The last time the Wisconsin Army National Guard deployed this many troops, Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and clutch handbags were the hot new style. On June 23 of this year, 680 members of the 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry, part of the 32nd “Red Arrow” Brigade left home for Camp Shelby, Miss., to prepare for a 12-month deployment to an unspecified location in Iraq.
While Wisconsin has deployed several other National Guard units to Afghanistan and Iraq, this deployment is the first state combat arms unit to be deployed since World War II.
Since setting foot in the Deep South late in June, the soldiers have battled high heat and humidity, fire ants, thoughts of home, inadequate supplies and living conditions, as well as fears of the future. I was able to spend four days with the unit while on assignment as a photographer for my internship at the Eau Claire Leader Telegram.
The Red Arrow left for Mississippi primarily at the request of U.S. Senator Trent Lott, R-Miss., who hoped a few thousand soldiers could help revitalize an economically stagnant part of his state. There were other factors that played a role; heat that is comparable to Iraq and massive firing ranges that bases like Fort McCoy cannot provide. The ability to train directly with the battalion they would be combining with was also a plus.
Upon arrival, the soldiers faced a myriad of problems. Air conditioning was not installed in the barracks and when the temperature is 105 with humidity percentages in the 90s there is not a second in the day when you aren’t wet. Medical supplies sufficient for 100 men were struggling to support nearly 700. Supplies and resources in general were sufficiently lacking.
By early August when I arrived, air conditioning was finally installed in the barracks, but the situation with medical supplies had not been resolved. Most of the shortfalls were based on the fact that no federal funds could be released until soldiers started arriving at the base.
Despite all these difficulties, most of the soldiers were in good spirits and were the only brigade without a heat-related casualty. That’s an amazing fact considering how much time they spend outside and the amount and weight of the equipment they have on.
The most interesting aspect of the journey came when Headquarters Company out of Eau Claire traveled to a village dubbed Al Qaim. Al Qaim is a mock Iraqi village and is meant to simulate conditions soldiers will face when entering actual villages once overseas.
To make the simulation more realistic, Camp Shelby hired about 100 southerners of Middle Eastern descent to act as interpreters, rioters, villagers, and insurgents. The interpreter in the car with me was an Iranian man who fled his country in the 1980s after publicly opposing the 1979 Iranian revolution.
Upon entering the village, Lt. Chad Hollenback of Tomah, Wis., and the Iranian interpreter talked with armed guards at the entrance to Al Qaim. The guard became noticeably agitated and refused to bring the mayor out. In the midst of their negotiations, Hollenback was continually harassed by mock Iraqi villagers trying to sell Shasta and mock media sticking microphones and cameras in the lieutenant’s face. After five minutes of talking with the guard, a mock insurgent opened fire from a house on the edge of town taking out two U.S. soldiers.
In this operation, the soldiers, insurgents, and civilians used a laser system called the Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System or MILES. The sound of blanks fired the laser and each person had about 10 receptors that would make a loud sound if they were hit. The two immediate casualties were the only ones for the entire operation.
The rest of the training operation consisted of eliminating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and securing bridges. A class on IEDs revealed that the marbles, nails, metal and other small materials that insurgents lace the IEDs with travel over 10,000 feet per second, meaning that if the IED is visible, you are in trouble. This was the only time I saw the soldiers become noticeably quiet.
Of all the shortfalls the soldiers faced, none of them complained. They only told me of the problems. The one issue that seemed to hit them the hardest was how no congressional representative had made the trip to Mississippi to check on them and visit. It was almost as if they were forgotten. The reporter and I were the first media to make the trek down.
As we left Camp Shelby and Mississippi, it was amazing to hear over and over again from the soldiers the remark, “Thanks and be safe.” Be safe? The only danger in the days ahead would be a couple of plane rides and keeping a truck stacked 18 feet high with my apartment’s belongings from falling apart. Be safe? These guys were going over to Iraq as combat soldiers — the same guys who are fighting and dying on a daily basis. Be safe?
Come to think about it, the comments came as no surprise. The Red Arrow soldiers never once complained about their situations. The Red Arrow out of Eau Claire is well renowned throughout the Army for a long history of outstanding accomplishments dating back before World War II. I’m confident this latest band of men will continue the tradition of outstanding service that has come to define the Red Arrow.
Derek Montgomery ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. He is a former Senior Airman in the Wisconsin Air National Guard and was stationed at Volk Field before being medically discharged in 2001.
