FORT BLISS, Texas (AP) – The Army's top three officials said Monday the mammoth force is ready to shift its combat focus from Iraq to Afghanistan.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. told reporters Monday the fight in Afghanistan won't be very different from what many soldiers have already seen in Iraq.

"The types of operations they will conduct and need to conduct are about the same," Casey said of the two war fronts. "The type of warfare is not decidedly different when you shift from Iraq to Afghanistan."

The largest difference, Casey said, will likely be the mountainous and rural terrain that many soldiers haven't seen in Iraq, where urban combat has become the norm. Cultural and historical differences between the Arab and Afghan communities will also be significant, he said.

Casey, Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and Sgt. Major of the Army Kenneth O. Preston were at the sprawling desert post just outside El Paso on Monday to announce a yearlong program to honor noncommissioned officers, enlisted soldiers who hold the rank of sergeant or above.

Geren said the yearlong program, dubbed Year of the NCO, will be used to recognize the corps of soldiers who have taken on significant day-to-day leadership of junior enlisted soldiers currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. The effort will also be used as a recruiting tool "to inform young people what NCOs do for our Army and help them better understand what an exciting opportunity and a career being an NCO in the United States Army can be."

In a morning meeting with reporters, Casey said it was unclear how many soldiers currently set to deploy to Iraq this year, including two brigade combat teams from Fort Bliss, may be diverted to Afghanistan.

"It's too early to tell on specific brigades," the Army's top general said.

The three Army leaders also discussed the future of the Army's modernization program, Future Combat Systems.

FCS, a technology development program that includes about 20 different weapons systems and programs that could cost as much as $200 billion, has been evaluated by soldiers at Fort Bliss. The project, in the works since the late 1990s, has become a target of Congressional leaders looking to cut the soaring defense budget.

But Geren said the program is really a much needed modernization effort.

"A lot of people think of it as one thing, but the FCS systems are really a modernization system across the entire Army," Geren said. "It is expensive. But it's a modernization effort for the whole Army."

Casey and U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a staunch supporter of the program, said they don't see the FCS being cut any time soon.

"With this kind of terrain and this kind of warfare that is being conducted, the kinds of ... tools that are being field tested here by our troops are going to be vital and critical to their success in Afghanistan," said Reyes, an El Paso Democrat.

Casey said while FCS development started with a focus on more traditional warfare that has evolved along with conditions on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"The day that FCS quits evolving is the day it becomes irrelevant," Casey said.