Currently browsing: Mobile

Bama Army Guard unit receives Army honor for service in Iraq

Posted yesterday to The Birmingham News breaking news blog:

The Alabama Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 131st Aviation Regiment, which served in Iraq from September 2006 to 2007, has received the Army’s Meritorious Unit Commendation for its “exceptional service” in Iraq, according to a National Guard press release.

“This is a great award for many reasons,” stated Maj. Gen. A. C. Blalock, adjutant general of the Alabama National Guard. “It recognizes the success of an Alabama National Guard organization in combat.”

The battalion is one of three Alabama National Guard units “that have won distinctive unit awards” while deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the news release. The 1165th MP Company in Fairhope and Brewton, which was in Iraq from 2003-2004 and lost one of its soldiers in combat, won the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest unit award presented. Company A, 115th Signal Battalion from Florence, won the Meritorious Unit Commendation for its Iraqi service in 2004-2005.

The Meritorious Unit Commendation is given to units for their “outstanding performance, hard work and commitment while carrying out operations against an armed enemy for a period of at least six months.”

The honored units in the 1st Battalion are based at Montgomery Regional Airport and Bates Field in Mobile and currently fly the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.

Great job guys!

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.