AREA GUARD UNITS ACTIVATED AS PART OF MISSION IN BOSNIA

Sixty-nine members of the Missouri National Guard's 1137th Military Police Company will leave Missouri today for future deployment in Germany.

Forty-eight of the guardsmen are members of detachments from Kennett and Caruthersville.

"We'll meet a detachment of 21 from Jefferson Barracks (St. Louis) at Fort Benning, Ga.," said Sgt. Danny Silman, supply sergeant at Kennett.

From Fort Benning, the group eventually will be sent to Germany to replace military police units that have been sent or are on orders to be dispatched to Bosnia.

A timetable was not immediately available on when the Missouri unit will be sent to Germany, said Lt. Col. Bill Ratliff of National Guard headquarters in Jefferson City.

"The Army will decide that," said Ratliff. "At Fort Benning, the troops will be issued cold-weather clothing and train as a single unit before being dispatched to Germany."

The Army will also decide where in Germany the Missouri unit will be sent. "They'll go wherever they are needed at the time they receive orders," said Ratliff.

The troops will leave the St. Louis and Kennett areas at 1 p.m. today, with an estimated arrival time at Fort Benning during the late afternoon, said Ratliff.

Members of the 1137th MP Company have been told they would not be away for more than nine months.

"Hopefully not that long," said Silman.

The 1137th, a combat support military police unit that monitors traffic movements and security in operational areas, received its formal alert in early December.

The alert is the third major call-up for the 1137th, which worked in Panama in 1989 and the Persian Gulf in 1992.

The company was originally scheduled to leave Dec. 30., but the delay allowed the troops to spend New Year's with their families.

Kennett guardsmen held a departure ceremony last weekend in the Kennett High School gym. Missouri Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson attended the ceremony and talked to the troops.

At least two immediate-area residents are included in the group -- Randy Zimmerman and Don Mestemacher, members of the Scott City Police Department, are both members of the 1137th in Kennett. This will mark Zimmerman's second call-up with the National Guard; he served more than five months in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.

Wilson told the troops that everything was taken care of as far as disruptions with their work was concerned. He said the troops shouldn't worry about their jobs back home.

Government regulations call for employers to hold the troops' jobs until they return.

The Scott City Police Department will lose 20 percent of its force. "We certainly hate to seem them go," said Mayor Larry Forhan. "Something like this hurts a small police department like ours." One of the answers to the problem may be the hiring of a reserve officer.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, Gov. Jim Edgar has taken steps to ensure that state employees activated in the peacekeeping missions will continue to receive their state salaries and benefits.

"There is no reason for the men and women who are called to active duty to support the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia should be concerned for the financial security of their families," said Edgar. "The action I took will guarantee that state employees under my control will continue to receive their paychecks, their health insurance and other benefits while they are on active duty."

This may not be the case with private employees, where all that is required is that the jobs be held. Edgar urged all employers to consider implementing similar protections for their employees.

Three Illinois National Guard units from Homewood, Forest Park and Arlington Heights have been activated.