The Iowa Army National Guard will hold community send-off ceremonies Friday for nearly 400 soldiers.
Iowa Guard spokesman, Colonel Greg Hapgood says the members of the 248th Aviation Support Battalion will be deployed over seas for active duty in several nations, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
"This is a unit that their specialty is repairing, maintaining, and testing rotery wing aviation assets, or various kinds of helicopters. This particular unit is qualified to serves, test, and maintain multiple variations of US Army helicopters."
Members of the Aviation Support Battalion are based in Davenport, Muscatine, Boone, and Waterloo.
Hapgood says this will be Iowa Guard's largest single-unit deployment since 2010, and will last about one year.
The sendoff ceremonies in Davenport and Muscatine will be held at 10 am.