The Pentagon confirmed its plan on Wednesday to send the headquarters of Fort Carson’s 4th Infantry Division  to Afghanistan.

About 450 soldiers with the division’s headquarters will deploy this summer to the country, the Defense Department said in a statement — a scaled-back force from the headquarters’ full roster of about 700 soldiers.

While deployed, the unit will help with the drawdownof U.S. forces in the southern Afghanistan. About half of the U.S. troops in Afghanistan are expected to return home by the end of the year.

In March, soldiers with the unit used the post’s defunct commissary to train for the deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Role players from across the military — including Marines, sailors and airmen, as well as troops from Australia and other NATO countries — used the supermarket to devise and carry out scenarios that Fort Carson troops were expected to encounter in Afghanistan. Across the street, the headquarters unit responded to each scenario in its joint operations center.

Photo by