“The troops in Jolo have been there for the past three months and they will stay for a total of six months,” Goldhorn said during yesterday’s Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan.
He added that these U.S. servicemembers will leave the Philippines for six months and will be replaced by a unit from Hawaii.
But they will be deployed again to Jolo, he said.
“We are helping train the Armed Forces of the Philippines and we are providing protection for other organizations working in that region,” Goldhorn said.
He said Guam National Guards were sent to Jolo because of the high incidence of terrorist activities in the area.
The Guam soldiers will be deployed to Jolo indefinitely, depending on the orders of their commanders, Goldhorn said.
“It’s an important mission for us to try to help stabilize that part of the world,” he added.
Goldhorn said other soldiers from the National Guard are being deployed to Afghanistan, Africa, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
More than 150 soldiers from the Guam Army National Guard returned recently from a year-long deployment in the Horn of Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
