Pilots from the Maine Army National Guard’s Operational Support Airlift Command in Bangor are leaving Thursday for a roughly one-year deployment to Asia.
The pilots are part of Detachment 3, 2nd Battalion, 641st Aviation Regiment that will deploy to southwest Asia in the fall. They leave the state Thursday afternoon for training at a base outside of Maine, according to Guard Spokeswoman Staff Sgt. Angela Parady.
“OSACOM is a small, Bangor based unit that operate a small fixed wing aircraft known as a C-12,” a press release about the deployment states. “Their mission is to provide high priority, short notice air transport to passengers and cargo movement for all Army components and members of the Department of Defense.”
OSACOM includes about eight soldiers, pilot and crew members, who specialize in aerial transportation. Six in the unit will deploy, Parady said.
The unit has been deployed three times since 2003, twice to Afghanistan and once to Iraq.
A private send-off ceremony is planned for members of the unit and their families, Parady said.