101st Airborne to Command French, Polish Troops in Afghanistan

As part of the 101st Airborne’s deployment preparations, officers are training directly with the French and Polish troops who will be under their command in Afghanistan.

Brigadier General Pierre Chavancy has had his staff working side-by-side with headquarters personnel at Fort Campbell for the last two weeks. Chavancy’s 3,000 troops will be one of six brigades under the command of the 101st Airborne Division.

“My brigade with will be totally part of the 101st. And as such, no caveats and as such we have to train together in order to better our knowledge, and I take great benefit from these kind of exercises.”

Chavancy says he and his soldiers will be completely committed to Maj. Gen. John Campbell’s orders. But as division commander, Campbell says some countries do bring caveats, like more restrictive rules of engagement. He says it still makes sense to use an international force.

“They bring some great strengths to the table here, and our coalition partners sometimes see things in a different light than we do, and I think we’re better because of it.”

Campbell will travel to Afghanistan this month to assess conditions on the ground. He’ll return for a year-long deployment this summer.

101st Takes New Commitment to Afghan Cooperation on Deployment

Fort Campbell troops headed to Afghanistan are taking a renewed commitment to building up Afghan forces.

All four brigade combat teams with the 101st Airborne Division will deploy to Afghanistan this year, along with an aviation brigade and the division headquarters. That’s roughly 20,000 soldiers in all.

Maj. Gen. Campbell commands the division and says he’s focused on including the Afghan military in a way he wasn’t on previous stints in the country.

“We’re embedded with our Afghan partners. Every operation we do is with our Afghan partners. In the past, we may have said, ‘second thought, let’s bring them in on the planning or we’ve got to do this quick.’ Everything we do is by through and with our Afghan partners.”

As part of training exercises over the last two weeks at Fort Campbell, military leaders from both Afghanistan and Pakistan have been training at the post.

Fort Campbell troops have already started leaving for Afghanistan. Others will ship out this summer and will be gone 12 months.