50 Nevada Guardsmen bound for southwest Asia

Jace Radke

Tuesday, March 18, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

Jimmy Armstrong has been serving a Mormon mission for the past two years, but now he will go on a mission for his country.

Armstrong, 21, returned from a two-year missionary assignment in February, and left Las Vegas this morning with about 50 other Nevada National Guardsmen bound for southwest Asia.

"This is a tough thing, but you have to do what you have to do," said Armstrong, a specialist with the 777th Engineer Utilities Team Company. "I'm going to serve my country now and I'm just going to do the best I can."

Armstrong, who did his missionary work in Southern California, and the other members of the unit haven't been told exactly where they are going, or when they will be coming home -- two facts that his family is having to deal with.

"We're a little bit scared, but we have to be brave like he is," Armstrong's mother, Connie Graham, said as she visited her son Monday at the Henderson Armory. "He's the oldest of six boys and he sets the pace and the example for his brothers.

"We're just going to miss him and hope he comes home safe."

The unit will provide construction, excavation and surveying during its deployment, and includes electricians, plumbers, carpenters and heavy equipment operators.

Spc. Brandon Repetto, a heavy equipment operator for the unit, said he was excited to get a chance to do his duty.

"You just get a feeling of pride, because you know you're going to serve your country like all the other veterans that have come before us," Repetto said. "I want to go over there and do a good job for the vets."

Five Nevada Army Guard units, totaling more than 450 soldiers, have been deployed. About 230 of the Guard soldiers are now serving overseas. More than 1,100 Guard soldiers and military reservists from Nevada are currently deployed, according to the Department of Defense.

Today's deployment was the first for many of the soldiers with the 777th, and that brings a mix of emotions, Spc. Justin Angell said.

"It's kind of this mix of anxiety and excitement," Angell said. "We know that there are a couple of hot spots out there, but I don't know where we're going.

"We don't really know what to expect, but we're ready to complete our mission."

Angell, a 23-year-old electrician, is leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter, a 7-month-old son and a wife who is two months pregnant.

"If my wife is worried, she's not really showing it," Angell said. "I know it's probably at the back of her mind.

"I hope I can get home by September for the birth of our baby, but I'm prepared to be away."

Angell, a Henderson resident, was previously deployed to McCarran International Airport for about eight months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He now works as a screener for the Transportation Security Administration at McCarran.

Spc. Richard Krause, a heavy equipment operator, is being deployed overseas for the second time. His first deployment was more than 10 years ago as an enlisted man with the Navy during Desert Storm.

"It's a little different this time for me," Krause said. "Last time I was in the gulf it was Bush Sr. in the White House.

"When I was on a ship, everything I needed was right there, but now I'm going to be living out of a tent and getting a shower once every four days."