BY ANDY TAYLOR

chronicle@taylornews.org

A departure ceremony for the Kansas Army National Guard’s 226th Engineer Company, which includes a detachment from Cherryvale, is  scheduled for 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 30 in Salina, Kan.

The 226th company will join soldiers with the 891st Engineer Battalion in Iola for a farewell ceremony to be held at Pioneer Hall on the campus of Kansas Wesleyan University.  The soldiers will then depart from several weeks of training at Fort McCoy, Wis., before being deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The deployment is projected to take at least nine months. Their mission will be to construct, repair, and maintain vertical infrastructures in support of support brigades or engineer brigades within the Afghanistan theater, to include construction of base camps and other facilities.

Lt. Gov. Troy Findley and Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting will speak at the ceremony.

“I’m very proud of these soldiers and have every confidence in their ability to serve their country proudly through their mission in Afghanistan,” said Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, the adjutant general. “I thank them and their families for the sacrifice they are making during this holiday season and all year long.”

The public is cordially invited to attend the departure ceremony. Doors open at 9:30 a.m.

The soldiers are from the 226th Engineer Company, headquartered in Augusta, and soldiers from the 891st Engineer Battalion, headquartered in Iola. The commander is Capt. Brian Henning.

The 226th Engineer Company includes detachments from Cherryvale and Pittsburg. The company headquarters are in Augusta, Kan.