(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds has completed a five-day tour of some of the sites in the Middle East where nearly 18-hundred Iowa National Guard soldiers are deployed. Reynolds and Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Stephen Osborn went to Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait. Reynolds presented the Purple Heart to an Iowa soldier who was wounded in the ambush in December that killed two Iowa soldiers. She also visited airmen deployed from a unit in Sioux City who provided medical care to Iowans after the attack. Reynolds praised their service last week during a speech to legislators.

Reynolds said “…Iowans taking care of Iowans, all in service of their country. Our State could not be prouder.” The two Iowa soldiers who were critically wounded are receiving outpatient care. The two soldiers who were killed were laid to rest in Iowa in late December.

In a recent speech to state lawmakers, Major General Osborn said the deployed Iowa soldiers are contributing to stability in the Mideast.

Osborn says most of the 18-hundred Iowa National Guard soldiers who are currently deployed in the Middle East are part of a unit based in Boone.