1 unit honored, 2nd readies to leave

The Olympian • Published October 03, 2008

As one military unit gets ready today at Fort Lewis to leave for Iraq, another will be honored for its service Sunday.

The 520th Medical Company Area Support and the 166th Medical Detachment will case their colors today at 11 a.m. in preparation for the units' 70 soldiers deployment to Iraq. The 520th will provide health protection operations, and the 166th will provide optometry care.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the 66th Theater Aviation Command of the Washington Army National Guard will honor the service of recently returned soldiers at a Freedom Salute ceremony. The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. at Fort Lewis.

The three units contributed about 250 citizen-soldiers from around the state to serve in Iraq. Every soldier returned home safely. The Freedom Salute Campaign is part of a National Guard program designed to acknowledge Army Guard soldiers and those who supported them during their service in Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

The following 66th units recently returned from yearlong deployments: The Air Warriors of 1-140th Aviation (Assault) returned in July; the "Raptor Battalion" 1-168 General Support Aviation Battalion returned in May; and Detachment 2A, 641st Aviation returned in July. The Raptor Battalion flew more than 2,500 missions; 1-140 flew more than 900 missions.