a mountaintop without food or water defense secretary chuck hagel confirmed the deployment while speaking to marines at camp pendleton california we're not going back into iraq in any of the same combat mission. dimensions that we once were in in iraq and very specifically this is not a combat boots on the ground operation. now the hundred thirty troops sent to iraq on tuesday will be tasked with assessing the security situation in the country's north while considering options to help the trapped iraqi refugees who started receiving humanitarian airdrops just last week in addition the u.s. announced it will be arming peshmerga kurdish forces with weapons and equipping them to help ward off the isis. increase push into their kurdish territory now this decision further adds to the growing number of u.s. armed forces there in the region and this is where things get kind of complicated