Oregon Soldiers Mobilize in Salem Before Heading for Afghanistan

Members of the unit were featured in the book The Devil's Sandbox, by author John. R. Bruning.

Some 400 soldiers with the Oregon Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team are scheduled to participate in a mobilization ceremony on Saturday in Salem. Photo Courtesy: Oregon Army National Guard

(SALEM, Ore. ) - Some 400 soldiers with the Oregon Army National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team are scheduled to participate in a mobilization ceremony on Saturday in Salem.

The unit, headquartered in Springfield, Ore., with companies also based in Corvallis, Gresham, and Hillsboro,will provide security and support for military facilities in Kabul and southwestern Afghanistan.

"I couldn't be more proud to have been selected to lead this battalion which has such an amazing history, and some of the finest Soldiers in the nation," said Oregon Army National Guard Lt. Col. Scot Caughran, 2-162 Battalion Commander.

U.S. Congressman Kurt Schrader (D-OR 5th District); Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown; Oregon State Senator Brian Boquist; Oregon State Representative Julie Parish, Maj. Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, Adjutant General, Oregon; and State Command Sergeant Major Shane Lake are some of the dignitaries who are scheduled to attend.

Elements of the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team have served in Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The brigade deployed a large contingent known as Task Force Phoenix to Afghanistan in 2006 and again deployed the entire brigade to Iraq in 2009.

Members of the unit were featured in the book The Devil's Sandbox, by author John. R. Bruning, who followed the Soldiers during their mobilization in the summer of 2003, through their deployment to Iraq and homecoming in 2005.

Members of the unit were also in a feature documentary, This is War: Memories of Iraq, which chronicled a group of Oregon Soldiers with 2-162 Infantry through their own personal videos. The unit spent weeks in Najaf dealing with Sadr and then assisted in the second Battle of Fallujah. The film was released in 2007.

The mobilization ceremony will be held at the Salem Armory Auditorium, located at 2310 17th Street NE, in Salem, Ore. The ceremony begins at 2:00 p.m.