New faces, familiar training for the 173rd

[unhappycamper]

Spc. Brandon Davidson, 21, of Lake Placid, Fla., grabs more M-203 grenade rounds to fire at enemy fighters in the Narang Valley, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, in May, 2008. Davidson is a soldier with 3rd Platoon, Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade. Since returning from downrange, more than half of the brigade's soldiers have left. Command officials don't expect to be at full strength until summer.


New faces, familiar training for the 173rd
By Kent Harris, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, January 17, 2009

VICENZA, Italy — The patches, the uniforms and a lot of the equipment will be the same. But by the time the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team is called upon to deploy again, there will be a lot of new faces among the Sky Soldiers.

Command Sgt. Maj. Nicolas Rolling took over his duties in October — shortly after the brigade returned from more than a year in Afghanistan. Since then, 1,400 soldiers have left for other units or decided to pursue other careers.

"That’s about a 50 percent drop-off," Rolling said Wednesday in an interview at the brigade’s headquarters.

He said the brigade’s ranks are currently about 65 percent filled and he doesn’t expect to reach full strength again until July — a few months before the brigade might be expected to deploy again.

Bruce Anderson, a spokesman for U.S. Army Europe, said the 173rd has not received any deployment orders. He said USAREUR doesn’t issue such orders, but announces them in conjunction with the Department of Defense. Units are given a minimum of 12 months back at their home base before deploying again, with a goal of 15 months at home.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60068