Approximately 150 Soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 829th Engineer Company are deploying to the Middle East this fall.

Headquartered in Spooner with a detachment in Ashland, the 829th will mobilize to U.S. Central Command as a versatile construction element in support of an engineer battalion from Indiana.

The 829th most recently deployed to Afghanistan in 2013-14, but it also deployed to Iraq in 2003-04 and again in 2009-10. The unit has also participated in a number of overseas training missions including missions in Trinidad in 2007 and El Salvador in 2013.

The Wisconsin National Guard is planning a sendoff ceremony for the deploying troops and will release those details at a later date.

The mobilization comes at a time when more than 1,000 other Soldiers and Airmen from the Wisconsin National Guard are mobilized in support of their federal mission as the primary combat reserve of the Army and Air Force.

Approximately 400 Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 127th Infantry are currently in Afghanistan, while another 400 from the 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry mobilized this summer for deployment to Afghanistan as well. Meanwhile, 250 Airmen from the 115th Fighter Wing deployed to the same region in July.

Earlier this month, the Wisconsin National Guard announced that the 32nd “Red Arrow” Infantry Brigade Combat Team Headquarters was mobilizing this fall for a deployment to Ukraine in support of the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine, where it will serve as the headquarters element overseeing a group of multinational partner and advise training teams in western Ukraine.

More than 350 Soldiers from the Milwaukee-based 1st Battalion, 121st Field Artillery returned from their deployment to the Middle East and Afghanistan in May. Another 25 Soldiers from the 157th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade’s Military Engagement Team returned from their Middle East deployment in February, and a team of Soldiers from the 112th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment also returned in February from its mission to U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In addition, Soldiers from the 248th General Aviation Support Battalion returned from a Middle East deployment in September 2018, and approximately 70 Airmen from the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 128th Air Refueling Wing in Milwaukee celebrated the completion of a series of successful global deployments in October 2018.

The Wisconsin National Guard simultaneously remains ready to fulfil its mission as Wisconsin’s first military responder during emergencies, if needed.