CONTACT: Major Kathy Oliver (585) 259-0583

FOR RELEASE: Sunday, Oct 18, 2009

Major Stephen Bousquet, a Lakeview resident who served in Afghanistan in 2008, will take command of the New York Army National Guard’s 427th Brigade Support Battalion on Sunday, Oct. 18 at a ceremony in Syracuse. Bousquet, who is a health physicist employed by the Army Corps of Engineers, has been a member of the New York Army National Guard since 2000. He enlisted in the United States Army Reserve in 1992 and spent four years in the Active Army after being commissioned as a Medical Service Corps Officer in 1996. He will take over command of the Battalion, which provides, medical, supply, and maintenance support to the 3,200 Soldiers of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, from Lt. Col. Brian Marshall, who led the battalion during its 2008 deployment in Afghanistan. The Change-of-Command ceremony, in which the battalion flag, or colors, are transferred from the outgoing to the incoming commander, will be held at 2 p.m. at the Thompson Road Armory in Syracuse on Oct. 18. Bousquet enlisted in the United States Army Reserve as a combat medic in February 1992 and in 1996 received a commission as a Medical Service Corps Officer in the Active Army. He left Active Duty in 2000 and joined the New York Army National Guard. His assignments have included Chief of the Environmental Health Section at the United States Army Medical Facility at Fort Drum, Commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company 1st Battalion 127th Armor, and Medical Company Commander for the 427th Brigade Support Battalion. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, and also served in support of Operation Noble Eagle, the defense of locations in the United States after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He is a graduate of Canisius College and is working on a Masters in Environmental Management at the University of Maryland. He is also a graduate of the Medical Service Advanced Course, Tank Commanders Course and the Combined Arms Exercise Course and Army Intermediate Level Education Course. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the NATO Medal, and the Meritorious Service Medal. He and his wife Tracey have three sons, Matthew, Nathan and Alexander, and a daughter, Olivia.

Attachments: