Nevada Guard tank unit deploying to Kuwait security force

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — About 70 soldiers from a Nevada Army Guard cavalry unit will deploy in November for a nine-month assignment supporting the U.S. military security presence in Kuwait, Guard officials said Thursday.

A deployment ceremony was being planned Tuesday at the Clark County Armory in northeast Las Vegas to mark the departure in coming weeks of Delta Company, 1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry.

The unit operates and maintains M1A1 Abrams battle tanks.

The assignment marks a return of Nevada troops to an international mission after about 150 soldiers from the 422nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion returned to the Las Vegas area in August from a 10-month deployment in Kuwait and Iraq.

Guard Sgt. 1st Class Erick Studenicka said about 600 members of the 221st Cavalry previously deployed to Afghanistan in 2009-2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the military action begun after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the U.S.