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Clifton Park Resident New York Army National Guard Captain Joseph Minning.

CLIFTON PARK, NY (10/14/2010)(readMedia)-- Captain Joseph Minning, a Clifton Park resident who is a veteran of both Afghanistan and Iraq will take command of B Company 2nd Battalion 108th Infantry on Sunday morning Oct. 17. He replaces Capt. Michael Haffner who has led the company for that last two and a half years.

Minning is from Ronkonkoma, NY. He enlisted as an infantryman in the United States Army in 1997 and after basic training at Ft. Benning, GA was assigned to 2nd of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC.

He left active duty with the rank for Sergeant in 2001 and attended Hofstra University through a Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship awarded through the Army's "Green to Gold" program which allows enlisted Soldiers to earn an ROTC commission.

He graduated and was commissioned in 2003 and joined the New York Army National Guard's 1st Battalion 69th Infantry as platoon leader in 2004, reporting directly to Fort Hood, Texas where the unit was mobilizing. He served in Iraq for a year with the 1st Battalion 69th Infantry . During this period the battalion was charged with securing the road between downtown Baghdad and the airport to end a spate of terrorist attacks on the route.

Upong returning from Iraq he took over the battalion's scout platoon and deployed to the Southwestern Border in support of Operation Jump Start; the use of National Guard troops to help the Board Patrol Conducts its mission. He was promoted to Captain in 2007 and in 2008 deployed to Afghanistan as a member of an Embedded Training Team working with the Afghan National Army. He has served as assistant battalions operations officer and works full-time at New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs headquarters in Latham.

The Change of Command Ceremony traditionally marks the transition of a military unit from one commander to another. On Sunday, Oct. 17, . Lt. Col. Joseph Biehler the commander of the 2nd Battalion 108th Infantry will symbolically pass the company guidon from the outgoing commander, Haffner, to the incoming commander, Minning.

Company B of the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment is comprised of nearly 130 Soldiers. Company B also have units located in Saranac Lake and Ogdensburg, NY. The unit returned from a one year deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in early 2005. The battalion is part of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 42nd Infantry Division, New York Army National Guard.