RESERVE COMPANY TO OPEN NEW CENTER

A newly reorganized Army Reserve company will soon train at a new center in Cape Girardeau.

The 384th Engineering Company, with reservists from Cape Girardeau and Poplar Bluff, Mo., is scheduled to train June 23 and 24 at the former IGA grocery store building in the Plaza Shopping Center, at 80 S. Plaza Way.

"We'll kick everything off with a ribbon-cutting and grand opening," said Anita McDonald, a GS7 military technician and unit administrator for the company.

"The new building is ideal," she said. "The shopping center building has high ceilings, about 18 feet, and enough room to expand."

Which is exactly what the company wants to do.

When the company met for the first time here last year, 27 members from Cape Girardeau showed up at the U.S. Naval Training Center, 2530 Maria Louise Lane.

"Today, we have 50 reservists from the Cape Girardeau," McDonald said. "We hope to see that total increase."

The company has 33 reservists from Poplar Bluff.

The 348th is looking at full strength to be around 170. The company needs people with construction experience. The primary duty of the group is to construct and lay pipelines.

"We're looking for pipefitters, construction workers, masons and mechanics," said McDonald.

Army officials earlier said the economic impact on the community from each reserve officer is about $10,000 annually, not counting their salaries. Reservists go to drills once a month and have two weeks training in the summer. The payroll for the two groups could amount to more than $760,000, with the lion's share going to reservists in Cape Girardeau.

Guardsmen and reservists are called on for some community service, said Lt. Col. Jerry R. Sanders, Missouri Army National Guard, Cape Girardeau.

Engineer units answered the call for assistance in the 1993 and 1995 floods, as well as numerous other times. A funeral detail is called upon daily to render honors to deceased veterans. Armories here and in other Southeast Missouri communities are used for community and civic activities and functions.

The two engineer units will be joined in their new center by the 21st General Hospital Detachment, which was in Cape Girardeau from 1985 to 1993. The hospital unit has been training at St. Francis Medical Center. The medical detachment is among the oldest units in the Army Reserve. It was formed at Washington University in St. Louis during World War I and saw action in World War II and Desert Storm.

In service

Army Reservists

* 348th Engineering Co., Cape Girardeau: 50

* 348th Engineering Co., Poplar Bluff (trains with Cape unit): 33

* 21st General Hospital, Cape Girardeau: about 20

Total Army reservists, Cape Girardeau: 103 (goal: 170)

National Guard

* HHC, 1140th Engineer Battalion, Cape Girardeau: 114

* HHC, Co. B, Jackson/

Perryville: 134

* Engineer Brigade 35th Infantry Division (ID), Cape Girardeau: 60

* Hospital Detachment 6, Cape Girardeau: 25

Total Guardsmen

Cape County: 333

* Eight other engineer units in Southeast Missouri: about 300

* Other National Guard units in Southeast Missouri: about 600

* Total guardsmen in Southeast Missouri: about 1,200

Naval Reservists

* Naval Reserve Hospital, Camp LeJune, Detachment 0309: 28

* Naval Reserve Volunteer Training Unit: 6

* MNCBs, Detachment 0428: 74

* Naval Support Activated, BAHRAIN, Security Detachment, BRAVO: 63

Total Naval reserves, Cape Girardeau: 171