Ohio brigade deploying 3,600 to Afghanistan

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The Ohio National Guard’s 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is preparing to send about 3,600 soldiers from Ohio and Michigan to Afghanistan in what will be its largest deployment since the Korean War in 1952.

The state Adjutant General’s Department says the guard received an alert order in May, and that the team will mobilize out of Camp Shelby, Miss., in the spring and deploy to Afghanistan in summer 2011. The 37th will replace the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.

The group’s commander, Col. James Perry, says there is a “calm sense of purpose” throughout the brigade as preparations begin.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.