Soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment (MPAD) will deploy to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo this spring to support Joint Task Force Guantanamo. The 112th MPAD also deployed there in 2008-09. Wisconsin National Guard file photo

MADISON, Wis. — A team of public affairs Soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment will deploy to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo in Cuba this spring.

Approximately half of the 20-Soldier unit will deploy to provide public affairs support to Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

The unit deployed in 2003 as a Wisconsin detachment of the Illinois National Guard’s 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After Wisconsin received its own mobile public affairs detachment, the unit deployed as the 112th to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo in 2008.

The Wisconsin National Guard remains heavily engaged fulfilling its mission as a key component of the primary combat reserve of the Army and Air Force. A military engagement team from the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade is slated to deploy to the Middle East this spring. Three Wisconsin Army National Guard aviators from Detachment 5, 641st Aviation deployed to Afghanistan earlier this month, and Soldiers from the 248th Aviation Support Battalion deployed to the Middle East in September. Approximately 85 Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 147th Aviation returned from a nine-month deployment to the Middle East in January, and approximately 35 Soldiers from West Bend’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 168th Aviation returned from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan in November.

Also in November, approximately 270 Airmen from the 115th Fighter Wing returned to Madison from a deployment to Korea, and more than 100 Airmen from the 128th Air Control Squadron at Volk Field returned from Southwest Asia. Approximately 70 Airmen from the 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee are in the midst of deployments worldwide, and other Airmen from the 128th deployed earlier in the fall as well.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin National Guard has been busy fulfilling its other mission as the state’s first military responder in times of emergency. Last fall, the Wisconsin National Guard deployed Soldiers and Airmen to Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to assist with hurricane recovery efforts, and Soldiers responded on multiple occasions to flooding last summer in Monroe County and Burlington, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin National Guard is planning a sendoff ceremony for the Soldiers of the 112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment and will announce those details at a later time.