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AU veterinarians deploying to Afghanistan

Printed in yesterday’s Opelika-Auburn News:

The veterinarians at Auburn University take care of dogs every day.

But in August they will be traveling thousands of miles to do so – in Afghanistan.

Three AU professors are among the members of the 358 Medical Detachment, a veterinarian unit of the U.S. Army Reserves, that will be deployed to Afghanistan in August.

Their mission is to take care of military animals, inspect food and help the Afghan people with agriculture reconstruction, said Capt. Brad Fields, veterinary medical officer with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.

“So just making sure the food our service members eat … is safe and wholesome and free of adulterants,” he said. “And that it has been inspected and is not going to harm any soldiers.

“We want to know every ingredient that goes into the product. We want to have a real tight control of what the troops are eating.”

While there, Fields said the unit will inspect facilities that prepare the food and inspect the foods themselves “even if they have been inspected in this country (America).”

But it’s the opportunity to work with military animals that excites Fields the most.

“I love the dogs,” he said. “I love working with the handlers. The human-animal bond is amazing. Because the soldiers are with the dogs … They’re (the dogs) just another soldier.”

Capt. Soren Rodning is looking forward to helping the Afghan people with agricultural reconstruction.

This is Rodning’s first deployment since joining the U.S. Army Reserves about two years ago.

He said he is feeling “a little bit anxious and a little bit excited.”

The unit’s deployment will last for about a year.

Bama Guard unit to deploy on anti-explosive mission in Iraq

Posted today in The Birmingham News:

Bomb attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq have been going down, but bombers appear to be focusing more on Iraqi security forces, government officials, and civilians.

An Alabama National Guard unit will be deploying to Iraq in less than a month and one of its main jobs will be to train Iraqis in bomb detection, disposal, and other related measures to make their country more secure.

A send-off ceremony was held today for about 50 members of the 111th Ordinance Group from Opelika. The unit’s specialty is explosive ordinance disposal and in Iraq it will head up Joint Task Force Troy, which coordinates and oversees anti-IED efforts throughout Iraq. IED stands for Improvised Explosive Devices, which killed or wounded many U.S. soldiers during much of the Iraq war.

“We are the fight against the IED,” said Col. Jose Atencio III, of Florence, the 111th commanding officer.

The task force will oversee 600 to 800 U.S. troops involved in anti-IED operations throughout Iraq. Several dozen of those troops are soldiers with one of the 111th’s subordinate units, the 441st Ordinance Battalion out of Huntsville.

Atencio said that the task force will be working closely with Iraqi security forces because U.S. forces are drawing down in Iraq and are no longer leading the anti-IED efforts around the country.

“We have got to transfer the capability and the capacity over to the Iraqi military, federal police, and the police to give them the ability to counter (IEDs) once we are gone,” Atencio said.

The 111th’s command sergeant major, Gerald Miller, of Helena, said the unit has a lot of soldiers with expertise who had previous deployments – some as far back as Desert Storm.

The 111th soldiers leave Wednesday for Camp Shelby, Miss., where they will spend about three weeks in final training before deploying.

Alabama Ft. Hood soldier intends to deploy to Iraq

Posted today in The Birmingham News:

An Alabama-born Army officer who was shot three times during the Nov. 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, still has his good days and bad days, but he had a good one over the weekend when he rode on a float in the Saturday Christmas parade in his hometown of Eclectic.

“I had a wonderful time,” said Warrant Officer Christopher Royal, who was the parade’s grand marshal. Royal said he wanted to do what he could to support civic improvements in Eclectic and would be back in town next week to talk about that with local officials.

By mid-January, Royal, 37, will be following events in Eclectic at an even longer distance than he is now. He expects to be on his fourth deployment in Iraq.

“I plan on deploying … in January whether I’m at 100 percent or not,” Royal said Monday during a telephone interview while he was driving back to Fort Hood. “I’ve made provision to deploy and … I’m trusting God that that’s the right thing to do. I feel it’s the right thing to do because if it was the wrong thing, then he would have took me completely out of that realm. But he did not, he allowed me to be able to perform as a soldier, so I am going to continue to be all that I can be.”…

Read the full article here.

God bless you, W.O. Royal!

Bama Guard explosive disposal unit to get final training before Iraq

Printed in The Birmingham News:

Several dozen Alabama Army National Guard soldiers will head out for Camp Shelby, Miss., this week to begin final training for a mission that involves disposing of unexploded bombs and shells in Iraq.

A send-off ceremony will be Wednesday in Huntsville for the 441st Ordnance Battalion (Explosive Ordnance Disposal). Sgt. 1st Class Terri Baker, the unit’s personnel noncommissioned officer, said the 441st will spend several weeks at Camp Shelby and will head to Iraq sometime in January.

“We render safe ordnance that is found,” Baker said. “IEDs, all that.”

In Iraq, the 441st will work under the Army’s 1st Armored Division and will have four active duty Army ordnance disposal companies under its command, Baker said.

More than 1,500 Alabama National Guard soldiers and airmen have been serving in and around Iraq and Afghanistan. About 270 Guard soldiers, with the 135th Expeditionary Sustainment Command from Birmingham, are now training at Fort Hood, Texas, for a deployment to Afghanistan.

Help for the Holidays

This winter, an estimated 140,000 U.S. military personnel will be serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, in combat environments or in support of combat operations. Some will be on their 4th or 5th deployments–spending yet another Holiday away from the loving arms of family and friends. We want them to know that they are remembered, that we are thinking of them during the winter Holiday Season, and that we are grateful for their service. Since we can’t all wrap our arms around them in person to show how much we love and appreciate them, Soldiers’ Angels needs your help to make sure each one of America’s heroes is Wrapped in Holiday Spirit.

Wrapped in Holiday Spirit & Blankets of Belief

Please help us make sure that our deployed Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines this Holiday Season know: “We haven’t forgotten you, we support you, and we believe in you!”

Handmade “Blankets of Belief” form the heart of the Soldiers’ Angels Wrapped in Holiday Spirit care packages for the 2009 Holiday Season. These special Blankets are designed to tell America’s service men and women, “We believe in you.” When deployed service members receive a Blanket of Belief, they know that somebody back home remembers them, that somebody labored over a handmade blanket with love and belief in them. Along with the handmade Blanket, each Wrapped in Holiday Spirit care package includes a collection of yummy snacks, socks, and a holiday card with a personal note of thanks and support.

Many Ways to Help

• Spread the word with a general info flyer, or a flyer about sending holiday greeting cards [pdf files].
• Make a Blanket of Belief (we have a no-sew-option!)
• Donate a complete care package (you can now donate in honor of someone) or contribute hot chocolate packets toward care packages — select “Any Hero” for shipping address
• Donate other care package items: gum, candy/health bars, Tootsie Rolls, and white or khaki athletic/boot socks. Please include a note inside each box that contains your name, address, phone number, and an itemized list of contents with estimated value. Click here to purchase bulk items at a discount rate and ship directly to Soldiers’ Angels.

Soldiers’ Angels
Wrapped in Holiday Spirit
4408 PanAm Expressway
San Antonio, TX 78218

Soldiers’ Angels
Wrapped in Holiday Spirit
112 Greenhill Road
Ramseur, NC 27316

Soldiers’ Angels
Wrapped in Holiday Spirit
914 Tourmaline Dr
Newbury Park, CA 91320

Help cover the cost of shipping 140,000 care packages overseas

Soldiers’ Angels
Wrapped in Holiday Spirit
1792 E. Washington Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91104

140,000 Care Packages!

Please help Soldiers’ Angels place a gift and personal message of support into the hands of each deployed military man and woman this December. Help us tell them, “We believe in you!”

We are committed to providing Wrapped in Holiday Spirit care packages to every Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s around 140,000 gifts to purchase, assemble, and ship halfway around the world! This is a big challenge but with your support and our wonderful group of hard-working volunteers, it can be done!

“I am part of [an] Air Control Squadron deployed to Iraq. I would like to thank your organization for the care package I received on Thanksgiving Day here in Iraq. The contents were very thoughtful and useful, and I greatly appreciated it. I would also like to thank the young ladies of Brownie Troop 547 in Buxton, Maine for their Christmas card.

Being away from our families and loved ones at this time of year is a definite hardship and this package has helped deal with the stresses of deployed life. Thank you again and God Bless you.”

Captain A.B.

“To those that have taken their time to prepare the packages for soldier’s here in Iraq: Thank you so much for the kind Christmas thoughts. Please see the attached. Happy holidays!!”

MSG Hyer

Tremendous thanks to Business Christmas cards leader Prudent Publishing for their generous donation of cards for the care packages for the third year in a row!

Soldiers’ Angels is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and donations are tax deductible. Please consult your tax adviser for details.

Fort Rucker soldiers return from Iraq

Posted earlier this week in the Dothan Eagle:

Jayden Lacy was just 9 months old when her dad deployed to Iraq. Today, she will celebrate her second birthday, this one with her father by her side. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. William Lacy was one of nearly 180 soldiers with the 46th Engineer Battalion B Company who returned to Fort Rucker on Thursday night to a hero’s welcome.

“It’s a great feeling, but I really can’t explain it,” Lacy said. “I’ve been over in Iraq for 15 months, and now that I’m back, it’s like starting all over again.”

The soldiers had been deployed in Iraq for 15 months, a time frame that was agonizing for family members.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Millicent Vickers, who was at Thursday’s ceremony to pick up her husband, Frederick Vickers. “It’s been lonely, but very strengthening. I’m very proud of myself, because it strengthened me as a person to be so long without him.”

Doug Roach returned to see his wife, Nicole, waiting with open arms. It didn’t take him long to embrace her, and with their 8-month-old baby, Cale, they are looking forward to the future.

“I just felt like it would never be over, and now that it is, I don’t know how to explain it,” said Nicole.

Doug didn’t have the same problem finding the right words.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” he said.

Lacy’s wife, Melissa, said her own military experience helped her deal with her husband’s deployment.

“It’s been tough, but I’m also in the military, so it keeps me busy,” she said. “I’ve just tried to stay busy to keep my mind off of it.”

It wasn’t just wives and husbands waiting on the soldiers to return, though.

Willie Blue has been worrying about his son, Pfc. Ryan Blue, for the duration of his deployment. He couldn’t hide his joy or his pride at Thursday night’s ceremony.

“I’ve been on the edge, because from day to day, you watch the news and you don’t know if there’s been a fatality. I’m just very glad he could make it back home alive,” he said. “The biggest thing I’m proud of, though, is he’s defending our country.”

That pride is shared by many of the families of the other returning soldiers.

“My mom just can’t wait to see him, my brother’s excited to see him, and my dad is very proud of him, that he’s been able to support me, because not many of our peers have made it,” Vickers said.

William Lacy hadn’t been able to process the emotion of his return until he boarded his plane. Then, the reality of the trip set in.

“Between missions and still working, it really doesn’t dawn on you until you’re on the plane halfway here,” Lacy said. “Then it sets in.”

According to a U.S. Army press release, the battalion’s primary mission was to conduct reconstruction projects, provide security and conduct joint construction projects with Iraqi forces.

Bama Guard unit begins final training for mission to Iraq

Printed today in The Birmingham News:

About 80 members of a Centreville-based Alabama Army National Guard unit will begin final training next week at Fort Lewis, Wash., for a mission in Iraq.

According to a state Guard press release, the 129th Medical Company will “provide health protection and ground evacuation to coalition forces” in Iraq.

A send-off ceremony for the unit will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at Fort I. Judson Sneed Armory in Centreville and the company will leave for Fort Lewis the next day.

Another Iraq-bound Army Guard unit, the 203rd Military Police Battalion from Gadsden, will be sending about 75 soldiers for some final pre-deployment training to Fort Bliss, Texas, following a send-off ceremony June 19.

Alabama Army Guard unit to train Iraqi police

Courtesy of The Birmingham News:

One of the next Alabama Army National Guard units to mobilize for duty in Iraq will have a mission of training Iraqi police officers. More than 75 members of the Athens-based 203rd Military Police Battalion will have a send-off ceremony on June 19 and then do additional training at Fort Bliss, Texas, before an August deployment to Iraq.

The 203rd originally was assigned a mission of guarding prisoners in Iraq, a mission that would have required about 150 of its soldiers. But that mission was changed to police training in late April. Lt. Col. Charles Buxton, the unit commander, said the change means the battalion will be taking fewer soldiers to Iraq.

Hundreds of Alabama Guard soldiers are now in and around Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds more are getting ready to go. Several more Guard units with missions in the war on terror are expected to leave for pre-deployment training this month.

A team of state Army Guard members recently returned from Afghanistan, where the team’s mission was training members of the Afghan National Army. Another team is finishing up its pre-deployment training at Fort Riley, Kansas.

Bama Guard to send another team to Afghanistan

Posted today over at The Birmingham News:

An Alabama Army National Guard training team now in Afghanistan is in the home stretch of its tour, and another team will be deploying in June.

Staff Sgt. Katrina Timmons, a state Army Guard spokesperson, said the team to deploy later this year will have 16 members. It will be the sixth team the Alabama Army Guard has sent to Afghanistan to help train soldiers and police officers.

Timmons said the team members will have a send-off ceremony in late March, go to Fort Riley, Kan., for pre-deployment training and deploy to Afghanistan in June. The team’s time in Afghanistan should be about nine months, Timmons said.

An Army Guard team now in place in Afghanistan should be back in about two months, Timmons said.

In the News this weekend

Courtesy of the Tuscaloosa News:

Army National Guard Pfc. Teri L. Willis has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. Willis is the daughter of Linda Bender of Northport. She graduated in 1997 from Hillcrest High School and received an associate degree in 1999 from Faulkner State Community College in Bay Minette.

Congratulations, Teri!

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The Birmingham News featured a piece this morning about an Alabama Guard unit that left yesterday to go back to Afghanistan:

The training team is the fifth that the state Army Guard has sent to Afghanistan since 9/11. It recently completed two months of pre-deployment training at Fort Riley.

Lt. Col. Jeff Thrower of Alabaster, a member of the team, said recently that the mission had not been fully defined.

“Right now, I know that one of our biggest pushes over there has been to get the Afghanistan police up to where they can do their jobs,” he said. “The Afghan army is in a lot better situation than they were three or four years ago, but the police have still got some issues out there. So we’re doing our best to help out across the board in both areas.”

Read the full article here.