25th Infantry
Division will be
beefed up with
480 more troops

The additional soldiers
will be part of switching one
unit of the division
to a fast-attack force

---

By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The 25th Infantry Division will be beefed up with an additional 480 more soldiers as part of the Army's attempt to improve its "strategic mobility" and its desire to get a lot of combat power faster into the hot spots in the Pacific.

This will mean that the majority of the Army's new medium-weight brigades will be set up to deploy to the Pacific region, marking a shift in focus from European engagements to operations in Southwest Asia, according to the Army's two top leaders.

In announcing that the 25th Division's 2nd Brigade will be one of four new Interim Brigade Combat Teams, Army Secretary Thomas E. White said the challenge facing his troops in the Pacific today is "strategic mobility."

"We don't have, beyond Korea, a great deal of forward stationing of forces and so if we're going to conduct business in Southwest Asia or other parts of the Pacific Rim, we're going to have to ship forces in there to get it done, just like we did in Desert Storm."

With two of these fast-response brigades posted at Fort Lewis on the West Coast, one in Alaska and another in Hawaii, White said the Army is closer to its goal.

However, the brigades will be capable of being deployed anywhere in the world, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki said at the same Pentagon news conference.

Shinseki, a two-tour Vietnam War veteran, said the change will add balance to the posture of the Army's forces which are currently aimed at curbing problems in Europe. "This is adding a little balance and looking at the importance, the growing interest and challenges in the Asia Pacific theater, and in the Pacific, it's the tyranny of distances"

Chuck Muston, U.S. Army Pacific spokesman, said the strength of the 2,900-member 2nd Brigade will be increased by another 480 soldiers and it will receive another 435 vehicles. Included in that number will 300 of the Army's new eight-wheeled light armored vehicle.

Muston said the entire conversion of the Tropic Lightning's 2nd Brigade will take place over the next years following the outcome of an Army environmental impact statement process which the Army hopes to complete by this fall.

Muston couldn't say how many new buildings would be needed at Schofield Barracks to accommodate the increase in soldiers and vehicles.

Each of the new brigades will cost $1 billion, Shinseki said.