A group of National Guard reservists based in Mercer County will be spending the holidays overseas. Fourteen reservists from Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia gathered Sunday in Farrell for a formal send off. All of the soldiers are part of the 475th Quartermaster Group, this unit based at the Farrell post.
Family and friends gathered to say good-bye, aware that they will not see their loved one for more than a year, but knowing they have an important job to do. Some of the reservists will be sent to Kuwait, others to Iraq, and others to Afghanistan. Their primary mission is to manage fuel for different branches of the military. That includes testing and regulating fuel quality, and arranging for transportation and distribution of fuel assets. The 475th Quartermaster Group as a whole is the United States Army Reserve's only Petroleum & Water Group.
The Farrell unit of the 475th was involved in the single most devastating Iraqi attack of the First Gulf War. On February 25, 1991, an Iraqi Scud missile impacted the barracks that housed members of the 475th as well as other Quartermaster units. In all, 28 Americans were killed, more than a hundred injured.
