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113th a part of history securing Iraqi elections

Jan-27-2005 » Filed Under: TF Olympia

Q&A with embedded reporter.

Link to Full Article

Dear Steve,

Do the soldiers have a work schedule everyday? What do they do afterward for entertainment? Do they have to wake up early?

Anything that we can know will help us all back at home. We love to hear about what is going on overseas as much as possible — the good and the bad — mainly what our soldiers are doing how their days are going.

Thanks, P.J. Wagner, wife of Sgt. J.Wagner, of Lake Village

One of the toughest questions to answer at the base in Mosul is “What day is today?”

Schedules run around the clock, seven days a week.

In response to a reader’s letter, Spc. Eugene Evanauskas, with the Indiana National Guard 113th Engineer Battalion, was asked what he did over one 24-hour period.

Evanauskas was walking through the rain Saturday afternoon. An hour earlier he had been sleeping, after a night of guard duty.

“The last 24 hours basically consisted of a lot of duty,” he said.

Evanauskas is a radio operator for the headquarters company.

At 6:30 p.m. a day earlier, he had come on duty in the command center.

“I was tracking convoys going in and out. Doing a lot of logging and tracking them. Talking with the other companies,” he said. [...]

On Saturday they had the official change-of-command ceremony, with the Virginia National Guard 276th Engineer Battalion handing off to the 113th. During the rainy afternoon, the Virginia flag was lowered in the main courtyard and a contingent led by Lt. Col. Richard Shatto and Sgt. Maj. Larry Smith presented and raised the Indiana flag. Brig. Gen. Carter Ham and Col. Robert B. Brown, commander of the area around Mosul, thanked the Virginia unit.

“Nobody gets off easy,” Brown said of the Indiana soldiers. “You came at the most important time in the history of Iraq — free and open elections. And you will play a key role in that.”

Without being specific, Shatto said the local guard unit is working on projects dealing with the upcoming election, scheduled for Sunday.

“We’ll be providing support to the Iraqi National Guard and the Iraqi Army, as far as securing the town of Mosul,” Shatto said.The change has been happening gradually over the last week and a half.


Comments For "113th a part of history securing Iraqi elections":

My prayers will be with all. God bless and keep you safe and remember you are all in our hearts.

Posted by: Florence | January 27, 2005 6:48 PM

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