A M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle drives during a combined-arms, live-fire exercise at Fort Cavazos, Texas, on Jan. 20, 2024. (David Dumas/U.S. Army)
Thousands of U.S.-based soldiers from seven units will deploy overseas in the coming months on “regular rotations of forces” to Europe and the Middle East, the Army announced Wednesday.
The bulk of the forces deploying to Europe will come from the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Cavazos, Texas, which is preparing to send some 5,500 soldiers to the Continent to replace units from the Army’s 3rd and 1st Infantry Divisions. A unit from Fort Carson, Colo., will also deploy to Europe on the mission to bolster NATO’s deterrence of Russian aggression. A unit from Fort Drum, N.Y., will deploy to the Middle East in support of operations to ensure the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Army said.
From Fort Cavazos, the 1st Cavalry Division Headquarters, its 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, its combat aviation brigade, its sustainment brigade and its division artillery unit will deploy to Europe to train alongside partner nations as part of the decade-old U.S. efforts to dissuade Russia from aggressive acts in Europe. That mission was first launched in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and beefed up in 2022 after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of the neighboring country.
The division’s headquarters will replace the 3rd Infantry Division headquarters, which deployed to Poland in September to command a U.S. Army task force of soldiers operating there and in the Baltic nations, according to the service.
The division’s 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team will replace the 3rd ID’s 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team. The 1st Cavalry Division’s artillery unit and sustainment brigade will replace the 3rd ID’s artillery and sustainment brigade, and its combat aviation brigade will replace the 1st Infantry Division’s combat aviation brigade, according to the service.
The deployments are expected to last about nine months.
Maj. Gen. Kevin Admiral, the 1st Cavalry Division’s commander, said Wednesday that his soldiers had spent recent months preparing for the deployments.
“This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the First Team’s [combat] readiness and clearly highlights and reinforces America’s military commitment, which I know every trooper will embrace with professionalism and dedication,” Admiral said. “The 1st Cavalry Division is set and focused on strengthening bonds with our NATO allies through tough, realistic training.”
Fort Carson’s 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division will also deploy in the spring to Europe, where it will replace the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division.
Meanwhile, Fort Drum’s 10th Mountain Division combat aviation brigade will deploy to the Middle East in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. It will replace the 82nd Airborne Division’s combat aviation brigade, which deployed in December to Kuwait to conduct aviation operations across the Middle East. The 82nd CAB, from Fort Liberty, N.C., is the first active-duty helicopter-flying unit to conduct the aviation mission in the Middle East in nearly a decade, according to the Army.
