COUNTYWIDE : 100 Reservists Leave for Ft. Ord Hospital Duty

A unit of 100 Army medical reservists departed from Ventura early Sunday morning bound for noncombat duty at an Army hospital in Northern California.

Members of the 6252nd U.S. Army Hospital, headquartered in Ventura, left for the Silas B. Hayes Army Hospital at Ft. Ord to replace active-duty medical personnel reassigned to Saudi Arabia. Members of the 6252nd reserve unit include physicians, nurses and medical technicians.

Gen. Stephen Bisset, deputy commanding general of the 63rd Army Reserve Command, said Silas B. Hayes Army Hospital treats active-duty personnel, their families and retirees.

Although some may be transferred later to Army hospitals elsewhere in the country, the reservists are not scheduled to leave the United States to join Operation Desert Shield, the buildup of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia.

But Bisset said their role as reservists grows in importance as more troops are deployed to the Middle East.

“Whether you have a unit supporting Desert Shield stateside or supporting the operation itself, it doesn’t make a difference,” he said. “They’re all performing a function that the Army needs.” About a fifth of the reservists under his command, or about 2,000 soldiers, have been activated, he said.

Women make up about a third of the reservists who left spouses and children behind early Sunday morning. Although they will not see combat, it was no consolation for some family members left behind, including husbands and children.

All had risen early in the predawn hours to wave goodby to the reservists. Some wept as the citizen-soldiers boarded buses bound for Ft. Ord.

Capt. Ruth Brunick, 42, of Simi Valley said she remembered when her husband Robert left for Vietnam more than 20 years ago. But on Sunday, the roles were reversed as the nurse, dressed in fatigues, said goodby to her 44-year-old husband and 21-year-old daughter.

“I think it’s harder to stay behind. It’s easier to go,” Robert Brunick said. “You go through all the feelings of worry, but it’s something you have to deal with.”