AUGUSTA – Thirty-six members of the Maine Army National Guard arrived safely in Kuwait on Wednesday, the final stop before yearlong deployment to Iraq.

The members of the Detachment 1, 169th Military Police Company left Fort Dix, N.J., on Tuesday, after two months of training. After leaving Fort Dix, the soldiers stopped in Shannon, Ireland, and Budapest, Hungary, before arriving in Kuwait.

While in Iraq, the company will train Iraqi police officers in basic police tasks, including civil disturbance operations, police station operations, administration and building relationships between police and the community.