RENO - The largest deployment in the history of the Nevada Guard’s signal corps began January 9 for the 422nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion.
More than 350 Nevada Soldiers marked the start of the deployment with a ceremony at the Reno Ballroom before they departed for their final training before leaving for Afghanistan.
One hundred Soldiers from Arizona belonging to A Company will join the Nevada Soldiers this week.
This deployment marks the first time a National Guard signal battalion will use the Warrior Information Network – Tactical in Afghanistan.
The 422nd will provide communications to dozens of forward operating bases and combat outposts throughout south and southwest Afghanistan.
The new equipment provides voice, data, video teleconferencing and other data transmission capabilities, both secure and non-secure, to a wide area in the battalion’s area of operations.
A ceremony for the Soldiers based in southern Nevada was held Thursday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas.
Thousands of family, friends and well-wishers attended both ceremonies, including U.S. Sen. John Ensign in Las Vegas and Gov. Brian Sandoval in Reno and Las Vegas.
Both elected official praised the Soldiers and their families for stepping forward on behalf of the Silver State. The 422nd Signal Battalion commander, Lt. Col. Jeff Hanson echoed those sentiments.
“I have no worries about the job we are deployed to do,” said Hansen. “The Soldiers in this unit have trained well and are prepared for this deployment.”
The signal Soldiers from Nevada spent their pre-mobilization annual training at Camp Roberts, Calif. Simultaneously, A Company trained at Florence Military Reservation, Ariz.
The far-flung companies within the battalion kept in continuous contact utilizing its WIN-T equipment.
In late December, the Soldiers took a short break and spent time with families and friends during the holidays. They departed Monday for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., for their final preparation before moving to Southwest Asia to conduct the mission.