HERMITAGE Guard unit to begin active duty Dec. 18
Two Army Reserve units from Farrell received activation orders last week.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania National Guard unit based here has received official notice: It will be called to active duty Dec. 18 and it will be headed for Iraq.
The unit had been expected to report to its mobilization station at Fort Dix, N.J., over Christmas to receive additional training and equipment before going overseas, but Maj. Grey Berrier, battalion executive officer, said that date is expected to be moved back into January.
Battery A is part of the 107th Field Artillery of the 1st Battalion, but it won't be going to Iraq as an artillery unit.
It will be enlarged and converted to a military police company, along with its sister batteries in Oil City and Pittsburgh, said Maj. William Meade, battalion training officer.
The activation will run between 15 and 18 months, and that includes a 12-month tour in Iraq.
Artillery units normally have a complement of about 90 soldiers, but MP companies have 120.
Meade said the battalion's headquarters in New Castle will have to make up the difference in numbers and that could result in the activation of more guardsmen from the New Castle area than from any of the three batteries.
The battalion got verbal warning of impending activation earlier this month. Meade said at the time that written orders were expected around Thanksgiving.
Berrier said that the orders came Nov. 20 but that there are still some details to be worked out on the date to report to Fort Dix.
The battalion will start its soldier readiness processing at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa., next week to determine if anyone is unable to serve. It also will have a family readiness program, Berrier said.
The local National Guard units were formed in the 1930s but haven't been activated since the Korean War, Meade said.
Reserve units, too
Two Army Reserve units from the Pendel-Caminiti U.S. Army Reserve Center in Farrell also have been activated.
The 475th Quartermaster Group and the 635th Quartermaster Detachment, totaling about 120 soldiers, are fuel supply units and have been told they are likely headed for deployment in Iraq, Afghanistan or one of the neighboring nations.
Their date for activation is Dec. 7, and it is expected to run 18 months, with 12 of them spent in an assigned theater of operation.
The 475th is to report to Fort Dix on Dec. 13, and the 635th is to go to Fort McCoy, Wis., on that same date.
gwin@vindy.com