CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Hundreds gathered inside the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center on Friday evening for one final goodbye to family members and friends with the West Virginia National Guard before being deployed to the Middle East.
More than 500 Soldiers with the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) will be part of the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment. Following a final training in Texas, the soldiers will be off to Kuwait to join the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
“I’m an Intelligence Analyst so I’m getting attached to line troops so I will get some hands-on,” Specialist Alivia Sherry, from Spencer, told MetroNews. “I am excited to get hands-on and actually do stuff.”
Sherry, who has been in the WVNG for two and a half years, said this will her first deployment and first time out of the United States, but she is excited. She had her sister Michaela and father Tom there for the final briefs.
She said her sister is on terminal leave from active duty Navy after two deployments and her father served in the Army during Vietnam so she knows how it feels to have a loved one deployed.
Sgt. Nicholas Rhodes, a Dismounted Team Leader Calvary Scout from Kimberly who will be deployed, also has a family background in the military and even past deployments himself.
Rhodes was there with his wife Francis and said it never gets easier for her.
“That’s probably the hardest thing,” he told MetroNews. “I swear their job is harder than ours. It’s just the waiting and not knowing of when we can call or come home. It’s tough but family helps.”
Rhodes is a 6th generation soldier as his father was in the military and his step father-in-law is a Vietnam veteran.
He has spent 17 years with the WVNG and this will be in his third deployment. Rhodes was first deployed in 2003 less than a month out of basic training at 20 years old. The deployment lasted until 2005 and was primarily in Baghdad, Iraq in a patrol and combat operation.
The second deployment for Rhodes was from 2008 to 2010 in scattered locations in Iraq. He said they split base with the Iraqi Army and assisted the Iraqi government in their role of taking over their army.
The deployment he is about to embark on goes from Fort Bliss in Texas to Kuwait with a mission of the operation will be to sustain theater readiness to conduct unified land operations and to support partner nations in making the region safer.
Rhodes said the WVNG has given him plenty of opportunities.
“I have worked everything from working full-time for the unit in transitioning armories to Counter Drug,” he said. “I used to work for the Joint Operations Center within the Guard. That transitioned me into my civilian position. I work for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management now.”
The Yellow Ribbon Ceremony on Friday focuses on MilitaryOne resources that the family can use while a loved one is away. There are mental health services, insurances services, financial briefs, and more.
A release from the WVNG said the 30th ABCT consists of 4,200 National Guard Soldiers from four states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia. The 30th ABCT will replace the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, as part of a regular rotation of forces in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
This deployment will mark the second time a National Guard brigade has rotated into a command for this operation.
Maj. Gen. Gregory Lusk, Adjutant General of the NCNG and Gov. Jim Justice was on hand for the event.
LIVE: Gov. Justice attends deployment event for more than 500 West Virginia National Guard soldiers https://t.co/YWcTVI8ARK
— Governor Jim Justice (@WVGovernor) August 16, 2019