An Athens, Tenn.-based National Guard unit has been alerted for possible deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, according to a Guard spokesman.

The 117th Military Police Battalion, the Athens National Guard Armory’s headquarters detachment, received the alert order this week, Tennessee National Guard spokesman Nate Crawford said.

The unit’s 240 members — 70 in Athens and another 170 in Lenoir City — have not been told they definitely will deploy, Mr. Crawford said, but they are conducting “administrative and operational checks to make sure the unit’s all ready” just in case.

“There is not any time frame yet, and everything is subject to change,” he said. “They have not been ordered to mobilize, but it means they have got the capacity to perform a higher mission, if needed.”

The unit’s detachment in Cleveland, the 252nd Military Police Company, already had been alerted to a possible deployment a few months ago. Meanwhile, its Murfreesboro-based 269th Military Police Company is set to deploy in November, said administrative officer Maj. Robert Zickgraf.

With those two groups included, the total number of soldiers called upon in the unit totals about 580, according to Maj. Zickgraf.

Many of the 117th’s members formerly were with the Knoxville-based 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which returned from an 18-month deployment to Iraq in 2005.

Among them is Sgt. 1st Class Blake Baxter of Ooltewah, who said he has mixed feelings about the possibility of returning to the war zone.

“In one sense, I feel like I have done my duty and spent enough time away from my wife, family and civilian employer,” said Sgt. 1st Class Baxter, who works for the Tennessee Valley Authority and is in his 50s. “On the other hand ... we have a lot of fresh, green 18- and 19-year-old men and women in the units. So despite yearning to stay home, I also have a strong feeling for deploying with all these young people and trying to do my best to bring them all home.”

Comments