Armed Forces News

The 2nd Brigade 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton, Calif., and the 24th MEU from Camp Lejeune, N.C., are now scheduled to arrive in Iraq in June or July. This will bring U.S. forces there to around 135,000, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Joint Staff operations chief. This is up from 115,000 that planners had estimated would be needed in Iraq before Army Gen. John Abizaid requested levels between 135,000 and 138,000. Schwartz also said that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has approved alerting more than 37,000 Army National Guard and Army Reserve troops in more than 600 units as part what DoD has tagged “Operation Iraqi Freedom 3 rotation.” These units will deploy later in the year, and could be in Iraq for 12 months.