FORT RILEY, Kansas – The Department of Defense today identified the 1st 
Infantry Division as the headquarters unit to deploy as part of the upcoming
transition of authority in Iraq. The deployment involves a division
headquarters element to support the combatant commander’s mission
requirements.

About 500 Soldiers from the 1st Inf. Div.’s Headquarters and Headquarters
Battalion will deploy to the Central Command area of responsibility in late
October. Of those 500, about 200 will deploy to Baghdad and Irbil, Iraq, as
part of the 475 troops President Barack Obama authorized Sept. 10 to deploy
to Iraq part of the nation’s strategy to degrade and destroy ISIL. The
troops will advise and assist the Iraqi Security Forces to help them go on
the offense against ISIL and conduct intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance flights. This will also increase the United States’ capacity
to target ISIL and coordinate the activities of the U.S. military across
Iraq.

“As brave, responsible and on-point Soldiers in the ‘Big Red One,’ we stand
ready to deploy anywhere in the world to protect the United States of
America, her citizens and her allies,” said Maj. Gen. Paul E. Funk II, 1st
Inf. Div. and Fort Riley commanding general. “We are ready for anything
because we know we have the nation behind us.”

The Big Red One Soldiers will replace service members who have been in Iraq
since June. These forces provide a similarly sized headquarters staff to
oversee the expanded range of activities that these U.S. personnel in Iraq
were assigned and expand the headquarters of the Joint Forces Land Component Command, which has operational control over activities in Iraq reporting to U.S. Central Command.

The 1st Inf. Div. Soldiers will begin to deploy in October and are preparing
for a one-year mission.