(Sioux City) — Nearly 300 members of Sioux City’s Iowa Air National Guard 185th Air Refueling Wing will be deployed overseas beginning in October.
Colonel Larry Christensen, the base commander, says it’s one of the largest deployments in recent history of the unit and involves two separate entities:
The airmen will depart for six-month-long deployments from October through January, 2018.
Senior Master Sgt. Ron Bennett says they will be stationed in countries like Qatar (cutter), the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Members from of the 133rd Test Squadron in Fort Dodge are also part of the deployment.
Sgt. Bennett says another 100 airmen from the 185th Operations and Maintenance groups will deploy for 30 to 120 day deployments to similar locations in the Persian Gulf and to support the continuous bomber presence in the Pacific at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
Colonel Christensen says he greatly appreciates the Siouxland community who employ and support the guard members and knows they will be impacted along with the families of those airmen for the next several months:
The 185th will continue to fly domestic missions as well involving
refueling, medical missions and troop transports while their contingent is serving overseas.
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