40 Soldiers with 14th Combat Support Hospital deploy to Kosovo

About 40 soldiers of the 14th Combat Support Hospital were at Freedom Hall on Friday as family and friends said farewell for a nine-month deployment to Kosovo.

During the deployment, soldiers from Fort Benning will provide health service support in the form of curative care, preventive care, essential care and evacuation to NATO forces operating in the area of operations.

The unit was established in June 1942 as the 14th Field Hospital in the U.S. Army. It was re-designated in June 2004 as the 14th Combat Support Hospital at Fort Benning. The unit served in World War II, Korea and was deployed in September 2005 to New Orleans in support of Hurricane Katrina.

Over the past 18 months, the unit has been deployed to Liberia in April 2015 as part of the Forward Resuscitative Surgical Support. A month later, members of unit were deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel.

Col. Paula C. Lodi, commander of the 44th Medical Brigade at Fort Bragg which is the higher headquarters for the 14th Combat Support Hospital, talked to soldiers before they departed Freedom Hall .

This story was originally published October 14, 2016 at 8:41 PM with the headline "40 Soldiers with 14th Combat Support Hospital deploy to Kosovo."