The community is invited to attend a departure ceremony for the soldiers with the Wyoming Army National Guard’s C-Battery, 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery being deployed to Kuwait.
The ceremony is at 1:30 p.m. this Saturday at the Worland Eagles Club, 701 Railway Ave.
SFC Tim Metro is in charge of the ceremony as the first sergeant in charge of the unit, he said in an interview Tuesday. He said all the soldiers from the unit will be in attendance. He also has invited some World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans from the Basin and Greybull areas to be special guests at the ceremony.
The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Brian Nesvik, and mayors from Cody, Lovell, Greybull, and Basin, will address soldiers and their families prior to departure for Casper.
The soldiers will leave Sunday morning for Casper where they will participate in the official state deployment ceremony at 2 p.m., at the Casper Events Center. Metro said the soldiers will then fly to Fort Hood, Texas, on Monday for several months of training before heading to Kuwait.
The year-long deployment, which is the largest single-unit mobilization in the state’s history, will include missions in Kuwait and Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The soldiers will perform convoy security, manage forward operating bases and plan security both physically and logistically to ensure the protection and implementation of military operations throughout the region.