The Arizona National Guard is scheduled to send hundreds of infantry soldiers to Afghanistan this summer.
The Daily Courier reports 100 soldiers with a Prescott-based company of Arizona's 1st Battalion of the 158th Infantry Regiment on Sunday participated in a pre-deployment parade hosted by Prescott Valley.
The newspaper reported that soldiers from the company will be among 400 soldiers who will deploy to Afghanistan for at least a year and serve as a security force.
Capt. Aaron Thacker, an Arizona National Guard spokesman, said "operational security reasons" allowed him to say only that the infantry deployment this summer will involve a "battalion-sized element."
The 1st Battalion previously served in Afghanistan during a 2007-2008 deployment.