39,000 soldiers will be sent to Iraq to replace troops which were scheduled to leave the war zone, the Pentagon said on Monday. The Defense Department announced four brigades from the Army National Guard will head to Iraq and Kuwait, including the 72nd Brigade Combat Team of the Texas National Guard.

The United States has 155,000 troops in Iraq and tries to reduce that number to around 140,000 through the end of the Bush administration. The deployments will be a part of the regular rotation of troops into Iraq. U.S. officials plan to keep 15 combat brigades in Iraq through the end of the year.

The brigades that will deploy come from the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and Alaska, the 1 st Infantry Division in Kansas, the 28nd Airborne Division in North Carolina, the 173rd Infantry Brigade in Germany, and the 1 st Cavalry Division in Texas, the Washington Post noted. About 25,000 troops will take part in the deployment.

“All of these forces that we're talking about today are replacement forces,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. “It does not add to the level of effort, nor does it decrease the level of effort.”

But Guard spokesman Maj. Michael Kazmierzak said Monday, after the Defense Department's announcement, Louisiana’s soldiers likely would not go until 2010. He said there is still uncertainly that the order to mobilize will come.