Local armory among units preparing to deploy

The 50 members of the Idaho National Guard's Company C, Special Troops Battalion, stationed at the Mountain Home Armory, will be among the 2,700 members of the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team being called up to support ongoing operations in Iraq later this year.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter was notified Monday that the U.S. Department of Defense will mobilize the Idaho-based brigade effective Sept. 17. The deployment will last approximately one year and will come as the United States begins its withdrawal from Iraq, a process expected to be completed next year. About 1,500 of the guardsmen are Idahoans. The remainder are from Montana and Oregon.

The 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team will be included in the rotation of forces supporting overseas contingency operations in Iraq. After about two months of training in the U.S., those forces will replace deployed units beginning in about November 2010.

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