Some 1,700 soldiers will deploy to Iraq before the end of the year, the Army announced Thursday.
The soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C., will deploy in December in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. They will train, advise and assist Iraqi security forces in the fight against the Islamic State.
“Our paratroopers are prepared for this deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve,” Col. James “Pat” Work, commander of 2nd BCT, 82nd Airborne Division, said in a press release. “Our team looks forward to this important mission and our opportunity to assist our Iraqi partners.”
The troops will replace the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, which has been in Iraq since the spring. The deployment will be for nine months.
President Barack Obama ended the war in Iraq in December 2011, saying the U.S. was leaving behind a “sovereign, stable and self-reliant” country.
“It’s harder to end a war than begin one,” Obama said during his announcement in Fort Bragg. “Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq -– all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering -– all of it has led to this moment of success.”
There are currently more than 4,500 American troops in Iraq.
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