Our national guard

I just returned from a picnic. Lots of good food and beverage. For the most part conversation was generalized, but someone brought up the disposition of our local national guard who have just been called up and shipped out to train at a base somewhere in the upper mid-west, I think.

Sometimes I miss a lot by not getting the local newspaper. Apparently, a week or so ago, there was a big spread about the local national guard and where they were going (Iraq) and what they are going to do when they get there.

Our national guard unit...the 182nd something or other...are called sappers. They are the front line guys who search out and take apart IEDs. Obviously, there isn’t a job in Iraq that is fraught with much more danger since it appears that IEDs are the things that kill most of our troops.

There was a big ceremony at the middle school the night before they left. I think it was about a week ago. I didn’t know about it and missed it. I certainly would have gone to lend my support if I had known. I feel badly about that. These are our homies and, while we don’t like to think about it, I don’t think there are any who believe that what these guys are doing will bring all of them home in one piece. From what I understand, that knowledge made the ceremony very emotional.

Now the national guard unit has put out a bulletin that they desperately need volunteers to train to do what the national guard is supposed to do at home. We live in an area where we are prone to wicked coastal storms that require a lot of sandbagging and evacuations and certain other engineering expertise. With the national guard gone, there aren’t any people who are trained to step into the void.

So the armory has asked local citizens to volunteer for training. I think I’ll contact them this week to see if there is anything I can do. I guess I can fill sand bags as well as the next person. I’m not an engineer, but I can shovel sand.

I can also do my best to support the families who have been left behind without a whole lot of resources. It’s a community thing and I hope that the outpouring of support that is apparent by the newspaper articles and letters to the editor is the same in other communities. It’s remarkably heartwarming, maybe comforting, to see the plans to keep the families in the community’s spotlight...to make sure they have what they need.

I’ve been here a long time now, but until today, I never knew what the local national guard’s specialty was. They are engineers with explosives expertise and they are definitely needed. I just wish they weren’t needed where they are going.