Guard unit to mark 10th anniversary of first Iraq deployment

It was just a coincidence — but a fitting one — that a Nevada Army National Guard unit came home from its first deployment to Iraq on Nevada Day in 2005.

On Saturday, former and current citizen-soldiers from the 1864th Transportation Company will mark the 10-year anniversary of their first Operation Iraqi Freedom deployment with a reunion in Henderson.

They will use the occasion to launch a scholarship fund to honor the memory of one of their own, Spc. Anthony Cometa. He was a gunner and the first Nevada National Guard soldier to die in the nation's post-Sept. 11 wars when his Humvee flipped rounding a curve in Iraq while escorting an Iowa National Guard convoy back to Kuwait on June 16, 2005.

The Cometa scholarship funds will go to current or former members of the 1864th and their immediate families, said Lt. Col. Neil Oscarson, who was the company's commander.

"We are so thankful for the opportunity to bring the team together again, even if only a few hours, to share some stories and to recognize the memories of Specialist Cometa," he said of the reunion, which starts 11 a.m. at Mission Hills Park in Henderson and is open to the public.

A barbecue during the event is reserved for the soldiers and their families.

"Although it was only a year, for most of us it was a time in our lives that has defined who we are not only as professionals but as individuals as well," Oscarson said.

The 1864th, a medium truck company from Henderson named for the year Nevada became a state, arrived Nov. 1, 2004, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, to haul supplies, equipment and escort convoys in Iraq to support Army infantry, armor and cavalry divisions, brigade combat teams and Marine expeditionary forces.

During the yearlong deployment, the company completed 310 missions, drove 1.6 million miles and came under attack 64 times.

The reunion comes on the heels of President Barack Obama's decision Friday to send about 50 U.S. special operations troops to help fight Islamic State combatants in northern Syria. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the United States would start "direct action on the ground" aimed at Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

When asked their thoughts on this a decade after they were in Iraq, Oscarson and others from the company — Maj. Derek Imig and retired Sgt. Scott Edwards — said they felt their soldiers had made a difference but are sad that Iraq's military apparently still needs help.

"It's kind of heartbreaking that's where it is. I spent two years of my life in that country," said Imig, who was a platoon leader in 2005 and commanded the company when about 200 men and women from the 1864th returned to Iraq in 2009.

In 2010, Imig said, "The populous was friendly and glad to see us. The interactions were on better terms. Our soldiers weren't attacked as much, and Iraqi soldiers were policing on their own."

In light of this week's comments by U.S. military leaders, he said, "I'm glad we're not giving up."

Edwards said it's "somewhat disappointing" that 10 years after he was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom the Iraqis "really don't have good control of their government. In some ways it was not surprising. I think we overestimated their willingness to take charge of their own lives."

Oscarson said that while he's not an expert on strategic decisions at the national level, "just anyone who reads the paper or watches even a few minutes of daily news can speculate that it is potentially still a dangerous place and ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) is a regional security concern."

"After spending a year in the region 10 years ago, I can state that at the level in which we had a responsibility we made a difference. This is undeniable," Oscarson said. "If asked to go again we would, even the guys who are retired or who have moved on to careers other than one in the Army."

Contact Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308. Find him on Twitter: @KeithRogers2.