NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Roughly 10 Soldiers from the Tennessee National Guard’s 1128th Finance Management Support Detachment departed Tennessee Monday, September 2, on the first leg of a year-long deployment to the Balkans.
The 1128th, stationed in Nashville, is a finance unit comprised of National Guardsmen trained to process Soldier’s pay, provide debt management, manage all accounts for U.S. and coalition forces in theater, implement funding agreements with contractors and commercial vendors, disperse money, and safeguard the Army’s financial assets.
The unit will be deployed as part of Kosovo Force, a NATO-led mission to maintain freedom of movement and a safe and secure environment throughout Kosovo, as mandated by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. U.S. forces have been supporting the mandate since 1999 and there are currently 4,600 Soldiers from 28 different countries in the region.
In the early morning of September 2, the Soldiers of the 1128th said good-bye to their families and friends, loaded vans for Nashville International Airport, and flew Killeen Airport, Texas, where they will be temporarily stationed at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood). They will now complete a few weeks of final pre-deployment training in Texas before flying to Kosovo where they will be stationed at Camp Bondsteel in the southeastern part of the country.
