|
|---|
 |
The National Guard unit at Hingham, the 1058th Transportation Company, left yesterday to go overseas after an emotional ceremony complete with families and Gov. Romney. Spec 4 Nicole Ortiz from Medford told MassNews they are going to train for three weeks at Fort Drum in upstate New York. She hugged her 4 year-old son Michael after the ceremony was over.
"I feel everything-sad, happy, scared, brave-everything is just mixed up inside," she said. "It's not really going to kick in until we get to our final destination. We don't really know where we are going after Fort Drum. Everybody's pretty much in shock, but we're doing a good thing and it's definitely worth it." With the mobilization of the unit, the Massachusetts National Guard will have nearly 2,000 soldiers and airmen on active duty, with over a thousand of them serving overseas.
Ortiz said they had a feeling they were going to be activated because earlier in the week they had gotten a phone call telling them that their drill, which was scheduled for the end of February, was changed to this weekend. "It was kind of suspicious," she said. "Today we were doing paperwork, we got all our shots, they did our blood, we were issued dog tags, that type of thing. Next thing you know we are on active duty. They told us, 'Yesterday was your last day at your work. Now you work for the U.S. Government.' We all looked at each other and said, 'Okay.'" In civilian life, Ortiz works as an 'esthetician' giving facials at Elizabeth Grady's Skin Salon. Driving to Fort Drum in the Morning
Sgt. James Lacefield from Haverhill told MassNews they will be lining up their trucks and driving to Fort Drum in the morning. He said he is actually a member of 1164th Transportation Company in Framingham, but was assigned to the 1058th for this mission. "We're deploying to Fort Drum New York for training, but do not know yet where we will finally end up," he said. Lacefield held his 16-month-old son James, while flanked by his wife, Bridget, and twin brother, Romey. He told MassNews that he normally works as a tractor-trailer driver for a company called Bake'n Joy Foods in North Andover Mass.
"That's what we do here, it's a transportation company, it's what this unit is. We're all going over there to move supplies for the active duty component, it sounds like. It's hard but we're glad to do the duty when we have to do it and look forward to coming home as soon as we can. They are estimating it may be a year, could be more, could be less." Support Group Is Organized Outside the armory, Paula Haigis handed out flyers to the milling family members. She is organizing a family support group along with Miriam White, the mother of a soldier in the company. Paula is a former member of the unit, having served in it for six years, and wants to use her knowledge of how things work to comfort those who are new to the situation. Her husband, Staff Sergeant Peter D. Haigis, is an award winning Mess Sergeant with the company and a Desert Storm veteran.
"I know more than just one soldier going, I know all of them," she told MassNews. She said she will hold bake sales and activities to keep everybody connected and will maintain constant updates about unit goings-on in a newsletter. She said she is getting custody of two kids from her husband's previous marriage because his ex-wife, who is a soldier in another unit, is also being deployed. Governor Mitt Romney spoke some inspiring words to the unit and the hundreds of family members gathered in the armory. He then shook the hand of every soldier as they filed off the stage.
|
|
|
Archives | Letters | Bookshop |
