RESIDENTS SALUTE, SAY
GOODBYE TO GUARD Deployment
Ceremony overflows Citizen Center
Saturday
A
little boy was among a packed house to
enjoy patriotic music prior to the
Lincolnton's National Guard deployment
ceremony Saturday. Photo
by Elizabeth Mayhew/TCS
By
Jon Mayhew
LINCOLNTON
-- People packed the James W.
Warren Citizens Center Saturday night,
waving patriotic flags and applauding to
patriotic music being played live.
It
wasn't a pep rally, though. It was a
deployment ceremony for Lincolnton's
National Guard Unit.
Exclusive
video on The Carolina Scoop shows the
unit marching into the James W. Warren
Citizens Center to the cheering and
applauding crowd.
Video shot by Jon Mayhew
The
Carolina Scoop's miitary expert Dale
Punch said the unit is mobilizing at Camp
Shelby, Mississippi, before being
deployed for 18 months to Iraq.
The
unit, officially known as the A-Battery
of the 1st Battalion, 113 Field
Artillary, has 116 authorized personnel
in it's unit. For 65 of the Lincolnton
guard's members, it will be the first
deployment. Twelve of the members have
been deployed twice or more.
In
making comments at the ceremony, Lincoln
County Commission chairman Alex Patton
thanked the guard unit for their service.
"Our
thoughts and prayers go with each and
everyone of you and your families as
well," said Patton.
The
battery, the "gun" element of a
field artillery battalion, operates the
Paladin Howitzer weapon system. The
system is both the gun and ammo carrier;
both are tracked vehicles and work in
tandem to bring accurate artillery fire
on enemy positions.
After
the ceremony, as shown in the exclusive
video on The Carolina Scoop, both Patton
and Lincolnton mayor David Black are
shaking the hands of the men and women
that are leaving to be deployed.
