Vermont National Guard overseas deployment underway

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - The long-anticipated, overseas deployment the Vermont National Guard has been training for is now underway.

Guard officials say groups are deploying now and will continue to do so through early June. Members of the Air National Guard are going first. At the end of the month, the law enforcement detachment will deploy, followed by the mountain battalion in February, and then task forces and headquarters. In all, 950 Vermont soldiers and 80 airmen will deploy.

Vermont National Guard Brig. Gen. Gregory Knight would not give specifics about where they’ll end up or what they’ll be doing, but we do know that one of the areas is U.S. Central Command, an area that covers Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

Gen. Gregory Knight: The missions will be varied but I can’t get into too many details, but that’s up to the theater commander.

Reporter Darren Perron: Will they be in harm’s way?

Gen. Gregory Knight: Well, you know Darren, we live in a dynamic environment right now. Any theater, there are times that are unpredictable, but our soldiers are trained.

The soldiers will be gone for about a year and members of the Air Guard about six months.