JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. - The 864th Engineer Battalion will case

its battalion colors in preparation for an upcoming deployment to

Afghanistan, in a ceremony to be conducted on Thursday, March 11 at 11

a.m. on Watkins Field on JBLM-Lewis Main.

Approximately 600 personnel will deploy with the battalion. Upon arrival

in Afghanistan, the battalion will support Regional Command South by

assuming command and control responsibility for a military engineering

task force headquartered in Kandahar, conducting a variety of missions

throughout the Regional Command South area of responsibility.

The battalion will provide force protection and life support

construction in support of maneuver units that are distributed

throughout Kandahar province, and conduct construction operations that

will maintain lines of communication between forward operating bases and

supporting combat outposts, to include maintaining and improving

existing roads and constructing airfields as required by mission

commanders.