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Oregon National Guard Troops Set To Deploy For Afghanistan

Oregon Army National Guard Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry rehearse urban tactics at the Orchard Combat Training Center near Boise, Idaho, May 27, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.
Sgt. Erin Quirke
/
41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
Oregon Army National Guard Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry rehearse urban tactics at the Orchard Combat Training Center near Boise, Idaho, May 27, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.

Oregon National Guard members could be some of the last members of the U.S. armed forces to serve in Afghanistan. Three battalions are set to deploy later this summer to help wrap up the American mission in that country.

Oregon Army National Guard Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry rehearse urban tactics at the Orchard Combat Training Center near Boise, Idaho, May 27, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.
Credit Sgt. Erin Quirke / 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
/
41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
Oregon Army National Guard Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry rehearse urban tactics at the Orchard Combat Training Center near Boise, Idaho, May 27, in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan.

The first group of Guard members will mobilize June 7.

President Obama said last month that he wants to have around 10,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the beginning of next year. That's roughly one-third of the current total.

But nearly 900 of those service members will be part of the Oregon National Guard. Three sections of the 41st Infantry Brigade will deploy this summer after mobilization ceremonies in Salem, Bend and Ashland.

The soldiers will train for their mission at Fort Bliss and Fort Hood in Texas before departing overseas later this summer. They could be there until next spring. The Guard says its members will provide security and support services at military bases in Kabul and southwest Afghanistan.

Officials from both the Washington and Idaho National Guard say there are no upcoming missions to Afghanistan planned for guard members in either of those states.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.