Fort Wayne soldiers set for deployment

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - About 50 soldiers from a Fort Wayne-based Army Reserve unit are about to leave for a nine-month deployment in Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Members of the 221st Ordnance Company will be involved in packaging, storing, shipping and stocking ammunition for all military branches. Lt. Phillip Hascher tells The Journal Gazette ( http://bit.ly/JWklOr ) the deployment involves about a quarter of the unit's soldier and will be the first deployment for about half the group.

Hascher says most of those being deployed are from the Fort Wayne area, although the unit includes members from Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky.

He says the soldiers have been warned about the extreme conditions they'll face, including temperatures of 115 degrees and higher.