“The Red Bulls maintain a high level of readiness, and over the next 12 months, our soldiers will train for this mission while also preparing their families and civilian employers here at home,” said Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen, 34th Infantry Division commanding general. “The official notification is an important step in the process of building readiness for an overseas deployment.”

The planned deployment is expected to last up to one year. The notified units are based in Rosemount, Inver Grove Heights, and Faribault; however, the soldiers hail from 10 different states and the District of Columbia.

The soldiers will complete a capstone training exercise next June to validate the unit’s collective readiness and capabilities prior to deploying. The exercise, called a Division Warfighter, tests the commander and headquarters staff’s ability to respond to complex challenges in a fictional battlefield scenario.

The notification comes as the 34th Infantry Division commemorates the 100th anniversary of its formation in August 1917. The division trained at Camp Cody, New Mexico, before departing for France in fall 1918, arriving shortly before the armistice that ended the First World War.