Hundreds of Guards, families set for send-off

1/3/2008

Hundreds of troops from local Ohio National Guard units will be honored with send-off ceremonies today and tomorrow before deployment to the Middle East.

About 100 troops from the Tiffin-based 149th Infantry Regiment and their families will gather at 1 p.m. today at Heidelberg College. An added 350 Guard troops from the 1-148th Infantry Regiment based at the Tracy Road armory will be honored at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Owens Community College.

Maj. Nicole Gabriel, an Ohio National Guard spokesman, said both regiments are a part of the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, which is sending 1,600 troops to Kuwait and likely will conduct some missions in Iraq.

The 1,600-troop deployment is the largest single-unit deployment of Ohio National Guard troops since World War II, Major Gabriel said.

The troops are set to train for two to three months at Fort Hood in Texas before a 10-month deployment to a base in Kuwait.