Stars and Stripes: Pentagon to deploy another 900 troops to Middle East, extend Patriot missile battalion amid tensions with Iran
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon will send another 900 troops to the Middle East in the coming weeks in a move meant to bolster security for U.S. troops in the region amid heightening tensions with Iran, the Defense Department announced Friday.
Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan notified Congress on Friday that he had authorized a request from U.S. Central Command to send the additional forces – an Air Force fighter jet squadron, an engineering element and combination of manned and unmanned intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets – into the Middle East, he said in a statement. The Pentagon will also extend the deployment of some 600 soldiers from a Patriot missile battalion already serving in the region.
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WNU Editor: As deployments, 1,500 extra soldiers to the Middle East is just a drop in the bucket.
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