National Guard plays key role in terror war
By By William F. West / community editor
Jan. 16, 2003
The head of the Mississippi National Guard on Wednesday said his units are prepared for whatever role they are assigned in the war against terrorism.
Maj. Gen. James H. Lipscomb III, speaking to the Kiwanis Club of Meridian, also gave an overview of the Guard's impact in Mississippi.
Lipscomb commands nearly 10,000 Army National Guardsmen and nearly 3,000 Air Guardsmen in Mississippi. The Guard operates with a budget of about $350 million and has units in 94 Mississippi communities.
The Air Guard has three major bases the 186th Air Refueling Wing in Meridian, the 172nd Airlift Wing in Jackson and the Combat Readiness Training Center in Gulfport.
The Army Guard has training sites at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg and at Camp McCain near Grenada.
Lipscomb said the Mississippi Guard has been going full throttle since 9/11.
He said the 186th has been flying refueling missions across the South ever since President Bush ordered U.S. military flights to protect the nation's major cities.
He also said members of the 186th and 172nd have rotated in and out of Europe or the Middle East as part of America's efforts to get soldiers and materials to Afghanistan.
He also said the military police units of the Mississippi Guard were sent to fill in for units of the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell, Ky., as they deploy overseas.
And he said Mississippi Guardsmen were among the first called to help build the prison camp at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Closer to home, Lipscomb said, Mississippi Guardsmen in September helped evacuate about 700 flood-trapped Biloxi residents in the aftermath of Hurricane Isidore and assisted in the aftermath of last month's tornado in Newton.
Kiwanian Charles Herron said he believed Lipscomb's speech was informative because it brought into focus the involvement of Mississippi Guardsmen worldwide.
Club member Cathy Crosby also said it's comforting to hear about the military's preparedness.
Lipscomb, 59, of Greenville, was president of Lipscomb Oil Co., an Exxon distributorship, before being named head of the Mississippi National Guard in 2000.
The Mississippi guard has a storied history with one of its military police units among the first called to provide security for Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf's headquarters in Operation Desert Storm.
