Send Off Ceremonies for Ithaca Based Army National Guard Soldiers

LATHAM, NY (01/13/2008)(readMedia)-- Company D of the New York Army National Guard's 108th Infantry will conduct a send-off ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 16 for Soldiers departing for post-mobilization training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

WHO:Ithaca-based members of Company D 2nd Battalion 108th Infantry.

WHAT:Send-off ceremony for 80 New York Army National Guard Soldiers and their families.

WHEN: 6 p.m., Wednesday January 16, 2008.

WHERE: New York State Armory, Hanshaw Road, Ithaca.

BACKGROUND: Members of D Co. 108th Infantry will be part of a 700 Soldier Security Force which will provide security for an international team of Soldiers and Police officers charged with providing training for the Afghan National Army and Police Force. The Soldiers go on Federal Active Duty on Jan. 17 and will depart for Fort Bragg for approximately two months of training before deploying to Afghanistan.

OVERVIEW: The Send-Off ceremony in Ithaca is one of nine farewell events occurring Jan. 16 as the New York Army National Guard's 27th Brigade Combat Team enters Federal service en route to Afghanistan.

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 sub elements 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 600 New York National Guard Soldiers are presently serving on active duty.

For photographs of the 27th Brigade Combat Team Soldiers Training for use with this release go to the Division Military and Naval Affairs Website at http://dmna.state.ny.us/index.php.