2008 Woodie Awards
Ohio National Guard readies for largest state troop mobilization to Iraq, Kuwait since World War II
By: The Columbus Dispatch
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: State
FORT HOOD, Texas - A call to duty shields the Ohio Army National Guard's 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from the rhetoric in a presidential election year and makes moot for them the debate about bringing troops home.
Right after the Iraq war's fifth anniversary, all that the 37th cares about is leaving central Texas and going to the Middle East to fulfill its mission - as soon as possible.
"We're really ready to go," said Capt. Tony McCarty, a Columbus resident. "It's kind of a running joke: You've never been so anxious to leave your own country before."
The brigade, based in Columbus, will fulfill its collective desire soon after a deployment ceremony Thursday at Fort Hood, where the 2,500 troops just completed more than 80 days of training to prepare for nine months in Kuwait and Iraq.
The deployment is the largest Ohio troop mobilization abroad since World War II, when the 37th went to the South Pacific. It represents a transformation in the way the U.S. military uses the Guard, from a strictly reserve force to more of a regular component of the active-duty Army.
"This is an opportunity for the 37th Infantry to continue to add to its lineage and honors," said brigade commander Col. Richard Curry. In World War II, members of the 37th - then a division with 15,000 troops - received 9,800 Purple Hearts and seven Medals of Honor.
The majority of the brigade will be stationed in Kuwait. The roughly 1,600 infantry, artillery and support troops (medics, engineers and mechanics) from Ohio and 900 from Michigan will help operate base camps and provide security to soldiers rotating into and out of Iraq.
"We've got a vital job in Kuwait," said Curry, who doesn't expect a change in mission that would move his brigade into Iraq.
Two units of the 37th, however, will venture from their Kuwaiti bases to provide security on convoy missions into southern Iraq: the Michigan 1-126th Cavalry Squadron and the Ohio 1-148th Infantry Battalion.
Right after the Iraq war's fifth anniversary, all that the 37th cares about is leaving central Texas and going to the Middle East to fulfill its mission - as soon as possible.
"We're really ready to go," said Capt. Tony McCarty, a Columbus resident. "It's kind of a running joke: You've never been so anxious to leave your own country before."
The brigade, based in Columbus, will fulfill its collective desire soon after a deployment ceremony Thursday at Fort Hood, where the 2,500 troops just completed more than 80 days of training to prepare for nine months in Kuwait and Iraq.
The deployment is the largest Ohio troop mobilization abroad since World War II, when the 37th went to the South Pacific. It represents a transformation in the way the U.S. military uses the Guard, from a strictly reserve force to more of a regular component of the active-duty Army.
"This is an opportunity for the 37th Infantry to continue to add to its lineage and honors," said brigade commander Col. Richard Curry. In World War II, members of the 37th - then a division with 15,000 troops - received 9,800 Purple Hearts and seven Medals of Honor.
The majority of the brigade will be stationed in Kuwait. The roughly 1,600 infantry, artillery and support troops (medics, engineers and mechanics) from Ohio and 900 from Michigan will help operate base camps and provide security to soldiers rotating into and out of Iraq.
"We've got a vital job in Kuwait," said Curry, who doesn't expect a change in mission that would move his brigade into Iraq.
Two units of the 37th, however, will venture from their Kuwaiti bases to provide security on convoy missions into southern Iraq: the Michigan 1-126th Cavalry Squadron and the Ohio 1-148th Infantry Battalion.
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