National Guard members from the local area are among 150 members of the 145th Air Lift Wing of the N.C. National Guard stationed in Charlotte who kissed their families goodbye Monday morning and headed to Southwest Asia.
“It’s not new” for a Guard unit to be called to active service, the wife of a Kannapolis navigator who’s been a member of the Guard for about 15 years, told the Post this morning, but this is the first time her husband’s unit has been deployed since he joined it.
It was activated early Saturday, and she and their two sons, who are 14 and 8 years old, spent much of the weekend at the base facility, participating in a variety of events and a special ceremony for families on Saturday.
She didn’t return to work and her sons didn’t go to school Monday after the unit left.
“We just joined family and friends,” she said, adding that her sons “are very proud of their daddy.”
He is not the only member of the group from this area, she said, asking that their names not be used. The National Guard is not releasing names of those deployed. Individuals may identify themselves if they wish to, but one said the threat of terrorism makes him reluctant to provide any personal information that might be used.
Senior Airman Kevin Collins, information manager for the unit, told the Post he doesn’t have a firm number on how many are from Rowan and surrounding counties, but he knows a number are.
“Our primary mission is ‘air lift’ which means we move material as well as troops to different areas of the world,” he said. The unit was officially activated Saturday, and a ceremony for them and their families took place that day.
No date for their return has been established yet, he said. “We will have people over there until the mission is complete.”
The Guard, he added, “really appreciates the families and employers of the guardsmen. It’s a real sacrifice for employers who let their employees off for the time it takes to take care of the mission. They are allowing us to borrow their employees to fight the war on terrorism.”
“They realize these people are fighting for their liberty as well as their own,” he added, “and the employers are having to make a sacrifice, too, losing an employee for a certain amount of time and they don’t know how long.”
It’s like they’re saying, Collins added, “that ‘You’re serving my company and me, and I’m going to let you do it.’
“And their families are sharing their loved ones with us. These people volunteered, but it’s tough to leave a wife or a husband and small children, and we appreciate them as people who are committed to serve both their country and civilian life as well.”
The unit flew to Southwest Asia aboard C-130 transport planes.
Contact Rose Post at 704-797-4251 or rpost@salisburypost.com
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