FORT CARSON, Colo.—Fort Carson bade a formal farewell Thursday to 3,800 soldiers who are leaving for Afghanistan, where they’ll spend the next 12 months teaching local police and Afghan troops how to run a modern defense force.
After a brisk 30-minute ceremony paced by traditional bugle calls, Col. Jeffrey Martindale told his soldiers they are going to Afghanistan at a decisive time.
“We will not fail,” Martindale said.
About 98,000 U.S. troops are deployed in Afghanistan as the Obama administration tries to build up a government capable of defending itself against insurgents and al-Qaida. The strategy faces growing skepticism in Congress as U.S. casualties rise.
The troops under Martindale’s command, the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, will be deployed in southern and western Afghanistan.
Martindale’s command is a “heavy brigade” that normally uses tanks and armored vehicles but had to retrain as an infantry brigade for this mission.
“We’re not going out there to knock down walls and tear things up,” said Capt. Earl Brown, the brigade’s public affairs officer. “We’re going to support the Afghan forces.”
Second Lt. Nicholas Lange said this will be the second or third deployment for some in the brigade.
Asked if multiple deployments had left them weary, Lange said it had given them a “reserved confidence” instead.
A 1st Brigade advance party is already in Afghanistan, and the rest of the soldiers were scheduled to start leaving on Friday. Brown said it will take about a month to get all 3,800 to Afghanistan.
At Thursday’s ceremony, the brigade’s red and black flag was ceremonially “cased” for the trip overseas. Martindale, the commander, and Command Sgt. Maj. Gerald Kinloch, the brigade’s top enlisted soldier, furled the flag around its wooden standard and slipped a camouflage sleeve over it.
The sleeve will be removed and the flag unfurled in Afghanistan, signifying that the brigade is ready for its mission.
The 4th Infantry Division has four brigades, all based at Fort Carson. One is currently in Iraq and the other two have rotated back to the post after overseas deployments.
