Iowa National Guard families prepare for deployment announcement

When Shannon Sandvig's husband was deployed to Iraq in 2003 the couple had a three-week notice.

“You just pay the bills and do the things that have to be done,” Sandvig, a family readiness volunteer, said Monday after talking to the Iowa National Guard about a major deployment to be announced today.

Guard officials are offering few details, but confirmed troops from the 2nd Brigade of the 34th Infantry Division, which has about 3,500 soldiers, were alerted over the weekend of a possible deployment in the fall of 2010. The Guard could not confirm whether other Iowa units would be part of the deployment.

With so much advance notice, “The thing that jumps in my mind is how much family stuff can we pack in?” said Sandvig, who lives in Ankeny with her husband, Staff Sgt. Gavin Sandvig and their three children.

And if Bravo Company 334 in Cedar Rapids – her husband's outfit - is included in the deployment, Sandvig wonders if he will be there to see, Ben, their “deployment baby” go off to kindergarten.

“I hope daddy will be there to see that,” she said. “You just ask yourself, ‘Which thing is he going to miss?'?”

The deployment won't be the first for many of Iowa's 9,400 Army and Air National Guard members since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The 34th Infantry, which includes soldiers from Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Iowa City, Dubuque, Des Moines and other communities, was deployed to Iraq in the spring of 2007.

The Department of Defense is expected to announce the deployment this afternoon, according to Guard spokesman Maj. Michael Wunn.

About 450 of the 9,400 Iowa Army and Air Guard members are deployed now, Wunn said. There have been nearly 12,000 deployments of the Iowa soldiers, meaning many soldiers have been deployed multiple times since the Sept. 11 attacks. During peak deployment in 2004-04, as many as 2,500 to 3,000 Iowa Guard members were deployed.

About 300 of those currently deployed, including soldiers from Iowa City, are expected to return later this month. Another 300 airmen will be leaving in November for a rotation in the Mideast, Wunn said.

Since Sept. 11, 17 members of the Iowa Guard have died overseas and two others died after being mobilized, but before deploying.

The long lead time is a result of a Pentagon policy change in 2007 calling for advance notice and more predictable deployment, Wunn said.

“It makes it easier for the soldiers and their families to have that predictability,” he said.

Most Guard families have come to expect deployments, Sandvig said. The long lead time gives them a chance to take family vacations, plan elective surgeries, and make arrangements for the family duties the Guard member handles.

“And if your husband has the car torn apart in the garage, he'll have time to put it back together,” she said. “The other way, a family might have had a car sitting on blocks for a year-and-a-half.”

When Shannon Sandvig's husband was deployed to Iraq in 2003 the couple had a three-week notice.

“You just pay the bills and do the things that have to be done,” Sandvig, a family readiness volunteer, said Monday after talking to the Iowa National Guard about a major deployment to be announced today.

Guard officials are offering few details, but confirmed troops from the 2nd Brigade of the 34th Infantry Division, which has about 3,500 soldiers, were alerted over the weekend of a possible deployment in the fall of 2010. The Guard could not confirm whether other Iowa units would be part of the deployment.

With so much advance notice, “The thing that jumps in my mind is how much family stuff can we pack in?” said Sandvig, who lives in Ankeny with her husband, Staff Sgt. Gavin Sandvig and their three children.

And if Bravo Company 334 in Cedar Rapids – her husband's outfit - is included in the deployment, Sandvig wonders if he will be there to see, Ben, their “deployment baby” go off to kindergarten.

“I hope daddy will be there to see that,” she said. “You just ask yourself, ‘Which thing is he going to miss?'?”

The deployment won't be the first for many of Iowa's 9,400 Army and Air National Guard members since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The 34th Infantry, which includes soldiers from Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Iowa City, Dubuque, Des Moines and other communities, was deployed to Iraq in the spring of 2007.

The Department of Defense is expected to announce the deployment this afternoon, according to Guard spokesman Maj. Michael Wunn.

About 450 of the 9,400 Iowa Army and Air Guard members are deployed now, Wunn said. There have been nearly 12,000 deployments of the Iowa soldiers, meaning many soldiers have been deployed multiple times since the Sept. 11 attacks. During peak deployment in 2004-04, as many as 2,500 to 3,000 Iowa Guard members were deployed.

About 300 of those currently deployed, including soldiers from Iowa City, are expected to return later this month. Another 300 airmen will be leaving in November for a rotation in the Mideast, Wunn said.

Since Sept. 11, 17 members of the Iowa Guard have died overseas and two others died after being mobilized, but before deploying.

The long lead time is a result of a Pentagon policy change in 2007 calling for advance notice and more predictable deployment, Wunn said.

“It makes it easier for the soldiers and their families to have that predictability,” he said.

Most Guard families have come to expect deployments, Sandvig said. The long lead time gives them a chance to take family vacations, plan elective surgeries, and make arrangements for the family duties the Guard member handles.

“And if your husband has the car torn apart in the garage, he'll have time to put it back together,” she said. “The other way, a family might have had a car sitting on blocks for a year-and-a-half.”