Fort Dix, N.J. – Maj. Gen. Glenn Rieth announced that the state's 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will be deploying to Iraq in 2008.  The Brigade deployment will bring the total number of New Jersey Soldiers now being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan to over 3200.  Additional units being sent overseas include an embedded training team, two aviation units and a military police company.  All units will be mobilized for one year, which includes stateside training and “boots on the ground” in theater.

      These units join a New Jersey Air National Guard security forces squadron already on a tour of duty in Iraq, conducting base security and entry control missions.  In addition to the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team deployment to Iraq, four other New Jersey Army National Guard units are involved in deployments in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

      An Embedded Training Team (ETT) has already been mobilized for deployment to Afghanistan.  This New Jersey team will provide experienced U.S. Army mentors and advisors to the Afghan National Army (ANA) in their effort to build a professional military force.

      Two New Jersey Army National Guard aviation units will be deploying assets, equipment and personnel to the Iraqi theater of operations on two separate occasions.  A General Support Company will be leaving in early 2008…then an Aviation Assault Battalion a year later.  Also, New Jersey will be sending a Military Police Company to Iraq .

      According to Maj. Gen. Rieth, the Adjutant General for New Jersey, the 50th Brigade will be conducting a variety of important missions in Iraq.  The brigade's pre-mobilization training begins immediately and will take place in New Jersey, with further theater-specific preparation being conducted out-of-state.

      “We will ensure that our Soldiers are fully mission capable and ready to deploy…and that their families are taken care of back home,” said Maj. Gen. Glenn Rieth, who in addition to being the Adjutant General is also Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.  He went on to say that, “I have assured Governor Corzine that these deployments will not prevent our state's National Guard from responding to emergencies at home.”

      Originally slated to go to Iraq in 2010, the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is being deployed earlier to compensate for the changes needed to comply with new Department of Defense policies.  Earlier this year, DoD had reduced the amount of time a unit will spend overseas in a combat theater, which in turn shifted mobilization schedules and required earlier deployments than anticipated.  In 2004, elements of the 50th Brigade had deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, around the same time that other New Jersey Guard units were sent over.