(Davenport, IA) -- A sending off ceremony will be held next week for roughly 75 Army National Guard soldiers based in Davenport.
The soldiers will deploy in support of Operation Spartan Shield in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. U.S. Central Command encompasses 27 countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among others. Their primary mission will be to conduct aviation sustainment operations such as refueling and maintenance in support of U.S. and coalition forces
The modified community send-off ceremony will be held in Davenport on February 12th at 2 p.m. Due to the pandemic, the send-off ceremony is not open to the public. The ceremony will be live-streamed on the Iowa National Guard Facebook page.
The Iowa National Guard is experiencing an increase in deployments as many of its units come into their “mission year” as part of the U.S. Army’s current force generation cycle. The unit was most recently activated into federal service in 2016 and deployed to Afghanistan in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
The First of the 171st Aviation Regiment will travel to their mobilization station in Ft. Hood, Texas, to complete final training and readiness checks before deploying overseas. The deployment is expected to last approximately one year.