But you still need to activate your account.
Sign in or Subscribe to view this content.
AUGUSTA – The Maine Army National Guard will reorganize its largest battalion in the next two months, a move that officials said would allow more mission-specific deployments.
The 133rd Engineer Battalion will consolidate its Alpha, Bravo and Charlie companies into two – the 262nd Engineer Company and the 136th Engineer Company, said Capt. Shanon Cotta, public affairs officer for the Maine Guard.
The three old companies will retire their colors during ceremonies Saturday in Belfast, Westbrook and Lewiston, and the new entities will take shape after a formal ceremony during the Guard’s October drill period.
Additionally, the 152nd Field Artillery Battalion will be decommissioned at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Caribou armory, and the unit will be renamed the 185th Engineer Company, falling under the command of the 133rd battalion.
No jobs will be lost as a result of the changes, but some soldiers will be required to attend weekend drill at different armories from in the past.
The National Guard has reorganized several of its units to make the deployment process easier by keeping soldiers with similar training together. Last October, the 112th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) in Bangor was decommissioned and transformed into two new companies for similar reasons.
At present, the three companies have a mixture of “vertical engineers,” those who are plumbers, electricians and builders, and “horizontal engineers,” who build roads, Cotta said. After the restructure, all “vertical engineers,” 161 soldiers, will be assigned to the 262nd, while the “horizontal engineers,” 162 soldiers, will join the 136th.
Under the old structure, the entire 133rd battalion deployed together, as it did to Iraq in 2003-2004. After October’s ceremonies, the three new companies and headquarter support company, which remained unchanged with 190 soldiers, could deploy independent of the rest of the battalion.
“The transformation will be great because if you need to build 50 miles of road in Afghanistan, you deploy only the horizontal engineers, not all the battalion’s soldiers,” said Cotta.
Alpha Company’s 116 soldiers reported for drill at either the Belfast or Skowhegan armories, while the Bravo Company’s 106 soldiers attended drill in Westbrook, and Charlie Company’s 108 went to either Lewiston or Norway.
In October, the 262nd soldiers will report to either Westbrook or Belfast armories for drill, while the 136th will be assigned to Skowhegan, Lewiston and Norway. Where the 185th will hold the drill still is being discussed, Cotta said, but right now he thinks it will be in Caribou, Fort Kent and Houlton.
No armories will be closed as a result of the restructuring, Cotta said.
“Some soldiers will be required to drill at a different location, but the actual impact is fairly minimal for most soldiers,” Cotta said.
Cotta said that the battalion has not been identified as a unit to deploy in the near future.
Times and locations for Saturday’s ceremonies are:
. Alpha Company 10-11 a.m. at the Belfast armory, 42 Route 1 bypass.
. Bravo Company 3-4 p.m. at the Westbrook armory, 120 Stroudwater Ave.
. Charlie Company 1-2 p.m. at the Lewiston armory, 55 Alfred A. Plourde Parkway.
Comments
comments for this post are closed