Guardlife
Volume 30, Number 1

3-112th Field Artillery Deploys
By Tech. Sgt. Mark Olsen, NJDMAVA/PAO

3-112th Field Artillery
On January 5th, approximately 180 members of the 3rd Batallion 112th Field Artillery, New Jersey Army National Guard, headquartered in Morristown, with armories in Lawrenceville, Toms River, and Cherry Hill combined with members of the 5th Squadron 117th Cavalry headquartered in Vineland, were called up for federal mobilization at the National Guard Armory in Lawrenceville.

The 3rd Battalion, 112th Field Artillery, joins the 253rd Transportation Company and the 50th Finance Battalion in the largest mobilization of Army National Guard soldiers since the Persian Gulf War 11 years ago.

After the briefings and paperwork, the unit departed for Fort Dix for the Soldier Readiness Processing (SRP) activity, which prepares the troops for the realities of extended active-duty deployment. Prior to their departure, there was one wedding (the groom wore BDUs) at the armory.

Upon their arrival at Fort Dix, the unit was immediately put through its paces in the SRP activity. Thaking a page from the Lawrenceville wedding, two more members of the unit got married (see: Short Rounds) at the For Dix Chapel on Feb. 15th.

Two days later, the troops marched over to the Joint Force Headquarters - New Jersey where they met with family members and their Commander-in-Chief, Governor James E. McGreevey.

Just shortly after midnight, Feb. 21, the aircraft carrying the Jersey Guardsmen departed McGuire Air Force Base for Kuwait. After landing and the in-country briefings, the unit left Kuwait for a one-year deployment to Iraq.