By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

A DIRECTOR of the Guam Chamber of Commerce board is among those being deployed to serve in Afghanistan.
Gregory D. Perez of Perez Bros. Inc. is one of the 16 soldiers with the Guam Army National Guard who will help train a combat support battalion of the Afghanistan National Army.
Perez will be deployed for about 18 months, embedded with the Afghan military, to help them train for a better tomorrow.
The mobilization of the Guam troops will include training in Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and Fort Riley, Kansas starting on Feb. 24, 2007. The Guam troops will then be physically deployed in Afghanistan beginning in May.
Perez will serve as the executive officer of the team and will be involved primarily with engineering work.
According to Chamber board chairman Steve Ruder, Perez is the first director to ever serve on active duty and he has honored the Guam business group with his service.
“We would have liked to honor him at the next general membership meeting, however, he will be departing in the next few days,” Ruder said.
The Chamber board of directors presented Perez with an appreciation plaque on behalf of the membership last Friday in recognition of the assistance and dedicated service he has provided the Chamber.
“We are honored to have one of our directors serve in this capacity and thank him for his service to our nation,” Ruder said.
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.