3,500 New York National Guard Combat Support Soldiers Conduct Annual Training this Summer

Elements from across New York will hone combat skills during two week training period

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New York Army National Guard Private 1st Class Vannesa Rivera a member of the 107th Military Police company goes through a hand-to-hand defense drill during Annual Training in 2014.

LATHAM, NY (05/29/2015)(readMedia)-- More than 3,500 New York Army National Guard Soldiers from across the state assigned to the 53rd Troop command will conduct two-week annual training events this summer at Fort Drum, New York; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; and Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.

The two-week annual training period allows National Guard units to conduct training that requires more time, maneuver space, and special equipment than training which can be conducted at armories across the state during a two-day weekend drill period.

The 53rd Troop Command, headquartered at Camp Smith Training Site near Peekskill, is comprised of combat support units which include military police, engineers, transportation companies, signal corps units, and other logistics support elements. It has elements across New York.

The 102nd Military Police Battalion, headquartered in Auburn and with companies in Rochester, Buffalo, and Latham is already at Fort Drum through June 10 training in area security operations. Their field training exercise will include battle drill evaluation lanes, which allow the troops to practice key tasks.

The 204th Engineer Battalion, which is headquartered in Binghamton and has companies in Walton, Buffalo, Horseheads, and Kingston will have units training at both Fort Drum and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. The engineers will training on combat engineer operations and conduct weapons qualifications ranges. Their training begins on May 31 and runs through mid-June.

The 501st Ordnance Battalion and 1108th Ordnance Company, which specialize in explosive ordnance disposal, will participate in the Raven's Challenge law enforcement explosive ordinance disposal exercise being hosted by the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services at the New York State Preparedness Training Center in Oriskany, June 14-28.

The exercise will allow the units to practice working with civilian explosive disposal teams.

The 104th Military Police Company, which is headquartered in Kingston and has MP companies in Queens and Cortlandt Manor will conduct law and order certification training at Fort Indiantown Gap from in August.

The 101st Expeditionary Signal Battalion, which has elements in Yonkers, Peekskill and Orangeburg, will spend their annual training period in August at Fort Drum. The signal soldiers will conduct individual and crew level training on their high-tech satellite communications networking systems.

The Headquarters of the 369th Sustainment Brigade, the descendants of the famous Harlem Hell Fighters of World War I, will train at Fort Dum in mid-August. The soldiers will conduct command post exercises and train on battle command systems to prepare for a three-week training rotation at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana in 2016.

For more information contact the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs Public Affairs Office at 518-786-4581.