Wisconsin to Deploy Largest Force Since WWII

[unhappycamper]

Wisconsin to Deploy Largest Force Since WWII
February 20, 2009
Army News Service|by Larry Sommers

MADISON, Wisc. - Wisconsin sent off the "Red Arrow" with tears and smiles in the Wisconsin National Guard's largest operational deployment since World War II.

Thousands of family members and more than a hundred civilian and military officials converged on the Dane County Veterans Memorial Coliseum to bid farewell to some 3,200 members of the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team on its way to service in Iraq, following pre-deployment training at Fort Bliss, Texas.

"Not since World War II has so much been asked of our Soldiers," said Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle. "Almost every Wisconsin county can name a student, a mother, father, son or daughter, who is part of the 32nd."

The brigade is the direct descendant of the 32nd Division, which earned its "Red Arrow" patch by piercing every enemy line it faced in four World War I campaigns.

The division also logged 654 days of continuous combat in World War II, more than any other U.S. Army division in any war, and played a key role in capturing the enemy stronghold at Buna, Papua New Guinea, in early 1943.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/army-news/wisconsin-to-deploy-largest-force-since-wwii.html?col=1186032369115

[biopowertoday]

1. GRowl............when the heck

are we going to start drawing DOWN!

..........Since Sept. 11, 2001, many of the brigade's units and individuals have deployed for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, to the extent that about half of the Soldiers deploying now are veterans of one or more recent combat deployments.

[madrchsod]

2. same here in illinois-to iraq