POPE ARMY AIR FIELD, N.C. – Soldiers of the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps have begun deploying to Kuwait and should have fully assumed their role leading the counter-ISIL campaign by mid-August, completing the transcontinental swap of nearly 450 troops and their equipment.
Much of the equipment – command, control and communication systems, vehicles, aircraft – the unit will use is already in theater, Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Steve Towsend said during a short talk with reporters today. Some systems both units have, but the version the incoming corps is equipped with is technologically superior to the same systems deployed a year ago. In that case, Townsend will take his “widgets” along.
Cycling new and improved equipment into a combat zone is standard procedure for the Army, which has used that model throughout the war in Afghanistan and in the previous Iraq conflict. In this case, the corps that will swap have different operational structures and specialties.
Townsend’s corps is trained and equipped for airborne, early forcible entry operations from fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which differs in makeup and capability from the unit it will replace.
“His corps is the heavy armored fist of the U.S. Army,” Townsend said. “Tanks and Bradleys – I have a few of those and he’s got a lot of them. In his headquarters he has some gear that I don’t have, but he may not be using it to prosecute the war and my version of it will work just fine.”
That does not mean that Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, whose 3rd Corps is heading up OIR currently, has tanks and armored vehicles on alert in Kuwait or with forward troops in Baghdad.
At least 450 soldiers from the 18th Airborne will deploy to Kuwait where they will replace the personnel and headquarters of Army 3rd Corps, which is an armor unit.
MacFarland’s headquarters include command-and-control equipment suitable for overseeing operation of an armored corps while Townsend’s is outfitted with equipment geared toward airborne rapid-response operations.
A contingent of 18th Corps troops dubbed Task Force Dragon will remain at Fort Bragg as an operational reserve with the ability to “support those forward” troops, according to information provided by Fort Bragg officials.
Typically, an Army corps headquarters deploys on a yearlong rotation but “18th Airborne soldiers are prepared to continue their mission until our corps mission is complete.”
Townsend, who earlier in the day met with Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, will take over Operation Inherent Resolve just as U.S.-trained and equipped Iraqi troops are readying to assault ISIL’s regional capital in Mosul, Iraq. He and Carter both said the transition would allow fresh eyes on the campaign. Townsend also does not yet know what capabilities and equipment he will ultimately need to support a successful recapture of Mosul by the Iraqis. He will make an assessment after some time on the ground and has Carter’s blessing of full support.
“New eyes, fresh eyes, bring new ideas,” Townsend said. “That’s true of any changeover, so even if it is exactly the same type of unit, there will be some new perspectives and new ideas.”