thedrifter
11-27-08, 07:28 AM
November 27, 2008
Uncle Sam puts in call to Marine Reserve unit in Chili
Ernst Lamothe Jr.
Staff writer
CHILI — The Reserve Marines unit in Chili will activate Dec. 1 and will be deployed to Iraq next spring.
This is the second deployment for the Marines assigned to the unit, said Maj. Kevin Saunders.
They will report for duty on Jan. 5 or Jan. 6 along with Marines from military police companies in Minnesota and North Dakota. The activation and deployment involves 60 to 80 Marines locally. The Marine unit in Chili is assigned to the Alpha Company Anti-Terrorism Battalion in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Marines will conduct training at several locations in the United States prior to their deployment, when they will support the promotion of security and stability in Iraq. The unit will be activated for about 12 months.
Area units also were deployed last year.
About 60 soldiers in a Chili-based reserve unit left in 2007, ultimately bound for combat in Afghanistan. Thirty-five other members of the U.S. Army Reserve's 401st Civil Affairs Battalion, based in Webster, flew to Fort Bragg, N.C., and also had a nine-month stint in Iraq.
In 2006, about 35 Marines from the same unit were deployed for an eight-month mission in Djibouti in East Africa. The base in Djibouti helps U.S. forces monitor places in that region where terrorist headquarters are believed to be located.
The Marines patrolled the country's borders, kept the U.S. base secure and worked on terrorism prevention.
ELAMOTHE@DemocratandChronicle.com
Ellie
Uncle Sam puts in call to Marine Reserve unit in Chili
Ernst Lamothe Jr.
Staff writer
CHILI — The Reserve Marines unit in Chili will activate Dec. 1 and will be deployed to Iraq next spring.
This is the second deployment for the Marines assigned to the unit, said Maj. Kevin Saunders.
They will report for duty on Jan. 5 or Jan. 6 along with Marines from military police companies in Minnesota and North Dakota. The activation and deployment involves 60 to 80 Marines locally. The Marine unit in Chili is assigned to the Alpha Company Anti-Terrorism Battalion in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Marines will conduct training at several locations in the United States prior to their deployment, when they will support the promotion of security and stability in Iraq. The unit will be activated for about 12 months.
Area units also were deployed last year.
About 60 soldiers in a Chili-based reserve unit left in 2007, ultimately bound for combat in Afghanistan. Thirty-five other members of the U.S. Army Reserve's 401st Civil Affairs Battalion, based in Webster, flew to Fort Bragg, N.C., and also had a nine-month stint in Iraq.
In 2006, about 35 Marines from the same unit were deployed for an eight-month mission in Djibouti in East Africa. The base in Djibouti helps U.S. forces monitor places in that region where terrorist headquarters are believed to be located.
The Marines patrolled the country's borders, kept the U.S. base secure and worked on terrorism prevention.
ELAMOTHE@DemocratandChronicle.com
Ellie