Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Mary Junell | Former and current North Carolina National Guard (NCNG) Soldiers who were members of...... read more read more
Walking into the armory in St. Pauls, North Carolina, felt like walking into a reunion.
The armory, which belongs to the North Carolina National Guard (NCNG), is the former home of the 171st Engineer Company.
I walked past former and current NCNG Soldiers hugging, laughing, and telling stories as I entered the building on January 7, 2023.
I was in awe at the number of people in civilian clothes; there were more people who no longer served than uniformed Soldiers in attendance.
Waiting for the ceremony to start, I saw a young lieutenant holding a ceremonial bugle, a horn instrument fitted with a speaker to play taps when a musician is unavailable. He was the final executive officer for the 171st. He would be pushing the button to play the music during the ceremony to honor the unit's memory and those who had died in service.
U.S. Army 1st Lt. Justin Duncan was part of the unit for less than a year before being transferred as part of the Engineer Company's closure.
"It's a mixture of feelings," Duncan said. "The initial feeling is ‘why is this happening’, and trying to understand the organizational reason for the unit closing down."
Later during the ceremony, Capt. Micheal Haugh, the 171st's final commanding officer, said that the unit closing down symbolized that the NCNG was responding to current threats and moving towards a new force structure.
The 171st Soldiers were not strangers to the idea of restructuring to meet the needs of the military; the unit traces its lineage back to 1949 when it began as an anti-aircraft artillery battalion.
From there, the unit transitioned to an armor unit before reorganizing as Charlie Company, 105th Engineer Battalion in 1996, which deployed to Iraq in 2004. In 2006, it became the 171st Engineer Company.
After the ceremony, former and current Guardsmen gathered for photos, starting with those who had been part of C. Co. The group had a mix of both former and current Soldiers.
"You can look out at all the beards in this crowd and see how the guard has had a very diverse and unique group of Soldiers who served their community," Duncan said. He was referencing the former Soldiers in attendance, many of whom had grown beards after leaving the military.
Following that, someone called out for a photo of those who had served in the 171st. Many in the first photo stood in place as they had served in the unit during the transition in 2006.
The third group photo took place in front of the memorial, which was one reason taps played during the ceremony.
The memorial honors the sacrifice of Pvt. 1st Class Adam Lee Marion, who was killed in 2008 while deployed with the 171st to Baghdad, Iraq.
Many of the "beards" who attended the event came to see their former comrades or honor the memories of their fallen friends.
During the ceremony, Maj. Greg Gebhardt, the 105th Engineer Battalion Commander, said that the flag folding ceremony wasn't about the unit or itself but about the people who served together in the unit.
"While we will fold up this guidon in a few minutes, the spirit of 171st will live on in you and the stories that you tell about your experiences while serving in this unit," Gebhardt said while pointing at the audience.
Trent Crawford was one of the man "beards" in the audience. A former Specialist, he had spent seven years in the NCNG serving all of them in the 171st, except for a deployment with the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team to the Middle East in 2020.
I was curious why of all the things a relatively young man could do on a Saturday, he chose to attend a flag-folding ceremony.
"[I came] to see my friends," Crawford said. "and really, for 1st Sgt. Hicks."
Another reason they played taps during the ceremony was to honor 1st Sgt. Bryant Hick, who was serving in the 171st when he died on May 6, 2020, at age 46.
"He was a big influence in my life," Crawford said of his former 1st Sgt. "He was definitely a father figure to a lot of us. I came to pay respects to him."
The crowd gathered on the lawn outside the armory after the ceremony. It lingered for more than 30 minutes, laughing and reminiscing about time spent together serving in the NCNG.
I told Crawford I was surprised that this many former Guardsmen had not only shown up to the ceremony but had stayed so long afterward.
"You miss the people; we're still in touch with each other," Crawford said. "Even though it sucked when you had to go out to the field, you just knew you had those people to count on."
This ceremony was the final chapter for the 171st. A new unit will soon take over the armory, and the former Guardsmen have already transferred to new units within the NCNG.
Adapting is a valuable skill in the military, and folding the flag of the 171st Engineer Company is just one more way the NCNG is adapting and moving into the future.
| Date Taken: | 01.09.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 01.09.2023 16:41 |
| Story ID: | 436480 |
| Location: | ST. PAULS, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,209 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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