johnb
08-16-2004, 11:57 AM
I wonder what these guys think about the fake purple hearts and out stunt Kerry pulled? Two guys in my Seabee unit were mobilized and left today for Iraq. Their attitude was the same as that expressed by these Texas Guard troopers.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-213101-303968.php
August 13, 2004
3,000 Texas Guard troops to deploy to Iraq
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO ? The Texas Army National Guard is preparing to send 3,000 troops to Iraq early in 2005.
The Army Guard personnel picked for deployment as the 56th Brigade Combat Team are required to report for duty by Monday.
?We hope they will be back in a year, but they are subject to being gone up to two years,? Lt. Col. John Stanford, Texas National Guard spokesman, told the San Antonio Express-News for a Thursday story.
Representatives from the 22 Guard units involved will attend a Sunday mobilization ceremony at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth.
The troops will be trained at Fort Hood before departing for Iraq in January.
The deployment will be the largest combat mobilization of Texas Army Guard troops since World War II.
Stanford said the 56th Brigade troops will perform a range of offensive and defensive duties in Iraq, including providing security for convoys.
Derrick Palmer, a 34-year-old widower from San Antonio who saw action in the first Gulf War as an active-duty soldier, will be among those reporting for duty at the National Guard Armory in Hondo on Sunday.
?It will be my second combat tour, so it?s no big deal,? said Palmer, the readiness officer for the Hondo unit. ?I have two kids I have to make sure are squared away. They?re going to stay with my brother.?
About 102,000 reservists, or 29 percent of all Guard troops nationwide, are now mobilized, said Maj. John Toniolli of the National Guard Bureau. He said the deployments include 37,000 Army National Guard troops in Iraq and more than 6,000 in Afghanistan.
Rodney Ottmers, the Army Guard?s readiness officer in Fredericksburg, dreaded informing 17 of his troops that they were becoming full-time soldiers.
?It was hard, knowing the guys, to call and say, ?It?s your turn,?? said Ottmers, 42. ?But the guys took it so well. A couple of them said, ?If I go over there, then somebody else can come back.??
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-213101-303968.php
August 13, 2004
3,000 Texas Guard troops to deploy to Iraq
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO ? The Texas Army National Guard is preparing to send 3,000 troops to Iraq early in 2005.
The Army Guard personnel picked for deployment as the 56th Brigade Combat Team are required to report for duty by Monday.
?We hope they will be back in a year, but they are subject to being gone up to two years,? Lt. Col. John Stanford, Texas National Guard spokesman, told the San Antonio Express-News for a Thursday story.
Representatives from the 22 Guard units involved will attend a Sunday mobilization ceremony at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Fort Worth.
The troops will be trained at Fort Hood before departing for Iraq in January.
The deployment will be the largest combat mobilization of Texas Army Guard troops since World War II.
Stanford said the 56th Brigade troops will perform a range of offensive and defensive duties in Iraq, including providing security for convoys.
Derrick Palmer, a 34-year-old widower from San Antonio who saw action in the first Gulf War as an active-duty soldier, will be among those reporting for duty at the National Guard Armory in Hondo on Sunday.
?It will be my second combat tour, so it?s no big deal,? said Palmer, the readiness officer for the Hondo unit. ?I have two kids I have to make sure are squared away. They?re going to stay with my brother.?
About 102,000 reservists, or 29 percent of all Guard troops nationwide, are now mobilized, said Maj. John Toniolli of the National Guard Bureau. He said the deployments include 37,000 Army National Guard troops in Iraq and more than 6,000 in Afghanistan.
Rodney Ottmers, the Army Guard?s readiness officer in Fredericksburg, dreaded informing 17 of his troops that they were becoming full-time soldiers.
?It was hard, knowing the guys, to call and say, ?It?s your turn,?? said Ottmers, 42. ?But the guys took it so well. A couple of them said, ?If I go over there, then somebody else can come back.??
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.