The Iowa Air National Guard unit in Fort Dodge went to work improving the nation’s radar system to help prevent such an attack from ever happening again.

An Army Reserve unit based in Pocahontas deployed soldiers almost before the dust had settled in Manhattan, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Troops from the Iowa Army National Guard unit in Fort Dodge then went on a long mission providing enhanced security at key defense installations in the United States.

”Even after 20 years, the significance of the 9/11 attacks is not lost,” said Maj. Katherine Headley, public affairs officer for the Iowa National Guard.

”The attacks remind us of the true strength of our nation and our military,” she added. ”We remain united and resolved to protect the United States and its freedoms.”

Army Reserve

First to be called up was the 4249th Port Security Co., an Army Reserve unit based in Pocahontas.. The outfit specialized in securing harbors and ports.

On Sept. 13, 2001, about 24 soldiers who volunteered for the mission left Iowa for Port Arthur in Texas.

”I feel very proud to be a part of this group of volunteers supporting this mission,” the company’s then commander, Capt. Chad Jensen, said at the time. ”We are ready, willing and able to support our nation at this time.”

That assignment lasted about a week. But after it was over, the soldiers were not home for very long. On Sept. 22, 2001, the entire company was called to active duty.

Its soldiers were dispatched to Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point in North Carolina and Military Ocean Terminal Concord in California. Both are harbors through which military supplies and ammunition are shipped.

The unit was later transformed into the 415th Military Police Detachment (Law and Order). Eighteen of its soldiers deployed to Iraq in 2005. One of them, Sgt. Nathan Field, of Fort Dodge, was killed Jan. 7, 2006. In a vehicle crash in Iraq.

In 2014, it went to Afghanistan to serve as customs inspectors for troops heading back to the United States.

Other local Army Reserve units would later be called to duty.

The 471st Adjutant General Co. (Post Office) based in Fort Dodge served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005.

The 875th Replacement Co. also based in Fort Dodge, went to Fort Bliss in Texas in 2006-2007 to help soldiers prepare for duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. It performed a similar mission in 2010-2011 at Fort Benning in Georgia.

Iowa Air National Guard

The 133rd Test Squadron based in Fort Dodge is unique among Air National Guard units in the country. Its job is to conduct operational and developmental testing of command, control, communications, computer and reconnaissance equipment.

Basically any electronic device used by an American soldier, sailor, airman or Marine has first been exhaustively tested by this unit.

It was called to active duty in late September 2001. It did not go anywhere, however. Instead its members worked at the unit’s compound near Fort Dodge Regional Airport.

There, they improved radar coverage for the entire United States.

According to Headley, prior to the attacks the squadron was testing a system that could take multiple radar feeds and combine the data to present the network of radar plots on a single screen. This system was called the NORAD Contingency Suite.

On Sept. 11, 2001, a handful of squadron members was at the former South East Air Defense Center in Panama City, Florida, to showcase that new system.

After being called to active duty, the full squadron went to work on the NORAD Contingency Suite.

After it was completed, squadron members traveled to air defense centers across the country to install the newly developed system.

Iowa Army National Guard

Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery is the Iowa Army National Guard unit based in Fort Dodge.

Shortly after the attacks, it was called to active duty to protect some defense installations.

Its soldiers went to Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, Lima Army Tank Plant in Ohio and Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana.

They were on duty at those locations for about a year.