Staten Island-based National Guard Soldiers to train at Fort Polk, Louisana

145th Maintenance Company troops will operate in high-intensity, simulated combat environment.

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NY Army Guard Sgt. Adam Lamb works on a generator during a Joint Readiness Training Center deployment in the summer of 2016.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (04/25/2018) (readMedia)-- New York Army National Guard Soldiers from Staten Island's 145th Maintenance Company will be heading to one of the Army's premier training centers in May, July and August.

Thirty-nine Soldiers will train at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana from April 27 to May 26. Another 39 Soldiers will train there from July 19 to August 20.

The company, which specializes in general maintenance support has a strength of 160.

The Joint Readiness Training Center, known as JRTC, allows Army light infantry brigades to conduct large-scale force-on-force training in a realistic environment.

Soldiers are equipped with laser engagement systems and monitors and fight against an opposing force. Their actions are evaluated so they can learn what worked and what did not work.

The training area also includes villages inhabited by role-players and farm animals to replicate the real-world environment.

The Soldiers will conduct combat support operations in the realistic simulated combat environment of the Joint Readiness Training Center. This means that along with repairing vehicles and equipment, the New York National Guard Soldiers will also have to fight off simulated attacks from the opposing force.

The first contingent of troops will be supporting the Alabama Army National Guard's 1103rd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion which is based in Eufaula, Alabama.

The troops deploying to Fort Polk in July will be supporting the 751st Combat Support Sustainment Battalion of the South Carolina Army National Guard. The battalion is based in Newberry, Scout Carolina.

The 145th Maintenance Company will also conduct their regular two-week annual training period at Camp Smith Training Site near Peekskill for Soldiers who will not deploy for the training at Fort Polk.