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Lawrenceville, N.J.—More than 1,500 Soldiers of the New Jersey Army National Guard returned to their loved ones between Thanksgiving week and December 22, 2024, ending a harrowing year of the 44th Infantry Brigade Combat Team’s overseas deployment in Iraq, Syria and Kuwait.
“I am overjoyed to have welcomed every single one of our Soldiers safely home this past month,” said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Yvonne L. Mays, The Adjutant General of New Jersey. “This deployment was the New Jersey National Guard’s largest since 2008 and occurred during high tensions in the Middle East following the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and immediately prior to the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. Their years of rigorous training paid off and our prayers for their safety were answered.”
U.S. Army Col. Brian Stramaglia and Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Kirkpatrick led the 44th IBCT throughout the nine-month deployment in support of Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve, where the Jersey Blues served as the base command and combined arms maneuver element. There, the New Jersey-led formation included Soldiers of the 1-181st Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard and 1-121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard.
“We did our duty to the state and nation,” said Col. Stramaglia. “I am incredibly proud of our Jersey Blues, who have given so much in service time and again. Now, getting them home to our families is the most important thing. I am so very grateful to the extended New Jersey family for their boundless support, from the moment we received the warning order more than two years ago, to now as we step off the buses here at home station, through the next 90 days into the new year and Yellow Ribbon.”
Throughout their deployment, the Soldiers of the 44th IBCT earned more than 650 combat action badges/combat infantryman badges/combat medical badges, 300 Bronze Stars, and more than a dozen Purple Hearts. The Jersey Blues faced multiple combat engagements, including ambush and enemy ground attack, indirect fire and more than 75 attacks from kamikaze drones.
Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve is dedicated to the defeat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the advising, assisting and enabling of the Iraqi Security Forces, Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian Free Army within the United States Central command area of responsibility.
| Date Taken: | 12.23.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.23.2024 13:47 |
| Story ID: | 488255 |
| Location: | NEW JERSEY, US |
| Web Views: | 33 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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