By: BILL JONES/Staff Writer
Source: The Greeneville Sun
11-12-2004

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. — All the 278th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) soldiers with whom a Greeneville Sun reporter spoke on Thursday seemed anxious to get on with their unit’s impending deployment to Iraq.

The comments made after the National Guard unit’s deployment ceremony here by Sgt. Tony Johnson, who had been a member of Greeneville-based Troop G before the 278th was called to active duty in June, were typical.

"I’m from the Volunteer State," Johnson said. "That’s how we got our name. I will have been in the military 19 years in February, and we’ve trained that long for something like this. I’m going to go do my part."

Sgt. Tony Fobber, a Rogersville resident now assigned to the 278th RCT’s Erwin-based H Company, which operates the 278th RCT’s M-1A1 tanks, echoed Johnson’s comments.

He spoke during a Thursday morning conversation outside a one-story concrete block barracks that his platoon has shared with another platoon since June. "I’m just ready to go do it, get it done, and get back to my family," Sgt. Fobber said of going to Iraq. "We’re ready, but we couldn’t do it without the community’s support."

Sgt. 1st Class Darwin Jones, a Greene County resident who is Fobber’s platoon sergeant, said most of the members of his H Company platoon formerly had been assigned to the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment’s Greeneville-based Troop G.

But when the 278th ACR was called to active duty in June, Troop G was broken up and its soldiers dispersed to other 278th ACR units, primarily Erwin-based H Company and the Kingsport-based headquarters and headquarters troop (HHT), SFC Jones said.

He noted that 1st Sgt. Everett Ottinger, who formerly was Troop G’s first sergeant, is now H Company’s first sergeant.

Ottinger, who is an installer-repairman for the Sprint telephone company in civilian life, said he feels the 278th Regimental Combat Team, as the unit is now called, is ready to undertake its mission to Iraq.

Tour Of Barracks

Early Thursday morning, shortly after H Company soldiers attended their first formation of the day, Sgt. 1st Class Jones took a Greeneville Sun reporter and photographer on a brief tour of his platoon’s portion of the concrete block barracks that they had called home for much of the last four months.

A long building with a low-ceiling, the barracks featured bunks stacked two-high along its length with a narrow aisle dividing rows of bunks.

Jones pointed out that the members of his platoon were lucky because their barracks was not quite as full as were some other barracks. As a result, he said, the space between bunks was a bit wider than it would have been in a more crowded barracks.

He also pointed out that the members of his platoon had chipped in to buy a TV set and had created a small break area at their end of the barracks.

"Some of the guys have a DVD player, and they’ve hooked it up to the TV," he said. As Jones spoke with a reporter, other members of his platoon were watching television.

He noted that when the soldiers first arrived, the barracks had not been air conditioned. Donated window-mounted air-conditioning units were installed initially, he said. And the National Guard subsequently added more substantial air-conditioning units.

Trained Long Hours

At the height of training during the summer, he said, the unit’s members had often arisen at 4:30 a.m. for physical training and often had trained late into the night. "We ended up going seven days a week as much as 16 hours a day," he said

Jones said the training had been much more rigorous, and effective, than he originally had anticipated. "It was intense and involved,"” he said of the training the 278th soldiers received. "They trained us a lot better than I expected that they would."

Also in the H Company housing area on Thursday were brothers James Thompson and Louis Thompson, both sergeants who live in Morristown but have ties to Greeneville.

James Thompson, 44, said he was scheduled to depart Saturday for Kuwait as part of an "advanced party" of 278th RCT soldiers.

Louis Thompson, 47, said he expected to leave later with the main body of the unit’s soldiers.

"It’s an honor to serve my country," James Thompson said. "When 9-11 happened, it tore my heart out.

"Every soldier here today has honor and love for the U.S. flag. We’ve got a lot of good men in the Second Squadron of the 278th. There’s not a one of them that would walk away now for anything in the world. We’re proud of what we’re doing."

But the Thompson brothers conceded that saying goodbye to their mother, Ada McCamy, of Greeneville, was very difficult for them. "It was really hard on her knowing that both of us were leaving at the same time," Louis Thompson said.

Headquarters Troop

Outside the barracks in the nearby Second Squadron Headquarters Troop housing area, Capt. William Jessie, the troop’s commanding officer, also said he felt his soldiers, who include many Greene Countians, were ready for what lies ahead of them in Iraq.

"They’re motivated and they’re in shape physically and mentally," Capt. Jessie said. "They’ve been put under a lot of stress over the summer, and they’ve stood up and stood up fine."

Capt. Jessie also remarked that he was "real proud of the guys from Greeneville" who are serving in his troop.

"I served down there (Greeneville) for about five years," he said. "I’ve known a lot of them for about 15 years."

The captain noted that the "entire chain of command" of the 278th RCT’s second squadron is made up officers who began their National Guard careers in Greeneville.

Greeneville Connections

"Actually, that’s from Col. Dennis Adams on down," Capt. Jessie said, noting that the 278th RCT’s overall commanding officer, while a junior officer, had been assigned to Troop G in Greeneville, as had current Second Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Frank McCauley.

He also noted that Maj. James Blevins, the Second Squadron’s operations officer, had been assigned to Troop G earlier in his National Guard Career.

Other Greene Countians who were seen by a Greeneville Sun reporter with the Second Squadron Headquarters Troop on Thursday included Sgt. 1st Class Ronnie Houston, Staff Sgt. Larry Henderson, Sgt. 1st Class Weldon Bebber and Sgt. 1st Class Samuel Randall.

Staff Sgt. Henderson, a Greeneville resident who formerly helped coordinate the Foster Grandparents program there, told a Sun reporter how he met and married his wife, Barbara, at Camp Shelby this summer.

Henderson, who was divorced, said he met Barbara, a paralegal who is a member of the Mississippi National Guard, in June while his unit was processing into Camp Shelby.

"She was doing my Will," he said. "I specified that whoever got my estate had to take care of my cat, Murphy," he said.

Henderson said that, before long, he and Barbara were exchanging cat pictures because she, too, was a cat lover.

On the couple’s second date, he said, Barbara brought along her three children from a previous marriage.

By September, he said, he and Barbara decided to get married and did so on Sept. 15, three days earlier than scheduled because a hurricane was approaching. "I never planned to get married again," Henderson said. "But it was just like we’d known each other forever."

Soldiers Gave '110 Percent'

Maj. Blevins, the 278th Second Squadron’s operations officer, praised the unit’s soldiers for having “given 110 percent” during training.

"The Army has brought us to Mississippi, given us everything we needed to train with, and equipped us so that we are sure to be successful in battle," he said. "We look forward now to getting to Kuwait, linking up with our equipment there and moving on to Iraq so we can start our missions."

Blevins said the 278th RCT is expected to handle a variety of missions northeast of Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, including community-support projects such as helping the Iraqis restore water service, trash pickup, and sewer projects.

"We also will assist in training the new Iraqi security forces," he said. "As time progresses, they will pick up the missions that we have been doing."

"It’s An Honor"

Lt. Col. McCauley, the commander of the 278th RCT’s Second Squadron, said he was looking forward to getting to Iraq.

McCauley, who is an agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in civilian life, said he will have spent 24 years in the military by next spring.

"We’ve trained hard for this," he said. "We’ve been through two National Training Center rotations. These guys want to serve and to give the guys who are over there now a break."

Lt. Col. McCauley acknowledged that the 278th soldiers would miss their homes and families.

"But 60 years ago, there were soldiers standing on this very field getting ready to leave for World War II," he said.

"It’s an honor to be able to do it, and I would rather take the fight to them there (Iraq) than have to fight them over here. Hopefully, our sons and daughters won’t have to do it."

Story Copyright to Greeneville Sun