(The following article by Thomya Hogan was published by The (Clarksville) Leaf-Chronicle.)
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Fort Campbell’s deployment plans should not be affected by a break-in Monday of a train that was carrying equipment.
The train was stopped while awaiting clearance to enter Blount Island in Jacksonville, Fla., where its contents were to be loaded on a military transport, officials said.
All three brigades in the 101st Airborne Division are deploying to an undisclosed location in the area of U.S. Central Command, which includes the Persian Gulf.
The FBI was called to the scene as a precaution, Special Agent Jeff Westcott said. He said the burglary appears to be a crime of opportunity rather than a terrorist act.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office is investigating the crime.
Fort Campbell spokesman George Heath said initial reports were that a vehicle battery was missing and other items were taken from inside a Humvee. The amount of related damages was not immediately known.
”That vehicle, along with everything else, has probably already been loaded,” Heath said, indicating the shipping remained on schedule.
Susan Wiles, a spokeswoman for the railroad, said soldiers’ personal lockers, carrying materials such as shoes, boots, reading materials and clothing, were broken into.
The 101st Airborne, the Army’s only air assault division, received deployment orders earlier this month. The division, along with its 270 helicopters, will provide the U.S. Central Command with combat power and long-range helicopter attack and air assault capability.
The Central Command area reaches from Kenya in the south to Kazakhstan in the north and Egypt to Pakistan from west to east.
Fort Campbell has shipped about 6,000 vehicles and trailers to Jacksonville via train for the deployment.