The number of U.S. troops in Iraq continues to fall, and that's a reminder that all American forces are scheduled to be out of the country by Dec. 31, 2011.

There were more than 143,500 in January. By the end of this month, the total is expected to be 120,000. By next August, plans call for no more than 50,000 noncombat troops to remain.

So where does that leave the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, which just got orders to head back to Iraq next summer?

The Schofield Barracks unit, which has 4,300 soldiers and 330 Stryker armored vehicles, returned in February and March from 15 months in northern Iraq.

Col. Malcolm Frost's brigade may not be in Iraq until the bitter end, but it's going to be close.

"It's a good news story, and it demonstrates that the Iraqis are continuing to take over responsibility, yet it's also going to be a significant challenge," Frost said. "We're going to be operating across greater distances so it's going to stretch our ability to command and control."

As part of what is advertised to be a "noncombat" force, the Stryker Brigade will have a role largely focusing on advising and assisting Iraqi security forces and civil agencies.

Frost said he's being augmented with more than 45 field-grade officers — majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels — who will be part of upward of 25 "stability training teams."

There's been a lot of advise and assist operations to this point, but instead of being involved in actual operations at the tactical level, the new training teams will have more of a strategic overwatch role.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, recently told the House Armed Services Committee that the U.S. "transition force" would consist of three division headquarters and six "advise and assist" brigades.

Frost said there will be greater distances between what will be pockets of Stryker Brigade units. Violence is down in Iraq, but a full combat capability still is needed in what remains a war zone, he said.

"So that's why we still have to train like we would for combat, and at the same time we're adding all those other training tasks," Frost said.

Stryker battalions will be rotating to Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island through most of November. In February, the Stryker Brigade will be at the National Training Center in California for a big mission rehearsal exercise.

Frost said he's ready to be part of the ending history of the Iraq War.

"It would be tremendous to quote, unquote be one of the last units on the ground to say that we've succeeded and kind of turn out the lights and hand it to the Iraqis and know that they've got it and they are obviously an independent nation that's handling their own business," Frost said.