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Members of Hartwell’s A Battery, 1-214th Field Artillery, Georgia, Army National Guard, hone their map reading skills while making last minute preparations at Fort Campbell, Ky.

 214th Field Artillery Poised for Overseas Duty

Less than six weeks after a resounding send-off from their hometowns in Northeast Georgia, 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery has received validation for its wartime mission. It has readied its equipment for shipping and is waiting for transportation overseas.

The battalion mobilized in mid-March and then reported to Fort Campbell, Ky., where it immediately went into the field for more than a week of live-fire exercises.

While the 214th has all it needs to deploy in support of the operations in the Middle East, additional training for the unit continues. Recently, its soldiers honed their skills at using Global Positioning System devises and map reading.

In the meantime, the 214th is putting the finishing touches on its massive inventory of wheeled and track vehicles. That equipment includes the unit’s M-109 Paladins, which are lined up at Campbell’s rail loading yard and are waiting to be loaded aboard trains that will take them to the unit’s point of debarkation.

First Battalion, 214th Field Artillery is headquartered in Elberton, with batteries in Toccoa, Hartwell and Washington. Lt. Col. Craig McGalliard commands the unit. Its senior enlisted soldier is Command Sgt. Maj. Claude Ray.

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