As I sit here in Fort Dix, New Jersey- updating The Flint Report in early mornings or late at night following the training I am here attending- I can only think of the other Montana soldiers sitting in their rooms somewhere here on the post who will be spending the next year away from their families.
That’s certainly the case for one mother and father who are both deploying to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army Reserve’s 592nd Ordnance Company. The Billings Gazette covered the departure of the 592nd as they left for Fort Dix, eventually heading to Bagram and Kandahar.
Meanwhile, the Montana Army National Guard’s 163rd Combined Arms Battalion, long known as the 163rd Infantry Battalion, left for Camp Shelby as they prep for the battalions second trip to Iraq.
The Great Falls Tribune had this:
Brig. Gen. Stan Putnam, commander of the Montana Army National Guard, said the 1-163rd battalion “is probably the best trained and prepared unit the Montana Army Guard has ever deployed.”
Meanwhile, The Billings Gazette put together a video montage profiling Sgt. Jared Sharp on his second deployment with the 163rd. God Bless all the soldiers and the families of the 592nd Ordnance Company and the 163rd.
Click below to watch the video featuring Sgt. Sharp: