Photo By Maj. William Carraway | Staff Sgt. Tanner Jordan secures the colors of the 2nd Battalion 121st Infantry...... read more read more
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Citizen-Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment said goodbye to the command team of Lt. Col. John Avera and Command Sgt. Maj. Rickey Gulley and welcomed Lt. Col. Joshua Patterson and Master Sgt. Daniel Paul during a ceremony at the Monroe County Recreation Center March 5, 2022.
Colonel Jason Baker, commander of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team presided over the ceremony and recounted the efforts and accomplishments of the 2-121 during Avera and Gulley’s tenure.
“Lieutenant Colonel Avera and Command Sgt. Maj. Gulley, you have led the battalion well, and you can be proud of the accomplishments that have transpired under your leadership,” said Baker. “Your contributions will have a lasting impact and you are leaving behind yet another foundation for continued success.”
Gulley assumed responsibility for the Warrior Battalion in 2018 and guided the battalion through its successful 2018-2019 Afghanistan deployment. Avera assumed command of the battalion in March 2020, just months after the battalion returned from Afghanistan. Within days of his assumption of command, Avera was leading the battalion through unprecedented civil support operations as part of the coordinated response to the Coronavirus pandemic in Georgia. Under the leadership of Avera and Gulley, Soldiers of 2-121 formed infection control teams to disinfect long term care facilities in Albany, Georgia which, in the early months of the pandemic, had one of the highest per-capita rates of COVID-19 cases in the nation. The Soldiers also provided personnel to assist hospital operations and testing facilities.
“Your contributions to COVID operations, without a doubt, saved hundreds of lives,” said Baker.
As civil unrest gripped the nation in May, Soldiers of the Warrior Battalion rushed to the aid of civil law enforcement in Atlanta augmenting security at Centennial Olympic Park and ensuring a safe environment for free expression. Many of these same Citizen Soldiers would again be called to duty in the wake of unrest in Washington DC January 6, 2021. Originally tasked to provide security to the Washington Mall, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 121st Infantry were assigned to provide security to the capitol cordon after volunteering for the mission.
Having battled COVID-19 and responded to two separate civil unrest missions the Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion were again called to duty in 2021, this time mobilizing 370 Soldiers to Morocco for Exercise African Lion. The Soldiers conducted platoon training as well as day and night fire exercises with direct and indirect fire assets. The exercise ended with the 2-121 participating in a multinational combined arms live fire exercise.
In recognition of their outstanding efforts in leading the battalion Baker presented Avera and Gulley with the Meritorious Service Medal in recognition of their leadership of “…the battalion during one of its most tumultuous times.” In recognition to their support of the Warrior Battalion, Hannash Avera and Danielle Gulley received the Georgia Commendation Medal.
Assuming command of 2-121, Lt. Col. Joshua Patterson brings a wealth of experience to his new role. A former enlisted armor crewman with the 48th Brigade’s 108th Armor Regiment, Patterson commissioned and rose through the ranks of the 121st Infantry serving in staff and command roles, He completed two combat tours in Afghanistan with the 48th IBCT and most recently served as the operations officer of the 48th IBCT and 78th Troop Command.
As incoming senior enlisted leader, Master Sgt. Daniel Paul Roberts is also a well acquainted with the 121st. He deployed with Company A, 1-121 to Iraq in 2005. And served in Company H, 121st Infantry Long Range Surveillance. He volunteered to return to Iraq in 2009 with the 178th Military Police Company. Returning to the 121st, Paul served as a platoon sergeant in Company D, 3-121 and as 1st Sgt. of Headquarters Company and Company A, 2-121.
The Soldiers of 2-121 carry on the tradition of service that predates World War I. As part of the 2nd Georgia Infantry Regiment. Soldiers of units that would constitute the 2nd Battalion mobilized to the Mexican Border in 1916. Returning to Georgia in 1917, the Soldiers immediately began training for European deployment and, in October 1918, sailed for France as part of the newly designated 121st Infantry Regiment. The 2nd Battalion was again called to serve in the European Theater in World War II fighting from Normandy across the Brittany Peninsula and one to the Hurtgen Forest.
When the Georgia National Guard was reconstituted in 1946, the 121st Infantry was reorganized as part of the 48th Infantry Division. The units of 2-121 remained in service through the reorganization of the 48th as the 48th Armor Division in 1955 and were one of the original units assigned to the 48th Infantry Brigade when it was constituted in 1973. The 2nd Battalion mobilized to Bosnia Herzegovina in 2001, Iraq in 2005 and to Afghanistan in 2009, 2014 and 2019.
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.07.2022 12:05 |
| Story ID: | 415930 |
| Location: | FORSYTH, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 213 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Warrior Battalion Continues Tradition of Service Under New Leadership, by MAJ William Carraway, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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