thedrifter
03-15-07, 03:28 PM
Marines set to come home
Thursday, March 15, 2007
By ANDY KRAVETZ
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - Two reservists from a Peoria County-based Marines Corps Reserves unit are scheduled to return home Friday after spending nearly seven months in Iraq.
The reservists, from Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, are to touch down at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport about 3 p.m., said Company C 1st Sgt. Casey Samborski.
And if all goes according to plan, eight other Company C reservists could return home next week, Samborski said.
The two men, one from Peoria and the other from Canton, were mobilized last summer and initially were to deploy with Company C's sister unit, Company B, which is based in South Bend, Ind. When they arrived in California for training, they were merged into another unit.
While in Iraq, they were stationed at Taqaddum, a camp in the Anbar province of western Iraq where they spent time on security patrols as well as building barracks and other buildings for other Marines and soldiers.
Lance Cpl. Justin Light, also of Company C, broke his leg and returned to the U.S. at the beginning of the year. He also was deployed with the two men last summer and spent time at Taqaddum.
While there, Light helped run a maintenance shop, went on security patrols and helped to clear roads of mines and other hazards. He served with the South Bend company but said it's likely the two reservists who are coming home did much of the same things.
The other eight marines of Charlie Company were deployed at the same time but with the South Bend unit, which also is part of the Marine Corps Reserve.
All 10 were selected for deployment because they had not yet served in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Since the Iraqi war started in 2003, members of the reserve unit, based at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center near Bellevue, have been to the Middle East twice, with 2004 being the last time the entire company was deployed.
Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com.
Ellie
Thursday, March 15, 2007
By ANDY KRAVETZ
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - Two reservists from a Peoria County-based Marines Corps Reserves unit are scheduled to return home Friday after spending nearly seven months in Iraq.
The reservists, from Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, are to touch down at the Greater Peoria Regional Airport about 3 p.m., said Company C 1st Sgt. Casey Samborski.
And if all goes according to plan, eight other Company C reservists could return home next week, Samborski said.
The two men, one from Peoria and the other from Canton, were mobilized last summer and initially were to deploy with Company C's sister unit, Company B, which is based in South Bend, Ind. When they arrived in California for training, they were merged into another unit.
While in Iraq, they were stationed at Taqaddum, a camp in the Anbar province of western Iraq where they spent time on security patrols as well as building barracks and other buildings for other Marines and soldiers.
Lance Cpl. Justin Light, also of Company C, broke his leg and returned to the U.S. at the beginning of the year. He also was deployed with the two men last summer and spent time at Taqaddum.
While there, Light helped run a maintenance shop, went on security patrols and helped to clear roads of mines and other hazards. He served with the South Bend company but said it's likely the two reservists who are coming home did much of the same things.
The other eight marines of Charlie Company were deployed at the same time but with the South Bend unit, which also is part of the Marine Corps Reserve.
All 10 were selected for deployment because they had not yet served in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Since the Iraqi war started in 2003, members of the reserve unit, based at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center near Bellevue, have been to the Middle East twice, with 2004 being the last time the entire company was deployed.
Andy Kravetz can be reached at 686-3283 or akravetz@pjstar.com.
Ellie