North Dakota Guard Unit Praised before Afghanistan Duty

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — State officials are praising a North Dakota National Guard unit that is leaving the country for duty in Afghanistan.

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple and other officials spoke Sunday at a send-off ceremony in Bismarck for about 100 members of the Guard's 818th Engineer Company.

The company is based in Williston and has a detachment at Hazen. Members do demolition and general construction work. The unit's deployment will last for about a year.

Dalrymple says the company will continue the North Dakota National Guard's "honored tradition of distinguished military service."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

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