RAPID CITY, S.D. – A deployment ceremony will be held for 11 Soldiers of the South Dakota Army National Guard’s 129th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 15, at the Duke Corning Armory drill floor on Camp Rapid, Rapid City.

The public is encouraged to attend.

The Rapid City-based 129th will deploy to Afghanistan for a nine-month tour in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The mission of the 129th is to provide public affairs support, media coverage and media escort.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard, Rapid City Mayor Sam Kooiker and Maj. Gen. Tim Reisch, the adjutant general of the SDNG, will be the featured speakers at the ceremony.

The unit will report to Fort Dix, N.J., to complete several weeks of theater-specific training prior to deployment overseas. This is the third mobilization for the unit since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism; deploying to Fort Riley, Kan., in 2003 and MacDill Air Force Base, Fla./Qatar in 2006.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION contact Maj. Anthony Deiss at (605) 737-6721 or cell (605) 431-8753, or e-mail  ng.sd.sdarng.list.pao@mail.mil