134th prepares for deployment to Afghanistan

    Friends and family members will bid farewell to the men and women of the Iowa Army National Guard 134th Medical Company this afternoon in Washington. The Iowa Army National Guard will have a farewell ceremony at 5 p.m. today at the Washington Community Center for the medical company, which will ship out to Shelby, Miss., for further training this summer, and then to Afghanistan later in the year.

    There are approximately 60 soldiers in the unit who will deploy as part of ?Operation Enduring Freedom.? Those 60 soldiers will be split up and will serve three different battalions, two of which are infantry support battalions and one of which is a brigade support battalion.

    Company Commander Kara Schafer remarked, ?The unit is deploying, but we?re not deploying as a unit.?

    The 134th Medical Company evaluates casualties, performs basic medical treatment and provides transportation for injured and sick personnel. The unit has been called to active duty under a partial mobilization call-up that authorizes the president to order members of the National Guard and Reserves to active duty for one-year.

    ?Right now, we?re a part of the 67th troop command, which wears the Hawk Patch,? said Schafer. ?The engineers in Burlington are also part of the 67th.?

    Schafer said that the brigade that she and the others from the 134th will be serving with is a brigade of mostly infantry soldiers from central Iowa.

    ?They are an HBCT, which is a Heavy Brigade Combat Team,? said Schafer. ?They?re out doing the patrols.?

    Schafer explained that her company performs life support measures on the battle.

    ?They?ll have things like an aid bag with an IV, solution and bandages,? she remarked.  

    Mark Shirley and Zachary Costas are two of the medics who will be with the infantry in Afghanistan. Shirley said that his unit has not been told much about their assignment other than that it will be in the eastern part of Afghanistan. He also said that the company may be deployed in a rural area.

For more, see our June 30 print edition.