With one line item among hundreds of pages of budget documents released Feb. 5, the Army revealed that it is eliminating the $2 billion, 10-year-old Land Warrior program, even as a lone brigade of soldiers prepares to take the system on its first-ever field deployment to Iraq.

Until yesterday, Land Warrior was the military's vision for bringing network-centric warfare to level of the individual warfighter. But the system designed to connect every soldier the network was disconnected from any future funding.

”It’s listed as a program termination,” said Dave Atherton, the Army Budget Office’s division chief for communications and support investment, referring to  the Army’s $130 billion fiscal 2008 budget, released Feb 5.

Regardless, the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) at Fort Lewis, Wash., will be the first unit sent to Iraq with the system in the coming weeks, as part of President Bush’s surge effort, months ahead of its scheduled deployment, a Fort Lewis spokesperson said. The unit has been testing and training with Land Warrior for over a year.

The soldiers of 4th Brigade specifically requested to take Land Warrior into theatre, despite the program’s demise and their shortened training, because there isn’t sufficient time for retraining, Atherton said.

The 4th Brigade was also scheduled to test Land Warrior at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., but now that has also been canceled. NTC is a common final stop for realistic training before Iraq deployments.

The unit will be fully supported throughout its Iraq deployment, Atherton said. The Army has funding for unit support and repair parts through 2007 and is confident they will find procurement or operating money to keep the unit alive in 2008.

Meanwhile, the program office for Land Warrior here at home will be shut down. The Army will buy replacement parts and materials to last during the duration of the deployment, Atherton said. In Iraq, the Contract Logistics Support team will be responsible for maintaining the Land Warrior soldiers.