Sandoval visits with Nevada guardsmen in Afghanistan

Gov. Brian Sandoval met with Nevada National Guardsmen on Wednesday in Afghanistan during a war zone tour that started in Iraq, his office said.

He visited with the 422nd Signal Battalion, a Nevada Army National Guard group of 200 to 300 soldiers. And he made stops in Kandahar, Kabul and Bagram, where the U.S. military has an air base, said the governor’s senior adviser, Dale Erquiaga.

“Again the morale was high” among the troops, Erquiaga said a day after Sandoval met with Nevada troops in Iraq and reported they were doing well. “They have a very positive outlook.”

Sandoval is traveling with fellow governors from Utah, Kentucky and Tennessee on a trip paid for by the Pentagon.

The Nevada governor took time out Wednesday to do a round of interviews from Bagram with four TV stations in Las Vegas and Reno to tout the visit.

Sandoval is planning to return to Nevada this weekend. Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki is acting governor in his absence.

On Tuesday, from Kuwait, the governor said he thought it was important to tour the war zones because he oversees the Guard in Nevada.

“I am the commander in chief of the Nevada National Guard,” he said. “It was important to me, if I’m going to serve in that capacity, to come out here and see for myself.”