The Birmingham News
August 22, 2004
Most 877th members to stay in National Guard
By TOM GORDON
For Alabama National Guard units that have had lengthy tours in Iraq
or Afghanistan, some questions hang in the air when they return: Who
is staying in and who is getting out?
The answers usually start coming after each returned unit has its
customary 90-day cooling-off period and holds its first weekend drill.
The largest Alabama Guard unit to return from Iraq, the 877th Engineer
Battalion, had its first weekend drills earlier this month at its
northwest Alabama armories. And at those drill sessions, only 19 of
the 555 soldiers who attended said they wanted to hang up their
helmets or were seriously considering it.
"The first drill looks very optimistic as far as retention of the
quality soldiers that we have," said Capt. Mark Holland, the battalion
administrative officer. "We hope that over the next 60 days that
continues."
Of the 19 soldiers who may leave, about half had served more than 20
years and were eligible for retirement, while the others had reasons
to leave that ranged from job conflicts to their desire to spend more
time with their families, Holland said.
When Guard units such as the 877th were deployed for up to a year in
and around Iraq, many of their members had never been away from home
for such a lengthy period, and more than a few vowed to get out once
they got home.
"That's just talk," said Spc. Charles Walker of Fayette, a member of
the 877th's C Company who has two brothers and a sister in the
battalion. Walker and his siblings are staying in.
"You get upset with the system, you know, but you're not going" to
leave, Walker said. "I love being in the National Guard, I really do."
The 877th is headquartered in Hamilton but has detachments and
companies in Berry, Carbon Hill, Fayette, Guin, Millport, Sulligent,
Vernon and Winfield.
About 25 battalion members are still assigned to a medical holding
company at Fort Benning, Ga. These soldiers are known as "medical
holds" because they are ill, are recovering from injuries, or have
physical conditions that make them unfit for military service.
On Oct. 1, the Sulligent detachment, whose specialty is crushing rocks
to make construction material for roads and airfields, will become a
separate unit, the 77th Engineer Quarry Detachment. The quarry
detachment will be assigned to the 877th, but could deploy on its own.
No deployments for the 77th or the 877th are anticipated in the near
future, Holland said.
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"I think Iraq is the most serious and imminent threat
to our country."
- John Edwards
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0202/24/le.00.html
"I wish they had a delete button on LexisNexis."
- John Kerry
The John Kerry Timeline:
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