Roughly 1,230 soldiers at Fort Polk are scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan for about nine months during the first half of July, Capt. Will Brink said.

The Department of Defense announced last week that Fort Polk’s 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, will deploy as part of the upcoming summer rotation of forces operating in Afghanistan.

Brigade Combat Team Commander Col. Mario Diaz said the team, which will serve as a security force assistance brigade, will advise and assist their Afghan counterparts to help establish a secure Afghanistan.

Brink said the main focus of the rotation and what makes it “unique” is the “shift in focus from us fighting with the Afghans and partnering with them to giving them the front seat, and making sure they’re in the lead. We are just advising at this point.”

“Their success will be our success,” Diaz said in a news release. “There are no soldiers in our Army more prepared to accomplish this mission.”

Diaz said soldiers have completed “rigorous training of the highest development” at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk.

The unit is the first in the Army to field and deploy Capability Set-13 — the Army’s newest generation of command and control equipment, he said.

“Our leadership in the 10th Mountain Division and the leaders and agencies on Fort Polk have worked tirelessly to ensure we have the support needed to successfully accomplish our mission and care for our families,” Diaz said.

Brink said a troop send-off ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Friday.

(American Press Archives)