Fort Hood-based Army combat units may be designated to join President Obama's 30,000-strong troop surge to Afghanistan within a matter of days, with hurry-up deployments early next year, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday. Marine Maj. Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the office of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, said units based at Fort Hood, Texas, and other stateside Army and Marine Corps bases will be publicly designated to join the troop surge by Monday. Two Army combat units at Fort Hood have already been ordered to Iraq and will not be redirected to Afghanistan, Turner said. The 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment and the 4th Brigade Combat Team from the First Cavalry Division are preparing for duty in Iraq starting next year. 'At this point, I'm not seeing any indications that units that are scheduled to rotate with units already on the ground in Iraq are going to be impacted by the president's authorization for Afghanistan,' Turner said. Turner said the Pentagon has been preparing to designate units to join the troop surge for some time. Combat units 'have been looking at the chart on the wall and saying, 'We're in the chute to possibly go' and family members are aware of that,' Turner said. 'We have seen the writing on the wall.' Turner said Pentagon officials wanted to flesh out Obama's exit strategy from Afghanistan because many people who heard the president's speech Tuesday night at West Point may have come away thinking the president would start U.S. troop withdrawals by July 2011. That it not the case, Turner said. 'The president talked about the fact that we will begin transitioning (security) responsibility to Afghan national forces in July 2011,' Turner said. 'Now with regard to the pace of that transition and how long that transition will take -- that's something we don't know yet. The transition does not translate to a draw down or an exit strategy necessarily.' Turner noted that U.S. forces in Iraq turned over security responsibility for Iraqi cities to Iraqi forces last June, yet 115,000 U.S. forces remain in Iraq six months later. 'I think it's important to note that a lot of people have been saying we start pulling out (of Afghanistan) in July 2011 -- not necessarily the case,' Turner said. 'The transition of security responsibilities to Afghan national forces (is) not necessarily a withdrawal of U.S. forces.' 