Guam Army National Guardsmen in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, May 2013
In 2002, members of the Guam Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 294th Infantry Regiment and the 105th Troop Command were deployed to Afghanistan as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom.[4] In October 2012, over 500 GU ARNG personnel formed Task Force Guam and trained at Camp Roberts, a California Army National Guard facility near Paso Robles, California[5] prior to their deployment to Camp Phoenix near Kabul and other forward operating bases in Afghanistan. In April 2013, Task Force Guam replaced Task Force Centurion Prime, composed of 1st Battalion, 167th Infantry Regiment of the Alabama Army National Guard.[6] Task Force Guam was the largest deployment in the history of GU ARNG and also included 17 soldiers who resided in the Northern Mariana Islands. Task Force Guam returned to Barrigada in December 2013[7] and was replaced in Afghanistan by Task Force Fury, composed of elements of the 508th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division.[8]
On June 10, 2015, the Guam Army National Guard gained its first aviation assets with the delivery of two UH-72 Lakota helicopters previously assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 224th Aviation Regiment, District of Columbia Army National Guard. The helicopters were delivered via a U.S. Air ForceC-17 Globemaster II and transferred to the newly activated Detachment 2 within D Company.[9] The aircraft are currently housed at Andersen Air Force Base and will eventually be based at a new complex to be built at the Guard Readiness Center in Barrigada.[10]
As of January 2016, the Guam Army National Guard has about 1,300 members, with about 280 of them authorized as full-time support.[11]
