Local Guardsmen to participate in war games

A contingency of 110 area National Guardsmen will be participating in military war games at Fort Irwin, Calif., as part of its annual training, according to Capt. Kevin Compas of the 1140th Engineer Battalion's Bravo Company.

The troops, mainly from Jackson and Perryville, will be traveling to the National Training Center, the only training facility in the world that is suitable for force-on-force and live fire training of heavy brigade-sized military forces. Fort Irwin is located in the Mojave Desert between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The soldiers will be gone from Oct. 26 until Nov. 15 and will spend 10 days in the desert serving as an enemy force for a brigade that will be leaving for Iraq, though Compas wanted it made clear that his soldiers are not being activated for duty in Iraq.