National Guard

The drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq means a new deployment for a Minnesota National Guard unit. About three dozen members of an assault helicopter battalion are shipping out as part of Operation New Dawn.

This will be an especially happy Thanksgiving for 70 Minnesota National Guard soldiers and their families. WJON was at the Aviation Facility when they returned home to St. Cloud today (Wednesday).

Seventy soldiers from the St. Cloud are coming home, just in time for Thanksgiving. The solders from the St. Cloud-based Company B, 2nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment will be back in town tomorrow (Wednesday).

Hundreds of loved ones bid farewell to 131 members of the Minnesota Army National Guard last night during a deployment ceremony at the Bernick's Arena in Sartell. The Army National Guard's First Brigade Combat Team is made up of 29 units from 27 different Minnesota communities.

Ten St. Cloud area soldiers will be armed with a new G-P-S unit, when they leave for Iraq on Friday. The St. Augusta American Legion Post 621 donated the G-P-S units, with the help of Lowranz Electronics. Lowranz spokesman Mike Schnettler says the units will be a value tool for the soldiers.

Several departure ceremonies for the Minnesota National Guard will be held in Central Minnesota over the next few days. The First Brigade Combat Team, 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, is scheduled to depart Minnesota in the next few weeks in support of Operation New Dawn in Iraq.

A deployment ceremony was held at the National Guard Helicopter Base in St. Cloud for 21 soldiers today. The soldiers will train beginning on April 24th in New Mexico in preparation for a one year deployment to perform medical evacuation support in Afganistan.

A deployment ceremony will be held on Thursday in St. Cloud. The soldiers from C Company, 171st General Aviation Brigade, Minnesota Army National Guard are preparing to leave for a one-year deployment to Afghanistan.

A Minnesota National Guard soldier and his wife are dead after a murder-suicide in a St. Paul suburb. Authorities found the bodies of 21-year-old Kalen Pohjonen and his 19-year-old wife, Katherine Pohjonen, in their Vadnais Heights town home Tuesday. Both died of gunshot wounds. A handgun was found at the scene.