Local soldiers prepare for duty in Iraq, Kuwait

By Kyle B. Hansen

Saturday, Dec. 13, 2008 | 3:52 p.m.

The Nevada Army Guard’s 1864th Transportation Company has stepped up its training regimen in preparation for deployment to Kuwait and Iraq in mid-April. On Saturday at the Floyd Edsel Training Facility, 6400 N. Range Road, members of the company were going through the motions of getting ready to leave.

This month, the usual two days of training became four. Next month, it will be five. And in March, the unit will begin 10-day rotations of training, some of which will occur in California.

“The training that we’re doing here is going to get us ready for the ground opposition in Iraq,” said Sgt. 1st Class Erick Willrich. “Even though we are a convoy company, first and foremost, we are the U.S. Army.”

The company’s main assignment will be transporting equipment and supplies from a base in Kuwait into Iraq.

Each member of the unit, even the mechanics and the cooks, participates in the training exercises so that if needed, they can step in and drive the trucks or participate in battle.

“As my wife has put it, a firefighter prepares to go into a burning building,” Willrich said. “As a soldier, you train to go into battle.”

As the part-time branch of the Army, members of the guard normally attend a training session once each month and for two weeks over the summer. They also receive additional training in their specialties and first aid.

“So being a soldier is always first, but (the mechanics) have to have the know-how to keep the vehicles moving,” Willrich said. “The last place we want to be is stopped on the side of the road.”

Lt. Col. Terry Conder, who is an English and journalism teacher at Eldorado High School, said the training is somewhat like his day job.

“Actually, the way we train is very similar to the way we teach in school,” he said. “We give them the scenario, they run through it and then we talk about it.”

As part of the Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters, Conder will not be deployed to Iraq, but was at the training to observe and document the day’s activities.

Sgt. Frank La Spina said the unit benefits from its training in the desert just north of Las Vegas.

“The terrain and the weather here kind of replicate how it is in Iraq, but there you ratchet it up a notch. It is hotter there,” he said. “But we train in the hot times because we know it is going to be hot there.”

The soldiers practiced moving a convoy of trucks through terrain filled with mock-enemies and IEDs. While the opposition forces here were just members of other Guard units, some of them were dressed up to play their parts.

“We try to incorporate as much of the lifestyle, surrounding and situations as we can into the training,” La Spina said.

The group also practiced ground battle, and crawling through the desert sand, some soldiers fired blanks from their riffles while others shouted “bang! bang!” when they fired.

Sgt. Charles Clark and others walked through the soldiers in mock battle yelling out suggestions and commands.

“Why aren’t you firing?” he asked one group as the enemy fired at them from behind a shack.

And to one soldier who stayed standing for too long, he shouted: “You’re dead – roll over and lay on your back.”

Of the nearly 160 members of the company who will be leaving for Iraq, 67 have served there before. For most of them, the upcoming deployment will be their third tour of duty.

This will be the second deployment for La Spina, who returned in September 2007 from serving with another company.

Normally an HVAC technician in Las Vegas, La Spina said the hardest part of deploying is leaving his wife, who is due to give birth about a month before he leaves for Iraq.

“Being deployed is not the hard part, that’s my job, that’s what I do,” he said. “The hard part for me is being away from the family. My wife understands that I could be deployed at any time, and she accepts it, but she accepts it with a heavy heart.”

La Spina is just one of seven members of the unit expecting a child’s birth between now and the time the company will return home.

Willrich, who will be on his first deployment after 16 years in the Guard, also said it would be difficult to leave his wife and two sons.

“Not until a couple weeks ago did it really hit us,” he said. “I only have seven weekends left at home, the rest are for training.”

But as one of the leaders of the company, Willrich said it is the training that helps them get through the challenges.

“All of a sudden you get that reality check and then you go back into the training,” he said. “You just have to make sure you bring all the soldiers back safe and sound to their families.”

Spc. Tirina Togafau, a 22-year-old who volunteered for deployment, said she is going to miss her infant son, but the training has helped her have confidence that the group's mission will be a success.

“So when we are there if anything does happen, God forbid, at least I know I’m ready for it.”