City's Guard unit ordered to active duty

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Three months after alerted of possible mobilization to active duty, Dyersburg's 168th Military Police Battalion has received orders for duty in Iraq.

The notice comes as no surprise; the unit was alerted in March to prepare for another stint on active duty.

The unit's deployment from Dyersburg is scheduled for early November.

The battalion is the command element for six subordinate units, ranging from Ripley to Dickson. Currently of the entire unit's 683-person roster, 59 soldiers from the 130th Military Police Company in Memphis are in Kosovo; 130 soldiers from the 251st Military Police Company in Lexington, Bolivar and Savannah were mobilized in December 2007; 170 soldiers from the Dickson and Waverly units are in Iraq.

The 168th flag was reestablished in 2006 in Dyersburg after it was cased in 1995 and moved to Lebanon, where the unit was activated for Iraq in 2003.

The 168th was also activated in the Gulf War in 1991 and took part in a Southwest border mission in 2006.

About half of the 70 soldiers have been on active duty since 2003.

Lt.?Col. Brad Bishop of Brownsville is the unit's commander.

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My thought,s and prayers will be with you.

-- Posted by different/visons/12 on Sun, Jun 1, 2008, at 6:59 AM

here we go again. come back safely everyone. i'll pray for you. God bless you all.

-- Posted by katyboo on Sun, Jun 1, 2008, at 8:59 AM