Guard Called Up

Guard called up
180 soldiers ordered to Afghanistan
By Stephanie Godlewski
Pacific Daily News
smgodlewski@guampdn.com

More of Guam's sons and daughters will be deployed to fight the global War on Terror, according to the Guam Army National Guard.

The Guard announced yesterday that 180 Guard members of the Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry and the battalion's Forward Support Company will be deployed to Afghanistan by early next year.

The unit is being sent to the Middle East to provide security for other units in the area, according to a press release sent by the guard.

This is not the first time the unit has been deployed. Its soldiers were sent to the Horn of Africa previously.
During the coming months, the unit will be mobilizing and training on Guam before heading off island. The mobilization and deployment together will be about a year for the soldiers.

The Guard members are being sent to support Operation Enduring Freedom and the War on Terror, but they will be put through three months of mobilization and training before heading to Afghanistan.

During the months of November and December, the unit will be receiving about six weeks of pre- and post-mobilization training, according to the Guard.

By January 2008, the unit will head to Schofield Barracks in Hawaii for additional training before heading out to the Middle East in February.

The unit was deployed to the Horn of Africa in April 2004 and returned in July of the following year.

Since the war on terror began in 2001, Guam and its Pacific island neighbors have seen hundreds of their sons and daughters deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and the Horn of Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

To date, 24 sons of Micronesia are among those who have been killed.