Idaho USMCR activated

[USMC Chuter]

Idaho Marine reserves called to serve in Iraq
Boise-based unit will start 1-year tour in January

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Roger Phillips / The Idaho Statesman
About 90 Marine Corps reservists from Gowen Field will begin a yearlong deployment starting in January. The Marines will train for a month of two months before going to Iraq for the remainder of their deployment.
Several Idaho military units are being called to active duty and service in Iraq:
• About 1,600 Idaho Army Guard members are part of the Idaho-based 116th Cavalry Brigade, which has completed three months of training and is expected to be heading for duty near Kirkuk in northern Iraq later this year. The 4,000-member 116th also has Guard members from Oregon, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• About 15 Boise-based Army reservists from the 321st Engineer Battalion are headed to Fort Lewis, Wash., to train for deployment to Iraq along with the 659th Engineer Company from Spokane. The 659th is a road-building unit. Army Reserve soldiers from engineer units in Boise and Utah volunteered to fill positions in the 659th.
As many as 150 more Idaho reservists from the 321st could be activated with another engineer battalion from Tennessee.
• About 90 Marine Corps reservists from Company C, 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division based at Boise's Gowen Field will head to Iraq early next year, after a month or two of training. The Marine reservists will serve as tank crews and military police.
Roger Phillips

The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 10-27-2004
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Another Idaho military unit is heading for Iraq.

The Department of Defense notified the Marine Corps reservists in Company C, 4th Tank Battalion, 4th Marine Division based at Boise's Gowen Field that they will become full-time Marines for a year starting in January, Marine officials said Tuesday.

About 90 Marines will train for one to two months before going to Iraq. They'll train at Marine facilities in California and North Carolina.

For Sgt. William Brede of Boise, the deployment early next year will be a return to Iraq after 14 months.

Brede fought with the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines during the initial invasion of Iraq, spending six months there from January to June 2003.

Brede is working on a degree at Boise State University.

"No worries, we've been through this before," Brede said Wednesday. "I kind of hoped for a little more of a normal life for a while, but I'm still willing to go without any hesitation."

Brede will serve as a squad leader for a military police platoon, and he said his fellow Marines are "all very excited to go."

Most of the Marines are from the Treasure Valley, but some members are from Oregon, Montana, Utah and Nevada.

They will join about 1,600 Idaho National Guardsmen and 15 Idaho Army reservists, and as many as 150 more, who have been called up for duty in Iraq.

Tuesday's mobilization notice came as no surprise to the Marine reserves, who have been hearing rumblings that the Pentagon would be calling.

"We've been expecting this deployment for the last couple months," said Major Ben Brown, senior Marine in charge of day-to-day operations at Gowen Field.

Marines in the tank company will be deployed to support active-duty Marine units.

"Specific locations (in Iraq) have not been determined," Brown said.

About half the company will serve as tankers in M1A1 Abrams tanks, which is the company's designated mission. Twenty of the company's Marines will be assigned to 1st Tank Battalion at Twenty-Nine Palms, Calif., and another group of 30 will go to 2nd Tank Battalion at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

About 40 Marines and two Navy corpsmen in the company will work as military police. They will provide convoy security and man checkpoints and do other tasks, according to officials at Gowen Field.

This is the second time Company C has been activated since 1990. Marines from the company fought in tank battles in Kuwait during Desert Storm in 1991.