VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Dozens of soldiers in Virginia Beach are preparing to head overseas in just a few months.
Specialist Connor Hamilton is part of the roughly 70 Virginia National Guard soldiers gearing up for mobilization to Poland in January 2024. These soldiers, who are assigned to the 529th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, have known about this possible deployment for about a year. It's part of maintaining readiness in the region.
“Definitely going to miss my family but I’ve talked with my wife and this is something that we have been prepared for,” Hamilton said.
For Hamilton, this is his first deployment. This will be Sergeant Marquita Snow’s second and she told 13News Now that she has already developed goals when she departs.
“I will be volunteering with the USO while I’m over there and the MWR," she said.
Members with 529th just finished up training in August which they said prepared them for this deployment.
“We’re going to be supporting a lot of multinational training exercises," Lt. Col. Carlos Maldonado said. "So, while we don’t have specifics as to what we’re going to be pushing exactly, we stand ready to support and execute as required.”
They use maps to track a unit’s footprint and review charts to manage supplies as they plan to work with several other units in Poland.
“So, it could be infantry units, calvary units aviation, units,” Maldonado said.
Snow calls this a learning experience for soldiers.
“They’re going to get to immerse themselves for an extended period of time in a different place, connect with people on a community level which is exactly what we want to do as national guardsmen,” she said.
For the next couple of months, Maldonado says his soldiers have a few more pre-mobilization trainings ahead of them before they head to Poland. Once they deploy, they plan to remain in Europe for about a year.