Fort Mill Guard visit ends tonight

By Shawn Cetrone - scetrone@heraldonline.com

The New Year will begin with a tearful farewell for dozens of area families who will gather this evening at the Fort Mill Armory to say goodbye to loved ones who will soon be off to war.

Families and anyone who wants to show up will watch as the 105 members of the National Guard's 1222nd Combat Engineers from Fort Mill board bused headed for Wisconsin where they've been training.

The unit was home for an unexpected visit made possible by $35,000 in donations. That paid for buses which made the cross country trek and were greeted by eager families in Fort Mill on Dec. 23.

“It made our Christmas,” said June Hoagland, whose son Chris is in the unit.

For Staff Sgt. Eric Kimbrell, it was a welcome break before leaving for Afghanistan on his third deployment in six years.

“I can't express enough thanks to all the people that donated,” Kimbrell said. “Just to be home … it's absolutely wonderful. The hugs and embraces and tears, it was wonderful.”

For a while the question of whether the unit would make it home went unanswered. The 1222nd Combat Engineers and another unit from Wellford sent nearly 200 soldiers to Wisconsin for training on Nov. 11. The two units, part of a six-armory guard battalion based in Rock Hill, specialize in explosives and are scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan this month.

Under federal military guidelines, neither the S.C. National Guard nor the Army can pay for transportation for soldiers on leave, according to the Guard.

The government can pay for leave after deployment, such as travel home from a war zone, but not before soldiers are actually deployed overseas.

However, soldiers can pay for transportation themselves or use donations. So the Family Readiness Group, which assists soldiers during deployment, started fundraising to charter buses for the trip home and back to Wisconsin.

After a story in The Herald, checks for various amounts poured in. Lowe's Home Improvement chipped in $25,000.

For the Kimbrells and others, it was an unforgettable holiday.

“We just spent all of our time together,” said Tammi Kimbrell, Eric's wife. “Every minute we had. It's just gone by so fast.”

Saying goodbye

The National Guard's 1222nd Combat Engineers from Fort Mill will arrive for formation at 7 tonight at the National Guard Armory, 276 Munn Road, Fort Mill. Buses are expected to leave at 9 p.m.

The public is invited.