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'A special kind of sacrifice' Photo by Roy Musitelli Family and friends of members of the 186th Infantry Battalion attend a ceremony at Southern Oregon University's football stadium to pay tribute to soldiers about to leave on overseas duty. Soldiers head this week for two weeks in Colorado before going to Egypt By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune ASHLAND - The citizen soldiers, more than 400 strong in jungle camouflage uniforms, stood solemnly on Southern Oregon University's football field Monday afternoon. "Smile, Daddy," yelled one youngster as his mother snapped a photograph. But his father, along with other fathers and a few mothers in the sea of green, wasn't smiling. The members of the Oregon Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry Brigade were receiving a formal farewell before leaving later this week for two months of advanced training at Fort Carson, Colo., before reporting to the Sinai Peninsula in July. As parents hushed crying babies and youngsters giggled, several speakers addressed the assembled soldiers, who will switch to desert camouflage uniforms before heading to Egypt. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Hood River, called them patriots. "Volunteering for the Guard takes a special kind of sacrifice," said Walden, who represents Oregon's 2nd Congressional District. "It means working 40 to 50 hours a week in a civilian job and then spending the weekend training, drilling, cleaning equipment, going to the field and preparing for the day when you are called upon to play a vital role in our nation's defense." The soldiers are among 529 soldiers, most from southwestern Oregon, who will serve as part of the Multinational Force and Observers, or MFO, peacekeeping mission in the Sinai. About 75 members of the unit left Monday for Fort Carson in advance of the rest of the battalion. The unit is among the finest the state and nation have to offer, said Walden, who presented battalion commander Lt. Col. Daniel Cameron an American flag to fly at the MFO headquarters in Sinai. Fourth Congressional District Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Springfield, also addressed sacrifices being made by the citizen soldiers. "This is obviously an uncertain time for our country and the world," DeFazio told the troops. "There are not too many things we can depend upon. Things have changed a great deal since September 11th. "But knowing we can depend upon you is a great solace to us all," he added. He acknowledged there isn't a lot to look forward to when going to the Middle East right now. "It is a place of strife - it is a place of uncertainty," he said. But the MFO has maintained peace along the Sinai for nearly a quarter of a century, he said. "You are going there to uphold that peace in the desert of the Sinai," he said. "This is not easy duty. Far from home. Hot. Remote. "I salute you, your dedication to duty and your sacrifice," he said. The National Guard was helping to protect the colonies more than a century before the Revolutionary War, Maj. Gen. Alexander Burgin, adjutant general of the Oregon Army National Guard, told soldiers. "You are making a difference," he said. "You will make a difference." The deployment will not be easy, he said, adding that the schedule will sometimes be stressful and other times boring. "But the training and discipline will carry you through," he said, citing the battalion's leadership. The deployment is the largest federalization of an Oregon National Guard infantry unit since World War II. The 41st division, called the Sunset Division of World War II, was deployed in the summer of 1941. The battalion is a unit of the 41st Enhanced Infantry Brigade, a descendent of the 41st division. The battalion will replace an Arkansas National Guard unit, the first-ever Guard unit to serve the MFO. The mission is to maintain the U.S. presence in accordance with the Camp David accords, signed in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt. While in the Sinai the citizen soldiers will staff checkpoints and observation posts and make reconnaissance patrols along the international border. They are expected to stay in Sinai until January or February. The battalion has infantry line companies in Medford, Klamath Falls and Roseburg and a weapons company in Grants Pass. A battalion support attachment is stationed at the Medford Armory. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.