1020th Engineer Co. deploying to Kuwait

More than 150 soldiers with a Marksville-based Louisiana National Guard engineering unit bid farewell to family and friends during a deployment ceremony earlier today.

Gov. John Bel Edwards was joined by Maj. Glenn Curtis, LNG adjutant general, and the 1020th’s unit commander Capt. Clint Gleason in praising the citizen soldiers for their willingness to serve and thanking family members for the sacrifice they must bear in the nation’s “War on Terror” as they say farewell to their family members in the Guard.

The deployment ceremony was held on the campus of Avoyelles Public Charter School in Mansura.

The 1020th Engineer Co. will deploy to Kuwait and other locations in that region for nine months to improve forward operating base conditions to support Operation Spartan Shield. Prior to deploying to the Persian Gulf, the Guardsmen will conduct mobilization training at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Spartan Shield is the name given to the military mission in southwest Asia to “counter, protect, defend and prepare” for military action of enemy combatants while building partnerships with other nations in the Middle East.

The 1020th deployed to Kuwait in 1990 in support of Operation Desert Shield, which became Operation Desert Storm when combat operations began. Its soldiers have also been activated to serve the country during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav, Ike and Isaac, during the Deepwater Horizon oilspill in 2010 and the major floods of 2016.

The unit has conducted numerous overseas deployment training projects, such as building schools and health clinics in several countries, including Germany, Belize, Haiti and Honduras.

{For more photos and details of today's ceremonies, including comments by Edwards and others, see this Sunday's Avoyelles Journal.}