"I wouldn't sign the deployment orders if I didn't believe that," he said.
"There's no question but that when I sign a deployment order, what happens is someone in some state is told, 'Pack your bag,' and he goes home and tells his wife or she goes home and tells her husband: 'Told to pack the bag.
A further demonstration later this year, if it happens, might be a sign that deployments have begun.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a deployment order to dispatch the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, based at Fort Carson, Colo., to Kuwait, Pentagon officials said.
The U.S. defense secretary, Leon E. Panetta, signed a deployment order on Friday to send 400 American military personnel and two Patriot air defense batteries to Turkey as its tensions intensify with neighboring Syria.
Continuing the huge buildup of forces in the region, Mr. Rumsfeld signed more deployment orders this weekend, readying two more aircraft carriers to sail within striking distance of Iraq and calling up an undisclosed number of reservists, Pentagon and military officials said.
Mr. Gates in recent days signed a temporary deployment order for 3,200 more marines in Afghanistan.
But people in the hamlets around the fort reported none of the usual signs of sudden deployment.
We have made some changes in response to feedback, including more road signs and the deployment of additional staff in the area.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a mammoth deployment order today sending about 35,000 new troops, half of them marines, to the Persian Gulf region, Pentagon and military officials said.
