CONTACT: Major Paul Salas, 631-723-7400

FOR RELEASE: Friday, Apr 30, 2010

WESTHAMPTON BEACH , NY (04/28/2010)(readMedia)-- Major Scott "LB" Williams, The deputy support group commander for the New York Air National Guard's 106th Rescue Wing has been selected to represent the New York National Guard, the National Guard, and the United States Military in South Africa for the next two years. The Port Jefferson resident is planning to head for Pretoria, the capitol of the Republic of South Africa early next month. His wife Greta, their son five-year old son Kruger and their four-year old daughter Kirkland will follow. Williams will be replacing New York Air National Guard Major David Panzera, an Albany-area resident, as the South Africa Bilateral Affairs Officer, or BAO, for the National Guard's State Partnership Program. The State Partnership Program pairs American state National Guard's with the militaries of developing nations as a way to build military partnerships and understanding, New York has been paired with South Africa since 2003. The two nations exchange officers and non-commissioned officers for joint training, and New York has sponsored conferences for South African civilian officials as well. Williams will be based at the U.S. Embasssy, working for the New York State Office of Security Cooperation, which is a component of the United States African Command or Africom. The office represents US defense interests primarily in the Republic of South Africa. Williams will also be doing some work in Lesotho and the Kingdom of Swaziland. "The main purpose of this position is to assist in building relationships between the New York Guard and the partnering nation by planning, coordinating, and executing military to military events and training," Williams explained. His duties will also include managing US security assistance programs, supporting cooperative arms programs, coordinating host nation support, acting as liaison for other defense matters of mutual concern and conceptualizing, planning, coordinating and executing familiarization visits between partnering countries. "As a family, we have always wanted to go overseas," Williams said. They had heard about this position about three years ago and made it a goal to get the position and live together as a family overseas. "The application process was pretty tight," Williams said. "The position was only offered to majors and captains promotable to major." Through New York State and the Department of Military and Naval Affairs, he was selected from ten finalists who interviewed for the position. Williams was picked for the job because of his experience and skills, said Lt. Col. Joseph Sullivan, the New York Army National Guard officer responsible for New York's program. Williams has been working within the partnership program at the 106th Rescue Wing for the past several years. Two years ago, he arranged for 106th para-rescuemen to visit South Africa to train a South African military unit to set up a dive team and perform rescue dives. Also last summer, he helped arrange for a South African rescue team to train here with 106th para-rescuemen. Williams also hosted Uruguayan visitors from the Connecticut Air National Guard's SPP to come here to the 106th and learn about combat search and rescue. He gave the partnering nation's team a briefing on CSAR and a tour of the base here. Col. Thomas J. Owens II, the 106th Rescue Wing Commander, was a big help and is very supportive in what this does for the Wing, Williams said. It provides more opportunities for 106th Rescue Wing members to participate in the partnering nation's military to military events. The Bilateral Affairs Officer's job is to serve as the focal point for joint military exercises between the Republic of South Africa and the New York National Guard. In conjunction with the state command structure and the partnering nation's military leadership, Williams will develop scenarios for deployment of New York National Guard soldiers and airmen to South Africa to meet the approved security assistance activities evaluated through the US Embassy and USAFRICOM staff. These types of activities require a tremendous amount of coordination because of the number of entities involved and the delicate balance that must be maintained. In planning and executing National Guard Participation in foreign military exercises, the coordinator must take a myriad of considerations into account, Williams said. The coordination process involves the State Department, Department of Defense, AFRICOM, New York State Partnership Program Coordinators, the various Service Secretariats, Embassy Staff members, the National Guard Bureau and South African military counterparts, he explained. The Williams family is excited about the new position and they are all looking forward to the exposure of other cultures, Greta Williams said. They plan to travel, meet a lot of interesting people and to go on safaris. The children hope to have some close encounters with elephants and they are all looking forward to acting as ambassadors for the National Guard family, she said.

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