2009/02/18:Channel 3000: Wis. National Guard Troops Headed To Iraq Get Send-Off: 32nd Brigade Has Legendary History

Wis. National Guard Troops Headed To Iraq Get Send-Off: 32nd Brigade Has Legendary History
Channel 3000
Updated: 7:37 am CST February 18, 2009

MADISON, Wis. -- The 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team and six other Wisconsin National Guard units are getting ready to head off to Iraq.

About 3,200 soldiers filled the main floor of Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Madison for a send-off ceremony Tuesday. About 5,000 of their family and friends looked on from the stands, whooping and hollering and shouting out their loved ones' names.

Gov. Jim Doyle, state Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan and U.S. Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold all spoke about the soldiers and their families' courage and sacrifice.

"I have been at these send-offs before. It is something we will never forget and always appreciate," Doyle said.

The 32nd Infantry Brigade includes units from 36 Wisconsin communities. The deployment will be the largest of Wisconsin National Guard forces since World War II.

The soldiers with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team will deploy for a tour of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Many of the families at Tuesday's send-off had been through it before -- about half the soldiers being deployed with the 32nd Infantry Brigade have been to war before.

Family members left behind said Tuesday they are trying to stay strong, lean on others and think positive -- as hard as that might be.

While the thousands of National Guard troops streamed into the Veterans Memorial Coliseum Tuesday, Michelle Scheffler, a Cottage Grove mother of three, was thinking of her 20-year-old son.

Her eldest son, John, is headed to war for the first time, which Scheffler said makes the family proud and nervous.

"(We're) a little bit (nervous). We have 10- and 12-year-old boys at home, so they're kind of anxious to see their brother go and they're going to miss him a lot," Scheffler said. Josie Essenmacher, of Racine, is saying goodbye to her husband for the second time in three years.

"We drop him off for good on Thursday morning, and that's when we tell him good bye," Essenmacher said. "It's just me and my daughter. We don't have family, so the military extended family is what we have and that's probably the best you can ever get."

Maj. Tom Hinman, of Hazel Green, has had to leave his family twice before to go to war, and he said it's not getting any easier.

"This is my third time and (it) gets harder every time. But, you know, (my family is) ready for it, we prepared for it, so they're looking forward to me coming back already," Hinman said.

"This is our third deployment, so we're prepared for it. The military does a wonderful job preparing us for it, and I think with the girls and I, we can get through this," said Hinman's wife, Sheiia.

The soldiers will head to Texas over the next 10 days for additional training before heading overseas. During that two-month training, the soldiers get four days with family before setting out for Iraq.

They'll spend the next 10 months doing security missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"And I assure you that when our Red Arrow soldiers pass through the gates at Fort Bliss, Texas, no National Guard unit will have arrived to a mobilization station as well-trained, well-equipped, well-led, well-prepared as these soldiers before you today," said Col. Steven J. Bensend, commander of 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Army National Guard Lt. Col. Tim Donovan said that he and his soldiers understand the brigade's history and their responsibilities. The storied history is represented by the "red arrow" patch worn on soldiers' uniforms today.

"We understand we're picking up the legacy, heritage and history of the 32nd Brigade and 32nd Division and propelling it forward," he said.

"We know where the red arrow came from and how the red arrow's reputation was earned and won with hard work and sweat and a lot of blood."

The 32nd was originally National Guard soldiers from Wisconsin and Michigan, and was one of the most feared divisions by the German high command in World War I. The reputation earned first by the soldiers who pierced every enemy line faced in World War I and again in World War II.

The 32nd's rich history is evident when driving Highway 32 statewide. Along the highway, motorists can see the storied red arrow on all of the road signs.

It's a history they hope to continue in this latest mission.

"It's a different Iraq," said Donovan. "It's a more hopeful Iraq and it was made more hopeful partly by the service of other brigade soldiers, who have already been there and we hope it will partly be that way because of our contributions when we get there later this year."