The Austin American-Statesman (Texas) March 18, 2003
1,100 more Fort Hood troops will be sent overseas
By Steven Kraytak
About 1,100 U.S. Army support soldiers from Fort Hood will deploy today and Wednesday to the U.S. Central Command area, the theater of operations that includes the Middle East.
The troops preparing to leave are all from the 13th Corps Support Command. The deployments will bring the total number of troops sent from the giant military post near Killeen to more than 3,100. The Army does not list the specific destination or assignment of the troops.
Of those who have already gone, about 700 are from the 1st Cavalry Division, including the 227th Aviation Battalion, an Apache attack helicopter unit.
The rest of the 1st Cavalry, which is composed of about 17,000 troops, and the 12,500 members of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), based at Fort Hood, have received deployment orders but are still in Texas awaiting specific instructions.
The 4th Infantry was expected to form the bulk of a northern attack from Turkey in the case of war, but that country has refused to allow the troops. Their equipment sits in barges off Turkey's coast.
Scheduled to leave today is the 720th Military Police Battalion. Already gone are a variety of support troops, including the 62nd Engineering Battalion and the 507th Air Medical Company, an air ambulance helicopter unit.
A departure ceremony for the police battalion will be at 1 p.m. today at Fort Hood's Gauntlet field.
If the entire 1st Cavalry and 4th Infantry are deployed as planned, Fort Hood's contribution to the war buildup would be about 32,000 troops. During the Gulf War, 26,000 troops from Fort Hood served in the Middle East.
-- Steven Kreytak
Troops ready to begin a 'rolling start'
U.S. military forces poised to attack Iraq now number more than 225,000, with another 90,000 on the way. About 25,000 British troops are also in the region. There are about 1,000 Air Force, Navy and Marine combat and support aircraft in the area. Senior American and British commanders have said they could begin an invasion of Iraq even as more combat units continue to arrive in the region, an approach they call a 'rolling start.'
Main forces in Kuwait
Most of the 130,000 Americans in Kuwait are housed in several desert camps a few miles from the Iraqi border. They include:
* About 21,000 troops of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division.
* More than 21,000 troops of the Army's 101st Airborne Division.
* About 64,000 Marines of the 1st and 3rd Marine expeditionary forces.
* 5,000 troops of the 82nd Airborne Division.
* Headquarters elements of the Army's V Corps. Key U.S. command and communications staff have been arriving at two major bases, Camp Doha and Camp Arifjan.
* A few thousand Special Operations troops.
* In addition, there are about 25,000 British troops in northern Kuwait.
Air bases
* The Air Force has sent F-15C fighters, F-15E attack jets, F-16 fighters, A-10 attack jets, Predator unmanned spy planes and radar aircraft to the region. Bases are located in Turkey, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia.
* Several radar-avoiding F-117A 'stealth' attack jets are now doing practice flights at Al-Udeid in Qatar.
* B-52 bombers began arriving in Britain in recent days. Other B-52s along with B-1 bombers are already in the Gulf.
* B-52 and B-1 long-range bombers and radar-avoiding B-2 stealth bombers are also stationed on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
U.S. naval forces
* In or near the Persian Gulf: The carriers Kitty Hawk, Abraham Lincoln and Constellation and their support ships. In the eastern Mediterranean: the carriers Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman and their support ships.
* A sixth carrier, the Nimitz, sailed from San Diego on March 3. It arrives next month.
* A dozen missile-firing Navy vessels, including at least three attack submarines, have been sent to the Red Sea.
Deployed, but not yet in Kuwait
* 24,000 troops from the 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Hood; 26,000 troops from the 1st Armored Division, at Fort Riley, Kan., and in Germany; and 10,000 troops from the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Polk, La.
* Army's 4th Infantry Division troops, from Fort Hood, are still in Texas, but ships carrying their equipment have been waiting off the coast of Turkey.
* About 4,700 troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Carson, Colo.
Sources: Military officials; Globalsecurity.org; Center for Defense Information; Reuters; The New York Times
GRAPHIC: Sgt. Carlos De La Cruz, 25, and his wife, Pfc. Wishonda De La Cruz, 20, are stationed at Fort Hood. They met in a field training exercise last year and were married by a justice of the peace seven months ago. They have been given orders to deploy with the 4th Infantry Division but will serve in different units. 'I feel like we're just starting our life together,' Wishonda De La Cruz said.
Copyright © 2003, The Austin American Statesman
