North Carolina National Guard Financial Management Company Deploys

RALEIGH, NC (03/02/2011)(readMedia)-- Military and civilian leaders, friends and family honored the Soldiers of the North Carolina Army National Guard's 130th Financial Management Company during a deployment ceremony at the Guard's Joint Force Headquarters here today.

The unit, based in Siler City, N.C., will deploy to Kuwait soon in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The unit will command financial management detachments and provide financial management support to corps-, division-, brigade- and theater-level units deployed to Southwest Asia. Twelve of the unit's 27 Soldiers have deployed at least once before, and one Soldier has deployed more than seven times when counting his prior service in the U.S. Navy.

"Before you sit...the most motivated and adaptive Soldiers I have ever met," said Army Capt. Agata Tyson, company commander. "I have never seen a unit build such camaraderie and teamwork so quickly."

In attendance at the ceremony were Reuben F. Young, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, Army Brig. Gen. James Trogden, III, North Carolina National Guard assistant adjutant general and other senior leaders of the North Carolina National Guard.

"You are all volunteers, citizen Soldiers, willing to serve your country and to protect our freedoms," said Young. "You are our neighbors, sons, daughters, co-workers, and friends.

"We are proud of you, and you make all of us proud to be Americans," he said.

During a previous deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004 to2005, the unit paid out more than $6 billion in checks during the deployment and handled more than $30 million per month in cash transactions without any significant losses. The Soldiers were responsible for transporting $20 million in cash per month from Germany to Iraq and assisted all branches of the military and most of the civilian workforce stationed in Iraq and Kuwait. In 2007, the 130th Finance Battalion was re-organized and became the 130th Financial Management Company.

On Aug. 19, 2010, the 130th welcomed home the 113th Finance Detachment, one of its subordinate units, from its deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The unit will deploy its 112th Finance Detachment to support the U.S. mission in the Balkans during sometime after Oct. 1, 2011.

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