Big Red One colors cased for Afghanistan

(FT. RILEY, Kan) — A little more than a year after being unfurled following a deployment to Iraq, the colors of the 1st Infantry Division were again cased March 7 during a ceremony on Fort Riley's Cavalry Parade Field.

The ceremony symbolized one of the unit's final steps in preparation for its upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.

The first of about 700 division staff members and Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion Soldiers slated
to deploy are set to depart by the end of the month.

While this will be the unit's first deployment to Afghanistan, it is the second time the division's headquarters will deploy as a modular headquarters, separate from the units it commands.

The division's headquarters departed for a yearlong tour to Iraq in late 2009 without its subordinate brigades.

Upon arrival in Afghanistan, soldiers will assume the role of a regional command headquarters in Eastern Afghanistan.