Jack M. Willis
Journal Correspondent

America's modern-day so-called "All Volunteer Force," professional military is receiving support from local National Guard and Reserve units, without which it could not function in today's occupation and combat in Iraq.

A prime example of such support troop leadership is Chief Warrant Officer 2 Milton D. Buell of Winnfield, who serves with the 1087th Company based in Jena and Pineville.

Late last month, Chief Buell was cleaning out his desk and getting his effects in order to return to the Maintenance Depot at Camp Beauregard near Pineville, LA. Even though he wears a National Guard uniform he is technically a Federal employee in that his salary and benefits come from Uncle Sam. He was very cooperative about sharing details of his career in the Military.

CWO2 Milton Buell was born in Michigan City, Indiana on January 30, 1969 but soon afterwards the family relocated to Atlanta, Louisiana, a small village about 11 miles southwest of Winnfield, his present home. When asked about the reason for transferring from his birthplace he said, "My mother was a native of Jonesboro in Jackson Parish and she just simply wanted to return closer to home."

Buell attended public schools in Atlanta, graduating in 1987, but meanwhile in looking to the future, he had joined the Louisiana National Guard Unit in Winnfield in 1986 because of educational incentives offered for a college education. Upon high school graduation he enrolled at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, ultimately graduating in 1991 with a major in business administration and a minor in accounting.

He was part of the National Guard activation in 1990 for Desert Storm and went to Fort Hood, Texas for seven months. After deactivation he was employed at the Winnfield Armory for a year while he finished his final year of college schooling. He was a member of the 199th Company in Winnfield until 1995 when he transferred to the 1087th Company based in Jena and Pineville as a Maintenance Technician.

He, along with other personnel in the 1087th Company, left for Iraq in April 2003 to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom. They originally went to Iraq to handle logistics, or transportation of men and materials. But shortly thereafter they were ordered to fabricate double-walled steel armament boxes on the backs of their trucks, essentially turning them into "gun trucks" for escort of other convoys of men and materials. They had to fabricate the gun boxes out of whatever thickness sheet steel they could commandeer at the time. The outside steel panel was constructed to lean inward towards the vertical inside panel with a five-inch space at the bottom but only a half-inch at the top. In following this pattern they hoped that the armor-piercing bullets fired at them would be slightly deflected, lose velocity, and hopefully not penetrate the inside panel. Buell commented about the construction technique saying, "It worked most of the time."

The soldiers involved in "riding shotgun" during the guard duty referred to the metal gun boxes by some names and descriptions which are mostly unprintable for mixed audiences, but the most common was "Bar-Be-Cue pits", because of times they were running escort duty when temperatures would soar in excess of 135 degrees. The unit suffered only one fatality, not caused by small arms fire or an Improvised Explosive Device, but rather by the heat. There was considerable grumbling about the duty they were pulling, as the men felt they were doing M.P. duty furnishing the escort service.

Chief Buell returned to the U.S.in April of 2004 to Fort Polk where he remained for a month before returning to duty at Jena with the 1087th Company, his present unit.

Chief Buell commented, "I feel that we (the military) have helped render a very valuable service to the Iraqi people. I just hope they have the self-will to appreciate our efforts, and make the most of what freedoms we lost American lives to deliver, and are still losing as we continue to defend areas of the country."

Back