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13 October 2003

Spc. Ambera L. Parker walked from table to table Thursday at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock, stopping at each to make decisions about things most 20-year-olds never consider.
She filed her will, medical records and a DNA sample. She bumped up her Serviceman’s Group Life Insurance to the maximum $250,000 and tried on body armor.
Finally, she wrote down her mother’s name and address, knowing that two soldiers in crisp green uniforms potentially could knock on that door someday and break the news of her injury or death.
Parker was preparing to go to war.
All 3,000 members of the 39th Enhanced Infantry Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard moved through Camp Robinson last week, carrying their life histories in thick folders — all the information necessary to transfer them from the National Guard into the active U.S. Army.
"I’ve already talked to my mom about everything," Parker said. "She didn’t want to talk about what may happen to me, but it had to happen. I told her that it’s OK to cry, but don’t do any crying around me. I’m a soldier, I don’t want to be crying."
Mobilizing Arkansas’ largest Guard unit is an extended, expensive process that requires paperwork shuffles, training, logistical miracles and time. The last time a mobilization of this size occurred in the state was during the Korean War, according to Guard officials.
Mobilization began a week ago with the pre-processing of the 39th Brigade. Each soldier was called to Camp Robinson on state orders to spend the day completing legal, financial and medical checks.
"We’re trying to identify soldiers who would have problems and not be able to mobilize," said Brig. Gen. Ronald S. Chastain, commander of the 39th Brigade.


BATTALION A DAY

About 150 soldiers with the State Area Command were pulled from their civilian jobs to process the 39th Brigade. Their work started at 7 a.m. every morning last week and stretched into the evening. They completed the paperwork on a battalion — about 500 soldiers — each day.
"Doctors, lawyers, nurses, they’re all needed to do this processing," said State Command Chief Warrant Officer John Tatum. "The overall cost to the state is hard to determine. We won’t know the true cost until we’re done."
Tatum estimates processing the unit into active duty will range from $250,000 to $500,000 for each of the two weeks. Some of that — like the salaries of the National Guard soldiers helping with the processing — will be paid out of state coffers. The U.S. Army will pay the majority, including the estimated $400,000 in vaccinations for the soldiers of the 39th Brigade.
The brigade’s mobilization order went into effect Sunday, beginning the brigade’s 18 months of federal duty. This week, the Brigade’s 3,000 soldiers will return to Camp Robinson where Army officials from Fort Hood, Texas, will recheck all the paperwork.
Then in the week when October turns into November, the soldiers of the 39th Brigade will move to Fort Hood and join the 1 st Cavalry Division. The brigade’s deployment means that more than 5,000 Arkansans will be deployed in the war against terrorism.
The 1 st Cavalry Division and the 39th Brigade will be in Iraq by spring, where they could remain until April 2005.
In the next four months, the Brigade will undergo extensive training on military operations and new equipment as well as cross training with the 1 st Cavalry Division. The unit is also scheduled in January to undergo training at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.
"By processing here at Camp Robinson we allow them to stay with their families every night until they leave for Texas at the end of the month," he said.


IRAQ ‘ZONE’ AWAITS

They still don’t know where in Iraq they are headed. The 1 st Cavalry Division, including the 39th Brigade, is scheduled to replace the 1 st Armored Division, which is rotating out of Iraq after being deployed about a year.
Chastain has scouted the 1 st Armored Division headquarters and is scheduled to return this week on another reconnaissance mission.
"I anticipate the 39th Brigade will have a zone that we will be responsible for," he said. "But we haven’t been told what the actual zone is yet."
Parker is ready for Iraq, ready to start the mission.
When the mobilization order came two weeks ago, she dropped out of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and requested reimbursement of the semester’s $2,000 tuition. She’ll spend the next few weeks with family and friends.
"At least I was able to attend all the homecoming festivities," she said.
When she gets back, many of her classmates will have graduated and started careers, but that doesn’t bother her.
"College doesn’t have a time limit on it," she said. "I’m needed here."
The weight of the day’s decisions don’t seem to bother her. She jokes and laughs and talks about the future while she waits for her turn with the military lawyers who will help her designate power of attorney and write a will.
"I’m laughing now," she said, "but I may cry later."


FILLING THE RANKS

In the room next door, a fellow soldier was told he wouldn’t be deploying with his unit.
Mary Myers, state family support program coordinator for the Arkansas National Guard, told the 29-year veteran that his wife needed him to stay here and help her fight breast cancer. She marked "DQ" — disqualified — on his paperwork.
Improper paperwork, medical problems and personal problems can all disqualify a soldier for deployment. Those open slots will be filled by soldiers from other units, Tatum said. Right now, about 500 soldiers have transferred to the 39th Brigade to fill its ranks. That number is expected to grow as mobilization continues.
"I was assigned to the 39th Monday," Lt. Chris Heathscott said, pointing to his left shoulder. "I don’t even have my patch yet."
Lt. Robin Lowery, a physician’s assistant, walked up to the family support area and said she was also a soldier who was transferred into the unit. A volunteer at the family support table scrutinized Lowery’s paperwork.
"Do you have any children?"
"No," Lowery said. "I’ve got dogs. Do you want to see their pictures?"
As the pictures were passed around, the volunteer asked if the dogs have a place to stay.
"Who will pay your bills? Are you taking a cut in pay? Is your mortgage, credit cards and other debt taken care of? Does someone have signing authority on your bank account in case of an emergency?"
Lowery answered every question in order and promised that everything was settled.
"Will you be financially OK during this?" the volunteer asked.
"I’ll be fine," Lowery said. Her pay as an Army lieutenant is half of what she makes as a physician’s assistant in her civilian job.
The family support program helps on the homefront while soldiers are away. Volunteers hold support meetings for spouses and friends, check on children and can help sort out financial problems spouses may have.
"We’re here for the families. It’s the commander’s job to train the soldiers, it’s my job to train the families to endure the mission," Myers said. "Our goal is to do the mission and not destroy a family to do it. Mission first, family always."


‘I DO IT FOR HER’

Even with the family support program, soldiers with children can’t help but worry about leaving home for a year and a half.
This will be the third deployment for Heathscott, and after the last one — a three month tour in Germany last year — his 12-year-old daughter Ashley told him she wouldn’t let him go again.
"This isn’t three months. This is 18 months. I’m afraid she’ll look at it as abandonment," he said. "I’m not sure she understands that not only do I do this for my country, but I do it for her."
Heathscott’s brother, Maj. Craig Heathscott, who is also in the Arkansas National Guard, promised to spend extra time with Ashley to help her through it.
"He said he’d take her in as his own. It’s important that she maintain a connection with my side of the family while I’m away," Heathscott said. "What my brother is doing, it means a lot to me."
It’s hard for Sgt. Maj. Terry Holley, too.
A former sergeant major of the 39th Brigade’s support battalion, Holley worked last week fitting the soldiers he used to lead with shrapnel-stopping body armor. On Thursday, his son, Sgt. Michael Holley, walked up to his table to be fitted.
"I didn’t fit him, someone else did," the elder Holley said. "He’s my son, but I raised most of the rest of these kids. So it’s tough to size any of them for body armor. You know where they’re going."