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thedrifter
03-18-06, 07:07 AM
Published: March 18, 2006 12:04 am

More than 70 Valley Marines to be deployed to Iraq
By Laura Followell
The Tribune-Star

Once again, Wabash Valley Marines will have to part with their families as more than 70 Marines will leave for imminent deployment to Iraq.

Marine Reservists of the Company K, 3rd Battalion, 24th Marines, at the Marine reserve office on Fruitridge Avenue are training and preparing for their departure to Iraq early this summer for a yearlong deployment, 1st Sgt. Troy Euclide said.

“They’re all looking forward to it, and they’re motivated,” Euclide said. “They’re the ground pounders that kick the doors in and save the world.”

Euclide, who lives in Terre Haute, is the family readiness officer in conjunction with the Marines’ Key Volunteer Network. KVN is a program supported by Marines’ wives and mothers that helps and supports Marines and their families before, during and after a deployment with things such as paperwork preparation, rumor control and sending care packages, Euclide said.

“It lets their minds be at ease that everything is covered,” Euclide said.

One-third of Company K will be augmenting other Marine infantry units, so it will be a full-strength battalion in the western province of Anbar, Iraq.

Company K will assume various missions as assigned, Euclide said. Lt. David Sackett, Bloomington, Ill., said his unit will be “providing security for installations and convoys, hunting down, capturing and eliminating terrorists and building relationships with local Iraqi people and getting them ready to defend their own people.”

“We’re curious about what we’re going to be doing over there,” he said.

This is Sackett’s second time being deployed to Iraq, and this time he volunteered for the mission.

“This is something big to be a part of and something to be proud of for the rest of your life. We have a particular commitment to our Marines, and see to it that they’re led well,” Sackett said.

Sackett’s second deployment might be more difficult, he said. Sackett and his wife, Laura, have to prepare to tell their 4-year-old son, who now understands the concept of time, that his dad is leaving for many months.

Sackett has been in the Marines for more than 12 years and part of the unit in Terre Haute more than eight, he said.

Maj. Randall Hoffman is the inspector-instructor of the 200 Marines in the Company K Battalion and said that many people living in Terre Haute aren’t aware that there is a Marine reserve center in Terre Haute.

“The support is always great everywhere we go,” Hoffman said. “The Marines here, including the staff, are proud to do what we’re doing and we believe in the mission that we’re sent over there to do. We appreciate the continued support here in Indiana.”

Laura Followell can be reached at (812) 231-4253 or laura.followell@tribstar.com.

Ellie