Fort Campbell Unit to Deploy Six Months Earlier Than Expected

The headquarters unit of the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Fort Campbell will be deploying to Afghanistan late next spring. That’s about six months earlier than had been expected.

The unit of over a thousand supports the commanding general, providing intelligence and overseeing U.S. operations in the region.

The unit from the 101st just returned from Afghanistan in June. The Army tries to give soldiers more than a year of what it calls “dwell time” at home between deployments.

Since last year the 101st has been taking turns in Afghanistan with the 82nd Airborne Division. Major Patrick Seiber says that unit is extending its time in Afghanistan by about two months to afford the 101st more time at home before it redeploys.

“Now we’re relieving them again. So it’s been flip-flopping, and hopefully there’ll be a different unit then getting in the mix so that they’ll get a little more cycle through there.”

Seiber says in May or June the 101st will return to the same part of Afghanistan where it just spent 15 months. He says that’s an advantage for the command and control unit, because it will take less time getting to know the area.