News from New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs

For more information contact: Lt. Col. Richard Goldenberg, 518-786-4581

Mobilized National Guard Unit to host Media during Training

Soldiers Prepare for Afghan Deployment

FORT BRAGG, NC (02/22/2008; 0900)(readMedia)-- Nearly 1,400 members of the New York National Guard’s 27th Brigade Combat Team with units spread across the State of New York are conducting post mobilization training at Fort Bragg, N.C. prior to overseas movement. As part of the unit’s training program, news organizations are invited to Fort Bragg to spend a day embedded with their local Guard unit performing theater immersion training.

What: Opportunity for New York State-based news media to travel at their own expense and visit local National Guard Soldiers conducting their final combat training preparations. Soldiers will conduct battle drills and react to combat simulations as the unit prepares to deploy to Afghanistan early this spring.

Who: Activated members of the New York National Guard’s 27th Brigade Combat Team mobilized for service in Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) as Combined Joint Task Force Phoenix VII.

When: Media opportunity on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Travel to and from Fort Bragg should include March 10 and 12.

Where: Forward Operating Base Patriot, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Background:

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 embeded 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 logistics personnel from the 427th Forward Support Battalion in Rochester, Syracuse and other armories statewide.

Interested news organizations should contact the NYS Division of Military and Naval Affairs Public Affairs Office at (518) 786-4581 to confirm the dates and itinerary of their expected travel to and from Fayetteville, N.C and Fort Bragg. Additional details of the training and questions about the brigade's pending deployment can be directed to Lt. Col. Paul Fanning at (518) 441-4106 or paul.a.fanning@us.army.mil for response.

Participating news media will be escorted onto the Forward Operating Base where they will be credentialed by Lt. Col. Fanning and the Task Force Public Affairs Office. Members of the unit that fall within the news organizations coverage area will pick them up and host them for the day. Scheduled training is an evaluated exercise replicating tactical conditions in the combat theater. Participating news media will be “immersed” in the theater environment alongside the Soldiers. The unit will return the news media to the reception center on the FOB at the end of the day’s training where they will be escorted off the FOB.

Additional Information: Participating news media are responsible for their own travel to Fort Bragg and accommodations. To reserve a space, news organizations must provide the names of their participating reporters who will have to provide photo identification and media badges in order to gain entrance to the military installation and the Forward Operating Base.