Guardsmen Could Be Home Within Week

October 27, 2005

The 278th Regimental Combat Team of the Tennessee Army National Guard is on its way back to the United States, and members of the local Family Readiness Group are hoping that businesses and citizens will help welcome the unit back to Scott County.

The members of the National Guard based at the Oneida National Guard Armory are among thousands of members of the 278th who have been serving in Iraq for the past 11 months.

Not all of the 278th RCT will return to Tennessee at the same time, and it isn’t known exactly when the Oneida unit will arrive back in Scott County. But the process that will see the soldiers eventually return to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and then on to Scott County is underway. After departing from FOB Bernstein in northern Iraq on Friday, troops from Oneida had arrived back in the United States by Monday morning and were expected to reach Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, by Monday evening. Once at Camp Shelby, the troops will undergo five-to-10 days of demobalization processing.

It is anticipated that the soldiers will be back in Scott County sometime next week. “We want to urge all citizens, businesses, and schools to put out flags, banners, et cetera (to welcome home the soldiers,” Family Readiness Group spokesperson Melissa Harliss said.

Harliss also expressed the group’s appreciation for the VFW Post 5669 in Oneida and others who have helped.

“These ladies and gentlemen (at the Oneida VFW post) have been wonderful to us. We cannot thank them enough for the help and support they have given us,” Harliss said. “We also want to thank the local schools, churches and families who have supported our troops in various ways such as sending letters and packages.”

The first of the more than 3,000 members of the 278th RCT were expected to have arrived in Mississippi on Monday to begin processing, with other units arriving daily through mid-November, though Tennessee Adjutant General Gus Hargett said plans can change with little notice.

“There are so many things that can affect the best-planned schedules in something as large as this,” Hargett said. “We’re operating on information provided to us as of today. Our objective now is to get them home and reunited with their families as soon as possible.”

The 278th RCT was mobilized in June 2004 and deployed from Camp Shelby to Iraq in November 2004.

newsroom@ihoneida.com

Enjoy the Independent Herald? Have it delivered to your door! Click here for details.