Thursday, 4:30 PM
National Guard unit ships out for Iraq
(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)
Members of the Massachusetts National Guard marched across the Old North Bridge in Minute Man National Historic Park today before they ship out to Iraq.
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff
CONCORD -- About 400 family and friends bid an emotional farewell today to 200 Massachusetts National Guard soldiers headed to Iraq for a year of guarding convoys, manning checkpoints, and patrolling areas near Baghdad.
Children held miniature US flags, parents hugged children, and spouses embraced husbands and wives as the company commander, Captain Stephen Rooney, told his unit that because Iraq is an insurgency, the war will be won not with tanks, but with on-the-ground soldiers winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis.
Father of Norwich grad killed in Iraq speaks out Insurgent thought to be behind Carroll kidnapping killed"I'm very proud of her, but it's also very sad," said Peggy Papulis, mother of Kristen Paul, 21, of Shrewsbury, one soldier.
The unit -- D Company, First Battalion, 181st Infantry Regiment -- has served in Kosovo, Cuba, Bosnia, and New Orleans, but the Iraqi deployment will be its most dangerous ever. The company is based in Hudson, but has members from across Massachusetts, as well as Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
The soldiers will go to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for three months of training, before heading for Iraq.
