1st ID HQ prepares for a changing Iraq

[unhappycamper]

1st ID HQ prepares for a changing Iraq
By John Milburn - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Nov 5, 2009 15:54:30 EST

FORT RILEY, Kan. — In the coming months, the 1st Infantry Division will roll up its “Big Red One” flag and plant it in Iraq for a year, the scene of a fight that’s slowly becoming America’s other war.

It’s far from the war that many officers and soldiers of the division fought just a few years back. But none of them have a problem with that new reality.

As the 1st Infantry Division’s commanding general and his staff prepare for their upcoming turn in Iraq, the nation’s focus has shifted to what was once considered “the other war” being fought in Afghanistan.

“It’s a different environment that we’re going into,” Maj. Gen. Vincent Brooks said Wednesday. “It’s easy to lose focus on the work to be done when it’s not the primary focus. Afghanistan is the primary focus.”

President Barack Obama is considering recommendations from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to change the strategy in Afghanistan, including a request to increase troop levels from between 10,000 to 60,000. At the same time, the U.S. continues to wind down Iraq operations, eyeing a near complete withdraw of combat forces by the end of 2011.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/11/ap_1st_id_iraq_110509/