Boots on the ground before the New Year.
The first group of 3rd Brigade Combat Team paratroopers to deploy for Iraq is slated to follow a narrow security mission, but is ready for whatever is asked of it.
“Our specific mission is to go perform in a security role and guard a fixed site with American interests in Iraq,” said Lt. Col. Jacob Larkowich, commander of 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team.
“The paratroopers are prepared for a broad range of missions,” he said. “If they’re asked to do something, they’ll be capable of doing it. If we just guard a fixed site for some number of months before coming home, they’re prepared to do that as well.”
Earlier this month, officials announced about 250 paratroopers from 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, will deploy to Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. They will leave in late December and could be deployed for nine months.
The paratroopers will conduct security operations, according to officials.
Larkowich said the paratroopers are not tasked to work alongside or train Iraqi soldiers, but “it’s not outside the realm of possibility.”
Security and guard missions are part of the unit’s core functions, Larkowich said.
The unit will relieve another infantry unit that has been conducting the security mission, Larkowich said.