News from New York State Division of Military & Naval Affairs

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New York Guard Members Receive Search and Rescue Awards

Two Members of New York’s State Defense Force Are Recognized

LATHAM, NY (04/14/2008)(readMedia)-- Two members of the New York Guard, New York’s volunteer state defense force, have been recognized for their contributions to the programs Search and Rescue Training program.

New York Guard Colonel Robert Bly, of Horseheads, Chemung County; and New York Guard Warrant Officer Joey Nickischer, of Brewster, Westchester County received the Lt. Col. Gordon Dewey Search and Rescue Award during a New York Guard dinner at Watervliet Arsenal in Albany County on 5 April, 2008.

The award is presented annually to members of the New York Guard who have made outstanding contributions to training, development, mentorship, leadership and operations of the New York Guard Search and Rescue Program.

Bly, a member of the New York Guard’s 65th Brigade, was recognized for his service as a Tactical Operations Center Officer working as a liaison with the Department of Environmental Conservation during a three-week long Search and Rescue mission in Indian Lake, Hamilton County in June 2006. Bly is the director of the Chemung County Veterans Service Office. He has belonged to the New York Guard since 1991.

Nickischer is the lead instructor for the New York Guard’s Basic Search and Rescue and Advanced Search and Rescue courses, which are taught annually at Camp Smith, the New York National Guard training facility in Westchester County. He is assigned to the New York Guard’s 56th Brigade.

Nickischer is a detective in the New York Police Department Fugitive Enforcement Division and he is chief of New York Search and Rescue, a volunteer Search and Rescue organization serving the lower Hudson Valley. In 2005 Nickischer led that team to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The award is named in honor of Lt. Col. Dewey who retired from military service after 50 years in uniform, serving with the 82nd Airborne, U.S. Army Special Forces, Vermont State Guard and the New York Guard.

The New York Guard is a state defense force whose members train without pay to prepare for missions in support of state and local governments. It is one of the four components of New York’s Military Forces which also include the New York Army and Air National Guard, and the New York Naval Militia.

New York Guard members specialize in Search and Rescue, emergency communications—manning the state Military Emergency Radio Network (MERN)—and providing liaison between county emergency management offices and New York’s Military Forces. Other members of the New York Guard also serve with units designed to deal with hazardous material spills or chemical and biological attacks.

New York Guard members also provide assistance to New York National Guard units during their mobilizations. New York Guard members serve only within the state and at the direction of the governor and are not subject to presidential call-up and deployment overseas.