Fort Lewis commander, 900 troops headed for Baghdad

FORT LEWIS — The Fort Lewis commander and some 900 soldiers are headed for Baghdad to take over day-to-day management of U.S. military operations, a deployment that comes as the Obama administration prepares to substantially cut U.S. troop strength in Iraq.

I Corps, commanded by Lt. Gen. Charles Jacoby, will be involved in administrative, logistical, intelligence and other operations during a key period of changeover as the U.S. military cedes security operations to the Iraqi government.

"The challenge is mastering the transition from one phase of the fight to another. That will be our task," Jacoby said at a Tuesday morning deployment ceremony at Fort Lewis.

I Corps troops will be heading to Iraq during the next several weeks, and will take over the management operations until April 2010. I Corps is the headquarters staff for Fort Lewis, the largest Army post west of the Rockies. During the last two years, the staff has expanded from about 200 people to about 900 to tackle the management tasks in Iraq.

This will be the first time since the Korean War that the full headquarters staff of I Corps has been sent to a combat zone.

I Corps will be based out of Camp Victory, a sprawling U.S. base in the Baghdad area and will be coordinating with other branches of the U.S. military and multinational forces.

Under a treaty with the Iraqi government, the U.S. troops will be withdrawn from major cities by the end of this June. Currently, there are some 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. But by August 2010, the Obama administration plans to have most U.S. troops out of Iraq, according to an Associated Press report.

If the Obama administration moves ahead as planned, I Corps will be involved in a sensitive downsizing of U.S. forces that handle security, supplies, training and other operations in Iraq.

"Never lose your edge. Complacency can become as deadly as the roadside bomb," Jacoby told his troops Tuesday.

For some I Corps soldiers, this is their first deployment. Others have been on multiple tours of duty to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com