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Army Reserve Unit to Train Iraqi Troops
The Army Reserve is sending to Iraq about 800 soldiers from a unit that normally trains reserve and active-duty soldiers in the United States and has never deployed overseas in the 45 years that it has been part of the Reserve. Members of the Rochester, N.Y.-based 98th Division will begin heading to Iraq next month to help train the fledgling Iraqi army, and they will be there for 12 months, Army Reserve officials said Thursday.Lt. Gen. James Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve, pointed to the highly unusual mobilization as an illustration of how part-time soldiers must get used to the idea that they can be called to active duty, even if they are members of a non-combat unit like the 98th. Since word went out that the 98th was going to Iraq, ``I've gotten cards, letters, e-mails (asking), `How can you do that?''' Helmly said, referring to reaction within the Reserve to mobilizing and sending to a combat zone a unit that does not have its own vehicles and weapons. The 800 soldiers will form what Helmly called a provisional command, the Foreign Army Training and Assistance Command, operating under the direction of Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who is responsible for building up Iraqi security forces so that U.S. forces can eventually go home. Posted by: Steve White 2004-09-19 |
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