Oregon Guard Mobilize for Middle East Deployment

FOREST GROVE, Ore. - About 230 members of the Oregon Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 218th Field Artillery Regiment, were recognized Aug. 9 during a mobilization ceremony as they prepared for a year-long deployment to the Middle East.

Before departing overseas, they will train at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on the equipment and systems they will operate as the primary air defenders U.S. and coalition partners rely on for force protection.

The service members will be assigned to Iraq and Syria to support Operation Inherent Resolve, whose mission is to advise, assist and enable partner forces to defeat terrorist elements across the Central Command Area of Responsibility.

"The 218th Field Artillery has an exceptionally rich unit history and lineage in which you now are part of," Brig. Gen. Alan Gronewold, adjutant general, Oregon National Guard, told the Soldiers, friends and family members at the ceremony. "... Remember the heavy responsibilities that rest upon your shoulders."

As part of Task Force Defender, the Oregon Citizen-Soldiers will conduct rocket, artillery, mortar and drone defense operations in the Middle East.

"The Oregon National Guard continues its legacy of simultaneously serving Oregonians with domestic operations here at home while also answering the call for federal mobilizations supporting the United States," Gronewold said.

The 2nd Battalion, 218th Field Artillery Regiment, has a long record of answering the state and nation's call to service. The unit was organized Feb. 3, 1866, as the Portland Light Artillery. Federal service action has included tours in France during World War I, the Europe and the Pacific theaters in World War II, and numerous missions in the post-9/11 era in the Middle East.

"There are a lot of things in the air that are threats. Our job will be to take out those threats," said Lt. Col. Manuel Robledo, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 218th Field Artillery Regiment.

"This will be a different mission and rotation than a lot of us have experienced before as we will be separate and spread out over a wide geographical region and have to rely on leaders at the lowest levels," Robledo said.

Deploying for her first overseas mission, Capt. Beth Biggs said she's mindful of the challenge but believes all the training will pay off.

"I am a little nervous, but the more I've gotten to work with the people I am going with, the more confident I am," she said. "I am really confident that we're going to go over there, learn a lot before we go, and gain a lot of skills over there during the deployment."

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