thedrifter
04-19-07, 05:57 AM
PEORIA: Reservists from Peoria-based Marines Corps ready for another deployment
Half of the unit likely will go
By ANDY KRAVETZ
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - For the third time in four years, a larger number of reservists from a Peoria County-based Marines Corps unit are gearing up to go off to war.
Orders came down earlier this week that likely half of Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion will be activated by June 15. The orders don’t specifically state a number, but 1st Sgt. Casey Samborski said it likely would be a “reinforced platoon.”
Samborski said today he could not discuss the size of Company C due to security reasons, but typically a company like the one here has between 150 and 175 Marines. A platoon has about 50 reservists, and a reinforced platoon would have between 75 and 80.
The orders call for dozens of units, including several other companies of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, to send Marines.
The battalion is part of a larger unit called the 4th Marine Logistics Group. Capt. Tyson Dunkelberger, a spokesman with the Marines Forces Reserve command in New Orleans, said the 4th MLG was being mobilized in support of an even larger group of Marines, based on the East Coast, that was headed for Iraq.
Dunkelberger said it’s not uncommon for a unit to undergo several deployments. The Corps has tried to spread out the burden of going overseas by calling up individuals or small groups of Marines from various units to fill in so no one block of GIs gets deployed more often.
Ellie
Half of the unit likely will go
By ANDY KRAVETZ
of the Journal Star
PEORIA - For the third time in four years, a larger number of reservists from a Peoria County-based Marines Corps unit are gearing up to go off to war.
Orders came down earlier this week that likely half of Company C, 6th Engineer Support Battalion will be activated by June 15. The orders don’t specifically state a number, but 1st Sgt. Casey Samborski said it likely would be a “reinforced platoon.”
Samborski said today he could not discuss the size of Company C due to security reasons, but typically a company like the one here has between 150 and 175 Marines. A platoon has about 50 reservists, and a reinforced platoon would have between 75 and 80.
The orders call for dozens of units, including several other companies of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, to send Marines.
The battalion is part of a larger unit called the 4th Marine Logistics Group. Capt. Tyson Dunkelberger, a spokesman with the Marines Forces Reserve command in New Orleans, said the 4th MLG was being mobilized in support of an even larger group of Marines, based on the East Coast, that was headed for Iraq.
Dunkelberger said it’s not uncommon for a unit to undergo several deployments. The Corps has tried to spread out the burden of going overseas by calling up individuals or small groups of Marines from various units to fill in so no one block of GIs gets deployed more often.
Ellie