The Newport Plain Talk

The Tennessee Army National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, which has a company based in Greeneville, has been placed on alert for possible future deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

The 278th was last mobilized for duty in Iraq in 2004 and returned home in November 2005 after about a year of duty in northern Iraq, according to Randy Harris, a Nashville-based spokesman for the Tennessee National Guard.

Harris confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that the 4,000-soldier-strong regiment had received an "alert order" on Wednesday morning.

The only immediate impact of the alert order, Harris said, is that it gives the 278th time to begin planning and preparing for a future possible mobilization.

In 2004, the 278th was placed on alert in February and deployed for training at Camp Shelby, Miss., on Father's Day. The regiment began deploying to Iraq in November 2004, shortly after Veterans Day.

But Harris said on Wednesday that it was too early to know if the unit, which includes Greeneville-based Troop L, will actually be mobilized for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"It may not happen," Harris said.

He also said it is too early to know what mobilization point might be used if the 278th is ordered to deploy later this year.

In 2004, the 278th deployed through Camp Shelby, Miss., but Harris said other mobilization stations, including Fort Bragg, N.C., Camp Atterbury, Ind., and Fort Dix, New Jersey, also have been used by Tennessee Army National Guard units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Greeneville-based Troop L is a part of the 278th's Kingsport-based Third Squadron, Harris said.

While the 278th was serving in Iraq in 2005, Sgt. Paul W. Thomason III, a member of the Greeneville-based unit then designated Troop C, was killed by the explosion of a roadside bomb near Kirkuk, Iraq, on March 20, 2005.

A monument that honors his memory was placed on the grounds of the Greeneville National Guard Armory in September 2006.

"Some Gave All," the monument's inscription reads.

Beneath the main inscription are Sgt. Thomason's name, rank and unit along with a notation that he was "killed in action" near Kirkuk, Iraq, on 20 March 2005.

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