Tanks to Accompany Local Guard

by Amy Kolb Noyes

Members of the Vermont National Guard based at the Morrisville Armory
are preparing to head to Mississippi for training next month. They are
scheduled to ship off to Iraq next summer. Unlike other Vermont Guard
units that have already left home, C Company of the 1/172 will be taking
their tanks with them. The Morrisville-based company will be joining
forces with members of the Pennsylvania National Guard as part of the
2nd Brigade Combat Team.
Pennsylvania National Guard Captain Cory Angell confirmed the 63
Morrisville-based personnel will be staying together, joining the 2nd
Brigade Combat Team and, he said, "They're taking their tanks."
While the local battalion will be working under the Pennsylvania
Brigade, they will also be overseeing a Nebraskan Cavalry unit. Captain
Angell said the Pennsylvania National Guard is now undergoing its
largest mobilization for combat since World War II.
C Company of the 1/172, as part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, will
undergo five to six months of training before going to Iraq. Captain
Angell said that training will culminate with a Mission Readiness
Exercise at Fort Irwin, in California. Fort Irwin is the National
Training Center, dubbed "The Box." There, he said "They play the war
game to the T."
Fort Irwin is out in the Mojave Desert, and employs fulltime Opposing
Force personnel to put soldiers' training to the test.
"They'll put 'em through the wringer," Captain Angell commented.
After up to six months of training, the soldiers will have one year
"boots on the ground" in Iraq before returning home.