Area Guard called to active duty

WALTON — For the first time since World War II, the Walton-based Company A 204th Battalion Engineering Battalion has been mobilized for federal wartime duty, a guard officer said Thursday.

Lt. Col. Paul Fanning of the New York National Guard headquarters in Albany said two platoons, made up of more than 50 soldiers, have been called to duty. Soldiers will be reinforcing engineering battalions engaged in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, he said.

The National Guard Family Readiness Group in Walton is planning events for Company A soldiers preparing for deployment to Iraq as well as Afghanistan, said Janet Lent, family support leader.

Deployment begins Monday with a mobilization ceremony at the Walton Armory on South Street at 5 p.m., Fanning said. The soldiers are scheduled to spend about two weeks at Fort Drum before leaving for the Middle East, he said.

The 204th hasn't seen wartime duty in more than 50 years, but units have been called up for other state and national duty, Fanning said.

"The engineering and construction skills of the members of the 204th are particularly important for weather-related emergencies," Fanning said.

Official orders for the deployment were announced Wednesday, Fanning said. Company A also has members from detachments in Peekskill and Riverhead, Long Island, he said.

Specialist Fred McEntee, 29, of Walton is one of the members of the 1st General Construction Platoon who will be headed for the Middle East. He said that his platoon was called to Camp Smith a couple of weeks ago for the Military Readiness Program, and they were told then who would be going to the Middle East.

"I'm looking forward to it," McEntee said. "It's a new experience, and we will get to try something different."

McEntee said he has been overseas twice during his 12 years in the guard but never to serve in a hostile environment. He said he is single and works at D&D of Walton Inc.

First Lt. Gerardo Siniscalchi of Trout Creek said his situation is very different. He is married with young children, ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years.

"It's difficult, and it's going to be tough on my wife with the kids," Siniscalchi said.

Siniscalchi said he is a self-employed contractor, so when he found out about a month ago he was going, he had to scramble to get a lot of work done.

"The timing was good, in a way, because I opted not to take on a lot of work during the winter," Siniscalchi said. "But there is never a good time."

He said his wife has a full-time job, but she will now have to handle a lot of things around the house that he has always done.

"We burn firewood in addition to the oil heat, so I had to show her how to change the filters," Siniscalchi said. "And there were other things, like showing her where the gas is for the lawn mower.

"This has gone so fast," Siniscalchi said.

Siniscalchi said that most of the soldiers who are being deployed are in the "vertical" platoons, which build structures from the ground up. They include carpenters, masons, electricians and plumbers. He said a few members of the "horizontal" platoons, who are involved in heavy construction along the ground, were also called to fill the quota.

"Ninety percent of the people who have drilled in Walton for the last year are going," Siniscalchi said.

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Patricia Breakey can be reached at (607) 746-2894 or at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.