[Peace-discuss] both Urbana and Champaign components of Army National Guard deploying to Afghanistan soon

[Randall Cotton]

There are impending public deployment ceremonies for both the
Champaign-based 634th Brigade Support Battalion, Company B and the
Urbana-based 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team headquarters. They are
headed to Afghanistan. I am disappointed to say that when I checked
around, I found there was no interest in having any kind of AWARE presence
at events like this.

R

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2008/09/26/deployment_ceremonies_on_tap_for_guard_units

Deployment ceremonies on tap for Guard units
By Paul Wood
Friday September 26, 2008

Two local National Guard units will have deployment ceremonies where
well-wishers can properly see them off to eventual posts in Afghanistan.

A ceremony to honor about 240 soldiers of the headquarters company of the
33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, housed at the Urbana Armory, will be
held at the University of Illinois Assembly Hall, 1800 S. First St., C, at
2 p.m. Sunday. Guests are urged to arrive early.

And on Oct. 1, Bravo Company of the 634th Brigade Support Battalion, with
about 85 soldiers at the Champaign Armory, will have its own deployment
ceremony at 7 p.m. at Centennial High School, 913 S. Crescent Drive, C.

The Champaign troops will provide logistical support, vehicle maintenance,
medical and transportation support.

Cassandra Wentz, the family readiness group leader for Bravo company, said
supporters will begin a yellow ribbon campaign for the local troops
starting Sunday. More information is available at 352-1274.

"We want to show support in every way we can," said Wentz, whose husband
is heading overseas.

"That includes for the children," she added. "If you live on a base, there
are many resources for families, but with the Guard, the citizen soldier,
your children may not know any other children whose fathers are being
deployed."

The Headquarters company of the Urbana unit will be the command and
control element of Task Force Phoenix VIII in Afghanistan, according to a
National Guard release.

The 30 units of the 33rd and two units of the 404th Chemical Brigade will
be joined by various coalition partners and forces from other U.S. service
components to form the remainder of the task force, it said.

The Illinois National Guard will have its largest overseas deployment of
soldiers since World War II.