By Katherine Marks
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Copyright 2007 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.
Camouflage helmets, worn ruck sacks and other trappings of a soldier’s life lay in a jumble across the concrete floor at Camp Robinson’s Chapple Armory on Tuesday.
Checklist in hand, Maj. Cory Sailor, a supply management specialist, had the roughly 50 soldiers on hand tally up their supplies and told them to set aside whatever wasn’t up to snuff.
The soldiers from the 87th Troop Command’s 213th Area Support Medical Company will be heading to Iraq, probably sometime this summer, and they won’t be taking along worn boots or ratty T-shirts.
Tuesday’s gear purge was part of a day-long effort to prepare soldiers from the unit for mobilization by making sure their finances and legal affairs are in order and their health is good before departing.
Many of the unit’s 78 soldiers have deployed before, including a number who were in the 87th Troop Command’s 296th Ambulance Company. But the mobilization orders, expected in June, will be the first for the medic unit.
Staff Sgt. Rosendo Diaz, who deployed with the 296th four years ago, said he took a job with the unit knowing a deployment was imminent. At least this way, Diaz said, he had an idea when he’d be deployed.
“You really truly never know what to expect,” said Diaz, a father of four boys aged from 2 to 14. “I always worry when it comes to my children,” Diaz said.
Diaz, a former Marine, has been married 14 years. The 37-year-old also served in the Persian Gulf War and in Bosnia.
Like Diaz, many of the soldiers gathered at the armory Tuesday knew what they’d miss while they are away. They’d counted the birthdays, anniversaries, graduations of loved ones.
Pfc. Kelli Rudd, 19, of Hot Springs said she’d likely spend her 20th birthday in training for deployment and her 21st birthday in Iraq. She’s also putting college on hold but hopes to complete some courses online.
Rudd joined the Guard a year ago and said she’s gotten valuable advice from her fellow soldiers. “It really settles a lot of your fears.” She said her mom is worried about her daughter going to Iraq, but her dad - a former member of the Arkansas Army National Guard - understands.
Some spoke of the hardships their spouses would endure, caring for children and having to balance the checkbook on their own.
“When you leave your wife, that’s the hardest part,” said Sgt. John Richmond, 33.
Richmond, who lives in Howe, Okla., with his wife and two small children, was transferred from Fort Chaffee for the pending mobilization. “I know my job. ... When I enlisted the previous four times, I always knew that was the deal,” he said.
Some members of the unit will train first at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, and the entire unit will train in Fort McCoy, Wisc., before deploying, said Lt. Bruce Moyer, 33, of North Little Rock, the unit’s second in command.
Moyer, who will be leaving his fiancee and three future stepchildren behind, said he was primarily concerned Tuesday with getting his troops ready.
The entire mobilization is expected to last 12 months, said Guard spokesman Capt. Chris Heathscott.
Currently about 1,500 Arkansas Army and Air Guard members are deployed to the Middle East and to states along the U.S .- Mexico border.
The 213th is one of three Arkansas Guard units on alert, the first step toward mobilization and then deployment.
The others are the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 871st Troop Command, whose 29 soldiers are expected to be mobilized in June. And, last week, the 39th Infantry Brigade - the state’s largest Guard unit - received an alert notice. The brigade is expected to be mobilized sometime after Oct. 1, making it the first Arkansas Guard unit to be deployed to Iraq for a second tour of duty.
The 142nd Fires Brigade, based in Fayetteville, is mobilizing today. Members will head to Fort Sill, Okla., before leaving for Iraq.