39th ties up loose ends ahead of Iraq
Bags packed as GIs prepare to leave camp in Mississippi
By Amy Schlesing (Contact)
CAMP SHELBY, Miss. — An unending string of headlights lit the dark roads of this southern Mississippi post Wednesday night as families headed to the gate after dropping off their soldiers one last time.
A four-day leave was over for one battalion. At dawn Thursday, another battalion created a mountain of green Army duffel bags in preparation for the pending plane ride to Kuwait.
The deployment of Arkansas’ 39th Infantry Brigade has begun.
“The route back home to Arkansas leads through Baghdad,” said Lt. Col. Brad Cox of Jacksonville, 1st Battalion commander.
Last spring the 39th became one of four National Guard brigades called up for a second deployment to Iraq under a new Department of Defense policy that allows repeat deployments of Guard and Army Reserve forces.
The brigade, Arkansas’ largest National Guard unit, served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad from 2004-05. The brigade had what is known as a full-spectrum mission, patrolling a swath of Baghdad.
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.
This article was published Friday, March 14, 2008.
