YAKIMA, Wash.
Staff Sgt. Richard Macanas speaks with authority in his Washington National Guard company. Hes been with the same unit through 19 years and two deployments to Iraq.
His Bremerton-based company is on the short list for another overseas mission. Macanas says hes using his experience to cool the heads of greener soldiers who have joined the 81st Brigade Combat Team since its last Iraq tour in 2008-09.
You train every day for the next mission, he tells his soldiers. If the order comes, the order comes. Dont focus on it.
Macanas was in the high desert last month getting comfortable with the brigades new weapons during its annual exercises at the Yakima Training Center.
Brigade leaders say the drills are business-as-usual because they havent yet received deployment orders from the Pentagon.
Two months ago, the Defense Department put the 3,000 Washington soldiers in the brigade on notice that they could be tapped for a deployment soon. It was intended to help Guardsmen prepare themselves in case the order comes, giving them time to make arrangements with their families and civilian employers.
The brigade includes citizen soldiers who work across the private and public sector as firefighters, police officers, salesmen and teachers.
Were going to drive on until we officially get the order, said Lt. Col. Kevin McMahan, a West Seattle resident who leads the brigades 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment. Hes a full-time soldier working at the National Guards headquarters at Camp Murray south of Tacoma.
This is the normal training we would do, no matter what, he said.
The plan called for Guardsmen in McMahans battalion to spend three weeks this summer breaking in new equipment on their M2 Bradley armored fighting vehicles. The 30-ton tracked vehicles have updated firing systems designed to make their cannons and machine guns more accurate.
Soldiers have been learning about the improved machines since they returned from Iraq, but this was their first chance to shoot live rounds and test how the weapons work in the field. They practiced defending one position and attacking another.
All the shooting ignited frequent fires in the sagebrush that fills the landscape at the training center. A patchwork of charred earth covered the hills where the soldiers shot their cannons.
Every round weve been firing has been catching, said Capt. David Redman, 36, of Lake Stevens.
The weather shifted with a downpour early last week that had soldiers scrambling for ponchos. The rain actually quickened the shooting drills because fewer breaks were needed to douse brush fires.
The July drills also were a chance for the more than 700 soldiers McMahan leads to step up their training from what theyre able to accomplish on their monthly exercises at different company headquarters spread out from Camp Murray to Kent to Spokane.
We dont do a lot of shooting and moving together during the monthly exercises, said Staff Sgt. Joey Gallick, 33, of Colville.
At Yakima, he led an infantry squad through rain-soaked patrol drills during which soldiers practiced communicating over the sounds of their rifles.
Living conditions were austere. They chowed on packaged Meals Ready to Eat and slept in tents or in their Bradleys. Some soldiers took on new assignments. Spc. Jacob Smalser, 23, of University Place, deployed with the 81st Brigade in 2008-09 and recently volunteered to learn how to become the gunner on a Bradley.
He said hes staying in the Guard because I like having control of stressful situations, and I like helping people.
Soldiers tended to deflect questions about their possible deployment but acknowledged it was in the back of their minds.
Thats something thats always likely, Redman said.
His Bradley gunner, Sgt. Josh Ferris of Spokane, sounded a little more certain about an overseas tour. Hes deployed before and is advising newer soldiers on how to manage their personal relationships during a yearlong absence. His tip for single soldiers: Dont rush to get married if you arent married now.
And for married ones, the 30-year-old sergeant advises: When you call home, it doesnt matter what kind of day you had, the last thing you want is to hang up the phone and be angry.
Some of his fellow soldiers have been in the Guard long enough to remember when the commitment really was just a weekend a month, two weeks of serious training a year and occasional assignments helping at the scenes of natural disasters.
These new soldiers know the National Guard has changed. Its not the same as it was 15 years ago, said 1st Sgt. Shawn Powell, the top noncommissioned officer in the 1st Battalions A Company, based in Kent.
Powell, 47, of Kennewick, is a veteran of three deployments to Iraq since the Gulf War. Hes committed to at least another four years in the National Guard.
I just dont think Im ready to pull the plug, he said. I love being a soldier. I love being around the young kids. Macanas, the veteran from Bremerton, said the 81st Brigades deployments have had some benefits for citizen soldiers. They know each other better, he said, building bonds with soldiers from all over the state.
The familys getting bigger, he said.
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Information from: The News Tribune, http://www.thenewstribune.com
