The Department of Defense announced today the alert of two units to deploy as part of upcoming rotations of forces operating in Afghanistan and Kuwait. The scheduled rotation for these replacement forces will begin in early 2012.
The announcement involves two Army National Guard brigade combat teams totaling approximately 7,520 personnel.
Specific units:
27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, New York National Guard
55th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Pennsylvania National Guard
The 27th IBCT is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan to perform security force assistance, and the 55th HBCT is scheduled to deploy to Kuwait to provide force protection and convoy security. [emphasis added]
I don't recall seeing units identified as going to Kuwait before. It seems like a lot of troops for convoy security and force protection in Kuwait. Or will this unit provide convoy security throughout Iraq too in order to support our (as of now) planned civilian-dominated presence after this year?
Or the Kuwait deployment announcement could just be something I never noticed before.
