Volunteers from Virginia Army National Guard preparing to help control border
Published 07/06/2006
By STEPHEN IGO -Kingsport Times-News
Spec. Michael Nataro, with the Virginia Army National Guard’s 189th Engineering Company and a student at Mountain Empire Community College, intends to keep up with coursework even after he is deployed to the Southwest United States. Stephen Igo photo. BIG STONE GAP – About a dozen members of the Virginia Army National Guard’s 189th Engineering Company’s Detachment 1 based in Big Stone Gap were preparing Wednesday for eventual deployment to the Southwestern United States to help control the border with Mexico.
Last week, the Virginia National Guard asked for citizen soldier volunteers from Virginia’s ranks to be part of the nation’s efforts to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central and South Americas, a move recommended by President George W. Bush and provided recent approval by Congress.
Last Friday, Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., the adjutant general of Virginia, announced that about 350 soldiers and airmen from Virginia volunteered to serve on Virginia’s task force to support U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Arizona, dubbed Operation Jump Start. Home units of the Virginia volunteers were announced Wednesday.
Col. Robert Simpson, director of the Virginia National Guard joint staff, said Virginia’s volunteers will initially travel from their home units to Fort Pickett for preliminary deployment processing to Arizona. On Wednesday, units like Detachment 1 conducted what Master Sgt. Randy Tiller, a public affairs NCO for the Guard’s 1030th Transportation Battalion, referred to as a “showdown inspection” to make sure area volunteers have all their basic clothing and equipment issue before leaving for Fort Pickett.
On Wednesday morning, Tiller said no firm date was yet scheduled for volunteers to head for Fort Pickett but indicated they might leave as early as Friday. More volunteers for border duty from area National Guard units stand a good chance to be called on later for their willingness to volunteer and deploy later this month, Tiller said.
“Right now, supposedly we’ve got basically, probably, two deployments. This initial group is getting ready to go shortly. We have no firm date when that will be. They are at the armory today going through an inspection of clothing and basic personal gear, something we call a ‘showdown inspection,’” Tiller said. “Then, at a later date, we expect another deployment. The 189th got several volunteers who couldn’t go initially but expressed their desire to go with the second group.”
After last year’s reorganization of the Virginia National Guard, Big Stone Gap’s 189th Engineering Company, a rolling bridge unit, was designated Detachment 1 of the main body of the 189th that is now based in Bowling Green. The Big Stone Gap unit and the 189th are part of the 276th Engineering Battalion out of Richmond.
Volunteers from other area National Guard units are also in the initial volunteer deployment. Tiller said four or five volunteers are with the HHD (Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment) and/or the 1032nd Transportation Company based in Gate City, and another unit in Richlands is also sending four or five volunteers to Fort Pickett.
At least three female members of Detachment 1 may be included with the initial group of volunteers out of Big Stone Gap. One, Spc. 1 Shannon Gallo of Duffield, had her orders in hand on Wednesday morning. Another, Pfc. Selina Jessee of Wise, expected to receive her orders by Wednesday afternoon. The third, Spc. 1 Jessica Jessee of Duffield, was hoping her enthusiasm to volunteer would convince officials in Richmond to issue her orders before the group heads for Fort Pickett.
Selina Jessee and Jessica Jessee are not related but share a maternal bond as sisters-in-arms. Selina Jessee has four children ranging in age from 5 to 14, and Jessica Jessee has a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Fathers and other family members will help care for their children during their deployment, they said.
Another wrinkle for Selina Jessee is that she is fresh out of boot camp and scarcely integrated into Detachment 1. Still, this brand-new soldier promptly volunteered for a genuine Army assignment to, if not precisely a hostile environment, certainly an active-duty one for a national purpose.
“Well, it was an opportunity to serve my country and finally be able to do something I’ve really always wanted to do all my life,” she said after maneuvering a bus-size military vehicle into a tight spot at the Big Stone Gap armory on Wednesday. “The military suits me very well. (During boot camp) I just wished I could have gone back and done it when I was 18.”
When Virginia’s 350 or so volunteer soldiers and airmen arrive in Arizona, they will receive an orientation and specific mission training from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. Simpson said all volunteers have the basic skills needed to successfully accomplish their mission.
Lt. Col. Thomas Morgan, Virginia Army National Guard director of military support, said Friday a phased deployment of volunteers by July 15 and July 25 has been initially planned with all volunteers expected to be in Arizona by July 30.
Tiller said the 189th’s Detachment 1 bunch out of Big Stone Gap couldn’t have better morale even if ordered to get better morale by the president.
“They are volunteers. We just called individual unit members to see if they would be interested. It’s not like a mandatory or ordered mission, so they have a real good attitude,” he said.
The Virginia National Guard has about 475 soldiers and airmen deployed overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, with another 488 soldiers preparing to deploy in support of the NATO Kosovo Force, or KFOR, mission in the Balkans.
MoPress 