New Mexico Guard unit heading overseas - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

New Mexico Guard unit heading overseas

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — A New Mexico National Guard unit that has been training for more than two months at a military base in New Jersey is preparing to deploy overseas next week.

About 160 members of the Rio Rancho-based Company A, 1st Battalion, 200th Infantry are expected to leave for Kuwait next week for some additional training before heading to Iraq, said guard spokesman Maj. Ken Nava.

The New Mexico Guard’s adjutant general, Brig. Gen. Kenny Montoya, will travel to Fort Dix, N.J., on Monday as the troops prepare to deploy, Nava said. The troops will be gone between a year and 15 months.

Company A has been trained as a military police force, but exactly what the troops will be doing in Iraq cannot be disclosed for security reasons.

The company is one of two New Mexico Guard units going to Iraq this summer. The other is Las Cruces-based Company C, 2nd Battalion, 200th Infantry. About 125 members of that unit also are being trained at Fort Dix.

Both units are made up of soldiers from around New Mexico.

Information from: The Albuquerque Journal