Photo By Ismael Ortega | Soldiers and National Guardsman, Multinational Battle Group-East, Kosovo Force-21,...... read more read more
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FORT BLISS, Texas - The Multinational Battle Group-East, Kosovo Force-21, a brigade-level team assembled from National Guard components and active duty forces, departed from the Silas L. Copeland Arrival/Departure Airfield Control Group, here Feb. 9 for a yearlong NATO peacekeeping mission.
KFOR-21 is comprised of Soldiers assigned to 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard; 250th Military Intelligence Company, California ANG; 40th Public Affairs Detachment and 28th Combat Support Hospital, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the 763th Ordnance Disposal Company, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and will consolidate in Germany with other military units to comprise the battle group.
“It’s a great opportunity and an awesome deployment, one of my main line of efforts is leader development and this deployment would be tremendous to that,” said Col. Ros Gammon, commander, KFOR-21.
The teams will assemble for the first time at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. Soldiers will have the opportunity to conduct riot control and command and control operations. After completing this training, the unit will relieve the 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, North Carolina ANG, in Kosovo.
Every unit has been preparing for this deployment for more than a year, completing unit level training prior to consolidating.
“All National Guard units conducted individual training prior to coming to Fort Bliss,” Gammon said. “By doing that, it reduced our time here and allowed us to get into the collective phase with the 5th Armored Brigade.”
The 250th MI Co. completed a two-week training cycle at Camp San Luis Obispo, California, focusing on small unit tactics, individual movement techniques and combat lifesaving, and followed by an additional month on post and at McGregor Range, New Mexico.
“McGregor Range was a good site with all sorts of specialized training for the Soldiers. More importantly, it wasn’t just a blanket training program,” said Maj. Kiley Laughin, commander, 250th MI Co. “It was technically tailored to meet the individual requirements for the Soldiers.”
The 763rd Ord. Disp. Co. honed their explosive ordnance capabilities to work with the multinational forces.
“We’ve done everything from hazardous waste operations to unexploded ordnance disposal,” said 1st Lt. Matthew Lukanich, platoon leader, 763rd Ord. Disp. Co. “We’ve been (training) for just over a year and are very excited and very prepared.”
In addition to the U.S. component, armed forces from Germany, Poland, Armenia and Turkey will join KFOR-21 on the mission.
Along with developing leadership skills, every commander encourages Soldiers to work on their military education and improve their physical fitness during the deployment to stay competitive and eligible for promotion.
“Once we left I had the chance to talk to the families,” Gammon said. “I told them all, my goal is to bring every Soldier back home better, a better Soldier, a better leader and a better husband or wife.”
| Date Taken: | 02.25.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 02.25.2016 12:30 |
| Story ID: | 190102 |
| Location: | FORT BLISS, TEXAS, US |
| Hometown: | CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD STATE HEADQUARTERS, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Hometown: | FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI, US |
| Hometown: | FORT LIBERTY, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Hometown: | PENNSYLVANIA NATIONAL GUARD PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 228 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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