Hundreds of Utah soldiers begin 12-month deployment

Tom Callan and Nicole Gonzales reportingApproximately 300 soldiers from the Utah National Guard's 142nd Military Intelligence Battalion left Utah this morning to begin a 12-month deployment. Members will be the only military intelligence battalion serving in Afghanistan.

This battalion is one of the more experienced we've seen leave the Utah Air National Guard Base. More than half of the soldiers have been on an overseas mission before, and some have even been deployed three to four times. Regardless of experience, it's always hard on the families.

Sheny Allen said goodbye to her husband this morning. "We tried not to really think about it but explained to our kids what's going on, and just that he's going over for a good reason and helping the people over in Afghanistan," said Allen.

These soldiers have known about this mission to Afghanistan since last summer. Capt. John Martinez, with the Utah Army National Guard, said the area is definitely growing more dangerous, and that's why his battalion has so many different disciplines of intelligence. Martinez said, "Military intelligence, we can do everything, so there's guys that do signal intelligence, imagery intelligence, just different stuff."

Others say their main mission is to seek information peacefully from locals with the help of interpreters. Sgt. Ron Hill says, "Essentially we just talk to the local people, build up a lot of rapport with them, and then we hope that they trust us enough to let us know before anything happens."

"We're going to go over and try and win the hearts and the minds of the people. That's what we're training for: knowing how to talk to people, understand their culture, hopefully help them understand our culture a little bit and if at all possible, save some lives," said Spc. Daniel Russo.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman expressed how proud he is of this battalion. "You're doing something that is the most important thing that any of us can do in life," Huntsman said. "When we're at the end of journey of life the only thing that we're remembered by is service."

The soldiers are on their way to Ft. Lewis, Wash. They will spend about two months in Washington to receive additional training before heading to Afghanistan.

While in Afghanistan, the 142nd will help the 101st Airborne Division and will conduct a variety of intelligence missions.

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