Guard Battery Follows Commander In Thief and Goes AWOL

Strains Felt By Guard Unit on Eve Of War Duty (washingtonpost.com):

"The trouble began Labor Day weekend, when 13 members of the 1st Battalion of the 178th Field Artillery Regiment went AWOL, mainly to see their families again before shipping out. Then there was an ugly confrontation between members of the battalion's Alpha and Charlie batteries -- the term artillery units use instead of 'companies' -- that threatened to turn into a brawl involving three dozen soldiers, and required the base police to intervene. "