Over the Plague

So storming back out of the gates. With some ANG news

5 Guard brigades alerted for deploymentBy Michelle Tan - Staff writerPosted : Tuesday Dec 4, 2007 10:20:41 ESTFive Army National Guard brigades have been alerted for deployment in thesummer of 2009 to support Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom,the Defense Department announced Monday.The announcement affects about 15,000 soldiers, and is part of the regularrotation of forces.The brigades alerted for duty in Iraq are:• 32nd Brigade Combat Team, Wisconsin National Guard• 41st BCT, Oregon National Guard• 155th BCT, Mississippi National GuardThese 8,000 soldiers will conduct a security force mission and they will beassigned tasks to ensure freedom of movement and continuity of operationsin theater. Those tasks include base defense and route security in Iraq andKuwait.The brigades alerted for duty in Afghanistan are:• 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia National Guard• 53rd IBCT, Florida National GuardThe 48th IBCT will deploy to train Afghan National Security Forces, whilethe 53rd IBCT will assume battle space in Afghanistan and perform fullspectrum operations. About 7,000 soldiers belong to these two brigades.All five brigades are not scheduled to deploy until summer 2009, but theyare being alerted for duty now to give them time to prepare for thedeployment.Eight other Guard brigades were alerted for duty on Oct. 19. Seven brigadeswill deploy to Iraq, and the eighth to Afghanistan. That alert affectedmore than 21,000 soldiers, and they are scheduled to begin deploying insummer 2008 in rotations that will continue into early 2009.In April, more than 12,000 other soldiers from four Guard brigades werealerted for duty, and those soldiers will begin deploying in December inrotations to continue into 2008.The active Army, stretched by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, already has18 brigade combat teams in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. However, plansannounced by President Bush and his top military commanders call for thenumber of BCTs in Iraq to fall to 15 next year as the “surge” of five BCTscomes to an end.The demand for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds the supply, making itcritical to use the Guard and Reserve to meet the needs of commanders intheater, but a Pentagon announcement in January calls for Guard and Reservetroops to be mobilized for no more than 12 months at a time, which meanssoldiers must complete as much individual and small-unit training aspossible before they leave for their mobilization stations.

My brother Kev does not want to get tagged again but if he does wants Afghanistan with an Arty mission as his unit did security operations the first round through.