BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — The Louisiana National Guard’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team will hold ceremonies and farewell events throughout the state from Nov. 10-18. Following each ceremony, the soldiers will depart Louisiana.

With units located throughout the state in areas of Shreveport, Natchitoches, Alexandria, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans, approximately 2,000 guardsmen are scheduled to deploy to the Middle East in support of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) operations. Including premobilization training at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, the soldiers will be away from home for nearly one year. https://www.centcom.mil/AREA-OF-RESPONSIBILITY/

Due to the current global pandemic, the ceremonies will be “military and media only”, while family and friends will be able to live-stream via the LANG Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/geauxguard.

This will be the 256th’s third overseas deployment since 9/11.