Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Ryan Sheldon | U.S. Army Maj. Joseph Burke, left, commander of the California Army National Guard's...... read more read more
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MATHER, Calif. – More than 60 U.S. Soldiers said goodbye to their loved ones during a send-off ceremony, May 7, 2020, at Mather Field as the California Army National Guard’s Charlie Company, 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment (General Support Aviation Battalion), heads to Afghanistan to provide medical evacuation assistance within their area of responsibility.
“The unit’s mission is to provide air medical evacuation support to ground forces,” said U.S. Army Maj. Joseph Burke, who serves as the company commander. “We’ll be on standby at multiple sites with our aircraft and personnel ready to assist and provide that medical evacuation support in any mission.”
Medical evacuations are essential to the mission overseas and the Soldiers know how critical their mission is.
“If we get a call, we’ll be able to take off in minutes,” said Burke. “We’ll be en route to pick up and provide Soldiers the medical attention they need at the time.”
The Soldiers know what they are getting into, but for their families, this is not an easy mission.
“It’s definitely hard, especially for the families. I had a hard time looking over at my family during the ceremony, it was very tough,” said Burke. “This may be my fourth deployment, but it doesn’t get any easier.”
Communication with family members back home will help ease the Soldiers minds abroad and that is something Burke would like to see.
“I would like to tell the Soldiers to communicate with their families as much as possible,” said Burke. “Stay focused on the mission and stay focused on your family back home.”
In his remarks, Burke thanked all who contributed and assisted the company in preparing for their deployment.
“I would like to thank everyone for helping us get ready for this mission and the families for providing continued support,” he said. “We look forward to coming home to everyone when our mission is done.”
| Date Taken: | 05.08.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2020 23:48 |
| Story ID: | 369592 |
| Location: | MATHER, CALIFORNIA, US |
| Web Views: | 940 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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