Stripes headline: 1st AD gets notice of likely return to Iraq [View All]

The Wiesbaden-based 1st Armored Division received its “deployment warning orders” last week, according to soldiers at Baumholder, home to the division’s 2nd Brigade and its Division Artillery.

Several sources told Stars and Stripes that a call-up could be imminent. The division could deploy sometime between Nov. 1, 2005, and mid-January, 2006. In addition, a stop-loss order will go into effect Aug. 1 for the division, according to sources.

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“It’s not a big surprise,” said 1st Sgt. Craig Copridge, with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment at Baumholder. The deployment to Iraq, if it happens, will be the third for Copridge, who went in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 as a sergeant and to Operation Iraqi Freedom in June 2003.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Copridge said. “I just became the first sergeant, and taking the company into combat is always interesting.”

Not everyone shares his enthusiasm.

“Four-two-seven took hard,” said the wife of a 4th Battalion, 27th Artillery Regiment noncommissioned officer, who asked not to be identified. “It was very emotional at the meeting,” she said, declining to comment further.

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=26636

The rest of this article is worth a read, of the often untold viewpoint of the military spouse.