By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

A GROUP of 16 soldiers with the Guam Army National Guard will be training a combat support battalion of the Afghanistan National Army.
Gov. Felix P. Camacho, who helped send off the troops in a departure ceremony yesterday, applauded the caliber and skills of the members of the Guam Army National Guard who are being deployed to Afghanistan.
“You will be a part of a very important mission, and that is to train the Afghanistan National Army so they can defend the democracy that the people of that country and the soldiers of our nation fought for,” Camacho said.
The mobilization will include training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and Fort Riley, Kansas starting on Feb. 24. The Guam troops will be physically deployed in Afghanistan beginning in May.
“The Guam soldier is known for setting a high standard of excellence. You have been chosen to continue a tradition of excellence in Afghanistan because your superiors know that you are the best in the country,” the governor told the departing troops in the Guam Guard headquarters in Barrigada yesterday.
The Guam National Guard has been instrumental in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Forty-six Guam Army National Guardsmen have been deployed to Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
More than 50 National Guardsmen from Guam have been deployed to Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom began and about 450 National Guardsmen have been deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom missions in the Horn of Africa.
On Jan. 10, a send-off ceremony was held for about 150 Army National Guardsmen who deployed to the Horn of Africa.