The 36th Infantry Division of the Texas Army National Guard once again will be deployed to Iraq in 2010, and the unit already has jump-started training efforts.

About 170 troops from the division’s Austin headquarters recently wrapped a two-week, multinational training exercise in Cairo, Egypt. Operation Brightstar, a biennial exercise done in collaboration with such countries as France, Greece, Italy, Germany, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Kingdom, focuses on training troops for combat, counterinsurgency and stabilization operations in a battle zone.

The exercise will be particularly beneficial to the troops as they prepare to be deployed to Iraq next year. Maj. Gen. Eddy M. Spurgin, of Big Spring, Texas, said he learned that the 36th Infantry Division would be deployed to Iraq in fall 2010 as the unit was preparing for Operation Brightstar. This will be the division’s fourth Iraq deployment since Sept. 11.

Spurgin

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“This exercise is a great opportunity for my staff to start working on all the processes and work that they’ll be asked to do in Iraq,” Spurgin said. “This command-post exercise is very much in line with how we will operate once we get into theater, and it’s a great opportunity for my guardsmen that are here.”

The number of Central Texas troops to be deployed has not been determined, though Spurgin said sending 800 to 1,000 has been discussed. The troops will return to Texas this week, with preparations for Iraq in the coming months as more details of that mission are finalized.

A portion of the troops who participated in Operation Brightstar will be called on for the 2010 Iraq deployment. That group also may include guard members who participated in previous deployments to Iraq, such as Command Sgt. Maj. Wilson L. Early, who was among the 3,000 troops from the division’s 56th Brigade Combat Team sent to Iraq in 2005.

Early said Operation Brightstar covered combat scenarios that the troops likely will encounter in Iraq, including improved technologies for battle tracking.

“Working with the different coalition forces that we have here . . . we get to experience different cultures, and we get to learn how other armies conduct business,” Early said. “We get to take some of their lessons learned and combine them with our lessons learned, and we share that information. The whole team-building experience of working and learning from other armies helps us tremendously.”

Besides the training exercises, Early said, the troops must prepare themselves mentally and emotionally for battle, a lesson he learned from his deployment to Iraq.

“One of the things I would take that would help in this deployment is to help our soldiers with the different types of situations they may encounter over there and teach them how to be resilient in our deployment,” Early said. “Sometimes it can get depressing, even with the communications we have today, (trying to) keep in contact with our families to make sure they’re safe.”

The 36th Infantry Division also has been called to duty in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Bosnia. Spurgin said he considers it an honor that the unit has been chosen for so many assignments in the often tumultuous Middle East.

“I think this just points out that the Texas Army National Guard is no longer a strategic reserve,” Spurgin said. “We are now what I would consider an operational force . . . and I think that just illustrates that the professionalism of our citizen soldiers and the relevance that the Texas Army National Guard has that we are being called on by the president and the Department of Defense to be deployed to combat theaters.”

rdennis@wacotrib.com

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