Several local soldiers are gearing up for a one-year deployment overseas.

About 100 soldiers from the Albert Lea unit of the Minnesota Army National Guard have been notified they will be a part of one of the state’s largest deployments in history, according to Capt. Samuel Andrews, commander of Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment, 34th Infantry Division. Twenty of these soldiers have Albert Lea residences.

The Minnesota Army National Guard announced on Sunday that 2,400 soldiers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, which is headquartered in Mankato, will be deployed for one year in support of Operation New Dawn. Operation New Dawn is the name of the U.S. drawdown phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The soldiers will leave May 22, first heading to pre-deployment training at Fort McCoy, Wis. before shipping out overseas to Kuwait, which Army officials expect to happen by late summer.

As the United States begins its drawdown of troops in Iraq, these soldiers will provide base and convoy security.

Andrews said the soldiers will go through a series of training tasks, including weapons qualifications, driver’s training and weapons training, leading up to the deployment.

He said about 40 percent of the soldiers most recently called up have previously been deployed.

This will be the fourth deployment for Sgt. 1st Class Jeff Dahlen of Delta Company, which is the unit based in Albert Lea. He found out last fall that deployment might be a possibility.

He said the mood at the National Guard Armory in Albert Lea has been positive.

“I can’t speculate for the others, but in my opinion, we’re proud and glad to do our job,” he said. “It’s part of what we signed up to do for our nation, part of our mission.”

Andrews said a going away ceremony will be scheduled for the Albert Lea unit near the end of May, just before the deployment.

According to a news release from the Minnesota Army National Guard, this is the second largest deployment of Minnesota soldiers since World War II.

The 1st Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, comprises 29 units from 27 Minnesota communities.

The last time the brigade was sent to Iraq, about four years ago, it became the longest-serving unit in the war.

Col. Eric Kerska will command the brigade.

Lt. Col. Mike Funk, who is also the superintendent of Albert Lea schools, will not be deployed. In the past, he has been deployed as the commander of the 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment. He confirmed Tuesday that last April his position changed, and he now serves as an executive officer of the Minnesota National Guard Joint Force Headquarters. He also said if he would’ve kept his commander position, he would have been deployed.