Fort Campbell’s 187th Infantry ‘Rakkasans’ Return Yet Again To Afghanistan

The 101^st Airborne Division still has work to do in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced a deployment of 1,400 soldiers from Fort Campbell.

The 3
^rd Brigade Combat Team — nicknamed the Rakkasans — was in Afghanistan as recently as 2012 and as far back as 2002 during Operation Anaconda. In total, the unit has deployed eight times since 9/11.

This deployment is considered a regular rotation. However, it might never have happened if the White House had stuck with its original withdrawal timeline. President Obama
announced in July he would keep elevated troop levels in Afghanistan through the end of his term in order to keep the country from becoming a terrorist safe haven.

The Rakkasans will continue in an advise-and-assist role, with local forces taking the lead. That has made deployments
far safer for U.S. soldiers. Fatalities have dropped by more than half each year since 2012 and are only in single digits so far in 2016.

While the 3
^rd Brigade is heading back to Afghanistan, 2,200 Fort Campbell soldiers are fighting in Iraq as part of a small surge of troops in that country.