101st Airborne’s 1st Brigade to deploy almost 2,000

Nearly half the soldiers stationed at Ft. Campbell with the First Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne will deploy to Afghanistan beginning in about two weeks.

“We’re going to deploy to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom,” said Col. J.P. McGee, First Brigade Combat Team commander, at Cumberland University during a community briefing Tuesday evening.

Soldiers will begin deploying about Oct. 28, and most of the remainder will deploy within about a month, according to McGee.

The total number of troops in this deployment will be nearly 2,000. The scheduled length of this deployment is nine months.

“We have been designated as one of the Army’s first Security Force Assistance Brigades,” said McGee.

The brigade will be split into 16-person teams focused on improving the quality of Afghan’s security forces.

He explained the Security Force Assistance Teams will help the Afghan National Army, Afghan police and Afghan border police integrate U.S. assets – such as drones, intelligence, helicopters and medivacs – into Afghan operations.

“Our mission is going to be to enable Afghan security forces to take responsibility for their areas, and then work with the Afghan government – to a lesser degree, but still an important part of this – to have them be able to provide a degree of governance,” said McGee. “The degree of governance they’re going to expect in Afghanistan is going to vary by location, and it’s not going to be like it is in the United States.”

Soldiers from the brigade have been training for this deployment for the last 18 months.

“The largest concern, the most prevalent concern (among soldiers in the brigade), is not whether they’re going to go to Afghanistan,” said McGee. “It’s whether they’re going to be left home at Fort Campbell. The majority of our soldiers joined the army to go to point of combat because they know that’s where they’ll make a difference.”

Staff writer Sara McManamy-Johnson can be reached at 615-444-3952, ext. 16 or sjohnson@lebanondemocrat.com.