LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade has been told to prepare for a possible 2012 deployment to Afghanistan.
The National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va., told the Arkansas Military Department a few weeks ago that the 39th was needed for an infantry mission in the planned 2012 rotation of troops. Brigade leaders passed the wordto their 3,100 soldiers during the last drill weekend March 6.
“What this means is that the National Guard Bureau has identified a brigade combat team mission in Afghanistan in 2012,” said Col. Kirk Van Pelt, 39th commander. “If that mission is still required when 2012 gets here, the 39th has been identified as the brigade to go.”
Over the next two years,the 39th will receive additional training and equipment in preparation for deployment. The next step will be an alert order, expected sometime next year with mobilization to a final training site expected in late 2011.
Van Pelt cautioned that nothing is set in stone and no one knows what combat units will be needed in Afghanistan two years from now.
“It’s always an ‘if,’” VanPelt said. “Just because you’re at the [mobilization] station doesn’t mean you’re going, even. The alert may never come. Two years is a long time ... but we’ll be ready.”
Having two years to train and prepare is beneficial for the brigade as a whole and its soldiers, Van Pelt said. It gives him time to fill the force and build a stable training plan, he said.
“It helps the soldier planhis life, too,” he said. “Most of us are juggling civilian jobs and military commitments, and it gives soldiers two years to prepare for if this deployment happens.”
The notification indicates the 39th is needed for a fullspectrum mission - a classic infantry brigade mission - similar to its first deployment to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division in 2004-05,when 39th soldiers patrolled Baghdad on foot and in light vehicles, conducting searches and raids on the homes of suspected insurgents.
“The mission will play a big part of this,” Van Pelt said.“The mission may change drastically over the next two years. Right now we have to train like we’ll be a full-spectrum force.”
Presiden tBarack Obama sketched his Afghanistan battle plan last fall, announcing it from West Point military academy. The plan included an increase of more than 30,000 troops for Afghanistan - a move that is under way - to battle what has become an increasingly resistant Taliban force. At the time, Obama said he wanted the majority of combat forces out of Afghanistan by the end of 2012, with a drawdown of troops beginning next year.
That plan is subject to the needs on the battlefield. And right now, no one knows how long the war in Afghanistan will rage or how long fellow NATO nations will contribute troops.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week that he will not commit troops to Afghanistan beyond 2011.
In a press briefing Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the current push of troops into the volatile region around Kandahar “is likely the next stop on a 12-to 18-month-long campaign.”
“We certainly hope it will be one that will break the back, to a large extent, of the Taliban ...” Morrell said. “But I don't think that anybody is of the belief that that operation, in and of itself, will spell victory in Afghanistan.”
The 39th, Arkansas’ largest National Guard unit, returned home from its first deployment in March 2005 and was called up less than three years later.
This notification comes 15 months after the brigade returned in December 2008 from its second deployment.
A 2012 deployment would give the 39th four years at home, more time than in the past. The early notification is new as well. The National Guard Bureau and Department of the Army has tried for years without success to stabilize mobilization planning, to include giving National Guard units five years at home between deployments and notifying units two years in advance of a deployment.
“As far as readying the force, notification this far out is a great thing,” Van Pelt said.
“They finally got notifications out in advance like everyone had been hoping for, and now that gives us plentyof time to figure out what our manning shortages are and time to work on those,” said Brig. Gen. Roger McClellan, Arkansas National Guard Joint Forces Land Component Commander.
“It also gives a commander time to build a plan to be sure everyone’s well trained and equipped.”
Va n P e l t and McClellan will meet in the next week to begin assessing the brigade’s needs. Next, McClellan plans a pre-deployment screening of each soldier, called the Soldier Readiness Process, to identify any soldiers with personal or medical issues that need to be dealt with before deployment as well as which soldiers are planning to leave the Guard before the deployment.
“Some people will decide to get out,” Van Pelt said. “But there is not anything you can do about that. The soldier volunteered, so it’s his prerogative if he wants to finish his [enlistment] and get out.”
The 39th, authorized to have 3,465 soldiers, has 3,100 soldiers in its ranks.
In any given month, about 61 of those soldiers are either eligible for retirement or at the end of their enlistment and free to leave the National Guard. Additionally, on average, about 400 soldiers are new recruits still training or on specialized orders.
The last deployment pulled soldiers from every unit in the Arkansas National Guard to fill the 39th’s ranks. McClellan said that will not be the case this time around. For one, this mission requires specific military skills.
The National Guard Bureau has promised the 39th a battalion from another state to help fill out the ranks - just as it did in 2004. For that deployment, an Oregon National Guard battalion was assigned to the 39th.
“That gives you about 500 additional soldiers you don’t have to pull out of other units,” McClellan said.
The 39th has been called upon more than many other National Guard brigades over the years. And the call-ups are not made lightly, but involve many moving parts.
It starts with the commanders in Afghanistan projecting future combat needs and then moves through the Pentagon, with each step refining the qualifications needed and identifying available units across the active duty, reserve and National Guard.
When the request landed at the National Guard Bureau, it once again called on Arkansas.
“That’s a compliment to the 39th,” McClellan said. “They have a very good reputation and very good leadership and reputation. You continue to do a good job, and you’re going to be continually asked to step up.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/31/2010