In recent months, more than 3,000 members of the New Jersey Army National Guard were sent to Iraq, where they primarily will work as guards at U.S. military detention centers. It is the largest New Jersey National Guard deployment since World War II. Many of those troops are members of the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). This is how they prepared.
01.14.08 Fort Dix
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
The members of the 50th IBCT began their readiness processing in January at Fort Dix, filling out insurance and benefit documents, receiving dental exams, and getting their dog tags. Above, combat medic James Stanly of North Arlington waits as a machine stamps out his tags. At right, Aileen Davila of the 250th Brigade Support Battalion, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, has her picture taken for tracking.
ON TARGET
The 50th IBCT moved on in April to the National Guard Training Center in central Pennsylvania. The center covers 17,000 acres and features 140 training sites, including live firearms training areas. Above, a trainee works on the shotgun range. The soldiers are also trained on handguns and the M4 Carbine, the main assault rifle used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
04.09.08 Fort Indiantown Gap, PA
ROAD WARRIORS
As part of their pre-deployment training, soldiers practice maneuvering a Humvee, right, through an obstacle course in the mountains of central Pennsylvania
HOW TO SAVE A LIFE During combat lifesavers class, soldiers simulate emergency care scenarios and “packaging” of injured comrades in preparation for medevac to a nearby field hospital. Below, private Samuel Diaz, 21, of Newark, plays the role of wounded patient as fellow Guard members practice rendering aid.
06.14.08 Fort Dix; 06.18.08 Freehold Armory
Sgt. Michael Jackibiw of Toms River tries to calm his three-year-old son, Michael Jr.
THREE CHEERS…
A crowd of 10,000 family members, friends, politicians, and supporters gathered on June 14 at Fort Dix for a farewell ceremony as the 50th IBCT prepared for the final leg of training in Texas and New Mexico
Sgt. Shane Land kisses the belly of his seven-months-pregnant wife, Debbie, in the office at the Freehold Armory. Land and his fellow members of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry, were bound for Fort Bliss, Texas, where they underwent mission training in detainee and prison operations.
…AND MANY TEARS
At the Freehold Armory, Private Carmelo Cruz of Willingboro, left, holds his two-week-old daughter, Althena, as his wife, Angeline, breaks down.
07.10.08 McGregor Range, NM
MISSION POSSIBLE Charlie Company, 102nd Cavalry, from Hackettstown, performs search operations in a mock town called Al-Hadiz Village as a civilian participant simulates an injured enemy combatant. The mock village is located at McGregor Range, New Mexico. After completing 67 days of mission training, the entire 50th IBCT began shipping out in late August. All of the soldiers will have a stop in Kuwait before heading to Iraq. Their deployment is expected to run through June 2009.
Click here to view a slideshow of soliders from the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.