Deployments extended for Hawai'i-based troops

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Dec/01/br/br03p.html

About 4,400 troops of the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, which is based in Hawai'i, will have their deployments extended until mid-March, instead of departing in early January, military officials said today. Those soldiers are operating in north-central Iraq.
Also, about 2,300 members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, based in Okinawa, Japan and in Hawai'i and California, will stay until mid-March instead of leaving in January.

The extensions come as the United States is expanding its military force in Iraq by 12,000 troops, to the highest level since the war began in March 2003, in order to bolster security in advance of national elections, officials said today.