However, the troops will more than likely keep their bags packed as the 4th ID begins its transition to its new home at Fort Carson, Colo., in June, and that is likely to be the biggest change at the post in the coming year.

“It’s basically part of the Army campaign plan that the 4th Infantry Division would move to Fort Carson,” said Maj. Michael McGregor, deputy director of the human resources section for the 4th ID. “We knew that would happen in the summer of 2009, and so FORSCOM (Forces Command) has generated orders that put that in motion.”

News of the coming move caused a string of concerns from soldiers and their families when many who thought the issue was settled discovered that it was not.

This caused concerns for some service members and their families because they anticipated staying in Fort Hood, McGregor said.

“As a command, how do you determine the parameters for allowing who to move and who not to move?” said 4th ID Command Sgt. Maj. John Gioia. “That’s the work we have ahead of us right now as the division command leadership.”

Gioia said the division policy all along has been to ensure that families with children still in school would be able to finish the school year before moving to Fort Carson. Other career issues, such as soldiers who desire to attend drill sergeant school or school for recruiting duty, will also come into play.

But even if all the questions are still answered, pulling up stakes and moving is not going to be easy.

“Anytime that an Army family has to pick up and move, there’s a certain amount of angst that goes with it,” Gioia said. “This is not something that’s going to be easy, and it’s not going to be something people are going to embrace and be overjoyed about. But, at the end of the day, I’m confident that when the division moves to Fort Carson, the soldiers and families will be taken care of no differently than they are at Fort Hood .”

As a result, the number of troops that live and work on Fort Hood will shrink from the norm of about 52,000 to something around 39,000 between February and March, according to III Corps commander Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, who took command of the post this summer.

During his monthly media round table luncheon in December, Lynch talked about the changes that would occur with the departure of the 4th ID and his desire to stabilize the post troop levels.

“The stated intent is to get us to the steady state of 50,000 soldiers,” Lynch said. “I am on a major campaign to bring additional troops into Fort Hood.”

One of the units that may be on its way is the 1st Army Region West, which is located at Fort Carson and commanded by Maj. Gen. Mark Graham.

Lynch also intends to bring two additional training support brigades to Fort Hood.

Meanwhile, the move will help maintain optimal troop levels.

But there are more changes planned and much of them were outlined in Lynch’s Vision 2011 plan for Fort Hood unveiled in October.

The plan includes maintaining an emphasis on soldier readiness by enhancing other services, such as medical care for the soldier’s family, finding ways to help soldiers deal with combat stress, such as post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, and making the soldier spiritually fit for duty.

Lynch said, though, that funding is not available for everything included in the plan, and he is making himself heard wherever he goes, including the Pentagon, about the need for - for example - better housing and barracks, which could cost about $46 million.

There is also a need to enhance some of the post training facilities, which include creating a Home Station Combat Training Center, upgrading rail facilities and expanding the capabilities at North Fort Hood to support mobilization.

In October, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, toured portions of Fort Hood and got a firsthand look at some of the greatest construction needs at Fort Hood.

“Everything he said is to make life better for the families of our soldiers and to make sure our returning heroes have a place to live here that they deserve,” Hutchison said. “I agree with him and I certainly intend to work with him to get the improvements.”

Lynch is also focused on medical care issues and hopes to see the addition of the Women’s Clinic at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center completed by spring 2010.

The $19.7 million Women’s Health Center will add about 40,000 square feet to the sprawling 554,000 square footage that is part of the medical center.

That will include a 20,000-square-foot OBGYN clinic on the first floor, and nine 450-square-foot labor and birthing suites, all of which are a far cry from the small 225-square-foot rooms currently used by labor and delivery staff.

“It’s going to be easier to facilitate taking care of the patient in one place,” said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Golladay, the chief of obstetrics and gynecology. “We won’t have to move the patient from place to place, we won’t have to separate mom and dad, or separate mom and baby.”

The Army and Alaska-based Akima Construction Services broke ground on the Women’s Health Center on May 6, 2008, and ushered in the last major renovation project to the 44-year-old medical center.

“We just finished the emergency room addition back in 2007, so I think what we are going to see is the final addition onto this Darnall Hospital,” said Brian Prediger, facilities management director at Darnall.

Prediger said the post hopes to begin working toward building a brand new medical center in 2012 to replace the aging hospital.

“It’s still a ways out,” Prediger said. “We are looking at between 2012 and 2020 to build this hospital campus.”

On other matters, Lynch said the 1st Cavalry Division is beginning its third deployment to Iraq, almost 12 months to the day after returning from its last deployment.

This time, however, the focus will be less on war and more on acting as military observers.

During a 1st Cavalry Division farewell ceremony last month, Maj. Gen. Daniel Bolger, the division commander, praised the division’s accomplishments in helping the Iraqi people with the country’s first democratic election, and with participation in the surge in 2006

“We are going to go back this time and build on the accomplishments of those first two trips over,” Bolger said.

In November, Bolger met with military leaders in Baghdad, and after receiving their report, came back encouraged by the direction the mission seems to be taking.

“Two out of the three people who will be working with us in Baghdad province are actually Iraqi soldiers and police, so that is a big improvement from the start of the war.”

Lt. Col. Andy Shoffner, who just departed for his third tour of Iraq - the first with the 1st Cavalry - said the training for this mission was a little different because the division held more cultural training classes.

“It was a lot more than what we’ve had previously,” Shoffner said. “We’re ready to go.”

After two trips to the desert, Shoffner said the anxiety associated with deploying is a lot more manageable this time.

“About 60 percent of my troopers right now are combat veterans who are going back for their second, if not third, and I’ve got one and it’s going to be his fourth trip over to either Iraq or Afghanistan,” he said. “We’re ready to get on with the mission.”

Staff Sgt. Brock Jones contributed to this article.

Editor’s note: This is part of a series on issues that will impact Central Texas in 2009.