Reservists embark on new journey today

Local reservists belonging to the Echo Company 100th Battalion 442nd Infantry begin a new journey this afternoon, leaving for six months of intensive training in various locations before the actual yearlong deployment to Iraq.

According to Company commander Capt. Franklin R. Babauta, the troops are ready for the road that lies ahead, and their families will be at the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport to see them off.

“I feel we are ready to go and serve our country, and we will be prepared to conduct the mission that will be given to our unit to do,” he said.

Babauta did not disclose the total number of reservists leaving, citing that the military is sensitive when it comes to numbers.

Earlier, Lt. Col. Howard T. Sugai, U.S. Army Reserve public affairs officer, said that while at the Schofield Barracks in Oahu, the troops would meet other Pacific components of the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade, including those from Guam, Hawaii, and American Samoa.

The reservists will train in Hawaii, going through the soldier readiness process that includes a medical examination and completion of promotion packets, insurance documents and other personal affairs.

The unit will then proceed to Fort Bliss, Texas in the second week of October to join the rest of their brigade, including those coming from California and Oregon.

Babauta said that after about month in Fort Bliss, the troops will be on block leave sometime in December in observance of the Christmas holidays. He, however, indicated that chances of any of them returning for the holidays have yet to be determined and will be discussed at a later date.

“The unit will be in Texas and will be on block leave for the Christmas holidays, and hopefully will be able to come [home],” he said. “It [return] would be nice, but it’s also costly and right now we don’t know who is going to pay for it.”

Sugai earlier said that traveling back to Saipan may cause a financial burden to the soldiers from the islands and that the U.S. Army is planning to take the soldiers back to Honolulu to at least lessen their travel costs.

After their leave, the unit would undergo another training segment at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana. This will last for another month, after which the troops will be deployed to Iraq.

According to Sugai, the soldiers will start moving to Iraq in February of next year.

Babauta also touched on how families and relatives of the reservists are dealing with the deployment.

“The way I see it, [families] are worried but, at the same time, they feel confident that the troops will be going through training to get them prepared for the mission,” he said.

Babauta said family members of the troops would still have access to the Army base on island and that a military support group would visit them to provide any type of assistance.

The deployment to Iraq is in response to calls by the Pentagon for U.S. Army Reserve forces to reinforce depleted missions in the Middle East and Afghanistan.