Third Infantry training for war

FORT STEWART - Computer screens inside the sprawling tent at Fort Stewart display a color map of Tunisia in northern Africa, which Staff Sergeant Joe Wethington watches to monitor enemy aircraft and Patriot missile defenses. <br> <br> Elsewhere in the mobile command center, troops watch air reconnaissance screens that show enemy tanks on the ground. Status charts track the combat strength of units on the battlefield, as well as casualties. Radios crackle with calls from the field. <br> <br> The tall pines outside betray that these troops from the Army&#39;s Third Infantry Division are still home in Georgia. But inside, they are immersed in a mock cyber-war overseas. <br> <br> The Third Infantry, based at Fort Stewart near Savannah, is retraining for war after a year of peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo that involved a third of the division&#39;s soldiers. <br> <br> Aside from 150 noncombat troops deployed late last year, the Third Infantry the sole tank division of the Army&#39;s 18th Airborne Corps -- has not been called up to aid in the war on terrorism. <br> <br> But President Bush&#39;s State of the Union address last week heightened speculation that Iraq may be the next target in the U.S. anti-terror campaign. <br> <br> And the Third Infantry&#39;s experience during Operation Desert Storm, when about six thousand division troops were deployed, would make it a prime candidate for deployment.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/199239