Sara Klein and Eric Marquardt exchanged wedding vows Thursday, but the couple will have to wait until Klein returns home from Bosnia to plan their future together.
“He asked me on Christmas Day and we decided to do it now, before I leave,” said Klein, of Two Rivers.
Spc. Klein, 20, is a reservist with the 432nd Civil Affairs Battalion, which was alerted Thursday to prepare for departure to Bosnia from its Green Bay base.
The Army Reserve unit will be part of 20,000 U.S. troops and a larger NATO force to be stationed in Bosnia to police the Bosnian peace accord. The mission may keep members of the 432nd from home for a year.
The commander of the unit, Lt. Col. Brian Kilgariff, who arrived in Green Bay Thursday night from his home in High Point, N.C., said more than 95 members of the 432nd will report for active duty, with additional members from other units, for a total of 112.
All will report to Ft. Bragg, N.C., for additional training. They’ll then deploy to Bosnia in increments of four, to allow time for initial ground troops to occupy the terrain in Bosnia.
The first group of nine leaves Tuesday, while a second group of 12 leaves Thursday, Jan. 4. The third group of 47 leaves Monday, Jan. 22, and the final group of 44 on Feb. 5.
Klein will leave Thursday with the second group.
“We have a miniature honeymoon slated for Monday night,” Marquardt said. “I was going to ask her eventually and figured why not just do it now.”
Marquardt, of Francis Creek, said he’ll keep busy working while waiting for her return.
Maj. Dan Ammerman will be among the first group to arrive in Bosnia.
An accounting manager at Schneider National, Ammerman and his wife Kathy, have been wrapping up loose ends at home.
“I’ve been getting the stuff together for taxes and leaving her notes,” Dan Ammerman said. “I normally do them and this year she’ll have to handle it.”
He said he’s apprehensive about the Bosnian mission because it’s “a big task.”
“We’re going to do something worthwhile, but it will be tough leaving,” he said.
“We suspected it was going to happen,” Kathy Ammerman said. “But it still takes time to emotinally adjust.”
Capt. Michael Hinz, who likely will leave Jan. 22, said his wife, Michelle, is “tough minded” and used to the demands of military life.
“After nine years of active duty and deployment to Desert Storm (in the 1991 Persian Gulf War), we’re very used to this,” Michelle Hinz said. “I will try to keep everything in our home life normal and set on task, so the only change is daddy missing for the kids.”
They have two children, a son, 7 and a daughter, 3.
“We’ve explained to them that they need to help these people so they can go to school, play soccer and go to church like we do,” Michael Hinz said. “We’ve been watching the news together and I hope they understand.”
A team leader for Schneider National, Michael Hinz said he has plenty of support at work.
“Several people have taken bits and pieces of my job so I can come back and pick up where I left off,” he said.
First Lt. Preston McMurry III is a former Green Bay resident who joined the 432nd to participate in Operation Desert Storm.
McMurry, of Milwaukee, said he’s looking forwad to Bosnia.
“I want to go,” he said. “I don’t like missing out on these things. It’s what I joined the military to do.”
By Julie Rossich
Green Bay Press-Gazette
December 29, 1995
| Green Bay Reserve Unit Activated For Possible Deployment to Bosnia | 432nd Prepares for Duty | Unit Likely Going to Tuzla |
