RELEASED BY: LT. COL. GREG HAPGOOD
     PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER
     OFFICE: (515) 252-4582
     CELL: (515) 971-6385
     HOME: (515) 986-5725

RELEASE: IMMEDIATE

COMMUNITY SENDOFF CEREMONY PLANNED FOR IOWA ARMY NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS

A community sendoff ceremony for Iowa Army National Guard Soldiers mobilized as part of Operation Enduring Freedom will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 11 at the Iowa National Guard Readiness Center, 700 Snedden Drive, Boone, Iowa. Local officials and Iowa National Guard leadership will participate, and the public and media are welcome and encouraged to attend the sendoff ceremony.
 

The Department of Defense (DOD) and the National Guard Bureau, Washington, D.C., have ordered to federal active duty approximately 50 selected Soldiers from various Iowa Army National Guard units. The alert and mobilization is part of Operation Enduring Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism.
 

These Soldiers have been mobilized from the following units (unit location in parentheses):
 

-2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division (Boone)
-Joint Forces Headquarters (Camp Dodge)
-1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery (Fort Dodge, Estherville, Algona, and Storm Lake)
 

The Soldiers will report immediately to their mobilization station at Fort Riley, Kan. for additional training and preparation before departing for the Afghanistan theater of operations. In Afghanistan, these soldiers will operate as an Embedded Training Team (“ETT”) to provide advanced combat training to the Afghan National Army.
 

These Iowa soldiers are ordered to active duty for 18 months. The DOD mobilization policy directs mobilized National Guard and Reserve members to remain in the Central Command (CENTCOM) theater of operations for 12 months. DOD anticipates they will only serve on active duty for approximately 15 months, which will include mobilization and demobilization processing in addition to 12 months in theater.
 

For questions concerning this release as well as additional information about the operations, training, and activities of the Iowa Army and Air National Guard, please contact Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, Iowa National Guard Public Affairs Officer by email at gregory.hapgood@ia.ngb.army.mil or (515) 252-4582 (office), (515) 971-6385 (cell), or (515) 986-5725 (home). You may also contact Master Sgt. Duff E. McFadden, at (515) 252-4666 (office), (515) 480-7647 (cell), (515) 251-7335 (home), or by e-mail at duff.mcfadden@ia.ngb.army.mil.

IOWA NATIONAL GUARD
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