A soldier's story: SFC George Williams, MLRS Platoon Sergeant; A/2-147 FA, SDARNG, deploying to Iraq.

Sergeant First Class (SFC) George A. Williams from Pierre, South Dakota, is a 13M Multiple-Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Platoon Sergeant in A Battery, 2d Battalion, 147th Field Artillery (2-147 FA), part of the South Dakota Army National Guard. (SDARNG). In his civilian job, he is the Deputy Secretary of Agriculture for the State of South Dakota. His battalion will deploy to Iraq for one year on 28 January 2004 and will be under the 197th FA Brigade, New Hampshire ARNG. Its mission is to capture enemy ammunition/equipment and conduct security operations. This is his story.

Being in the Army is a family tradition. My father was a 11B Infantryman in the 82d Airborne Division. He jumped out of perfectly good airplanes; I admired him a great deal. Unfortunately, he died when I was young. Most of my family--my uncles, my father, my grandfather--were in the military.

When I graduated from high school, I knew I wanted to go to college, but I wanted to join the military as well. Joining 2-147 FA and the Army National Guard in 1986 was the perfect way to follow in the steps of my family while completing my education and doing the other things I wanted to do.

I began in 1986 as a 13B Cannoneer on the 8-inch howitzer, an archaic beast. Then we moved up to the 155-mm M109A4 howitzer, and about four years ago, we converted to the multiple-launch rocket system, MLRS. It's nice to have that change and work with more and more advanced weapons systems. That certainly increases the battalion's chances for activation, but if we're going to have to deploy, we want to contribute the most we can to whatever our mission is.

The war in Iraq is necessary. We are proud to help bring about justice and help free the Iraqi people. Iraq has such divergent populations with lots of conflict and had a dictator who used weapons of mass destruction, not only on others but also his own populous. We have an important mission.

The Secretary of Agriculture Larry Gabriel and my entire office have been very supportive of this deployment. The tough part of being Army National Guard and deploying is leaving your employer, your family. This is my first deployment, but I signed up with full knowledge that there was the potential for activation at any time.

One of the most difficult things I've had to do ... maybe will ever have to do ... is saying, "Goodbye" to my family. Fortunately, my wife, Lisa, is very strong. She's taking care of our kids, Hannah, age six, and Alyssa, age 10, and, as such things will happen, she has had to replace the hot water heater in December and the furnace in January. It is cold in the winter in South Dakota. Deployments are difficult on families, whether or not Soldiers are Active Army or National Guard.

I am excited about deploying with 2-147 FA. Its strength is in its diverse cast of individuals with a lot of knowledge and experience--we have business owners, plumbers, carpenters, attorneys--I would say about 50 percent of the battalion has college degrees, some with advanced degrees--I have a master's degree, and several have PhDs. These folks are independent thinkers who are used to running their own operations and thinking "outside the box."

We have some more mature individuals in the battery than you might typically see in Active Army units (I am 34). I think that maturity is an advantage. Also, several of our Soldiers deployed to the Gulf for Operation Desert Storm.

All this talent and experience are real assets to the battalion and will help us deal with the diverse culture and unique missions in Iraq.

We have had a variety of training here at Fort Sill for about a month. We have learned Operation Iraqi Freedom lessons from leaders who already have been over there, including things they wish they had trained on better. We have drilled on individual and collective skills, culminating in a live-fire lane that put them all together. In the live-fire lane, we had to fire a weapon out of a moving vehicle, react to a blocked ambush in a convoy situation, extract ourselves from a minefield and more--plus we had to utilize litter teams and combat lifesavers. It was really great training.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When we get to Iraq, we will continue to train. The more we train, the better we will be able to react and do the right thing without having to think about it.

I am proud of the men I am serving with in this battalion. We are self-sufficient. We are independent--at times maybe to a fault. But certainly we are much stronger because of that independence and our maturity and diversity.

I have learned a lot from this battalion. In 2-147 FA. I have had the opportunity to be a leader, which has helped me in my civilian job. Joining the National Guard and 2-147 FA has helped me more than I could have imagined or could repay--it's probably the smartest move I ever made.