Lynchburg-based Virginia National Guard unit heading to Iraq

A Lynchburg-based unit of the Virginia National Guard will head to Iraq early next year.

The 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Brigade Combat Team has received orders to enter active duty in January, the Virginia National Guard said in a news release.

About 400 soldiers will deploy with a security force mission in Iraq. They will head to Camp Shelby, Miss., for 45 to 60 days of training before going overseas.

The Lynchburg-based Headquarters Company will mobilize, as will the Bedford- and Farmville-based A Company and the Lexington- and Clifton Forge-based B Company. Soldiers from the Christiansburg- and Radford-based C Company and the Pulaski- and Martinsville-based D Company might also be mobilized.

The battalion last mobilized for peacekeeping duty in Kosovo from August 2006 to November 2007, the Guard said. The battalion also mobilized for duty at Guantanamo Bay from November 2002 to September 2003, and individual soldiers in the battatlion have gone to Afghanistan and Iraq over the past few years.