2nd Battalion - 137th Infantry Regiment

Sixty-five members of the 2nd Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment returned in October 2001 from a four and a half month security mission in Saudi Arabia where tehy provided security for Patriot missile sites there.

In January 2002, nearly 400 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 137th Infantry Regiment, were called to active duty in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. They were mobilized as part of Task Force Santa Fe, which is made up of units from the Kansas Army National Guard's 35th Infantry Division (Mechanized) with headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, KS. The Kansas Guard unit was to make up a few hundred of the Task Force Santa Fe, for this security mission in the European theater.

Guardsmen from the unit conducted their annual training from December 18-31, 2001, preparing for their overseas mission. During this time, the soldiers were briefed, completed mobilization paperwork, qualified on weapons, completed medical physicals and did other training. After completing additional administrative procedures, the guardsmen returned to training duty on January 22, 2002, at Fort Riley where they completed training by finishing physicals; training on common and individual tasks; training on nuclear, biological and chemical procedures; learning to do vehicle searches; performing weapons qualification; learning techniques for providing security at installations and learning about bomb detection and identification.

This Kansas Guard unit was to total nearly 700 soldiers of the approximately 2,100 soldiers of Task Force Santa Fe, after adding about 300 Illinois Guard soldiers to the battalion at the mobilization station. The Kansas soldiers were to fly to Fort Stewart, GA, by charter aircraft on February 5 for final processing and training and from there were to go to the European theater for duty. The security mission was expected to last six months.

As of February 2006, the 2nd Battalion - 137th Infantry Regiment was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.