300 Fort Carson Soldiers In Afghan Training Mission

FORT CARSON, Colo. (AP) -- The Army says 300 soldiers from Fort Carson are headed to Afghanistan to train and advise Afghan forces.

The soldiers are officers or senior non-commissioned officers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, part of the 4th Infantry Division.

The mission will last nine months.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that soldiers from Fort Carson and Fort Campbell, Ky., Fort Stewart, Ga., Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Polk, La., will be on the mission.

They'll work in 18-member teams. The concept is similar to the way the U.S. advised Iraqi forces during the final 15 months of the Iraq war.

The mission is separate from another deployment of Fort Carson troops. About 3,000 soldiers from the 4th Brigade Combat Team are deploying to Afghanistan for nine months, also in a training role.

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