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CONTACT: Col. Richard Goldenberg, 518-786-4581
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, Mar 04, 2015

New York Army National Guard Soldiers Training at Camp Smith for Guantanamo Deployment

CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, CORTLANDT MANOR, N.Y. (03/03/2015)(readMedia)-- Fifty-six New York Army National Guard Soldiers from the Troy-based 42nd Infantry Division are training to deploy to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba , this week at Camp Smith Training Site.

Members of the press are invited to visit Camp Smith Wednesday morning to speak to members of the team about their upcoming deployment and observe training.

WHO: Fifty-six Soldiers of the 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters from hometowns across the state.

WHAT: Soldiers will be conducting M-9 pistol qualification on Wednesday morning. This will be the 12th day of a two-week premobilization traininig period in which the Soldiers have reviewed basic military skills ranging from map reading to donning a gas mask.

WHEN: Wednesday, March 4, at 10 a.m. Media should plan to arrive at the entrance to Camp Smith not later than 9:45 a.m.

WHERE: Camp Smith Training Site, Routes 6 and 202, Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.

Media Opportunity:

Video and imagery of weapons training as Soldiers conduct mobilization tasks. Interviews with Soldiers and leaders for the upcoming deployment to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Reporters must contact Major Chad Clark at (201) 637-8509 for access to this secure military facility.

BACKGROUND:

Soldiers of the 42nd Infantry Division Headquarters complete their premobilization training this week as the troops and families prepare for a mobilization and unit sendoff on March 22.

While at Camp Smith for two weeks of training tasks, the team has gone through standard Army deployment training-weapons training, land navigation, dealing with IEDs and refreshing themselves on basic tactics-a requirement for all Army Soldiers preparing to deploy, no matter their destination.

The Soldiers will assist in staffing Joint Task Force Guantanamo, the military unit responsible for maintaining detention facilities at the naval base. The 42nd Infantry Division Soldiers will handle administrative and logistics tasks but will not be conducting detention operations.

The deployment is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to work in a joint environment alongside Air Force, Navy and Marine personnel, said Lt. Col. Todd Bookless, the officer-in-charge of the detachment.

Many of the detachment members have deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or Kuwait and this latest deployment is going to be very different, Bookless said.

The New York Guard Soldiers are also looking forward to working with members of other services, since normally their missions and training are very Army-centric, Bookless added.

The 42nd Infantry Division is a headquarters unit whose personnel are trained to exercise mission command over three to five brigade elements of 3,000 to 5,000 Soldiers.

New York National Guard Support to JTF Guantanamo

This is the fourth time New York Army National Guard Soldiers have deployed to serve as part of Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

• 50 Soldiers of the 102nd Military Police Battalion from Auburn, New York are currently serving at Guantanamo and are expected to return home this summer. They mobilized in July 2014.

• The 138th Public Affairs Detachment deployed to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base from August 2012 to July 2013. These eight Soldiers produced the Joint Task Force Guantanamo publication "The Wire" and assisted the task force public affairs officer.

• In June 2011 the 107th Military Police Company from Utica mobilized 170 Soldiers who served at Guantanamo Bay for ten months. The Soldiers provided the outer ring of security around the prisoner detention facility.

• New York Army National Guard Brig. General James Lettko, since retired, served as deputy commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo in 2011-2012.

And in 2010 40 Airmen from the New York Air National Guard's 106th Civil Engineering Squadron deployed in 2010 for a traditional two-week training cycle at Guantanamo Bay. There they worked to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti for Operation Unified Response by providing repairs and maintenance for roads.

42nd Infantry Division Headquarters

The 42nd Infantry Division has training oversight of the New York National Guard's 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, the 42nd Combat Aviation Brigade and the 369th Sustainment Brigade. The division also has training responsibility for National Guard brigades in New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The division served as a key National Guard headquarters during the state's response to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Irene in 2011. The division headquarters has also sent elements to Japan and Australia to support exercises there.

In 2004 and 2005 the division headquarters deployed to Tikrit, Iraq where Major General Joseph Taluto was responsible for more than 20,000 U.S. Army Soldiers in four brigades in three Iraqi Provinces.

The division was first organized during World War I when National Guard units from 26 states were brought together to deploy to France as quickly as possible. Then Col. Douglas McArthur, who was the division's chief of staff and later a commander said the unit stretched across America "like a rainbow." This gave the division its nickname as the Rainbow Division.

In World War II 42nd Infantry Division Soldiers freed inmates at the Dachau Concentration camp in April 1945.

© NYS DMNA Press Release:New York Army National Guard Soldiers Training at Camp Smith for Guantanamo Deployment
URL: https://dmna.ny.gov/pressroom/?id=1425410425
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Page Last Modified: Mar 03, 2015