The Wisconsin 32nd Red Arrow Infantry Brigade may make history as one of the last American units to be sent to Iraq as part of the U.S. occupation.
The brigade will be heading overseas toward the end of April, and the deployment will be the largest since World War II. It is expected to last about a year, according to a statement by the National Guard.
Lt. Col. Tim Donovan said the prospect of a Wisconsin brigade ending the war would be an honor.
“I think that it would be a pretty satisfying experience if the mission was accomplished and if the 32nd Brigade of the Wisconsin National Guard, with me as a member of a team that finishes up a long and difficult mission in Iraq, comes home with the mission successfully concluded,” Donovan said.
While Donovan is excited about the possibility of his unit being the last deployed to Iraq, he is also realistic.
“The president has indicated his desire to conclude the mission in Iraq over the next 16 months — in that case we might be one of the last U.S. units to arrive. Of course, anything can happen. Anything can change,” Donovan said.
After this deployment, about 85 percent of Wisconsin’s 10,000 National Guard members will have been deployed overseas since Sept. 11. For more than half of the members of the 32nd Infantry Brigade, this will not be their first trip to the Middle East.
The unit, composed of more than 3,000 men, began training for the mission about a year ago and is currently finishing their exercises at Fort Blanding in Florida. They will then return to Wisconsin before going to Fort Bliss in Texas for two months.
The unit trained in Florida due to harsh Wisconsin weather and to make the training easier on the hundreds of guard members who are also college students, according to Wisconsin National Guard spokesperson Maj. Jackie Guthrie.
“If they trained earlier, they could have done this in September or October in Fort McCoy, Wis., but that would have taken three weeks out of a college student’s schedule and three weeks out of your classes makes it difficult to succeed throughout your semester,” Guthrie said.
While the deployment will be one of the largest in the state’s history, not all guard members will be sent overseas.
“About 60 percent or more will remain in Wisconsin to provide service to the people of Wisconsin as the governor requests,” Guthrie said.
Gov. Jim Doyle acknowledged the deployment of the 3,500 guard members Wednesday night during his annual State of the State address.
“Next month, the National Guard will begin its largest deployment ever of Wisconsin troops,” Doyle said. “To them, and all their fellow members of the military and their families, out debt, and our gratitude, is enormous.”
