Miami Herald January 09, 2003
Miami-based infantry unit put on alert, largest South Florida unit to be called up
By PHIL LONG
More than 500 soldiers in a Miami-based Army National Guard infantry unit were being alerted Thursday that they are about to be mobilized, making them the largest South Florida military contingent to be called up in the growing build-up of troops.
The group was not told where it is being sent. However, unlike most of the Guard personnel and reservists who have been called up from South Florida, this is a combat unit that takes and holds land.
About two-thirds of the soldiers in the First Battalion, 124th Infantry are based in Miami-Dade and Broward, with the rest living north as far north as Cocoa Beach. Thursday they were told that 564 of their soldiers are being called to active duty later this month.
"We have an alert order, but we don't yet have a mobilization order so we don't know exactly when they will be leaving," said Jon Myatt, spokesman for the Florida National Guard headquarters in St. Augustine. The South Florida soldiers are the third and final battalion of the 124th Infantry to be readied past two weeks. They likely will join about 1,300 soldiers from Central Florida and Panhandle units of the 124th Infantry and other soldiers who have been sent to Fort Stewart, Ga. The other units will start field training next week.
Nearly all of the South Florida soldiers are civilians who train one weekend a month and participate in a two-week summer training session.
Most of them have done duty as airport security and port security specialists in South Florida during the past year in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, guard officials say. Patrick Garrett, an analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based non-profit security think tank, said it is too soon to say where the 124th will be assigned, but he does not think it will be in the United States.
The 53rd Infantry Brigade, the parent military unit for the 124th Infantry, has not received its orders yet.
People from three other Florida-based units were called to active duty or mobilized on Thursday.
- In the Panhandle, 33 Air Force medical specialists from Eglin Air Force Base were assigned to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
- The U.S. Army Reserve called up 115 transportation soldiers who specialize in work at terminals.
- The Florida National Guard activated more than 100 members of the 163rd Cavalry out of Ocala with a unique assignment. They will serve as members of the "enemy units" working against soldiers from the 124th Infantry and other groups being trained at Fort Stewart.
"It's our best citizen soldiers against our best citizen soldiers," said Lt. Col. Ron Tittlle, chief spokesman for the Florida National Guard.
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