A unit of soldiers from the US, based in Fort Carson, is headed to Kuwait, equipped with tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The 4,000 strong unit will make up the largest US presence in the Gulf region.
The move comes after President Obama asked Congress to authorise military action against Islamic State (IS) or any “closely related successor entity”.
The US army has maintained a presence in Kuwait since the 2011 withdraw from Iraq. They have been used to train local forces.
The brigade commander, Colonel Greg Sierra said that the troops had trained from everything from humanitarian relief missions to non stop combat. He reassured families that “in the end, if we do get into fights [against IS], we win decisively.”
Much of the brigade is made up of soldiers with at least one tour of Iraq to their name, who are “no strangers to deployment” according to Col Sierra.
In a recent mission in Kuwait, a combat team worked with soldiers from Jordan and the UAE, training them for possible missions against IS.
