[Peace-discuss] Centennial High School "deployment ceremony"

[Randall Cotton]

The Army National Guard ceremony mentioned at last Sunday's AWARE meeting
and referred to by Eric Heim in his recent post, was announced as a public
event in the September 5th News-Gazette (not sure how I missed it):

The article is online at:

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2008/09/05/sendoffs_for_guard_soldiers_scheduled

But the article is over a week old, so you have to pay to see it online.
Below is a scanned version from hardcopy.

It's unclear from the article whether this ceremony will happen in the
middle of the school day or not (and whether students will be attending in
assembly or not). The time and place is specifically described as
"tentative". And the actual time of day is not mentioned (how "open to the
public" is that?) I would venture to say that may not be an accident. But
it shouldn't stop planning for an anti-war demonstration from going
forward in my opinion.

R

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National Guard

Deployment ceremony for  soldiers scheduled for Oct. 1
Event planned for Centennial High open to the public

By Paul Wood

pwood at news-gazette.com

CHAMPAIGN - A deployment ceremony for about 85 Champaign-based National
Guard troops now has a tentative time and place.

The deployment ceremony will be held Oct. 1 at Champaign Centennial High
School, 913 Crescent Drive, in its auditorium, unless the Army changes the
date.

The event will be open to the public, said. First Sgt. Joseph Briggs of
Mahomet, who is part. of Champaign's Company B, 634th Brigade Support
Battalion.

The soldiers will be sent first to Fort Bragg in North Carolina for up to
two months, then on to Afghanistan.

A deployment ceremony for the entire 634th Brigade Support Battalion of
the National Guard will be held Saturday on the Sullivan High School
football field at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Sullivan High School is at 725 N. Main St.

The approximately 350 soldiers of the 634th Brigade Support Battalion are
deploying to Afghanistan this fall as part of the 33rd Infantry Brigade
Combat Team and  will provide logistical, vehicle maintenance, medical and
transportation support, according to a National Guard press release. Some
will train police officers there.

The battalion is made up of Company A based in Mattoon, Company B based in
Champaign, Company C based in Springfield and Headquarters and
Headquarters Company based in Sullivan.

Briggs said the statewide deployment was announced last October, giving
him and his fellow soldiers time to get mentally ready.  "I'd say we're
excited," Briggs said Thursday, "We're getting a chance to do what we
signed on for. Motivation is very high. Everyone is a little apprehensive
as well."

Briggs, who is married and has three nearly-grown children, said extensive
training has taken the edge off that apprehensiveness. Some soldiers in
his unit will work with natives of Afghanistan in Fort Bragg training, an
earlier news release from the Army said.

The deployments are  part of the largest send-off for Illinois .Army
National Guard soldiers since World War II.