Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter soldiers and their families got good news from the Army that deployments to Afghanistan after Jan. 1 will be shortened by three months.
The change, announced Friday, will not affect the 2,600 Schofield soldiers and aviators belonging to the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, who have been notified they will be deployed to Afghanistan, and the 3,500 soldiers of the 3rd "Bronco" Brigade already deployed there.
Col. Frank Tate, commander of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade, said, "As of today we are still on a 12-month rotation."
Tate said some units, like his helicopter unit, are not covered by the Army’s new directive that cuts the one-year deployment tour. But that could change, Tate added.
Army Secretary John M. McHugh signed a directive Friday instituting a nine-month "boots-on-the-ground" policy for deployed soldiers, providing more "dwell time" at home for soldiers and their families beginning Jan. 1. Current deployments are for 12 months, with a goal of 24 months at home.
"Implementation of this change is based on the projected demand for Army forces, and remains contingent on global security conditions and combatant commanders’ requirements," said Lt. Col. Peggy Kageleiry, an Army spokeswoman, in a Pentagon news release.
The policy’s goal, Pentagon officials said, is to reduce the amount of time soldiers are deployed and provide more time for them to spend with their families, depending on the needs of the commander and the potential of decreased operations.
The 25th Combat Aviation Brigade is expected to begin flying missions in southern Afghanistan early next year. It is being sent to Kandahar, Helmand and other provinces in southern Afghanistan with 26 two-seat OH-58D Kiowa Warriors, 14 Chinooks and about 55 Black Hawks based here. This will be the brigade’s fourth combat deployment.
Units sent before the policy takes effect in January will continue to have 12-month deployments.
This means Schofield Barracks’ 3rd "Bronco" Brigade, led by McKinley High graduate Col. Richard C. Kim, will remain in Kunar, Nuristan and Nangarhar provinces on the eastern border with Pakistan until next spring. The brigade left Schofield Barracks in March on a scheduled 12-month tour.
Reserve and National Guard unit tour lengths will be the same as active duty: nine months. In their case, though, Army officials noted, deployment and mobilization are two different issues. Even though these units might still be mobilized for 12 or more months, they will spend only nine months of that mobilization deployed.
This means no change to the Hawaii Army National Guard’s 29th Brigade Combat Team, which is preparing for a possible deployment to Afghanistan in 2013.
Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii National Guard spokesman, said no official word has been received whether the 29th Brigade will go to Afghanistan.
Anthony also pointed out that when the brigade was sent to Kuwait and Iraq in 2008, it was there for only nine months.
Returning to Hawaii next week are 150 aviators and crew members belonging to the Hawaii Army National Guard’s Bravo Company, 171st Aviation, who have been in Afghanistan for a year. The unit deployed with 12 CH-47 Chinook cargo helicopters in August for the second time since 2004.
Under President Barack Obama’s order, all 33,000 "surge" troops are to leave Afghanistan by the end of September 2012, leaving an American deployment of about 68,000.
