Malmstrom airmen, Mont. guardsmen to deploy - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Malmstrom airmen, Mont. guardsmen to deploy

Approximately 900 military members will deploy from Montana to train in support of overseas operations in Southwest Asia within the next month.

On Monday, more than 300 members of the 219th and 819th Red Horse Squadrons of the Montana Air National Guard and Malmstrom Air Force Base, respectively, will depart Great Falls for combat skills training at Fort McCoy, Wis., according to news releases from Malmstrom and MANG. About 100 airmen will be Guard members. Both Red Horse units will be deployed for up to eight months.

In mid-September, the 163rd Cavalry of the Montana National Guard will send almost 600 members, who currently are training at Fort Harrison in Helena, to Camp Shelby, Miss., for combat skills training, according to Maj. Tim Crowe, spokesman for the Montana National Guard. Crowe said that unit will be deployed in support of overseas contingency operations, but could not say where. The deployment is for a year.

The Belgrade-based 163rd is part of the Boise, Idaho-based 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team. The 163rd also has units and armories in Great Falls, Billings, Missoula, Kalispell and Helena.

The Red Horse mobile construction units can be deployed to locations throughout the military operations in and around Southwest Asia. Red Horse stands for Rapid Engineers Deployable Heavy Operations Repair Squadron, Engineer.