Ephrata's Transporters Return from Iraq
Story & Photos by SGT Chris Alexander - Posted Aug, 2004
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The 1161st Transportation Company arrived at Camp Murray late Friday night, July 30th, returning from a 15 month tour in Iraq. Brigadier General Gordon Toney said a few brief words to the troops, on behalf of the Washington National Guard, before they were reunited with their families for a well deserved three-day pass.
Following demobilization at Fort Lewis and block leave, they will soon return to their Citizen-Soldier status from active duty.
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It was a long flight that brought the men and women of the 1161st home from Iraq. Their journey began at a US Air Base in Kuwait. They made several stops on their way to Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland. After a brief layover there, it was on to Chicago, and finally home to the Puget Sound landing at Boeing Field. But it wasn't too unbearable. The troops particularly appreciated the welcome the USO gave them in Keflavik Iceland, providing them food and refreshments during their layover.
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After all of that they were delayed for hours at Boeing Field because of problems with cargo and passenger handling equipment, but eventually made their way out onto highway 5. To speed them on the final leg of their journey - Boeing Field to Camp Murray - the convoy of busses had an escort from the Washington State Patrol, complete with blue lights and sirens.
Meanwhile, back at Camp Murray, nearly 400 family members and representatives from many of the major media outlets in the Puget Sound waited patiently and busied themselves making signs and banners to welcome home their heroes.
Special arrangements had been made by the Family Support Group to care for tired, cranky children, and 'chow' was provided by a local Pizza Time restaurant, which delivered 70 pizzas.
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The 1161st, headquartered in Ephrata, WA and commanded by CPT David Linville, entered active duty in February 2003 for what was to have been a 12 month tour. They set up their new headquarters at the Baghdad International Airport, but drove just about everywhere you can drive in Iraq. Then in early 2004, just as the unit was preparing to leave for home, they were extended for an additional 120 days. Hardly skipping a beat (but no doubt resisting the urge to choke someone) the Guardsmen went back into the fray, this time working out of Nasiriyah, a city of about a half-million people located 20 miles southeast of Baghdad.
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The
unit spent approximately 15 of their 18 months of activation in
Iraq, shuttling critical cargo and supplies across that combat
zone in their unique "Palletized Loading System" (PLS) trucks. During their deployment the 1161st successfully completed nearly
14,000 missions, and drove over 1,000,000 miles.
Despite the fact that the unit's primary mission
centered around doing one of the most dangerous things anyone
can do in Iraq these days - delivering supplies in convoy - they
suffered no fatalities, although several Guardsmen were wounded.
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The
Washington National Guard has not had a complete unit - like the
1161st Transportation Company - on Federal Active Duty for this
length of time since World War II.
Other Washington Army National Guard units which have
returned from deployments to Iraq include detachments from Company A, 1-19th Special Forces, Company B, 14th Engineers, the
Special Operations Detachment - Pacific (SODPAC), detachments
from the Information Operations Support Center, and the Military
History Detachment.
Members of several other Washington Army and Air Guard
units have deployed to many locations since the beginning of the
Global Was on Terrorism. Visit our Operations Section for more
information.
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