40 Dixon-area National Guard members preparing for deployment to Africa

DIXON – Forty Dixon-area Illinois Army National Guard members are being deployed to Africa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, the Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office confirmed Wednesday.

A total of 155 Guard members, including those from the Dixon Armory, will participate in a mobilization ceremony at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, at Pontiac Township High School, 1100 E. Indiana Ave., according to Barb Wilson, media relations manager with the Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office. The deployment includes 135 Guard members from 2nd Squadron, 106th Cavalry Regiment, with units based in Dixon, Aurora and Pontiac; and 20 Guard members from Detachment 2, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Squadron, 122nd Field Artillery Regiment, based in Urbana.

From Pontiac, the unit will go to Fort Bliss, Texas, for four to eight weeks of additional training and personnel readiness activities before deploying overseas to the U.S. African Command area of responsibility in eastern Africa’s Horn of Africa region, where they will conduct security operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

“Operation Enduring Freedom began Oct. 7, 2001, in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” Wilson said. “Operation Enduring Freedom and Horn of Africa’s goal is to work with host nations to combat the reemergence of terrorist cells and activities.”

This is not the first time members of the 106th Calvary have been called to duty. In 2008, about 70 members of Troop B, 2nd Battalion, 106th Cavalry were deployed for a year to Afghanistan to train and conduct security missions alongside the Afghan National Police.

At that time, it was the largest overseas deployment of the Illinois National Guard since World War II. However, earlier this year, about 550 Illinois Army National Guard members from 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, and Company B, 766th Engineer Brigade, based in Marseilles, were activated for overseas deployment missions in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

Wilson said the National Guard’s involvement is part of the Army’s Total Force Policy, a continuous initiative to integrate the Army Reserve and National Guard into an operational force. Army Secretary John McHugh signed the policy in September 2012.

For information, call the Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office at 217-761-3569 or email ng.il.ilarng.list.staff-pao@army.mil.

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