Friends and family sent off 3,000 Iowa National Guard soldiers on deployment this summer, and now 75 more Guardsmen, based out of the Davenport Municipal Airport, are being mobilized.

The last of the 3,000 members of the Army National Guard’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team’s 34th Infantry Division are expected to be in Afghanistan by Thursday, Iowa National Guard spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood said.

Four units in the 2-211th General Support Aviation Battalion will have a send-off ceremony at 6 p.m. Monday at its headquarters, 9650 Harrison St., Davenport. The public is encouraged to attend.

The soldiers will travel to Fort Hood, Texas, before deployment to Iraq. The unit previously has deployed as part of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

The unit flies, maintains and fuels CH-47D “Chinook” helicopters.

Earlier this year, as part of the surge of troops in Afghanistan, the 2nd Brigate Combat Team was mobilized, first training in Minnesota, then in Mississippi. Troops have been steadily moved to Afghanistan for some time and some are already seeing action.

On Nov. 6, during a firefight, members of the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, out of Waterloo, Iowa, captured a Taliban fighter, Hapgood said.

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