Iraq-bound students face college delay

As early as next spring, Pitt students in A Company, a Pennsylvania National Guard unit… As early as next spring, Pitt students in A Company, a Pennsylvania National Guard unit from Pittsburgh, could be dodging bullets on the streets of Baghdad.

Mobilizing Nov. 14 in Fort Hood, Texas, A Company will prepare to reinforce the current units involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. A Company, a part of the 28th Signal Battalion, specializes in providing communications capabilities to the soldiers.

“Most likely, the soldiers would not be patrolling,” Company Commander Capt. John Prendergast said. However, A Company faces the same threats as the other soldiers in the theater.

“We have to be soldiers first,” Prendergast said.

Before flying to Baghdad in the spring, the soldiers will undergo intense training at Fort Polk, La., where they will have a mission rehearsal exercise.

Mimicking the conditions the soldiers will likely face in Iraq, the mission-rehearsal exercise will feature mock terrorist attacks preformed by a group of specialized soldiers. Some Iraqi-Americans may even be paid to portray authentic civilians, who the solders may encounter while deployed in Iraq.

Communication is essential to a successful campaign in Iraq, according to Prendergast.

“If the enemy destroys communications, he can destroy what we are trying to accomplish,” Prendergast explained.

A Company will provide a wireless voice and data network for Army units involved in direct missions, in addition to phone, Internet and video-teleconferencing capabilities.

“They’re vital to conducting operations and security,” said Capt. Cory Agnell from the Public Affairs Office.

Unfortunately, A Company’s activation comes at a difficult time for student soldiers. Many solders have already completed two-thirds of a semester’s worth of work and are struggling to finish the semester before their deployment.

Students from A Company at Pitt were able to work with their professors to finish work and take finals early to ensure that they got credit before they left.

“I was really impressed. I didn’t know they would be so generous,” Prendergast said about the understanding attitudes of professors toward students in A Company.

Not all the students in A Company go to Pitt. A Company is composed of soldiers from all over western Pennsylvania, who are enrolled in schools all over the region. Prendergast is working with other schools to make sure that A Company’s current academic efforts are recognized.

If students aren’t given credit, students won’t be able to do anything about the work they put into classes this fall, Prendergast said.