College gearing up for return of soldiers

Chadron State’s students, faculty and staff are being encouraged to join the community in lining the streets with signs and flags when the 1057th makes its swing through the city upon arrival. About 20 of the 132 soldiers from the 1057th were enrolled at Chadron State when the unit was deployed January 2003 for duty in Iraq.

Chadron State students are decorating bedsheets which will be hung along the college’s football field, the final stretch leading up to the Nebraska National Guard Armory on 12th Street.

Members of the unit arrived in Maine last week and are being quartered at Camp Ashland near Omaha while they turn in their gear, get medical checkups and counseling and complete paperwork.

The 1057th, based in Chadron, was the first Nebraska unit called up for the Iraq war. Members spent three months at Fort Carson, Colo., before going overseas in April 2003. The unit uses various tractor-trailer trucks to transport “non-containerized” cargo and military personnel.

While no plans are certain, the soldiers are expected to enter Chadron early Monday evening from the south on U.S. Highway 385, turn east at U.S. Highway 20, north at Chadron Avenue, east at First Street, south along Main Street, and east down 12th Street to the armory. Chadron radio stations will be announcing updates of the unit’s location as its arrival nears.