1st Battalion

Marine Reunion SPRAGGS, Pa. - A group of U.S. Marines that served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 with the 1st Battalion, 13th Marine Regiment, are holding a reunion in Spraggs on Saturday, June 1. For more information about the reunion, please contact Bruce Thompson at 1-816-880-4070.

Army National Guard Spc. Russel B. Donivan, son of Jane Barlop of Hagerstown, returned to the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry, Dundalk, Md., after being deployed to an overseas forward operating base in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Donivan is a health-care specialist with five years of military service. His wife, Kandi, is the daughter of Richard and Theresa Barnes of Funkstown. Donivan is a 1998 graduate of North Hagerstown High School.

Chambersburg, Pa. Paul D. Robinson gazes up at the flags flying in front of his Chambersburg home and says, "I am so proud of those two flags. " A decorated World War II veteran and a sergeant in C Co., 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, Robinson raised the American flag and the Marine Corps flag in his yard during the first Gulf War. "Once a Marine, always a Marine," said Robinson. "The Marine Corps is like a family. If one falls, the others will pick him up. " Robinson was lying on the couch in his parents' Newburg (Pa.)

The following Army National Guard members participated in the 56th presidential inauguration Jan. 20 as part of the largest ever contingent of guard members to serve in Washington, D.C.: o Army National Guard Spec. Russel B. Donium. Donium, a combat medic with five years of military service, is a member of the 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment based in Dundalk, Md. His wife, Kandi, is the daughter of Richard and Teresa Barnes of Funks-town. Donium graduated in 1998 from North Hagerstown High School.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- About 140 Pennsylvania National Guard members in Franklin County are among 33,000 military personnel subject to a deployment announced by the Defense Department this week. The four Army combat brigades and two Marine regimental combat teams have been alerted for deployment to Iraq sometime in the first three months of 2009, the Pentagon stated in a news release. A spokesman with the Pennsylvania Department of Military & Veterans Affairs confirmed the deployment includes 4,000 troops in the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

WASHINGTON COUNTY-Of all the fears of a military wife, the worst is discovering a strange car outside and watching people in uniform walk to the door. Amanda Bussard said she tries not to think about it, but she said she worries how her daughters will deal with their father's deployment to Iraq. "The worst part is saying, 'Your daddy's not coming home today, baby,'" said Bussard, 23, who talked by phone Thursday, the day before her husband, Sgt. Steve A. Bussard Jr., was scheduled to appear with his unit at a deployment ceremony in Frederick, Md. About 120 soldiers with A Company, 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment were shipping out with the unit, according to 1st Lt. Wayde Minami of the Maryland Army National Guard.

Of all the fears of a military wife, the worst is discovering a strange car outside and watching people in uniform walk to the door. Amanda Bussard said she tries not to think about it, but she said she worries how her daughters will deal with their father's deployment to Iraq. "The worst part is saying, 'Your daddy's not coming home today, baby,'" said Bussard, who talked by phone Thursday, the day before her husband, Sgt. Steve A. Bussard Jr., was scheduled to appear with his unit at a deployment ceremony in Frederick, Md. Fifty-three members of A Company, 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment, have hometowns within the 21740 ZIP code, according to 1st Lt. Wayde Minami of the Maryland Army National Guard.