Posted on Thu, Jan. 04, 2007

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S.C. soldiers to get big send-off

1,800 troops bound for Afghanistan to take part in ceremony at Williams-Brice

By CHUCK CRUMBO

ccrumbo@thestate.com

The S.C. National Guard will host a public deployment ceremony Saturday for members of its Afghanistan-bound 218th Brigade Combat Team.

The one-hour event — for 1,800 soldiers of the Newberry-based unit — will be held at 2 p.m. at Williams-Brice Stadium.

“This is a big unit that’s leaving,” said Maj. Gen. Stan Spears, state adjutant general. “We want to celebrate the soldiers for a job well done.”

The 218th will be the largest single unit to deploy overseas in the S.C. National Guard’s history.

The guest list for Saturday’s ceremony includes state leaders and employers whose workers are members of the Guard. Gov. Mark Sanford will present brigade leaders with a S.C. flag that has flown over the State House.

Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commanding general of the 1st Army, also is expected to attend.

The 1st Army, headquartered at Fort Gillem, Ga., is in charge of mobilizing and training members of the Army Reserve and Guard. However, Honore is better known as the tough-talking, cigar-chomping commander who took charge of relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina slammed New Orleans in 2005.

Guard leaders say almost every square foot of the football field will be covered with soldiers from the brigade’s various units.

Just getting the troops to the stadium will be a logistical challenge. Some 80 buses will transport soldiers from armories around the state, Spears said.

Some members of the brigade, mostly headquarters staffers, will leave South Carolina in mid-January for additional training. The rest will leave in mid-February for three months of training at Camp Shelby, Miss. The brigade will leave for Afghanistan in late May or early June.

In Afghanistan, the brigade will assume command of Task Force Phoenix, with headquarters in Kabul. It will train the Afghan National Army as well as the national police.

A 200-man advance party from the Guard’s Mullins-based 1st Battalion, 263rd Armor Regiment, already has been through training at Camp Shelby. It will return to Shelby on Sunday and then head to Afghanistan, a Guard spokesman said.

The Mullins unit will provide security for provincial reconstruction teams made up of NATO members. The teams will help the Afghan government extend its authority, provide stability and rebuild communities.

Reach Crumbo at (803) 771-8503.