S. Utah bids fond farewell to Guard troops

CEDAR CITY — Laremi Allred, 10, knows one thing for sure when it comes to her television viewing habits this summer.

"Nope. No TV news," said the daughter of Bret Allred, a member of the Utah National Guard's 2nd Battalion, 222nd Field Artillery unit that leaves for a tour of duty in the Middle East on Thursday.

Allred, who is trading in his Iron County Sheriff's captain badge for one as platoon sergeant 1st class in the 222nd, said he is looking forward to getting a lot of letters from home while he's in Iraq over the next 14 months.

"Letters are the best, especially the ones with perfume on them," Allred said as he smiled at his wife, Gia, sitting across from the picnic table during a community-wide barbecue at the Main Street Park in Cedar City on Tuesday evening.

Members of the Cedar City Elks Lodge turned out in droves to grill more than 800 hamburgers, stir together homemade potato salad and baked beans, and then serve it all up to the soldiers and their supporters.

"Everybody cooks. A lot of people brought salads, cut up potatoes, made phone calls," said Jim Blackner, who helped grill hamburgers with other lodge members. "We're the supporters of these guys."

Blackner said he learned the town's Elk Lodge did the same thing exactly 55 years ago when members of the 222nd left to serve in World War II. On that day, said Blackner, the Elks fed soldiers lined up at the old Escalante Hotel, which was later razed to make room for a restaurant.

"Now we're feeding our guys," he said. "We didn't plan it this way, it just happened. That's what we're all about, though, our veterans."

After the barbecue, the troops and family members rode on yellow school buses to Southern Utah University for a special patriotic celebration.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. addressed the hundreds of family members, friends and supporters of the Triple Deuce who attended the free program. Former President George Bush also provided a taped message for the troops' farewell.

Brittany Strange, 19, said she's going to have a hard time letting go of her husband of just over five months when he leaves on Thursday.

"I'll be writing a lot of letters," said Strange, who met her husband, Daniel, while both were students at SUU.

The entire battalion packs onto buses in St. George for Las Vegas on Thursday.

"We'll drive right onto the tarmac and get on the planes," said Bret Allred.

From there, the soldiers go to Camp Shelby, Miss., to pick up equipment and gain a little more training, he said.

After that, it's on to Kuwait, Iraq and the great unknown.

Gia Allred said she's looking forward to welcoming her husband home.

"We've been told to expect they'll be deployed until August 2006, but I'll believe it when he gets off the plane and I hug him," she said.

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com