FORT DRUM, N.Y. (WWTI) — The most deployed army unit in the country is sending its top leader to Europe.

Soldiers with10th Mountain Division Headquarters are set to deploy to the U.s. Army European Command Area of Operations for nine months in support of Atlantic Resolve. Division Headquarters cased their flags on March 14 as a symbol of the upcoming deployment.

Once overseas, 10th Mountain will replace soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and command the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team.

Recently, the Division has led large-scale training on Fort Drum to prepare for potential deployments. This included a Division-wide “Warfighter” exercise in the summer of 2022.

10th Mountain Division Commanding General Major General Gregory Anderson will deploy with the unit to lead the mission.

“We’re going to bring very highly trained, a very seasoned Division staff that is able to fight across all functions of Division operations and large-scale operations” MG Anderson explained. “We know how to fight and that’s what we’re bringing.”

This is a historic deployment for the 10th Mountain as the last time the unit had headquarters in Europe was during World War II, nearly 80 years ago. Soldiers’ efforts in the Italian mountain during the war were what gave the Division its name “10th Mountain.”

“Our first combat deployment was to Italy,” Anderson reflected. “It’s kind of coming full circle here that we are going back to Europe, which is in trouble again because of Russia’s aggression.”

However, this deployment won’t be an active-combat mission. 10th Mountain Division leaders will work alongside NATO allies to train and assist troops amid ongoing Eastern European tension.

The Department of the Army said it’s a “one-to-one unit replacement and they “do not constitute a change to current force posture levels.

“We’re going to take our training, and we’re going to bring our allies in and our partners across the region and train the same tasks with them,” MG Anderson explained. “That region is unsettling, and to a lot of our allies. Our being there will assure them of our commitment to them.”

Although over 500 soldiers are deploying, Anderson confirmed that things won’t change back home at Fort Drum.

“We’ll have plenty of forces here still and our leadership here. Fort Drum’s not going anywhere” he said.

All assigned forces from the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters will be deployed to Europe by the end of March 2023. These deployments were announced by the Department of the Army in late January 2023.