Army moving 500 soldiers to Camp Atterbury

[IndianaGreen]

Army moving 500 soldiers to Camp Atterbury

Updated: March 6, 2009 06:42 PM EST

Edinburgh - The Army is moving about 500 soldiers to the Indiana National Guard's Camp Atterbury this spring to help train troops being sent to Afghanistan.

The central Indiana base, which mobilizes about 10,000 soldiers a year for deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo, will gain a second training brigade with the move of the unit from Fort Bragg, N.C.

The additional trainers will allow the camp to prepare thousands more soldiers a year, but how many will come through is unknown because of the Obama administration's shift in the mission in Iraq, said Lt. Col. Ron Morris, Atterbury's deputy post commander.

About 1,000 soldiers are permanently stationed at Atterbury, and the 189th Infantry Brigade is being transferred there in April because Army officials have reduced the number of posts where mobilization training takes place from 10 to six.

The new brigade, consisting of active-duty soldiers and mobilized reservists, has been assigned to Camp Atterbury for about six months, with the Army deciding later whether to permanently reassign it there, Morris said.

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=9962747