Posing to boost the troops
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Warren Central Junior High yearbook adviser Melba Mitchell takes a picture of eighth-grade cheerleaders on a Vicksburg Army Recruiting Command Humvee Tuesday on the school grounds. Cheerleading coach Renee Pitchford said the girls are going to enlarge the photograph, sign it and send it to troops of the 168th Engineer Group, which is the school’s sponsor in the adopt-a-school program. Troops with the 168th Engineer Group, Mississippi’s only National Guard engineer group, left their Vicksburg headquarters for Fort Stewart, Ga., almost a week ago. They then were traveling to an undisclosed location as part of a presidential partial mobilization of reserve forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. “We are sending the photo to the troops as a spirit booster,” Pitchford said.(Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)