Freedom Salute honors Guard soldiers

By JULIA LeDOUX
For the Stafford County Sun
Published: August 21, 2008

FREDERICKSBURG — They stood strong on the front lines in Iraq last year, providing protection to a strategically deepwater port and escorting convoys before returning home in February.

On Sunday, the service of a group of Virginia National Guard soldiers with 3rd Battalion, 116th Brigade Combat Team, many of who call Fredericksburg and the surrounding area home, was honored during a Freedom Salute ceremony at the University of Mary Washington.

The battalion was alerted for mobilization and overseas deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom on Feb. 3, 2007 and had about 90 days to prepare
before heading overseas.

“We didn’t think we were going anywhere,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. John Epperly, a Stafford County resident. In a little over three months, the battalion was staffed and equipped for its mission.

“We built the battalion and trained it in 90 days,” continued Epperly. “I’m really proud of these guys.”

Drawing upon nearly 800 soldiers and equipment from 42 different units across Virginia, the unit was the largest battalion task force the Virginia National Guard has mobilized in support of the Global War on Terror and was composed of six companies. A, B, and C Companies were assigned to convoy escort duty in Al
Anbar Province, Iraq and had numerous engagements with hostile insurgents. Headquarters, D and F Companies were assigned to security missions in Kuwait.
Headquarters, D and F Companies provided protection to the strategically important deepwater port at Ash Shuaybah. More than 90 percent of the supplies necessary for the fight in Iraq and Afghanistan flow through the port. They also worked with Naval Coastal Warfare Squadrons 5 and 21 and the Air Force’s 586th Expeditionary Warfare Group.

“During its time in Kuwait and Iraq, 3rd Battalion was integral to the success of several operations, events and activities,” continued Epperly. “The units stationed in Kuwait made significant gains and innovations in securing critical infrastructure vital to the war effort in all of southwest Asia.”

The battalion searched more than 100,000 vehicles and 300,000 people without disruption to the ports over an eight-month period. The battalion’s local combat patrols around the port facilities logged over 10,000 vehicle hours with a serious incident, and the battalion also secured the loading and unloading of over 8,000 combat vehicles as several brigade teams flowed into and out of Iraq.

“They did an exceptional job over there,” said Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman, Jr., adjutant general of Virginia.

The Freedom Salute campaign is one of the largest Army National Guard recognition endeavors in history and is designed to publicly acknowledge Army Guard soldiers and those who supported them during Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. During the ceremony, each soldier received an American flag in a wooden display case, a Defender of Freedom certificate and commemorative coins and medallions.

Family members and friends of the soldiers packed the Woodard Campus Center to show their appreciation.

“[Deployments are] much harder for the families than it is for the individual soldier,” said Capt. Jim Tierney of Charlottesville, who attended the ceremony with his wife, Shelly and sons Jack, 4, and Owen, 11 months.

Julia LeDoux is a staff reporter at Media General’s Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger.