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New York City Guardsmen Prepare to Depart for Middle East

New York Army National Guard Finance Troops to Serve in Kuwait

FORT MCCOY, WIS. (10/30/2008; 1200)(readMedia)-- Thirty members of a New York Army National Guard unit based at the Whitestone, Armory in Queens, will depart this month for a year-long deployment in Kuwait, supporting troops based there and moving into and out of Iraq.

The 27th Finance Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment , who have been training at Fort McCoy, Wis. , will hold its farewell departure ceremony here on Saturday, November 1.

Since arriving at Fort McCoy in September, the National Guard Citizen Soldiers participated in extensive training on equipment and procedures to learn skills they will need to be successful in their mission overseas.

"Our finance-qualified Soldiers are receiving special training in various finance operations from instructors of the Finance Management Warrior Training Center at Fort McCoy," said Maj. George Wilcha, the unit commander.

Wilcha listed some of the tasks his Soldiers completed in preparation for deployment as personnel management, supply management, vehicle and weapons maintenance, nuclear-biological-chemical operations, tactical and field operations, field sanitation, operating military tactical vehicles in an all-terrain environment, performing weapons qualification, conducting urban warfare operations and running convoy operations.

"The 27th has incredible Soldiers in our ranks," Wilcha said. "I thank all of the Soldiers and for the sacrifice everyone, including their families, are making in order for the 27th to conduct a successful mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

While at Fort McCoy, the unit planned and executed training to provide them with specific combat, survival and warrior skills.

This training is the cornerstone for priming Soldiers for deployment. Soldiers train in an environment and in situations that replicate, as realistically as possible, those they will experience overseas. Training areas are surrounded by concertina wire, entry control points and guard towers. Soldiers traveled in convoys. They encountered role players posing as civilians on the battlefield or opposing forces. The training is repetitive, and its intensity increases with each iteration. The ultimate goal is to have Soldiers respond intuitively to threats and situations they encounter.

The list of required training is extensive. The 27th Finance participated in training related to weapons qualification, Army warrior training, physical fitness, leadership, combat life saving, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), mounted combat patrol operations, urban operations, entry control point operations, motor vehicle operations and maintenance, protective mask familiarity and confidence, detainee operations, hand-to-hand combat, reflexive fire, grenades, culture/customs/language, land navigation, and much more.

The 27th Finance headquarters' training culminated in an Army Training and Evaluation Program, which incorporated and tested all aspects of the individual and collective training they had received.

"Our Non-commissioned officers' (NCOs) most important duty is not limited to train our Soldiers in peacetime, but to also prepare them for wartime," said Sgt. Major Ernesto Ramos. Ramos is the senior enlisted Soldier in the unit. "I will not cease to encourage and motivate our Soldiers to pursue and achieve our main responsibility."

"Today we are proudly seeing the result of the dedication of Soldiers and NCO's while our troops successfully execute all of our training tasks, meeting the standards and maintaining a high level of morale," Ramos said. "This is certainly an indication of readiness and a guarantee to success in completing our mission."

"We thank families, relatives and friends for their enormous support," Ramos said." It is a great help to stay focused in our objectives knowing that our families are doing well, are safe, and that they appreciate our commitment to serve our community, our state and our nation."

The 27th Finance Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment.is expected to deploy to Kuwait between 8-12 November and return for demobilization in mid-September 2009, serving one year of active duty before returning home.

Attachments

Spc. Jin Hui Jiang hands Richard Crogan his pay during a mission exercise at Ft. McCoy, Wis. Jiang is a cashier with the 27th Finance Company, NY Army National Guard. U.S. Army Photo

Pvt. 1st Class Hutison Louismar, foreground, Sgt. Jason Tam, center, and Spc. Jacqueline Guerro, rear, work on military pay documents while Sgt. 1st Class Robert Kemp observes. U.S. Army Photo