Paratroopers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, deploy from Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina on January 1. Capt. Robyn Haake/US Army/AFP/Getty Images
The US will deploy thousands of additional troops to the Middle East as tensions with Iran mount following the airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani, a US defense official told CNN.
The additional troops will come from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division. CNN has previously reported that these forces had been placed on prepare-to-deploy orders and would be sent to the region if the situation merited it.
Following the disturbance at the US embassy in Baghdad, the US deployed 750 troops from the same unit and said that additional deployments were possible.
The new deployment will encompass the rest of the brigade, typically about 3,000 soldiers.
SonOfTK421 on January 3rd, 2020 at 22:39 UTC »
There are people who are the children of enlisted men and women from the original "War on Terror" who are being deployed to the middle east now.
xSPUDSMcGEEx on January 3rd, 2020 at 19:52 UTC »
"Oh boy, here I go killing again!"
vivisectioned on January 3rd, 2020 at 18:14 UTC »
How many soldiers does US have in the world?