La. Guardsmen depart for year-long deployment

La. Guardsmen depart for year-long deployment
By Sgt. Robin Perry
Louisiana National Guard Public Affairs Office

WEST MONROE, La. – The Louisiana National Guard’s 1022nd Vertical Engineer Company, 527th Engineer Battalion, flew out of the Monroe Regional Airport for the first leg of their journey to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Aug. 18.

More than 160 Soldiers will spend approximately two months training at Fort McCoy, Wis., before travelling to Afghanistan for the remainder of their year-long deployment.

“It will be our job to improve the lives of the Soldiers in Afghanistan by improving force protection and constructing better living and working conditions for our Soldiers over there,” said Capt. Robert Rogers, commander of the 1022nd.

At the unit’s deployment ceremony at the First Baptist Church in West Monroe, Governor Bobby Jindal praised the Soldier’s selfless service.

“Today we gather here to honor the fact that your service is making an extraordinary and historic mark on our nation and on our world, a mark that will live on long after this deployment is completed,” said Jindal. “You are the heroes choosing to dedicate your lives to something far greater than yourselves.”

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