KNOXVILLE GUARD UNIT TO DEPLOY, SEND-OFF CEREMONY SCHEDULED
Approximately 150 Soldiers from the 3654th Support Maintenance Company (SMC), 734th Regional Support Group, will deploy in support of Operation Spartan Shield in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. The unit is headquartered in Knoxville and supported by a detachment based in Oskaloosa.
A modified community send-off ceremony will be held at Camp Dodge on 6 Feb. at 4 p.m. Due to ongoing COVID-19 related public health concerns, the send-off ceremony is not open to the public. The ceremony will be livestreamed on the Iowa National Guard Facebook page @IowaNationalGuard.
The Iowa National Guard is experiencing an increase in deployments as a number of its units come into their “mission year” as part of the U.S. Army’s current force generation cycle.
Most recently, the 3654th SMC mobilized to Cedar Rapids in 2016 to assist county and state emergency management departments in flood mitigation efforts. The unit was last activated into federal service in March 2003 in support of the global war on terrorism.
The 3654th SMC will travel to their mobilization station in Ft. Hood, Texas, to complete final training and readiness checks before deploying overseas. The deployment is expected to last approximately one year.
