Indiana reserve unit to return to Iraq
(This is 4th MLG, 6th ESB)
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- More than 100 members of an Indiana Marine reserve unit are preparing to return to Iraq.
First Sgt. Robert Rhodes said 125 members of the Engineer Company B, based in South Bend, will be called to duty on June 15, but the date they depart for Iraq has not been set. The Marines will first train at Camp Pendleton in California.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060329/LOCAL/603290511/-1/RSS
Associated Press
March 29, 2006
Several dozen more Marines from other companies will join, bringing the total number deployed to between 170 and 180, Rhodes said.
News of the deployment "wasn't any surprise," said Rhodes, adding that he had been hearing the unit would be reactivated ever since he arrived in South Bend in August 2005.
The Marines are expected to spend seven months in Iraq, where the company served in 2003 supporting a combat engineer battalion.
This time, they will be clearing routes used by coalition forces, which means they will patch holes in roads, dismantle barricades and detect and blow up mines, Rhodes said. Marines also might build schools for Iraqi children or showers and restrooms for the U.S. military, he said.
"I'm just very proud, very lucky, but at the same time, a little nervous," said Nichole Mansfield, whose husband is preparing to return to Iraq with the unit. "Your heart sinks a little bit. I hate to see him go."
Her husband, Todd Mansfield, said it helps to have a spouse who understands the Marine lifestyle.
"She married into the Marine Corps," he said. "She knows what I do, and she's very supportive."