Global war will hit close to home again

The global war on terrorism will once again come home to Greene County in the coming days, weeks and months.

Some of our local folks -- dedicated citizen solders who are members of the Indiana National Guard Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment C based in Linton -- have received confirmed mobilization orders.

They are going to war.

They are going to war for each of us.

This is real.

A large number of these Guardsmen have already dedicated more than 13 months of their lives in the war zone during the previous deployment of this unit. -- serving in Iraq and Jordan from January 2004 to February 2005.

These volunteers served this country proudly and gallantly and they all came back home safe.

For that we are forever grateful.

It's now once again time to put the politics of war behind us and put these men on the top of our prayer lists.

We must pray for their comfort, strength and safety.

We must show them and their families our love and support.

We must be united in this effort as a community.

These men are our neighbors, brothers, sons, and fathers.

They are trained and prepared to fight and even die for our freedoms and for that no words or deeds from any of us can be enough.

They deserve our homage, honor, respect, and support.

They deserve our heartfelt thanks as a community for what they have done and for what they will be doing in the coming months.

Members of Alpha Company will report to the Linton Armory on Monday morning to begin final preparations for deployment to an undisclosed foreign war zone, according to Staff Sgt. Richard Bladen.

The 130-150 members of Alpha Company will work approximate eight-hour shifts through Wednesday evening.

Thursday morning at about 6:30 they ship out by bus to Camp Atterbury where they'll continue to train and complete the behind-the-scenes paperwork until Dec. 22.

Then, they'll return to the families for the Christmas holidays and report until Jan. 2, when they'll report to a giant farewell ceremony in Indianapolis being planning for all the members of the 3,400 members of the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

This is an historic event.

It's the largest deployment of Indiana Guardsmen since World War II.

The Indiana National Guard traces its history back to 1801, older than the state itself. Volunteer militia companies were organized initially as protection against marauding Native Americans. Forefathers of today's 151st Infantry Regiment fought with General William Henry Harrison at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 when the great Shawnee Chief, "The Prophet" was defeated.

Indiana militia units were called to duty in the Mexican War in the 1840s. Volunteer militia units were again called up during the War Between the States in the 1860s. Several units formed for in-state service and were known as the Indiana Legion. In 1905 the Legion was renamed the Indiana National Guard.

Guard units have fought in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and in support of Operations Desert Shield/Storm in the Middle East.

The send-off event at the RCA Dome will feature Gov. Mitch Daniels and Major General R. Martin Umbarger, commanding officer for the Indiana National Guard, as the keynote speakers.

The Greene County Daily World will be there to help share with our readers the emotions of this noteworthy and historic event.

Starting Tuesday, the Greene County Daily World will also offer our readers an up close and personal look at the members of Alpha Company.

We will have series of stories detailing the preparation that has gone into this deployment. We will talk to the Guardsmen -- both those who have been deployed before and those who will be venturing on foreign soil during a war for the first time. We will also talk with the unit leaders and let them tell our readers what it's like to be carrying out a war mission.

We also plan to have some very special coverage of the members of Alpha Company during this deployment. We will have an on-the-scene member of the unit exclusively corresponding with our readers in an up-to-date report from the war zone in the form of an on-line blog and periodic news stories and photos. That should be some very interesting reading and comforting to the families of the Guardsmen by letting them know about the activities of their loved ones thousands of miles from home.

Nick is the assistant editor for the Greene County Daily World. He can be reached by telephone at 847-4487 or 1-800-947-4487 or by e-mail at nschneider@gcdailyworld.com