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Four Alabama soldiers recovering from rocket attack in Afghanistan

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Courtesy of The Birmingham News:

Four members of an Alabama Army National Guard unit are recovering from wounds they suffered last week when two rockets landed in the base where they were working and exploded near them.

The soldiers are members of the 166th Engineer Company out of Winfield and Vernon, and they were doing some construction work at a forward operating base when they were wounded. The unit commander, Maj. Lee Thompson, said two of the wounded soldiers were flown to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany and will receive “follow-on care” in the U.S.

“All injured will make full recoveries,” Thompson said in a unit newsletter. “I would characterize the circumstances as miraculous.”

“The morale of the company remains high, but I think most are a little more reserved now … a little more aware of the fact that the enemy can reach out and touch any of us,” Thompson said in an e-mail this morning. “I think we’re all just glad that all of our soldiers remain alive today.”

The wounded soldiers, all of whom suffered concussions, are Sgt. 1st Class Shane Sanderson, of Inver Groves Heights, Wisc., who was heading the team of 166th soldiers when the rockets landed; Sgt. Robert Smith of Arab, Spc. Michael Clackum of Hamilton and Spc. Kyle Thomas of Madison. A fifth soldier, Spc. Seth Leonhard of Bankston, “was untouched but witnessed the event,” Thompson said..

Thompson said Sanderson and Clackum were flown to Landstuhl, treated there, and have been flown back to the U.S.. Sanderson received shrapnel wounds to his legs while Clackum suffered shrapnel wounds in the back “which also caused some internal injuries,” Thompson said. Clackum “required multiple surgeries” before leaving for Landstuhl, “mainly due to the environment and challenges in preventing infection while in Afghanistan,” Thompson said.

Smith and Thomas, the other two wounded soldiers, are expected to rejoin the 166th at its Forward Operating Base, Sharana, in eastern Afghanistan in the near future. Both suffered shrapnel wounds, Thompson said.

Thompson said the five soldiers were doing some winterization work early in the morning at another forward operating base “when two enemy 107mm rockets exploded at their feet.

“The ‘kill radius’ of these weapons is 195 feet, and severe damage can be expected at distances up to 325 feet,” Thompson said. “Four of our five soldiers were standing within 10 feet of the detonation; one was within 100 feet.”

“They should all have been killed,” Thompson said.

Army Guard unit headed back to Iraq

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.