Montana Army National Guard soldiers based in Kalispell are one step closer to setting foot in Afghanistan. Sixty-eight members of the 495th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion deployed in mid-May, bound for a mobilization station at Fort Hood, Texas. According to Maj. Christopher Lende, chief of public affairs for the Montana National Guard, they are expected to arrive in the country at the end of the month, where they will provide logistical support in central and northern Afghanistan.
“Since they are a Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, their mission can be to provide fuel and water, ammunition, vehicle recovery or any number of other actions to support the mission,” Lende explained. “The training they have received in Montana and while at Fort Hood have best prepared them to supervise multiple complex contracts to support various logistical missions across nearly half of Afghanistan. Without proper logistical support, missions simply cannot happen. The 495th CSSB’s motto is ‘The muscle behind the punch.’”