JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — Just days before President Barack Obama’s expected announcement to slow the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, a team of soldiers was wrapping up a training exercise in preparation for a yearlong deployment to Kandahar. Troops from the 7th Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team have formed a “mission command node” — a kind of ad hoc headquarters that will deploy to Kandahar Airfield later this spring to advise Afghan security forces. It will be the first combat deployment for troops wearing the 7th Infantry Division patch in more than 25 years; the unit had been deactivated but was reactivated in 2012 as a...
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