First Advisory Brigades to Iraq

July 14, 2009 12:33 PM

ABC News' Luis Martinez reports:

There’s a new acronym at the Pentagon, AAB, it stands for Advisory and Assistance Brigade.  These are the new Army brigades that will take over the training mission in Iraq after August, 2010 when the US troops in Iraq convert from a combat mission to a new training and advisory mission.  The Pentagon announced a scheduled troop rotation for Iraq today that includes the first AAB’s to serve in Iraq.

The goal is to have five to six of these brigades making up the bulk of the 30,000 to 50,000 US troops that will remain in Iraq after August, 2010.

The creation of the new brigades was announced as part of President Obama’s Iraqi withdrawal plan announced earlier this year.  Under the Iraqi-US Security Agreement, all US troops are scheduled to be out of Iraq by the end of 2011.

The  AAB’s will retain the command structure of Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCT’s), but the troops will be be trained to work as military advisors .  They will also be augmented by additional field-grade officers (Majors, Lt. Colonels, and Colonels) and combat support troops not usually found in BCT’s.  The additional troops will consist of engineers, military police and civil affairs personnel.  

The units will receive specialized training before departing for Iraq to include scenario-based training to reflect the socio-political challenges currently facing Iraq. They will still be able to conduct counter-terror missions and serve in a combat capacity if needed, but their focus will be to serve as training and assistance brigades.  As a set of Pentagon talking points highlight, the “AAB mission focuses less on kinetic or combat operations and more on advising, assisting, and developing the capabilities of Iraqi Security Forces.”  

A Defense official says that an additional brigade combat team already scheduled to head to Iraq later this year is likely to be re-missioned upon its arrival and become the first AAB to serve in Iraq.   The four units announced today would then head to Iraq early next year.

The four units announced today are the: the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division from Ft. Benning, Georgia, the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the 3rd Infantry Division from Ft. Stewart, Georgia and the 3rd Brigade, 4rd Infantry Division,  Ft. Carson, Colorado.

An additional three brigade combat teams were also announced today as a scheduled rotation of troops for Iraq: the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division, from Ft. Bliss, Texas and the 1st and 2nd Brigades from the 10th Mountain Division, Ft. Drum, New York..
 
The Pentagon also announced today the scheduled rotation of two combat brigades that will replace troops in Afghanistan early next year.  They are the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team out of Vicenza, Italy and the 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky.