Video of NY National Guard Soldiers from NYC in Kuwait discussing holiday care packages now online

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New York National Guard Soldiers of the 369th Sustainment Brigade talk about receiving holiday care packages in a video now posted online.

CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT NY (12/16/2016)(readMedia)-- A video clip featuring three New York Army National Guard Soldiers from New York City talking about receiving Christmas care packages at their base in Kuwait is available for download.

The Soldiers are all assigned to the New York Army National Guard's 369th Sustainment Brigade which is currently deployed at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait to provide logistics support to U.S. forces operating in the region.

The video clip also features "B-roll" of Soldiers from the 369th Sustainment Brigade passing out care packages the unit received from a number of groups which provide packages for deployed Soldiers.

Packages received by the unit came from Operation Gratitude, Operation Sunscreen, and Blue Star Mothers of the Capital Region, among others.

The Soldiers featured in the video are:

?Specialist Tatum Davidson-Lohse, a Staten Island resident;

?Pvt. 1st Class Donnell Spikes, also a Staten Island resident;

And Specialist Julienny Cruz, from the Bronx.

Davidson-Lohse and Cruz are both military mail clerks, responsible for ensuring that Soldiers get their mail.

The video was filmed on Dec. 14 as Soldiers were visiting the unit morale tent to pick up newly delivered care packages.

The Soldiers talk about the impact receiving these packages has on deployed Soldiers.

The video can be found on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System (DVIDS) website at this location: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/500415/care-packages-369th-sustainment-brigade

The video report can also be seen on the New York National Guard YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsxKECCiKyo

This version of the video has identifier tags.

A version without the identifiers can be found here: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/500412/369th-sustainment-brigade-receives-care-packages

Downloading from the DVIDS site requires a user to register and establish a login and password.

Two hundred and fifty Soldiers of the New York Army National Guard's 369th Sustainment Brigade have been serving in Kuwait since October. The Soldiers mobilized at the beginning of September and trained at Fort Hood, Texas, before deploying to Kuwait.

The Soldiers of the 369th are trained to oversee the operations of logistics and transportation units to provide support for American and allied troops.

The 369th Sustainment Brigade is headquartered at the historic 5th Avenue Armory in Harlem, New York City, but is currently operating out of Camp Smith while the armory is being renovated.

The 369th was originally organized as the 15th New York Infantry in 1916 in Harlem and was an African-American unit in the segregated Army of the time. The unit became famous as the "Harlem Hell Fighters" during World War I.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the unit was federalized and renamed the 369th Infantry.

The Soldiers served in combat under French command and earned a regimental Croix de Guerre and many individual awards for heroism while serving under fire for 191 days in 1918. They were reportedly dubbed the Hell Fighters by their German opponents.

Sgt. Henry Johnson, of Albany, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his World War I heroism while serving in the 369th.

The unit has deployed troops to Mali and Cameroon in support of the United States Africa Command in training exercises with African militaries. Soldiers of the 369th also played a key role in providing logistics support during the New York National Guard's response to Super Storm Sandy in 2012.