A community homecoming and deployment recognition ceremony for an Iowa Army National Guard unit based at Camp Dodge will be held at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, July 14, at the Freedom Center (Bldg. S70), Camp Dodge, Johnston, Iowa. Local officials and Iowa National Guard leadership will participate and the public and media are welcome and encouraged to attend this ceremony.

Approximately 40 Soldiers with the 1034th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion (CSSB) were mobilized in June 2018 as part of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel. Headquartered in Kandahar, Afghanistan, the battalion provided mission command for sustainment personnel spread throughout southern and western Afghanistan. The battalion supported numerous expeditionary missions during its deployment and provided distribution oversight of tens of millions of dollars in water, food, fuel, ammunition and other commodities.

Those Iowa National Guard soldiers have served under the flag of the 1034th since the 1034th Quartermaster Company was designated in 1963 in Denison, Iowa. The 1034th underwent numerous reorganizations over the decades since the Vietnam War, but continued to support the 34th Infantry Division with critical transportation, maintenance and supply assets.

Since being designated as the CSSB in 2006, the unit has mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from June 2006 to July 2007 and Operation Enduring Freedom from August 2012 to September 2013.