108th Sustainment Brigade mobilizes for Kuwait

FOREST PARK, IL (12/30/2013)(readMedia)-- Chicago's own 108th Sustainment Brigade will hold a deployment ceremony on Jan. 4. The unit's approximately 280 Illinois National Guard Soldiers will deploy to Kuwait in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The ceremony will be Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. at the Living Word Christian Center, 7600 West Roosevelt Road, Forest Park, Ill.

The Soldiers will train for a brief time at Fort Hood, Texas, before deploying overseas for approximately 10 months. During the past year the unit has participated in training exercises in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and the Illinois National Guard's Marseilles Training Center in Marseilles in preparation for the deployment.

The 108th is composed of Soldiers from communities throughout Illinois, but with a large concentration of Soldiers from Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Officially opened in 1941, the unit's armory is on the city's northwest side.

In Kuwait, the 108th will provide mission command, and will conduct sustainment and supply, Army watercraft, postal, human resources, contract oversight and finance operations in support of the Unified Land Operations' mission. The brigade will directly support the 143rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) and 1st Theater Sustainment Command's ongoing support mission in Kuwait.

The unit is scheduled to return to Illinois in fall 2014.

News media attending the event should arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the ceremony. For more information call the Public Affairs Office at 217-761-3569.

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