About 300 soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division's 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment will deploy to South Korea in early October, the Army announced Thursday.
The soldiers, who fly and maintain OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters, are part of the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Drum, New York.
The deployment is a nine-month rotation in support of operations in South Korea and U.S. Forces Korea.
The soldiers will fall in on equipment, including helicopters, already in the Pacific Command area of responsibility.
"This rotation will provide an opportunity to support and train with U.S. Forces in Korea," said Lt. Col. Hoby Cupp, the squadron commander, in a statement. "Our family members have been briefed on this rotation, and I am confident that our soldiers and families are ready and prepared for this mission."
When they return to New York in early summer 2016, the squadron will begin the transition to an attack reconnaissance squadron, which has AH-64 Apache helicopters and Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles.
The Army has been rotating a Kiowa squadron to South Korea since fall 2013.
The first unit to go was 4th Squadron, 6th Cavalry Regiment, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The Army has subsequently increased its rotational forces as a whole in South Korea and relying less on individual deployers.
The first brigade combat team to deploy to South Korea arrived in country this summer as the Army inactivated 1st BCT, 2nd Infantry Division, which had served on the peninsula for almost 50 years.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
