A contingent of National Guard troops from Company B left Westbrook last week for three-weeks’ duty in Arizona.
Major Mike Backus, a spokesman for Maine’s 133rd Engineer Battalion, said the Company B personnel are being deployed to the border as part of Operation Jump Start. National Guard troops are supporting the U.S. Border Patrol at the Mexican border.
Eighteen Guardsmen left by bus for Bangor, where they are scheduled to board an Air Force plane at 2 a.m. Thursday. The Westbrook-based guardsmen are flying to Phoenix.
Sgt. Caleb Barrieau of Westbrook said Company B guardsmen would be within a stone’s throw of the border. “We’ll be directly helping the border patrol guys,” Barrieau said.
Col. Jerry Dunlap of the Maine Army National Guard headquarters in Augusta said Wednesday 110 guardsmen have been in Arizona since April 3. That group will return to Maine as 95 replacements arrive in Arizona from Maine this week.
Lt. Lisa Sessions of Windham, executive officer for Company B, said Company B is an engineering company and would be assigned construction projects like repairing roads.
Dunlap said the Maine guardsmen would be working on roads and fences and pouring concrete pads for small buildings. Dunlap said the Maine guardsmen would continue work already under way at the border.
The detachment from Company B is being assigned to Company C for the mission. Staff Sgt. Edward Graves will be in charge of Company B personnel for the trip to Phoenix. “Advance parties are already there,” Graves said this week.
The Company B troops packed at the armory on Stroudwater Street earlier this week for deployment. The group is expected to return on May 4 or 5.
Company B deployed with the 133rd Engineering Battalion to Iraq in January of 2004 and returned in the spring of 2005.
Cutline (Caleb Barrieau) – Sgt. Caleb Barrieau of Westbrook grabs his gear at the Company B armory before he and 18 other guardsmen left Wednesday for a three-week deployment on the U.S.-Mexican border.Send questions/comments to the editors.
