Final Destination For Pacific Army Reservists Still Unclear
The Army Reserve’s 9th Readiness Support Command in Honolulu is yet to confirm the final destination for the more than 600 reservists been put on alert order for possible mobilization and deployment for Operation Iraq Freedom.
The alert was issued Dec. 21st for the Fort Shafter, Hawai’i based 100th Battalion 442nd Infantry which includes units in Hawaii, Guam, CNMI and American Samoa.
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A news release by the U.S. Army didn’t specify a destination for possible deployment but Hawai’i media says it's Kuwait. First Lt. Brian Melanephy, spokesman for the Army Reserve in Honolulu, say there is no firm final destination for the reservists if they are called up for duty.
“If the 100th Battalion is going to Kuwait, there is a possibility that they will have some missions into Iraq,” Melanephy told Pacific Magazine in a telephone interview from Honolulu on Thursday. He estimates that the 100th Battalion totals a little over 600 reservists.
He said the alert order “is just an alert for the soldiers and their families for possible mobilization.”
Due to this alert and the potential deployment, the unit will increase the level of its training to prepare the soldiers for mobilization.
The alert order covers 150 members of the Bravo and Charlie companies of the Army Reserve in American Samoa. The local companies were informed last Friday by their commanders in Honolulu about the alert notice for potential mobilization.
Family members for some of the soldiers said this week that they are preparing and coping with the alert notice during the holidays. “I believe many of our reservists have been preparing for this news,” said the wife of a reservist.
Gov. Togiola Tulafono said on Thursday that he has received the alert notice. “It is important that we all understand it to mean, ‘possible mobilization’, or ‘the potential for deployment’, and it does not mean that the battalion will be deployed for certain,” he said in a statement.
“It only means that they may be sent on assignment to Kuwait or Iraq and therefore they must increase the level of their training in anticipation that they may be called up for duty,” he said. “It is our prayer that this news does not get in the way of the festive spirit of the holidays for all of our families.”
The local Bravo and Charlie companies returned in early last year after one year of tour in Iraq and three months training on the mainland. When the troops returned home, it was without one of its members, Staff Sgt. Frank Tiai, who died July 17, 2005 in Baghdad, Iraq.
The 100th Battalion is commanded by Lt. Col. Mike Peeters who served with the battalion as its Executive Officer during its last mobilization. The battalion’s senior non-commissioned officer is Command Sgt. Maj. Glenn Gomes who also served with the battalion during its last mobilization.
