The U.S. Army announced Tuesday that it will deploy soldiers from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Afghanistan this summer and soldiers from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Iraq this fall.
Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division's 101st Combat Aviation Brigade at Campbell will deploy to Iraq to replace the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, according to an Army press release.
This fall, the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters will deploy from Bragg to Iraq to replace the III Corps headquarters as part of a regular mission to support Operation Inherent Resolve, the release states.
Operation Inherent Resolve is the mission to defeat ISIS extremists in Iraq and Syria that began in 2014.
The 101st CAB's deployment is part of a regularly scheduled rotation to support Operation Freedom's Sentinel in Afghanistan.
"The deployment will be a challenge. However, we do not doubt that our soldiers are ready," Col. Craig Alia, the 101st CAB commander, said in the release.
Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, which began with the formal close of combat in Afghanistan in 2014, focuses on training and advising Afghan troops to provide security for their own country amid a continued Taliban insurgency.
Command Sgt. Maj. Reginald Thomas, command sergeant major for the 101st CAB, said the unit has been training for more than a year to "outthink, outwill and outfight the enemy; that's exactly what we are going to do."
-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
