Air National Guard units in Indiana and Vermont are getting ready to head to Southwest Asia in spring 2006 as part of USAF’s next Air and Space Expeditionary rotation. Indiana ANG officials told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that this AEF rotation will mark the largest deployment for the 122nd Fighter Wing since 1961. On its last SWA tour in August 2004, the 122nd deployed some 275 airmen. 
Vermont ANG officials told reporters that the 158th will be sending more than 400 airmen; the unit deployed about 350 for an AEF in June 2004. According to the Burlington Free Press, all members of the 158th volunteered for the upcoming rotation.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.