Fort Irwin soldiers head to Iraq

FORT IRWIN -Soldiers with the Second Heavy Equipment Transport Company recently said goodbye to friends and family members and boarded buses at Fort Irwin en route to another deployment in support of the war in Iraq.

The soldiers left Fort Irwin on May 8, touched down in Kuwait soon after and should start their mission this week, said John Wagstaffe, the public information officer at Fort Irwin. Based in Kuwait, the 145 soldiers of the Fort Irwin company will shuttle supplies in and out of Iraq and between American posts within the country, Wagstaffe said.

This is the third time the 2nd HET has gone to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The soldiers supported missions in Tikrit, Iraq, in their previous deployments. They drove millions of miles on treacherous Iraqi roads, according to Sam Acosta, the rear detachment commander of the company.

A new Army policy will keep the troops in Iraq for 15 months instead of the normal 12-month stint. The Army extended deployments in April in order to keep pace with President Bush's surge plan for the war. The 15-month stay in Iraq might not be too new for some members of the 2nd HET, though. Troops spent 14 months in Iraq during a deployment that be gan in February 2003 and ended in April 2004.

The military did not release details of the 2nd HET's deployment until after they left. Two other companies from Fort Irwin, the 58th Combat Engineering Company and the 557th Maintenance Company, will deploy from Fort Irwin later this summer. Two Troops from the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment are also on warning orders for possible deployments to the Persian Gulf.