The commanding general of the Army's 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, was named as assistant chief of staff of U.S. Forces Korea, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
  

The appointment of Maj. Gen. Michael Bills to the new job came as some 4,500 troops from the 1st Cavalry Division's 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team are preparing to deploy to South Korea early next year as part of a regular rotation of forces.
  

The troops will replace the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team that was deployed in June under a decision to replace a permanent brigade, which had been stationed in South Korea since 1965, with a rotational unit in order to increase efficiency and cohesion among members of the unit.
  

Bills will replace Maj. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal.
  

About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea to deter North Korean aggression, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the divided peninsula still technically at war. (Yonhap)