(Le Mars) — The Iowa National Guard unit, Troop C, 1st Squadron, of the 113th Cavalry Regiment, based in Le Mars has recently been notified of deployment orders for Operation Enduring Freedom in the United States Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM) Area of Responsibility (AOR).
U.S. AFRICOM is responsible for U.S. military operations, exercises and security cooperation activities on the African continent, its island nations and surrounding waters. Colonel Mike Wunn is a spokesman for the Iowa National Guard and explains the purpose behind the deployment.
This is the second of several deployments announced by Maj. Gen. Ben Corell, the Iowa National Guard Adjutant General, during his Condition of the Guard address to the Iowa General Assembly on Jan. 16th.
Troop C, based in Le Mars, will deploy with approximately 90 Soldiers.
This is the third federal mobilization for Troop C since 2001. The troop previously deployed to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2010.
Wunn says for the last four years, Troop C, along with several additional Iowa Army National Guard units, has completed increasingly complicated training events in preparation for mobilization.
The Iowa National Guard spokesman was asked if the area of deployment in Africa would be considered “a military hot zone?”
The troop is currently working to schedule send-off ceremonies, which will occur in June. They will travel to Ft. Bliss, Texas, to complete their final training and readiness checks before deploying overseas. The deployment is expected to last approximately one year.
