CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire Army National Guard aviation unit is getting ready to head to Afghanistan.
A deployment ceremony is scheduled Saturday for the guard’s Operational Support Airlift, Detachment 18, in Concord.
Based in Concord, the fixed-wing aviation unit is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan soon. The seven-man detachment will conduct aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for Special Operations command in support Operation Freedom Sentinel.
The unit reports to Fort Bliss, Texas, next week for mobilization training.
This marks the detachment’s fourth deployment, and second to Afghanistan, in 12 years. It deployed there in 2010.
Formed in 1995, the unit’s primary mission is medium range transportation of military passengers and sensitive cargo. The unit also was sent to Kuwait in 2007 and 2014.
Over the past decade it “”has performed a key role gathering critical enemy intelligence in support U.S. and allied ground operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other contested regions throughout the Middle East,” said New Hampshire Adjutant Gen. David Mikolaities.
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