3rd Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Tony Cucolo told the Hinesville Rotary Club Tuesday the deployment “treadmill” is “slowing down.”
“We’ve been on one heck of a treadmill with multiple deployments,” Cucolo said. “But I can tell you there are no deployments for the 3rd ID on the horizon.”
Cucolo “briefed” Rotarians on the Marne Division’s mission in Iraq during the club’s weekly lunch meeting held Tuesday at Club Stewart. After the general’s presentation, club members boarded vans for a rolling tour of Fort Stewart. The tour focused on the installation’s construction projects such as the new 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team complex.
Although most of the 3rd ID troops are home, there are units still deployed overseas, the general reminded club members. The 3rd ID’s Combat Aviation Brigade out of Hunter will likely return to Afghanistan at some point, Cucolo said.
“The rest of us will be here for a bit,” he said.
Cucolo and the Division Special Troops Battalion returned to Fort Stewart on Nov. 5. The 2nd Heavy Combat Brigade Team returned this past fall and the 1st HCBT returned in December.
The 3rd Sustainment Brigade deployed to Iraq last April and will redeploy this spring. The 4th Brigade deployed to Iraq last summer and will return in July. The 92nd Engineer Battalion deployed to Afghanistan in May 2010 for a 12-month deployment.
Cucolo said when the 4th Brigade returns, its 4,800 soldiers will relocate from the main post to the new complex. He said speed limits on Highways 119 and 144 have been lowered in anticipation of the increased traffic the new complex will create.
The general added the post also will be “pushing for extra fire houses and a bypass” with elected officials.
“We have a busy year ahead,” Cucolo said.
He said local communities may soon start experiencing incidents of troop “misconduct.” Such issues generally begin to surface 90-100 days after soldiers redeploy, Cucolo said.
“We’re going to work like heck on that,” he promised. The general added good soldiers sometimes make bad decisions.
Cucolo told Rotarians the division also will return to “the basics” by conducting large-scale unit maneuvers and practicing synchronized technology to prepare for “a peer competitor.”
“If you’re ready for a peer competitor, you can do anything,” he said.