|
News from |
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
CONTACT: |
||||||||||
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 22, 2009 No. 09-030 GUARDSMEN SET TO DEPLOY AS ADVISORS TO AFGHAN MILITARY, POLICESixteen Kansas National Guardsmen will be honored in a deployment ceremony on Friday, April 24. The 10 a.m. ceremony will take place at the Topeka South Armory, Building 688, Gary Ormsby Drive and J Street at Forbes Field. The public is invited to attend. The soldiers, under the command of Col. Vic Braden, will deploy to their mobilization station at Fort Riley and then to Afghanistan for a year-long mission as a Regional Corps Advisory Group, serving as advisors and mentors to corps level staff for the Afghanistan National Army or an Afghanistan police unit. The soldiers were drawn from Joint Forces Headquarters Kansas, 35th Infantry Division, 891st Engineer Battalion, 635th Regional Support Group and the 2nd Battalion, 137th Combined Arms Battalion. Although these Guardsmen are all from the Kansas Army National Guard, in Afghanistan they will be part of a Combined/Joint Headquarters, integrating with all service branches and coalition force partners. “The Kansas RCAG is beginning to build an effective team that will advise and mentor Regional Senior Afghanistan Security Force Leadership,” said Braden. “The team looks forward to the challenge at Fort Riley of establishing a cultural understanding of Afghanistan and an understanding of counter-insurgency operational practices. We hope that this training will allow us to effectively support the national objectives of establishing legitimate Afghanistan Security Forces.” “It always gives me a feeling of pride to see our Kansas Guardsmen step forward like this to serve others in the cause of freedom,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the adjutant general. “As mentors and advisors, they will help the Afghani people build the skills and organizations they need to protect their own freedom.” Follow the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KSAdjutantGen -30- |
||||||||||