This time, it is different

By: Spc. Thomas Keeler, Minnesota National Guard Public Affairs
Dec. 11, 2008

Minnesota Soldiers and families will be looking ahead as the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard announces a deployment today to the south of Iraq for about 1,000 servicemembers. The deployment begins February 13, 2009, and will last for about a year.

Details about the deployment were given to reporters at a press conference that was webcast to Soldiers, families, employers and communities at the 34th Red Bull Inf. Div. headquarters in Rosemount, Minn.

The 34th Inf. Div.’s mission will be to command military operations in the southern portion of the country, stretching from the provinces south of Baghdad to Saudi Arabia – and area about the size of Minnesota. The Red Bulls will take operational control of the area from the 10th Mountain Division, an active duty Army division based in Ft. Drum, N. Y.

“The scope of this mission is unprecedented,” said Maj. Gen. Nash, the commanding general of the 34th Inf. Div. who will lead a force of more than 16,000 servicemembers during the deployment. “It is important to know that this historic undertaking is not about conducting offensive military operations, but about enabling the Iraqi people to take responsibility for their own affairs,” said Nash.

In contrast with the nearly 22-month deployment of the 1st Brigade Combat Team from 2005-2007, this deployment will run for one year, from February 2009 to the following February. The first couple months of the deployment will consist of training exercises at Ft. Lewis, Wash., an active duty Army base near Seattle, after which time the division will arrive “in country” sometime in April 2009. In total, the division expects to spend about 300 days overseas.

The four Minnesota units which will deploy with the 34th Inf. Div. are: the Rosemount-based 34th Red Bull Inf. Div. Headquarters; the Inver Grove Heights-based 34th Inf. Div. Special Troops Battalion; the Rosemount-based 34th Red Bull Infantry Division Band, which will provide a critical ceremonial and morale mission throughout the deployment, and the Stillwater-based 34th Military Police Company. About a third of the Soldiers scheduled for this deployment have prior deployment experience.