IA Sailors Deploy During the Holidays

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IA Sailors Deploy During the Holidays
December 22, 2008
Navy News|by CMC Gwen A. Truett

FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- More than 160 individual augmentee (IA) Sailors graduated Dec. 18 from Navy Individual Augmentee Combat Training (NIACT) at Fort Jackson, S.C., and deployed to the Horn of Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, in the early morning hours of Dec. 19.

IA Sailors serve in combat support and combat service support missions with joint military and international forces worldwide.

Veterans groups and civic organizations from South Carolina met the IA Sailors in a Columbia Metropolitan Airport hangar at 1 a.m. with free hot coffee, doughnuts, goodie bags brimming with personal items and many good wishes for a safe journey.

"The fact that these IA Sailors are deploying during the holidays seemed to have heightened the effect of the goodbyes," said Lt. Michael Borja, assistant officer in charge of NIACT. "Many of the Sailors were very visibly moved by the well wishes, hugs and handshakes."

The volunteer groups have been holding send-offs for IA Sailors for the last 13 months.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/navy-news/ia-sailors-deploy-during-the-holidays.html?col=1186032311124