Some great news published in The Birmingham News yesterday, the 128th Medical Company is due to come home near the end of this month. Based out of Ashland, the unit’s mission was mainly transporting hurt and wounded troops to combat support hospitals.
Read the whole article here.
The Madison County Record writes that the Redstone Arsenal is honoring military retirees with Military Retiree Appreciation Day going on September 5th and 6th. Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer and Madison Mayor Arthur “Sandy” Kirkindall will proclaim September 6th as Military Retiree Appreciation Day in their respective cities.
Me personally, I would greatly love to see that happen elsewhere in Alabama!
Event information:
September 5th: the event will be at the Redstone Officers and Civilians Club (ROCC) from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Throughout the day special MWR activities will be held at various locations across Redstone Arsenal with bus tours leaving from the ROCC.
September 6th: the event begins with a pay-as-you-go breakfast buffet at 7 a.m. in the ROCC. The event finishes out with dinner at The Soldatenstube ending at 10 p.m.
For more information, call: (256) 876-2022
The Anniston Star had a flurry of happenings printed this morning:
Warrant Officer candidate Bill Braxton of Jacksonville, above, participated in a 10K road march on July 13. Braxton had to successfully complete the road march within two hours while carrying a weapon and a 35- to 40-pound rucksack. The road march is a requirement for the Warrant Officer Candidate School at the National Guard Training Center at Fort McClellan. Braxton currently works in the ROTC department at Jacksonville State University.
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Warrant Officer candidate Matthew Otwell of Anniston, above, participated in a 10K road march on July 13. Otwell had to successfully complete the road march within two hours while carrying a weapon and a 35- to 40-pound rucksack. The road march is a requirement for the Warrant Officer Candidate School at the National Guard Training Center at Fort McClellan. Otwell is following in his father’s footsteps. Retired Chief Warrant Officer Randy Otwell, Matthew’s father, retired from the Alabama Army National Guard with more than 40 years of service.
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Tabatha L. Burris recently joined the U.S. Army under the Delayed Entry Program. She also went for Advanced Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood in Waynesville, Mo. She is the daughter of Teresa Burris of Villa Rica, Ga., and John Burris of Anniston.
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Army Reserve Pvt. Sonya Y. Smith has graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. She is the daughter of Earline Penn of Anniston and is a 2003 graduate of Anniston High School.
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Army Reserve Pvt. Haleem R. Santiago recently graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla. He is the son of Hector R. and Belinda G. Santiago of Anniston and is a graduate of Saks High School.
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Navy Seaman Landon M. Ford, son of Judy L. Davis of Jacksonville, recently completed U.S. Navy Basic Training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill.
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Navy Ensign Nicholas F. Vilardi, whose wife, Cynthia, is the daughter of Sharon D. Downing of Salem and Jonathan C. Mattox of Ashland, recently completed the Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit course at Naval Nuclear Power Training Command at Goose Creek, S.C.
Congratulations, soldiers!!
In yesterday’s edition of The Birmingham News, there was an article about an Alabama Army Guard unit which is slated for a second tour in Iraq:
Another Alabama Army National Guard unit is slated for a second tour in the Iraq war.
The 128th Medical Company, based in Gov. Bob Riley’s hometown of Ashland, will deploy to Iraq in October following several weeks of training at Fort Lewis, Wash., state Guard spokesman Norman Arnold said Friday.
The 128th was in Iraq from December 2004 to November 2005, providing medical care to Iraqi and U.S. soldiers and civilians in and around Baghdad and beyond.
If it deploys as expected, the 128th will be the second Guard unit to have a second deployment in and around Iraq. The 226th Area Support Group from Mobile has already done two tours.
At full strength, the 128th has 75 soldiers. Maj. Cynthia Bachus, a state Guard spokeswoman, said 25 soldiers from two Mobile-based Army Guard units - the 127th Medical Company and the 161st Medical Battalion - “have been assigned to the 128th to put the unit at full strength for mobilization.”
At present, the Alabama Guard’s presence in Iraq consists of 20 members of the 1207th Quartermaster Detachment (Water Distribution) from Goodwater. The 1207th, which is commanded by Lt. Jessica Moore, is at Al-Asad, the second-largest airfield in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the 158th Maintenance Company, a unit of about 190 members with headquarters in Tallassee and a detachment in Dadeville, has been training for a fall deployment to Iraq. A 16-man team of Guard soldiers from around the state will be heading to Afghanistan later this month to help train members of that country’s army.
More Guard units are expected to deploy in 2009. Among them will be the 877th Engineer Battalion, based in Hamilton, which is scheduled for a tour in Afghanistan. The 877th did a tour in northern Iraq from summer 2003 to spring 2004.
According to recent Pentagon data, Alabamians make up the fifth highest number of Army Guard soldiers and the 12th highest number of Air Guard and Army Reserve members deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
