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Dated: Fri, Feb 7, 2014
Major General Patrick Murphy, the Adjutant General of New York, is visiting New York Army National Guard Soldiers from the Capital Region, Long Island, Rochester, Dunkirk and Olean who are serving in Kuwait.
Murphy will meet with Soldiers assigned to the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade and Company A 3rd Battalion 142nd Aviation, both of which are headquartered in Latham, as well as Soldiers belonging to the 642nd Aviation Support Battalion. The 642nd Aviation Support Battalion has Soldiers assigned to armories in Ronkonkoma, Rochester, Olean and Dunkirk.
He is being accompanied on his week-long trip by New York Army National Guard Command Sgt. Major Frank Wicks, the top enlisted Soldier for the New York Army National Guard.
The 450 New York Army National Guard Soldiers mobilized at their home armories in October and after conducting training at Fort Hood deployed to Kuwait in December.
The 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade is commanding an Army National Guard General Aviation Support Battalion from Montana and Delaware as well as an active Army attack helicopter battalion from the 1st Cavalry Division, in Kuwait. The 642nd Aviation Support Battalion is providing maintenance and logistics support to this team, while the Soldiers from Company A 3rd Battalion 142nd Aviation are flying UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters to support American forces in Kuwait.
Since arriving in Kuwait the New York Army National Guard Soldiers have exercised with the Marines, and practiced landing their helicopters on U.S. Navy ships in the Arabian Gulf, as well as supporting assault helicopter live-fire missions.
The trip was organized through the Joint Monthly Access for Reserve Components program which allows both Army Reserve and National Guard leaders to go see their troops deployed in Kuwait or Afghanistan.
When he was assigned to Third United States Army in Kuwait from 2004 to 2007, one of Murphy’s duties was implementing this very program in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.
"The purpose of the JMARC is to provide Soldiers and Airmen with the opportunity to visit with their leadership from back in the states so that, number one, the leadership understands what the service member is doing and number two, to give the leaders a better understanding of the overseas mission," Murphy explained.
