News of the Kansas Guard.

Two upcoming deployments:

First - Army Guard to Afghanistan:

EMBEDDED TRAINING TEAM DEPLOYING TO AFGHANISTAN Sixteen Kansas National Guardsmen will be honored in a deployment ceremony on Thursday, April 5 as they prepare to depart for duty with Operation Enduring Freedom.

The 1 p.m. ceremony will be held at the Topeka South Armory, J Street and Gary Ormsby Drive , Forbes Field, Topeka .

The soldiers, drawn from several Kansas National Guard units, will be part of an Embedded Training Team under the 218th Brigade, a South Carolina National Guard unit, that will help train Afghan National Army forces.

“As Kansas National Guardsmen, we’re both warriors and trainers,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the adjutant general. “Our Guard members helped to liberate the Afghan people and now Embedded Training Teams such as this one are helping them to stand on their own and take control of their own destiny.”

The soldiers will report to Fort Riley in April, where they will train at Fort Riley approximately 45 days before leaving for Afghanistan for their year-long deployment.

Next, Air Guard to the Mexican Border:

MORE KANSAS NATIONAL GUARDSMEN HEAD SOUTHWEST FOR OPERATION JUMP START

Forty Kansas Air National Guard airmen from the 190th Air Refueling Wing will be heading to the border March 31 for two week tour of duty with Operation Jump Start, the federal operation designed to strengthen security on the U.S.-Mexico border. This is the third Kansas National Guard deployment to support the border mission.

Lt. Col. Craig Hansen, the officer in charge for the group, said 35 of the airmen are from the 190th Air Refueling Wing’s Civil Engineering Squadron and the others are from other 190th ARW organizations. There will also be one airman from a Nebraska ANG Civil Engineering Squadron joining them.

Hansen said the group will fly to Yuma , Ariz. , on March 31, where their mission will be to construct sections of fence and roads and install lightning. Hansen said this is the first Operation Jump Start mission for the 190th CES and the airmen are looking forward to it.

“They always like doing these sort of projects,” said Hansen.

The airmen are scheduled to return to Kansas April 19.

In January 2007, 40 members of the Kansas Army National Guard’s 2nd Battalion, 130th Field Artillery were deployed to Operation Jump Start to man several Entry Identification Teams. The Entry Identification Teams mission was to monitor the border and report activities to border agents and local law enforcement.

In July 2006, the 184th Civil Engineering Squadron, based out of Wichita ’s McConnell Air Force Base, was the first Kansas unit to take part in Operation Jump Start.