Massachusetts National Guards Medical Unit Heading to Afghanistan

Family and friends of 182d Medical Company gather for send-off
Boston Globe
By Jennifer Smith
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
SEPTEMBER 07, 2014

WENDY MAEDA/GLOBE STAFF Sergeant Justin George said goodbye to his daughter, Teagan, 15 months, and wife, Colby, following a deployment ceremony near the Old North Bridge Saturday.

The medical company is the oldest Medical Corps Unit in the United States Army, dating back to the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia in 1885.

CONCORD — In a few weeks, they will be binding wounds on the battlefields of Afghanistan and performing emergency surgeries in combat medical facilities. On a scorching Saturday morning, they gathered in uniform at the Old North Bridge in Concord to say goodbye to family and friends.

The 182d Medical Company, also known as the Witchdoctors, prepared for their deployment to Afghanistan with a ceremony in Minute Man National Park.

For half of these men and women, it will be their first tour overseas, Major General Scott Rice said.

Eighteen service members and their well-wishers assembled under the two trees near the Old North Bridge. They enjoyed the shade in a day otherwise so hot and humid that volunteers handed out camouflage-patterned “official bandanas” to wipe away the sweat.

Neat rows of chairs were filled with loved ones saying goodbye to the soldiers before their training in Fort Hood, Texas, and later deployment to Afghanistan.
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