Area soldiers to head to Iraq

Sunday, August 27, 2006 The soldiers are training to be fuel truck drivers. By LAURE CIOFFI VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU FARRELL, Pa. — Soldiers from the Shenango and Mahoning valleys who are getting ready to ship out to Iraq will get one last visit home. Chris Vierra, unit administrative supervisor for the Army Reserves 347th Quartermaster Company in Farrell, said the soldiers have been training since May at Camp Atterbury, Ind., and are expected home Sept. 8. The group of 60 to 80 soldiers, who hail from western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, will leave at 11 p.m. Sept. 11 for another military base before being shipped to Kuwait and then Iraq. The reservists are being trained to be fuel truck drivers and their tour of duty is expected to last 545 days, she said. The soldiers, part of the 347th Quartermaster Group, were involuntarily transferred to the 298th Transportation Company in Franklin, Pa., Vierra said. Training "They got their orders at the end of May, but they've been training since January," she said. These same soldiers from the 347th were mobilized in March 2003 for service in Iraq to work as a petroleum supply company, but were demobilized before leaving the country that May. The company also had been activated in Desert Shield-Desert Storm in 1990 and spent its tour in Saudi Arabia. The 298th is made up of 145 people including those transferred from the Mercer County unit. "For the most part they are all very enthusiastic. The war aspect is a little bit nerve-racking, but they are all very professional," Vierra said. cioffi@vindy.com