Story highlights The troops will bolster rescue, aid delivery, medical support and other services

As of Thursday Northern Command said it has rescued and assisted some 1,234 people to date

Washington (CNN) On Thursday, the US military announced it had deployed more than 6,000 active-duty troops to aid response efforts in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, with an additional 1,100 prepared to deploy, according to the Department of Defense.

"Approximately 6,300 active-duty military personnel are deployed to the affected area," US Northern Command, which oversees active duty personnel in North America, said in a statement issued Thursday.

The troops will bolster rescue, aid delivery, medical support and other services currently being carried out by thousands of National Guard forces from Texas and neighboring states.

But on Friday, the Department of Defense released a vastly different figure stating approximately 1,638 active duty US troops had been deployed as of 7 a.m. ET Friday.

A Pentagon spokesman told CNN that the discrepancy is due to an accounting issue where some National Guard forces got double counted as active duty.

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