DoD Adjusts Iraq Deployment

The Department of Defense announced May 8 that the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, based in Schweinfurt, Germany, will not begin its deployment to Iraq in early May as earlier scheduled. Additional information about this unit, to include its revised deployment date in the rotation plan, will be announced as decisions are made, said DoD. The adjustment to the unit’s deployment was made as commanders assess the security situation on the ground in Iraq, said officials. Decisions about troop levels are conditions-based. In consultation with the Iraqi Government, commanders continue to assess the situation to ensure sufficient force levels to best support the Iraqi government. This decision affects approximately 3,500 U.S. active duty soldiers and their families, but in the near-term will not alter the current number of U.S. troops in Iraq, which is numbering approximately 133,000.