State's Biggest Guard Unit Returning To Afghanistan

Video: WFLA Natalie Shepard Report

WASHINGTON - Florida's largest National Guard unit, which includes several companies and batteries from the Tampa Bay area, has been alerted that it is to be deployed again to Afghanistan in 2009.

With 3,400 soldiers stationed across the state, the 53rd Infantry Brigade will "assume battle space in Afghanistan" to perform a range of operations starting in the summer of 2009, the Pentagon announced today.

More than 1,200 members of the brigade, with headquarters in Pinellas Park, returned from their first active-duty tour in Afghanistan as recently as in mid-2006.

For some of them, this could be a third tour to a "battle space" since 2001.

Two battalions were mobilized in December 2002 and deployed as "part of the initial Iraq push" in 2003, said Lt. Col. Ron Tittle, a spokesman for the Florida Army and Air National Guard.

"You're going to have mixed feelings on this," Tittle said of the Pentagon's announcement.

"This impacts not just the soldiers going off and taking care of the country's needs," Tittle said. "This brings everybody, family and employers, too, into the situation."

"But we know we have a mission to do," he said.

They'll begin the preparation and training during their upcoming unit training assemblies and annual training, he said.

Exactly how many of the brigade's soldiers who will be sent to Afghanistan in 2009 would be making repeat tours could not immediately be determined, said Tittle, because some members of the brigade have left and others have since joined.

The Pentagon made its announcement - given to brigade commanders during the weekend - this far in advance to give soldiers time to conduct training specific to Afghanistan and allow for family and employer planning.

The brigade's units and base of operations are:

* 53rd Special Troops Battalion (Pinellas Park, Lake City)

* 53rd Support Battalion (St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Tampa)

* 1st Battalion, 124th IN Regiment (Miami, Hollywood, West Palm

Beach, Cocoa).

* 2nd Battalion, 124th IN Regiment (Orlando, Sanford, Leesburg,

Eustis, Haines City).

* 1st Squadron, 153rd Cavalry Regiment (Panama City, Tallahassee, Pensacola, Chipley, Bonifay).

* 2nd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery Regiment (Lakeland, Bartow, Dade City, Winter Haven)

* 53rd Special Troops Battalion (Pinellas Park, Lake City)

* 53rd Support Battalion (St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Tampa)

Brigades are being sent to theaters of war intact based on the Pentagon's belief that they work more effectively when kept together.

In its announcement today, the Pentagon said this rotation reflects the continued U.S. commitment to assisting in the security of Afghanistan and the development of the Afghanistan National Security Forces.

It also said that troop levels in Afghanistan continue to be "conditions-based" and are determined based on the recommendations of military commanders in Afghanistan and in consultation with the Afghan government.

Until recently, the deployment of a Guardsman or Reservist for one year in Iraq or Afghanistan - the standard tour length for the Army - would usually entail up to 18 months on active duty.

But a new Pentagon policy calls for a maximum 12 months mobilization period, with the goal of five years at home before the next mobilization.

The 48th Infantry Brigade combat team from Georgia also has been alerted that it will be sent in the summer of 2009 to Afghanistan to concentrate on training Afghanistan National Security Forces. Together, about 7,000 service members have been told they will deploy in summer 2009.

The 53rd Infantry Brigade deployed more than 1,200 Soldiers in June 2005 to Afghanistan, where they served for a year to help train the Afghan National Army through the Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix.

Earlier, Tittle said three of the brigade's infantry battalions, consisting of nearly 1,800 Soldiers, were mobilized in December 2002. They became part of initial combat operations in Iraq in spring 2003.

"We expect these same battalions will be included in any future mobilizations of the brigade," Tittle said.