By:CRAIG MINTZ, Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
CAMP SHELBY, Miss. - Family members will travel with local national guard troops back to Mississippi today for what will be their last time together until the soldiers return from Iraq.
Tennessee's 278th Regimental Combat Team has been on leave since Oct. 29. A bus will leave from the Pigeon Forge Armory at 1 p.m. today taking remaining local soldiers back while others will drive their own cars, according to Rene Child, president of the 2/278th Family Readiness Group.
The next few days at Camp Shelby will be filled with events and ceremonies preluding the regiment's deployment to the Middle East.
"This is our last weekend, basically, with our soldiers," said Child.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen will visit Camp Shelby Thursday for a special Veterans Day send-off ceremony honoring the troops.
The send-off ceremony will include a pass-in-review of the regiment and speeches by Bredesen and other state officials, according to Sgt. 1st Class Randy Harris, the director of the Tennessee National Guard Joint Public Affairs Office.
"It's going to be a fairly big operation," he said.
Tennessee senators and the governors from Wisconsin and Mississippi will attend the ceremony, Harris said.
For its deployment to Iraq, the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment was renamed the 278th Regimental Combat Team. The regiment added infantry, signal and engineer battalions, giving it a somewhat different look, according to Harris.
He said he could not comment on the specific date the regiment would deploy.
Child said family members must say their final goodbye to their soldiers on Monday. The 278th will be in Kuwait until January when it will serve in Iraq, she said. The regiment is not expected to return until January 2006, according to Child.
On June 25, 69 members of the local 2/278th departed from their Pigeon Forge armory to join other Tennessee squadrons for training in Mississippi and the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.
The local troops are part of the more than 3,200 soldiers who make up the 278th Regimental Combat Team. The 278th will be joined by soldiers from Wisconsin, Texas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont and New York, totaling more than 4,000 soldiers.
The deployment will be the largest of Tennessee National Guard soldiers since World War II, according to state officials.
Child said the family readiness group is still accepting donations at various locations including Home Federal Bank for care packages to send to the troops . An account is open there for donations which covers expensive shipping costs.
Anyone having questions about the 2/278th and making donations should call the Pigeon Forge armory at 429-7056 or Child at 908-1993.
n cmintz@themountainpress.com to support your troops:
To find out more about supporting the 278th Regimental Combat Team, call the Pigeon Forge Armory at 429-7056 or Rene Child at 908-1993.
ŠThe Mountain Press 2004
Reader Opinions:
Ronda Cruise
Nov, 10 2004
As an American and a Sevier Countian I am very proud of these brave men and their families. I will pray every day for the soldiers safe return to their loved ones. We, all of us here in Sevier County now have "family" serving in Iraq and we should support them and their families 100%. This is going to be a very difficult year for them all.
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