Soldiers from Barstow to deploy with National Guard unit

BARSTOW - More than 100 soldiers from the Barstow National Guard unit have left for training in preparation for an upcoming deployment to Iraq.

The soldiers from Fox Company of the 181 Brigade Support Battalion boarded a bus Thursday at the National Guard Armory on Armory Road bound for Camp Roberts, an National Guard training center north of Paso Robles, said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Lattus, the company's readiness non-commissioned officer. There they will join with soldiers from across California as the 1st Battalion of the 185 Armored Brigade.

Lattus said about half of the soldiers have been to Iraq before. The other half, he said, were excited to finally put their training into action.

“It's kind of like graduation from high school,” Lattus said. “This is graduation from training.”

After a one month stint at Camp Roberts, the soldiers will return to Barstow for a few days before heading to Camp McCoy, Wis.. From there, the soldiers will deploy to Iraq with the 81st Heavy Brigade Combat Team stationed in Washington. Lattus said he does not yet know where in Iraq the soldiers will be stationed.

The Fox Company soldiers will primarily be mechanics in Iraq, said company commander Capt. Arnold Arenas. Their job will be to keep the fleet of vehicles in convoys and around bases up and running. Sgt. John Cox, who will not be deploying with the soldiers, said he is confident in the unit’s ability to maintain the equipment. Lattus said the unit will have to ability to quickly respond to downed equipment.

“Most of them will kind of be like a NASCAR pit crew,” he said.

Before leaving on Thursday, the soldiers at the Barstow armory had spent more than a year training in the field for their deployment. Cox said the exercises honed the units combat and mechanic skills. Some of the training took place in the desert of Fort Irwin. At Camp Roberts, the soldiers will focus more on individual combat skills.

More than 850 soldiers make up the entire 1st Battalion of the 185 Armored Brigade, about 350 to 400 are from the High Desert and Inland Empire areas. The brigade was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

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