Thousands of Paratroopers, Marines Deploy From NC Bases
Posted: Today at 4:35 p.m.
Updated: Today at 6:49 p.m.
RALEIGH, N.C. — The first round of thousands of troops scheduled to go to the Middle East will begin deploying Saturday from North Carolina military bases, the military said Thursday.
About 5,000 paratroopers in the 82nd Airborne Division's 4th Brigade Combat Team will begin leaving from Fort Bragg. The team includes about 3,500 soldiers, about 1,000 members of the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade and about 500 support and headquarters soldiers.
Paratroopers headed to Afghanistan will be gone a year.
At Camp Lejeune, about 200 Marines in the headquarters element of the 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward) begin traveling to Iraq.
Other Marines in the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force also are scheduled to deploy and more than 12,000 from Lejeune will be gone when the deployments are completed within a few weeks.
Spokesmen at both bases said the deployments were scheduled before President Bush ordered about 21,000 additional troops to Iraq earlier this month.
Maj. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin will command the Marines in Iraq. 82nd Airborne commander Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez will command the paratroopers in Afghanistan.
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