Apr 30 2009
Fort Carson will gain a division headquarters unit this summer, and it will lose one too, post officials announced Friday.
The announcement followed the Pentagon budget proposal Monday threatening to cut 3,500 soldiers planned for the post, and represents a far smaller blow. As the headquarters of the 4th Infantry Division moves to Fort Carson from Fort Hood, Texas, Division West of the First Army, with about 300 soldiers and civilians, will move to Fort Hood.
Division West is a training headquarters responsible for ensuring that National Guard and Army Reserve troops in the western U.S. are prepared for war.
Because so many part-time troops are trained at Fort Hood, the move will allow Division West leaders to more closely oversee their progress, said Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, Division West commander.
Division West was formed at Fort Carson two years ago when the Army changed how it organized part-time units. It replaced the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, which was a headquarters over several National Guard brigades.
Division West’s departure likely won’t be noticed outside Fort Carson’s gates.
This summer, the post is set to add 6,500 soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division headquarters and its 3,800-soldier 1st Brigade Combat Team.
Graham said soldiers from those units have started to trickle into the post, but the spigot will open up soon.
“The majority of them will come up this summer when schools let out,” Graham said.
Whether a fifth brigade will be formed at Fort Carson remains in limbo. A budget proposal from Defense Secretary Robert Gates would eliminate creation of the 3,500-soldier brigade, which officials two years ago announced was moving to the post by 2013.
Congressional leaders including Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, expressed optimism that the troops will be awarded to the post.
Graham said he hasn’t heard any word on the plan.
“Right now we have been told nothing,” he said. “This is working at Army level and at Army Forces Command.”
Tom Roeder
The Gazette