FORT CARSON, Colo., Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A brigade of more than 4,000 soldiers from Fort Carson, Colo., will be deployed to Kuwait to create the largest U.S. ground force currently in the Middle East.
The Fort Carson soldiers could be the first into battle if a major combat force is used to fight the Islamic State, according to The Gazette.
The brigade equipped with tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles has been training for more than a year and many of the soldiers are veterans of the Iraq war.
"We're no strangers to deployment," Col. Greg Sierra, the brigade's commander, said at a farewell ceremony. "We are absolutely ready for this mission."
Sierra said the soldiers received training for humanitarian relief missions and for constant combat.
"We are prepared for any contingency," he said.
The deployment follows U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement that he has formally asked Congress for permission to engage military forces against the Islamic State.
Obama said the Authorization to Use Military Force draft bill he sent Congress would not "call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria."
"It is not the authorization of another ground war like Afghanistan or Iraq," he said.
