SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Rumors of an extension to their deployment to Iraq had been swirling for months. When the news finally came, it actually was good — for about 1,000 Schofield troops.

Forty-six days have been tacked on to the yearlong deployment for the 25th Special Troops Battalion, including the division headquarters and Tropic Lightning band, the Army announced yesterday. That means the soldiers will now be coming home sometime in September.

"We both expected it," said Amanda McBride, whose husband, Sgt. Cheyenne McBride, 25, is a medic at Contingency Operating Base Speicher near Tikrit. "So it's not that big of a deal, and 46 days isn't as bad as we were thinking. So it's actually kind of a relief."

With approximately 30,000 more troops tapped for the ongoing Baghdad "surge," and a slew of deployment schedule changes to accomplish it, the word "extension" has been on the minds of many Schofield troops and their families.

More than 7,000 Schofield soldiers who left in July and August are now past their seventh and eighth months of the previously advertised year away from home.

A FIXED DATE

Those who received the extension news now have a fairly definite redeployment date, while the return for thousands more hangs in limbo. The Special Troops Battalion provides logistics and administrative support.

Amanda McBride has 3-year-old twin girls, Abigail and Alexis. Kristen Golby, who also agreed to talk to reporters at Schofield yesterday about the extension, was chasing after 15-month-old Kathleen, who was somehow staying clean while running around in the grass in a white and blue dress.

"Everyone's been talking about the possible extension for a long time now," said Golby, whose husband, Capt. James Golby, also is at COB Speicher. "We'd heard the time could be anywhere from 45 to 120 days. So the 46-day extension is pretty good."

Kristin Golby is expecting a baby at the end of August, a birth her husband likely will miss, and another example of the effects on families the longer deployment will have.

"(The extension) is a disappointment for our family, obviously," Golby said. But, she added, "We've all established routines and have support structures that will carry us through."

A Pentagon publication said the 1st Armored Division headquarters from Wiesbaden, Germany, will replace the 25th Infantry Division headquarters in August.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, who commands the 25th Division, is in charge of Multi-National Division-North and a Pennsylvania-sized swath of northern Iraq.

The Army said the "Tropic Lightning" headquarters soldiers, including the Special Troops Battalion and band, will leave Iraq in September.

Military officials acknowledged last month that units scheduled to come home this summer — such as the Hawai'i-based 3rd Brigade — could be forced to extend their tours by up to 120 days to maintain the Baghdad security buildup.

The Pentagon announced that 7,000 troops will be going to Iraq in coming months to keep 20 brigades in the country. A brigade usually has about 3,500 soldiers.

In addition to Schofield's division headquarters and 3rd Brigade, the Combat Aviation Brigade and soldiers from the 45th Sustainment Brigade also are in northern Iraq.

Lt. Col. Drew Meyerowich, the Hawai'i-based battalion commander for about 1,000 U.S. troops near Kirkuk — most of whom are with the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry under the 3rd Brigade — attempted to squelch rumors of an extension in a Feb. 7 letter to families back home as his unit passed the halfway mark on the deployment.

"I have discussed these rumors with every member of the team and continue to tell them to worry about the next six months and not worry about a single day past that," Meyerowich said in his letter.

OTHER EXTENSIONS

On a 2004 deployment to Iraq, about 5,200 Schofield soldiers found their tour in Iraq extended by two months.

Schofield Barracks said in a release yesterday that although the Pentagon may at a later date decide to extend or accelerate deployments for additional units, the only Hawai'i-based units affected by the latest announcement are the headquarters and Special Troops Battalion.

Jeanet Pascua's husband, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jesse Pascua, 46, is on his fourth deployment to Iraq, this time as commander of the band. She grew up in 'Ewa Beach, and he grew up in Waipahu.

Jeanet Pascua said the band has performed all over northern Iraq, including smaller operating bases.

"They've gone to bases that a lot of other people haven't gone to, and they are well received," she said.

Pascua said she's as confident as she can be that there won't be an extension beyond the 46 days.

"The mission is the most important part. They have to get people to replace them," she said. But having a replacement unit in the pipeline is reason for optimism.

"That's the good news," she said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.