Photo By Adam Holguin | Lt. Col. Nicole Gabriel, battalion commander, 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas - The 1st Battalion, 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, deployed from Fort Bliss, Texas, en route to a mobilization to the national capital region in support of Operation Noble Eagle.
The Ohio Army National Guard unit, based out of the Cincinnati area, departed from the Silas L. Copeland Arrival Departure Control Group Jan. 10.
The unit consists of more than 200 soldiers and will mobilize to the national capital region on a homeland defense mission.
“Our efforts to protect the capitol region include the use of aircraft, radar, ground based air defense systems, and communications equipment,” said Lt. Col. Nicole Gabriel, battalion commander, 1st Battalion, 174th ADA Regiment.
The mobilization is the culmination of a year’s worth of training completed by the unit.
“We have been training and training and training – a lot of hard training,” said Gabriel. “Our final training was here ... we conducted a lot of crew training and crew drills and validated our crews, and then we also did a live fire with our weapons system.”
The importance, profile and location of this mission is recognized by the Soldiers of the unit and is something they take very seriously and are excited to execute, the unit’s Soldiers said.
“To me it is an honor to actually go and protect not only the national capital region, but our nation’s leadership – our president, vice president, our Senate and the House,” said Staff Sgt. Derrelle Shields, firing unit noncommissioned officer in charge. “Basically, all of the important people that help run our nation, we are actually out there to protect them.”
“I’m really excited for this mission; as an air defense unit, this is our primary mission,” said Sgt. Danielle Krontz, crew member, national advanced surface to air missile system team. “Especially as National Guardsmen, to do a stateside mission this important, it’s just really exciting.”
For Soldiers from this Ohio unit, living and working in the nation’s capital on this deployment provides an opportunity to enjoy some of sights of the region – an opportunity to which many Soldiers in the unit say they are looking forward to.
“From what I understand, there is a Tasmanian tiger at the national museum of natural history; that is the one thing that I want to see,” said 1st Lt. Christopher Vasquez, platoon leader Battery B. “I love museums, my undergrad degree is in history, so museums are probably the highlight of my life. Should be fun on my off time.”
“I’ve never been to D.C.; I can’t wait to go visit all the Smithsonian museums and national monuments,” said Krontz. “That’s what I am looking forward to the most, on our off days being able to go as a group and see all the sights.”
Sightseeing the nation’s capital is a nice perk, but the primary mission remains the focus, the Soldiers said.
“This mission is the quintessential mission for the National Guard, who has been protecting our homeland for hundreds of years; it is something that our soldiers are truly glad to be a part of,” said Gabriel. “We are ready to go, to protect our nation’s homeland, and really do what our oath as Soldiers is, which is to support and defend the Constitution of United States.”
| Date Taken: | 01.10.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.15.2015 17:43 |
| Story ID: | 152112 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | CINCINNATI, OHIO, US |
| Hometown: | WOODLAWN, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 828 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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