![]() Isabel La Catolica Light Infantry Regiment, 29th Air Mobile Brigade One of two French soldiers killed in a non-hostile vehicle accident northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan, on October 21, 2004 One of three Danish soldiers killed when their Piranha armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb north of Gereskh in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on June 17, 2009ģe Régiment de Hussards (3rd Hussard Regiment) Gardehusarregimentet (Guard Hussar Regiment) One of three soldiers killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Kot, Afghanistan, on March 15, 2009 One of nine soldiers killed when their outpost was attacked by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades by enemy forces in Wanat, Afghanistan, on July 13, 2008Ĭompany D, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, 33rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Illinois Army National Guard One of two soldiers killed when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with a roadside bomb in Jelewar, Afghanistan, on November 5, 2009Ĭompany C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team “I am proud and sad at the same time,” the man said.Company C, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division ![]() The father, a Vietnam veteran, wiped his eye. He views the mission as a chance to do good for the Afghani people.Īs the ceremony ended, a Lincoln couple watched their son. Jed Dodson, 25, of East Peoria joined the Army two yeas ago, and will head out on his first deployment. Michael Haerr of the 33rd BCT told the soldiers to remain strong and that such strength would deter enemy forces who were threatened by the rebuilding mission. Dennis Celletti, the assistant adjunct general for the Illinois Army National Guard, said Alpha Company was going to give the Afghanis the same freedoms that Americans enjoy “24/7.”Ĭol. They speak a different language but they are still our neighbors,” Fuhr said. Daniel Fuhr, the battalion’s commander, called the mission akin to helping “neighbors.” They had the choice to enlist and made it, not because they had to but because they wanted to. Speakers from a major general to colonel to the company’s captain praised the soldiers, noting their deployment was different than previous wars. Once in Afghanistan, the soldiers will be part of Task Force Phoenix, an ongoing effort in its sixth reincarnation, to train Afghan security forces. For months, the 33rd BCT has been involved in lengthy training exercises in Illinois and Arkansas to get ready. The deployment is among the largest since World War II, with some 2,700 soldiers taking part. All are part of the 33rd Brigade Combat Team, which was notified last year it would be headed to Afghanistan. The Bartonville-based soldiers will not go as their own unit, but rather fill in where needed in the regiment’s three other infantry companies. Their soldiers, either husbands, sons, brothers or boyfriends, chatted nearby on a football field as they got ready to march in. Rock music blared as family members milled about before the start of the ceremony. “It’s better than them going on patrol,” Amanda Dunn said. The 178th’s mission, rebuilding Afghanistan’s infrastructure and helping protect teachers, doctors and mentors, helped as well. It was his first time going overseas so they were naturally worried. Both women were proud and hopeful about their brother’s choice to enlist. Dunn’s other sister, Amanda Dunn of Peoria, was there as well. She’s been through this before as her husband, Staff Sgt. Those were some of the words tossed around Friday afternoon as some 300 people gathered at the Joint Reserve Training Facility in Bartonville to send off 90 or so soldiers with Company A, 1st Battalion, 178th Infantry Regiment, which heads to Fort Bragg, N.C., in a few days for their final training before shipping out to Afghanistan.īethany Pannell, of Colorado Springs, Colo., was there for her brother, Spc.
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