CAMP JOSEPH T. ROBINSON, Ark. – The commander of the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade, who recently returned from a yearlong deployment to Iraq, will be the keynote speaker at the quarterly meeting of the Camp Robinson/Camp Pike Community Council on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 a.m.

Brig. Gen. Ronald S. Chastain will give an overview of the 39th Infantry Brigade’s mission in Iraq followed by a question and answer session. He will also make a special presentation to the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

General Chastain, originally of Paris, graduated from County Line High School in Branch in 1968 and was commissioned a 2nd Lt. in the United States Army Reserve after graduating from the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville in 1972. General Chastain served in a variety of command and staff positions before assuming command of the 39th Infantry Brigade in July 2000.

On October 12, 2003, the 39th Brigade was mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. Comprised of 3,000 soldiers from Arkansas and 1,200 soldiers from nine other states, the brigade deployed to Iraq in March 2004 as part of the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division. Based at Camp Taji, just north of Baghdad, and in the Green Zone, the mission of the 39th Brigade Combat Team was to conduct security and stabilization operations. The unit completed its 18-month tour of duty this month.

The Camp Robinson/Camp Pike Community Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization sponsored by the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce established to enhance relationships and open dialogue between community leaders and the military, specifically, Arkansas’ citizen soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines in the National Guard and Reserves.