Jan. 19, 2022
Iowa Soldiers make history in U.S. Army air defense mission
Al Asad Air Base, Iraq —
In the very early morning hours of June 5, 2021, Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery did what they’d done for several months – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – they manned their Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar guns.
The Soldiers, deployed to Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq, came from small towns, mostly in northwest and north central Iowa. Members of the Iowa National Guard, and mostly field artillerymen and maintainers, they found themselves deployed to the Middle East to do a completely foreign mission: air defense.