by Hank Buermeyer

WEST TOPSHAM—Brian Moore, 46, a staff sergeant in the 237th Military Police Company of the New Hampshire National Guard (NH NG), has been activated for his third tour of duty in the war on terror.

Moore told the Journal Opinion that he received informal notification of the call-up about six weeks ago and received written orders about three weeks later. His wife Raquel and children Rebekah, 11, Joshua, 12, Chad, 20, and Brandon, 23, will await his return. Rebekah and Joshua continue their education at Waits River Valley School (WRVS) while Chad and Brandon live out of the area.

Moore, who has been a member of the NH NG for 17 years, has previously served two full tours of duty in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

He has been designated the Platoon Sergeant for this mission and, together with 1st Lieutenant Daniel McCarroll of Manchester, NH, he will lead a contingent of 50 members of this Company to Camp Shelby, MS, where they will join up with the 1132nd Military Police Company from Rocky Mount, NC, the lead unit for this deployment.

A departure ceremony was held on June 21 at the Armory in Concord. At the ceremony, Gov. John Lynch thanked the departing guardsmen and their families for the sacrifices and said “A piece of our hearts is with you in Iraq until you come home.”

Moore presented Rebekah and Joshua with stuffed animals prior to the departure ceremony. After the ceremony, all of the children of the soldiers being deployed were given backpacks that contained more stuffed animals, books, notepaper to write letters, and a letter from another child of a deploying solider in the Company.

“It was nice to see other children introducing themselves to other children who had parents leaving for this deployment,” said Raquel Moore.

Chad, who lives in Manchester, was also able to make it to the ceremony as well, but Brandon, who just finished his bachelor’s degree and has started working on his graduate degree, was not able to attend because he lives in Virginia.

School board director
Moore was elected to serve a three-year on the WRVS board of school directors on Town Meeting Day. He informed the board of his call-up during its regular meeting on June 13. Near the end of that meeting board chair Dick Kelley requested and received a unanimous vote that the board recognize and salute him as he prepared to deploy with his unit and wish him and his entire command a safe and successful mission.

Kelley informed the JO that Moore will remain an active member of the WRVS board of school directors during his deployment and that Moore would be able to participate in board decisions via email.

Feelings on deployment
The JO asked Moore if he would be comfortable telling the readers of the JO what his thoughts were as he prepared for his third deployment.

“I am torn between my concern for my family and my responsibility to the soldiers in my platoon,” he replied. “My family has already had to endure more than their share of sacrifice, without complaint, but this will be my last deployment. I won’t ask them to go through this again.”

“On the other hand,” he continued, “I have been training these soldiers for a year now, and one of them is a former high school student of mine from New Hampshire. I will begin this mission with a bond already established with many of them. My intent is to focus all of my prior combat experience towards one goal, accomplishing our mission while bringing all fifty soldiers home again to their families.”

Moore’s platoon is expected to be at Camp Shelby for about two months. The stated mission for this deployment is “to conduct combat and combat support operations, which will include area security, internment and resettlement, law and order, maneuver and mobility support, and police intelligence operations”

“I am looking forward to the day I can return to West Topsham and finally settle down with my family and friends, and there is nothing more important than my own backyard,” he said.

Several days after his departure, Raquel Moore informed the JO that there was a possibility that Brian might be able to be home for a few days leave from Camp Shelby prior to his actual deployment to Iraq, but that his has not happened in the past. “We’re kind of curious to see if this will come to pass,” she said.

She said that her husband has called her from Camp Shelby. “Poor guy,” she said. “They have to do their drills at 2 a.m. because it’s so hot, so they haven’t gotten much sleep since they got down there.”

Moore web sites
Moore and his wife established the web site mooreministries.com about a year ago to facilitate several projects that they were working on at the time. “We decided to put updates about his adventures on there,” she said.” The web site includes photographs of Moore in uniform as well as in the areas he has been deployed.

Raquel Moore informed the JO that this web site also links with mooremart.com, a web site that facilitates the sending of packages to deployed soldiers. “It started off with the first deployment Brian had and his family sending him packages, and then we discovered that there were items that other soldiers needed.”

“I think there are now over four thousand packages that have been sent out,” she said of the success of this web site.

The 237th is stationed in Plymouth, Lebanon and Keene. Moore told the JO that he would be able to resume his work as a police officer with the VA Hospital in White River Junction upon his return, which is expected to be sometime in August 2008
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