Following on the heels of a press release announcing the deployment of the 3rd Infantry Division’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion to Afghanistan, the commander of the 3rd ID and Fort Stewart-Hunter Army Airfield, Maj. Gen. Robert “Abe” Abrams, held a press conference Thursday afternoon at 3rd ID headquarters.

“First of all, I want to express my sincere appreciation to the people of Coastal Georgia for their support for our soldiers and their families,” Abrams said, after reading a statement about the 3rd ID’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion notification by the Department of the Army to deploy to Afghanistan in August.

“This is the mission our country has called us to do. Our soldiers and their families knew the call would come. The notice was not a surprise. We had a ‘heads-up’ about it a couple months ago, (so) I led a pre-deployment site survey to Afghanistan in December.”

Abrams said he will serve as commander of the Regional Command South, one of four International Security Assistance Force regional commands responsible for all ISAF operations in Afghanistan. The division headquarters battalion includes about 700 3rd ID soldiers from various staff components and support elements, he said.

“I will have operational and tactical command of this region, which is located at Kandahar Airbase,” he said, then explained how his troops are training to prepare for the deployment. “Obviously, it’s geographically different from Iraq. Our soldiers are training for a different climate, terrain, language and culture.”

Read more in the Jan. 21 edition of the News.