8/24/2005

Mark Schnyder , Reporter

Even though they're called the Family Readiness Group, no one's ever ready to get news like this: Two guardsmen killed and two injured at the same time and place, all based out of the National Guard Armory in Sweetwater.

Wednesday morning, the wives of four other men serving in Iraq talked about loss, the community's grief and how people around here will pull through.

Killed Monday in a roadside bomb attack were Sgt. Victoir Lieurance of Seymour and Spc. Joey Daniel Hunt of Sweetwater.

Injured are Spc. Charles Andrew Newman of Athens and Spc. David Thomas of Sweetwater.

It's a bad time for a lot of people says Kaye Butler of the Sweetwater Family Readiness Group, but that's what they're here for.

"Right now we're trying to get a tent set up at the Hunts' home outside because of course they have a lot of family and a lot of friends over and their home can't hold all those people," said Butler at a gathering around 9:30 Wednesday morning.

"We're a relatively small unit here and we're very close and I was fortunate enough to get to know most of these soldiers and their families so they're very special to me. They're not just a name. They're somebody," says Butler.

The Family Readiness Group is putting on a prayer vigil for the guardsmen and their families Friday at 8pm at the National Guard Armory in Sweetwater off Highway 68.

Mark Schnyder , Reporter

Family Readiness Group Members

Photos of the area guardsmen in the bomb attack Monday.

American flag at Sweetwater Armory

Story Copyright to WBIR.Com