Pols, employers meet with deploying Guardsmen

[unhappycamper]

Pols, employers meet with deploying Guardsmen
By Rebecca Santana - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jan 14, 2008 20:51:23 EST

FORT DIX, N.J. — Ralph Martell lifted the automatic weapon in his hands, took aim and fired, shooting at three possible insurgents.

No, the regional vice president for Cambridge Security isn’t a soldier, but part of a group of employers with employees soon to be heading to Iraq.

“These are real-world events. These are real challenges that they’re going to face,” Martell said, gesturing to a simulation exercise, similar to a video game, in which troops practice shooting at enemies and figuring out who is a civilian.

Martell was one of a group of employers and members of Congress, including New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and Rep. Rush Holt, who visited Fort Dix on Monday to meet with members of the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, based in Lawrenceville, who are heading to Iraq later this year.

The roughly 2,600 soldiers, which represent almost half of the state’s Army National Guard force, will be the largest overseas deployment by New Jersey’s National Guard since World War II.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_guardbrigade_080114/