that these U.S. personnel in Iraq were assigned and expand the headquarters of the Joint Forces Land Component Command, which has operational control over activities in Iraq reporting to U.S. Central Command.The 1st Inf. Div. Soldiers will begin to deploy in October and are preparing for a one-year mission.
