By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
About 350 members of a Kentucky Army National Guard unit will be heading overseas where they will be participating in two separate missions with their counterparts from Virginia.
Kentucky National Guard senior leaders joined family and friends at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington over the weekend to honor approximately 150 soldiers of Somerset-based Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 149th Infantry Regiment, known as the Mountain Warriors, as they left Kentucky and entered federal active duty.
The ‘Mountain Warriors’ deploy for duty. (U.S. Army National Guard/Sgt. Matt Damon)
The soldiers will deploy under the command of Task Force Red Dragon from Virginia Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. With a total of more than 1,000 service members, the task force will provide a security force in support of Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
The battalion is trained and equipped to accomplish a wide range of missions throughout the U.S. Africa Command area of responsibility, but its primary objective is to provide security for the various forward-operating bases maintained by the Department of Defense, to build partnerships with host nations and to improve safety and stability in the region.
“I am completely confident in the chain of command for this unit,” said Kentucky’s Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Hal Lamberton. “From the company level to the battalion, to the brigade, these soldiers are as well trained as any in the Guard, Reserve and active duty.”
While the soldiers from Bravo Company depart for their journey to the Horn of Africa, approximately 200 other infantrymen from the battalion are preparing for a separate federal mobilization.
These additional members of the 1-149th IN will also be working with Virginia National Guard in southeast Europe, as they deploy with 116th IBCT Headquarters to conduct peace support for NATO-led Kosovo Force in early 2022.
Lt. Col. Jason Mendez, commander of the 1-149th IN with headquarters in Barbourville, called this an important time for the battalion.
“It’s been more than 10 years since we last deployed. This year, our battalion will support two separate deployments in two theaters of operation.”
Both Kentucky and Virginia units are components of the 29th Infantry Division, based in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. With additional Guardsmen from Maryland, this is the most soldiers mobilized from the 29th since World War II, according to the Virginia Guard.
The 1st Battalion, 149th Infantry Regiment was constituted on May 22, 1846, in the Kentucky Militia as the 1st Kentucky Cavalry and the 2nd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry.
The unit’s combat history goes back to the Mexican War, starting with the Battle of Buena Vista. Since then, the unit fought on both sides of the Civil War, World War I, and in the South Pacific during World War II, including New Guinea, Leyte, and Luzon.
The length of the deployments were not released.
