JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. (AP) — Joint Base Lewis-McChord held a deployment ceremony Tuesday to bid farewell to the 3rd Stryker Brigade for the fourth time in eight years.
The News Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/rCSEIO ) only 2,500 of the 4,200 soldiers in the brigade are taking part in this year-long deployment.
The commander, Col. Charles Webster Jr., says a full brigade is not needed as U.S. forces are drawn down. Some remaining soldiers are scheduled to go to Afghanistan next year and others will continue to train at Lewis-McChord.
The 3rd Stryker Brigade was the first Stryker brigade to go to war with the eight-wheel Stryker vehicles in Iraq in 2003. The Army now has eight such units.