Barrel, scraping bottom of.

Fort Irwin 'not closing,' Lewis told, Claire Vitucci and Tammy Mccoy, The Press-Enterprise, Friday, May 21, 2004

About 150 soldiers of the 58th Engineer Company, which supports the 2,500-member 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, are scheduled to deploy sometime in the next 70 days, said Maj. Chris Belcher, Fort Irwin's public affairs officer.
...
But the Army is considering sending some or all of the regiment to Iraq, Lewis said.

It's unclear when that decision would be made, Lewis said. But if it does happen, reservists will first come and train with the unit, also called the Army's Opposition Force, and then fill in when the regiment is deployed.

That way, specialized training for armored units could continue at Fort Irwin, Lewis said.

If the Army is cutting into their training facilities in order to deploy troops then nobody can complain about their own tour of duty being extended for a few years.

But it does bring up the question of whether the United States was prepared to open this second front as Bush proposed and Kerry voted for.

-HJC