Minnesota Guard soldiers to deploy to Kuwait and Afghanistan

A group of 11 soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard will deploy Sunday to Afghanistan and Kuwait to provide personnel support.

The soldiers, members of the 147th Human Resources Company, 347th Regional Support Group, will deploy for one year in support of Operation Freedom's Sentinel and Operation Inherent Resolve.

One Casualty Liaison Team will deploy to Afghanistan, while a Personnel Services Team will deploy to Kuwait to support a Special Operations Joint Task Force, the Guard announced Wednesday.

These two teams are the first of four deployments scheduled for the unit, said Capt. Johnny Villarreal, the company's commander, in a statement.

The 147th Human Resources Company provides postal operations, casualty liaison duties, personnel accountability, and other personnel services to help maintain soldier readiness, the Guard said. The liaison team coordinates information for military and civilian patients in the theater and initiates any casualty notification process to a patients' next of kin.

A deployment ceremony is scheduled Sunday at the Arden Hills Army Training Site. The soldiers will depart for predeployment training at Fort Bliss and Fort Hood, Texas, and are expected to begin their missions in Afghanistan and Kuwait in February.