Iowa National Guard leaders are assembling at the Iowa Guard’s headquarters in Johnson for a 3 p.m. news conference at which they will announce a mobilization of Iowa Guard troops that is the largest since WWII deployments. A news release handed out just before the start of the event confirms “approximately 3500” Iowa National Guard soldiers will deploy in the fall of 2010. The soldiers come from Guard units based in 34 Iowa communities.
Brig. General Tim Orr began with a statement: “I want to emphasize that this is only an alert…Plans do and have changed.”
Orr said his staff has notified more than 3400 soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division that they may be deployed to Afghanistan; another 500 soldiers from other Iowa National Guard units has been told they could be called up to support the mission.
“In most cases many of our soldiers have deployed before,” Orr said, adding the training schedule is flexible, so soldiers do not have to drop out of school for the academic year or quit their jobs anytime soon.
The Iowa soldiers will be participating in “Operation Enduring Freedom” and will train Afghan Security forces.
UPDATE: Read more here.
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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