| Guard return begins with Trenton unit; UC back Thursday |
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Posted: Tuesday, August 14, 2012 10:00 pm
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By CHRIS MENEES
Staff Reporter
The return of over 300 National Guard soldiers from West Tennessee will begin today with the arrival of a Trenton-based battalion.
The 230th Engineer Battalion is scheduled to be home this evening, followed by the return of the Union City-based 913th Engineer Co. on Thursday after a year’s deployment to the Middle East.
More than 160 soldiers from Trenton’s 230th Engineer Battalion were scheduled to arrive at 11:40 this morning at the National Guard’s Volunteer Training Site in Smyrna. They have been at Fort Bliss, Texas, the last several days for outprocessing from active military duty.
The soldiers from the 230th were slated to complete a short period of additional outprocessing at Smyrna before departing for their home station about 3 p.m. today.
The Tennessee Army National Guard’s 230th Engineer Battalion, which the 913th Engineer Co. falls under, also includes several soldiers from Obion County.
The 150 soldiers from Union City’s 913th Engineer Co., who are also currently at Fort Bliss for outprocessing, are scheduled to arrive at the Smyrna training site at 9 a.m. Thursday, according to the Tennessee Military Department.
After a brief period of outprocessing Thursday, they are projected to leave Smyrna headed to Union City no earlier than noon.
Capt. Jacob Partridge, company commander of the 913th Engineer Co., has told The Messenger the unit has an expected arrival time of 4 p.m. Thursday at the armory on East Reelfoot Avenue in Union City. The 913th’s Family Readiness Group will be on hand and prepared for the soldiers to arrive anywhere from 3 to 5 p.m., since the arrival time also depends on how long they are detained at Smyrna for outprocessing.
The Family Readiness Group hopes the community will turn out in force to welcome the soldiers home and FRG president Sarah Kay is encouraging businesses — particularly those along the return route — to put up signs or banners to show their appreciation to the troops.
The 913th will fly from Fort Bliss to Smyrna early Thursday morning and then will travel by bus from Smyrna to Union City later in the day. Partridge said once back in Obion County, the bus will take the Highway 22 bypass around Union City to Everett Boulevard and then turn left onto West Reelfoot Avenue by Lowe’s to head to the armory on East Reelfoot Avenue.
The 913th’s soldiers are back on American soil after being deployed in August 2011 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation New Dawn — during which time the horizontal engineer unit had soldiers serving in Kuwait as well as Afghanistan.
While in Kuwait, the 913th completed several horizontal construction projects which accumulated thousands of equipment hours and included moving thousands of dump truck loads of soil or gravel. Projects included construction and maintenance of lots used to store equipment or supplies throughout Kuwait, as well as some de-construction of facilities no longer needed, and construction and maintenance of several miles of road.
The 913th also had a platoon in Afghanistan working on a priority engineer mission which Partridge previously said will aid in the retrograde of equipment and supplies out of Afghanistan when U.S. forces draw down.
Even though they’re not back home in Tennessee yet, the 913th was honored Monday evening when a flagpole and flag were dedicated to the unit during the Obion County Fair’s opening ceremony (see related photo, Page 1). The flag was raised by Sgt. 1st Class Michael Ilko, rear detachment non-commissioned officer in charge of the 913th, and Sgt. Scott Edgin, who is retired from the 913th and serves as junior vice commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4862 in Union City.
As the national anthem was sung by Jamie Worrell, all of the Family Readiness Group’s officers and several volunteers were on hand to watch with pride as the flag was raised in honor of their loved ones.
Published in The Messenger 8.14.12 |
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