A town hall meeting will be held at 10:30 a.m. March 25 at the Readiness Center in Fort Dodge to explain the deployment.

Soldiers and their families have been notified of the deployment. The Iowa National Guard has made several social media posts referencing the upcoming deployment.

When brought together, all of the various units of the Iowa Army National Guard make up the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 34th Infantry Division. That brigade combat team is what is now being called up for what will be a large deployment of Iowa Guardsmen.

A series of townhall meetings explaining the deployment began last week in Boone and will continue in various Iowa communities through April 15.

The departure date for the troops has not been announced.

When the troops do leave Iowa, they will first go to Fort Johnson in Louisiana for training. They will depart from there for the Middle East.

The soldiers will be supporting Operation Inherent Resolve, which is the multi-national effort to combat the Islamic State terrorist group.