CONTACT: Mr. Eric Durr (518) 786-4581

FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007

ON SITE: Lt. Col. Paul Fanning, on site: (518) 441-4106

WHO:

16 Infantry Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion 69th Infantry, New York Army National Guard (The Fighting 69th), family members, friends and local officials

WHAT:

Send Off Ceremony for Mobilizing New York Army National Guard Soldiers for service in Afghanistan as an Embedded Training Team

WHEN:

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, 27 November 2007 (See details for each location below)

WHERE:

State Armory, 68 Lexington Avenue (Lexington Avenue and 25th Street) Manhattan

An Embedded Training Team comprised of Fighting 69th Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard’s 27th Brigade Combat Team are being called to federal active duty next week for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The troops are being called up ahead of the main body of the task force, which is not scheduled for deployment until after the New Year in 2008. This elite team of officers and Non Commissioned Officers will serve as mentors and trainers to Afghanistan Security Forces including the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. A primary objective of U.S. efforts in Operation Enduring Freedom is to train and develop Afghanistan’s security forces to self-sufficiency in order to resist insurgents, restore and sustain the rule of law and to support effective governance of Afghan’s new democracy. Nearly ever member of the team served on State Active duty in New York city following the 9-11, 2001 terrorist attacks and have since served on federal active duty in Iraq in 2004. The Department of Defense announced plans on August 1st to mobilize more than 1,700 members of the Guard’s Syracuse-based Headquarters, 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and subordinate elements from across New York State in 2008. The 27th will take command of Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix VII, which has the responsibility for the training and mentoring of the Afghan National Army and National Police and providing additional reconstruction support to the fledgling democracy and the Afghan people. The deployment period will be one year. Presently, the South Carolina Army National Guard’s 218th Brigade is performing this mission having taken over from the Washington Guard’s 41st Brigade in May. The task force from New York will include Soldiers from the New York City and Hudson Valley areas, the Capital District, the North Country and Central and Western New York. In addition to the Syracuse-based 27th Brigade Headquarters, Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix VII will include a Training Assistance Group formed from the Guard’s 106th Regional Training Institute based at Camp Smith in the Hudson Valley and mentoring teams drawn from Guard combat and combat support units, security force personnel from the Western New York-based 2nd Squadron 101st Cavalry, the 2nd Battalion 108th Infantry from Central and upstate New York and the Fighting 69th Infantry Battalion from New York City and the Hudson Valley, and logistic and personnel from the 427th Forward Support Battalion at various armories statewide. More than 6,000 members of the New York Army National Guard have been called to federal active duty for service mostly in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003. Deployment levels peaked in 2004, when more than 3,500 troops assigned to nearly a dozen different units were on duty. About 500 New York National Guard Soldiers are presently serving on active duty. Over the last few months, military police units, a personnel services detachment and a medical company have returned home from service in Iraq. Over the last year, the New York National Guard has responded to severe weather emergencies in New York, including a blizzard in February in Central New York, a Nor ’Easter in the Hudson Valley in April and wash outs in the Catskills in June. In addition, New York National Guard troops continue to support New York’s civil authorities by helping to protect Grand Central and Penn Stations in Manhattan, Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports in Queens and the state’s four nuclear power sites. For photographs of the 27th Brigade Combat Team Soldiers Training for use with this release, go to the Division of Military and Naval Affairs website http://dmna.ny.gov.