Another 4,000 Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldiers are deploying to Afghanistan late this spring, the Pentagon announced today.
The 2nd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division is due to arrive in Afghanistan late this spring. Many of its soldiers fought in Afghanistan in 2009-10, when the unit was called the 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division.
The soldiers are expected to serve a nine-month deployment. They will join about 4,700 Lewis-McChord soldiers who are currently serving in the country.
The 2nd Brigade’s coming deployment has been something of an open secret at Lewis-McChord for the past year.
Brigade commander Col. Barry Huggins telegraphed that message in November when he framed his soldier’s exercises at the National Training Center in Southern California around Afghan themes.
Huggins led Stryker soldiers on deployments to Iraq in 2003-04 and in 2006-07. He took command of the 2nd Brigade in July 2010 and has since shaped its image on the theme of "seize the high ground."
"Our soldiers represent the breadth and depth of experience of the last 10 years at war, and will bring that experience to bear as we fulfill our mission, in accordance with our values," Huggins said in a written statement today.
The brigade in 2009 fought on ground in Kandahar Province that NATO forces had not contested for much of the war. It lost 37 soldiers, most of them in the first three months of fighting.
We'll be updating the story today as we learn more about the mission.
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