On September 24, 2004 the rest of the 278th followed the advance party out to California to Fort Irwin and the National Training Camp (NTC). The following email was sent to Tracy and on to the FRG's from the Reg 3 Regional Vol. Coordintor.

From: Chattanooga Times Free Press Breaking News
Subject: 278th email update
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 18:12:29 +0000

To the family support group members of the 278th:

As the Tennessee soldiers arrive in California, there are several changes.

First, the regiment has been renamed. The former 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment is now the 278th Regimental Combat Team. As Mr. Pitts wrote on Sunday in the front page article in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the name was changed to reflect the expanded makeup of the unit. Teams from other states have joined the 278th to bring the regiment to full strength. Col. Dennis Adams, the regiment's commander, said the 278th will spend about a year in northeastern Iraq patrolling the country's border with Iran.

This is the beginning of the mission for the 278th and the start of Mr. Pitts' reports as an embedded reporter with the 278th. Mr. Pitts is in California as the troops begin their final preparation prior to deployment to Iraq.

He will be with the 278th for at least six months in Iraq and will provide exclusive stories and photographs on the daily experiences of the men and women of the 278th.

Mr. Pitts, a former middle school teacher in North Carolina, decided to change professions and became a journalist. He will provide Times Free Press readers with dispatches and photographs from California and Iraq. His reports will chronicle the daily experiences of the Tennessee guardsmen, and these reports will only appear in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

We hope that you will read the Times Free Press. You can subscribe to our print or online edition. The Times Free Press offers an online edition that is an exact replica of that daily printed newspaper. To subscribe, please contact our circulation depart ment at (423) 757-6262 and ask for either the print or online edition.

The link below will take you to the stories, photographs and graphics that were part of our Sunday package in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

http://epaper.ardemgaz.com/Repository/ml.asp? Issue=ChatTFPress/2004/09/26&ID=Ar0 0102&Mode=H

Tom Griscom
Publisher and Executive Editor

Note: the following articles are copied entirely from the original article.
However, names of soldiers and/or family members have been omitted in some cases.
MJ