At least 700 US service members were deployed to the Middle East BEFORE Soleimani drone attack as more than 3,500 more troops have now joined them amid fears of Iranian retaliation

• The US deployed at least 700 soldiers to the Middle East days prior to President Donald Trump’s ordering of last week’s deadly drone attack 
• The attack took out Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, in what the president says was an effort to stop a war, not start one
• But troops were on their way before the drone took flight, and thousands followed to ready for a response from Iran, which has promised revenge
• One serviceman says he got the call Tuesday, three days before the strike, as he was ‘getting ready to go out go out for New Year’s Eve
• Similarly, Bri’Anna Ferry says her husband was called on the same day, and that he was on a plane within hours
• The 82nd Airborne Division deployed 3,500 service members after Friday’s drone strike, joining 700 who left earlier in the week, a spokesman said

The US deployed at least 700 soldiers to the Middle East days prior to President Donald Trump’s ordering of last week’s deadly Iranian drone attack.

Service members and their relatives said they began getting calls about the deployment as early as Tuesday, which was New Year’s Eve.

Lt. Col. Mike Burns, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division, told The Associated Press about 700 service members had already been deployed by the time Trump gave the order for Friday’s fatal drone strike which took out Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.

Iran has vowed ‘harsh retaliation’ for the strike near Baghdad’s airport that killed Soleimani, the architect of its interventions across the Middle East. The head of Iran’s elite Quds Force was blamed for attacks on US troops and American allies going back decades. 

Bri’anna Ferry’s husband got the call on New Year’s Eve, and she said he was on a plane to the Middle East within hours.  

The US deployed at least 700 soldiers to the Middle East days prior to President Donald Trump’s ordering of last week’s deadly Iranian drone attack. US Army paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division board a plane at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Saturday

Paratroopers are lined up boarding an airplane at Fort Brag on Saturday on their way to the US Central Command area of operations

‘This isn’t how military life goes, normally you have advanced notice about what’s happening,’ she said.

She fears he could miss milestones with their baby daughter, including her first birthday, but also wants him to focus on his mission.

‘I told him, don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘Focus on your mission.’

One service member said he was making plans for the night’s festivities when he was called to help load up the soldiers that same day, according to video footage released by the military. 

‘Almost our whole squadron got alerted,’ the unnamed airman said in footage taken of him while loading a cargo plane at Fort Bragg on Saturday. 

‘I was getting ready to go out for New Year’s when they called me.’

Burns said 3,500 members of the division’s quick-deployment brigade, known officially as its Immediate Response Force, will have deployed within a few days of the attack.  

Bri’anna Ferry said her husband got the call on New Year’s Eve and was on a plane to the Middle East within hours. ‘This isn’t how military life goes, normally you have advanced notice about what’s happening,’ she said

Being a US soldier in a fast-response force sometimes means being sent halfway across the world within a day, leaving no time to say goodbye to those staying behind. 

That’s what happened to April Shumard when her husband, a member of the 82nd, got the call.

Her husband was among hundreds of soldiers deployed Saturday from Fort Bragg, which is located in North Carolina. 

The service members were dispatched to Kuwait to serve as reinforcements as a response is awaited for the slaying of the top Iranian general. 

Shumard said her husband was at home, minding the couple’s five children while she was at work at Healing Hands day spa, when he sent her a text. He had to rush to base. He wasn’t sure if it was a drill or a deployment. Then she got another text: ‘We’re leaving tomorrow.’

Pictured are some of the hundreds of soldiers deployed Saturday from Fort Bragg, located in North Carolina. The service members were dispatched to Kuwait to serve as reinforcements as a response is awaited for the slaying of Soleimani

She said her husband has been in the military since 2010 and has already deployed twice to Afghanistan. But with those prior instances, the family had much more time to prepare and say goodbye.

In the gray early morning light Saturday, Army video showed soldiers dressed in camouflage fatigues filing into planes, carrying rucksacks and rifles. Humvees were rolled onto another cargo plane and chained in place for the flight to the Middle East.

Burns said the soldiers within the Immediate Response Force train constantly to be ready to respond quickly to crises abroad. When called by their superiors, they have two hours to get to base with their gear and must maintain a state of readiness so that they can be in the air headed to their next location within 18 hours.

‘So whether they were on leave, whether they were home drinking a beer, whether they were, you know, hanging out, throwing the kids up in the yard, you get the call and it’s time to go,’ he said.

He said that soldiers typically keep individual ‘go-bags’ of their personal gear with them at their living quarters.

Shumard said Fayetteville is a tight-knit community, and she expects people to work together to support families who are suddenly missing a parent.

‘This was so last-minute,’ she said, urging people to reach out to the 82nd’s families.

 ‘Just try to help out whoever you know who might need some babysitting or help or just get some groceries and bring it to their house.’ 

Deployed service members await Iran’s response for the slaying of Soleimani, who headed Iran’s elite Quds Force and was blamed for attacks on US troops and American allies going back decades

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