My friends, 2LT Thomas Harding and SPC Alexander Newman, and most of the rest of the Oregon Army National Guards's 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, completed their final mobilization training Thursday at Fort Stewart, Ga., and are preparing to ship out to Iraq shortly.
For those who have friends or family in the Oregon National Guard, this would be a good time to call them up to say your goodbyes if you haven't already.
Oregon Military Department:
The Brigade's deployment to Iraq will be the largest war-time deployment of the Oregon National Guard since World War II. It will be three times larger that the Brigade's recent deployment to Afghanistan in 2006-2007 and will involve the entire Brigade of 3,400 Soldiers and will affect every community in the state.
To those about to deploy: Good hunting and godspeed.
