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116th Medical Group scores ‘Excellent’ in recent Air Force Inspection
The Robins-based 116th Medical Group recently scored an overall
"excellent" on the Air Force Health Service Inspection. Conducted once
every five years, the Air Force Health Service Inspection found that
the 68 members of the Medical Group consistently perform at a level
above many Air Force medical units while maintaining an extremely high
operational tempo. The Homeland Defense Equipment Readiness program
managed by Staff. Sgt. Michelle Sheppard was called the 'best program
ever seen.' Additionally, the Group’s credentials program managed by
Maj Patricia Curtis also set the example from which "other units could
learn from," according to inspectors."
Full Story
277th Maintenance Co. Soldier
Saves two from drowning
Fire and rescue officials credit a Kennesaw-based Georgia Army Guardsman
with saving the lives of two young boys caught in a dangerous riptide and
being swept out into Galveston Bay. Pfc. Stephen Mercado, an automated
logistics specialist with the 277th Maintenance Company, was vacationing
over the Fourth of July holiday when he saw the youths caught in the heavy
riptides while they were bodysurfing in the shallow portion of the popular
beach area. “If it hadn’t been for him the youths might have drowned and
we’d be doing body recovery,” said Galveston's assistant fire chief.
Full Story
Air Guard units get new commanders; 165th announces changes
Three new Air National Guard command
changes have recently been announced by Maj. Gen. Scott Hammond,
commander of the Georgia Air Guard. The 165th Airlift Wing also announced changes
in its command structure. Full Story
Keeping it Real: 148th prepares
for OEF with live scenarios
Company A, 148th Brigade Support Battalion, took training to a new
level with a twist of real life. Members of the unit experienced
casualty and IED training as they prepare for their upcoming
deployment to Afghanistan in 2009. Full
Story
Soldiers receive training
from famed martial arts instructor
Soldiers of Georgia’s Counterdrug Task Force, Macon’s 48th Infantry
Brigade Combat Team and Marietta’s 78th Aviation Troop Command
participated recently in four days of intensive training
with world renowned Israeli martial arts instructor and Black Belt
Magazine Hall of Fame member Mike Lee Kanarek. “This was one of the
most intense and focused training periods these Soldiers have
experienced,” said Lt. Col. Brock Gaston, coordinator for the drug task
force.
Full Story
Ga CSMs graduate from SMA Academy
Seven of Georgia’s Senior noncommissioned officers graduated from the
United States Army Sergeants Major Academy in Fort Bliss, Texas, June
20, 2008. The Soldiers took two years of correspondence courses
followed by a two-week residence phase.
Full Story
AFA award: Corbett earns honor for
Exceptional service
Staff Sgt.
Richard Corbett, 330th Combat Training Squadron, 116th Air
Control Wing, won the Air Force Sergeants Association’s Division
4, First Term Airman of the Year Award for 2008. Corbett is an
instructor airborne operations technician on the Joint STARS
aircraft and also works as the commander’s enlisted executive.
The award recognizes and honors young airmen, and it also
encourages them to continue with their desire to be exceptional
representatives of the Air Force and their country..
Full Story
Governor
gives send off
to academy
bound students
Governor Sonny Perdue invited Georgia’s U.S. academy-bound cadets to
the capitol building for a sendoff and luncheon Friday, June 13.Future
West Point, Naval, Air Force, and Coast Guard Academy cadets and their
families arrived in Atlanta around noon to meet each other, greet the
governor, and convene with some of the officers who had played a hand
in the cadet selection process.
Full Story
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224th JCSS earns fifth Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Georgia 's 224th Joint Communications Support Squadron was presented its fifth Air
Force Outstanding Unit Award on Saturday, June 21st at award ceremonies
held at the Brunswick-based unit. The award, presented by Col. John B.
Morrison Jr., Commander of the Joint Communications Support Element, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., was made before unit members, families and
friends of the unit.
Full Story
Georgia Army Guard earns first place
In prestigious ACOE program
The Georgia Army National Guard has been named the first place award
recipient in the Gold Division of the 2008 Army Communities of Excellence
program. Lieutenant General Clyde Vaughn, the National Guard Bureau’s
director of the Army National Guard, announced the award following an
intense assessment based on the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National
Quality Award criteria. It is the Army National Guard’s highest
recognition for organizational performance excellence.
Full Story
GSDF commissions 15 as Warrant Officers following OCS program
Standing tall and proud of what they had accomplished, 15 members of
the Georgia State Defense Force, including the wife of a Georgia Army
Guardsman, set aside their status as enlisted Soldiers to become the
SDF’s newest crop of officers and warrant officers.
Full story
Georgia Soldier only second
To earn top ranger honors
One of Georgia’s own warriors made history recently by being only the
second Soldier in Georgia Army Guard history to graduate at the top of his
class from Army Ranger School at Fort Benning. Sgt. Iaian Duncan a member
of Company H, Georgia’s long range surveillance company is only the second
Georgia Army Guardsman to be selected the school’s Distinguished Honor
Graduate. The first to achieve honor grad status was Command Sgt. Maj.
Michael Hurndon, now the senior noncommissioned officer for the 48th
Infantry Brigade Combat Team, back in 1995 while serving with the LRS.
Full Story
48th IBCT NCOs
Learn empowerment skills
Senior NCOs will be able to teach
junior NCOs how to deal with problems while deployed thanks to
empowerment and support skills learned during a
first-of-its-kind 48th IBCT Volunteer Brigade Senior Sergeants
Conference June 27-28. The invitation only event for 48th
Infantry Brigade Combat Team sergeants major, 1st sergeants and
other key enlisted leaders will enable them to educate the
corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants who, once in
Afghanistan, will be direct representatives of the brigade with
the local population. Full Story
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Change of Command |
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121st Infantry gains new
commander for Afghanistan
The First Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment,
ushered in Maj. Matt Smith, who replaced Lt. Col. Andy Hall as the new
commander of the battalion, headquartered in Winder.
Full Story
Olutosin takes 170th reins;
Hoffman moves to 78th Troop Command
Georgia Army National Guard Lt. Col. Lutalo Olutosin has taken the reins
of command from Lt. Col. Joseph P. Hoffman as the commander of the 170th
Military Police Battalion. The change of command ceremony took place at
the 170th headquarters in Decatur on Saturday, June 14. Hoffman will move
on to serve as the Deputy Commander for the 78th Troop Command.
Full Story
48th BSTB warrior transformation recognized
during change of command
The change of command ceremony for 48th Brigade Special Troops
Battalion found relinquishing commander, Lt. Col. Raymond D. Bossert, conflicted with emotions; pride and obvious sadness as he
recalled where these Soldiers, his Soldiers, had been and where they had
arrived as part of the Warrior’s transformative experience.
Full Story
Don’t see your units change of command?
E-mail Spc. Amanda Kenny at amanda.luksic@ga.ngb.army.mil or Sgt.
1st Class Roy Henry at roy.henry@ga.ngb.army.mil |
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Deployment
Update |
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'Team Georgia' helps
Kansas in tornado clean up
Nine members of “Team Georgia,” a group of Georgia Guardsmen training to go to Afghanistan, were part of the clean up efforts
when a tornado ripped through the Fort Riley area in early June.
Full Story
Joint effort takes CST to Florida
Soldiers of
the 4th Civil Support Team, with help from the Tennessee Air National
Guard’s 164th Air Wing, out of Memphis, loaded vehicles onto a C-5
Galaxy for the trip to Key West, Fla., in early June. The 4th CST joined CSTs from Florida and Alabama to conduct
a full scale
exercise with U.S. Army North, said Maj. Darren Smith,
commander 4th CST. Working jointly with other states is part of National Guard Bureau’s requirements for the CSTs, especially with out of
state missions, said Smith. The CST also will take part in an exercise in
the Virgin Islands. |
YCA graduates 209 in latest graduation
Some 209 cadets from the Fort Stewart campus of
the Youth Challenge Academy took a giant step toward achievement when they
graduated from YCA Class 2008-02 during ceremonies in June at the
Macon City Auditorium. More than 7,700 cadets have graduated from
Georgia's YCA since the program began in 1993.
Full Story
Georgia Officers Association
Celebrates 60 years at Conference
Georgia’s National Guard Association of Georgia (NGAGA)
convened at Jekyll Island June 5-8 for its 60th annual
conference to discuss business and review the year’s
achievements. Many influential speakers were present to address
the collection of Guardsmen.
Full Story
Guardsman, World War II vet
John W. Meeler dies
The Georgia National Guard lost another of its World War II
veterans with the death on Memorial Day of John W. (Bill) Meeler, Sr.
89, lately of Cedartown, Ga. Joining the Guard in 1936, he was called
to active duty in 1940 with his unit, the 179th Field Artillery
Battalion.
Full Story
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A look at what happened in July in Georgia National Guard history...
July 1963 – Air Guardsmen of the
116th Air Transport Wing headquarters, the 116th Air Transportation
Group and subordinate squadrons held their first summer training
period under their new commander, Brig. Gen. Ralph G. Kuhn. Training
took place at Dobbins AFB, Marietta. Among the skills that airmen
honed were aeromedical practices, communications, flight simulator and
administrative procedures. Two flights to Europe and one to Puerto
Rico were made during the two week period, hauling cargo for the forces overseas.
July 1964 – The Saint Simons Island based 224th Radio Relay
Squadron, Georgia Air National Guard, proved it could that it could
establish and maintain a wide ranging radio network during annual
training. Operating from seven remote mountain-top relay stations and
four base terminals, the unit established a 247-mile communications
net from Indiantown Gap, Pa., north to Griffis AFB, NY and south to
Olmstead, AFB, Pa., tying in with other Air Force and ANG units during
annual training. To establish the network the unit convoyed its
equipment more than 800 miles from Saint Simons.
July 1966 – The Georgia Military Instituted commissioned 43 second
lieutenants during a ceremony in Macon. The group was sworn in by
Brig. Gen. Charlie F. Camp, ssistant Adjutant General of Georgia for
Army.
July 1967 – The 48th Armored Division amassed a record 68 superior
and 27 excellent rating by regular Army and reserve component
evaluators during its summer training. The 1967 maneuvers were
expected to be the final massed training as a division. Highlighting
the first week’s activities was a two-day visit of the State’s new
commander-in-chief, Gov. Lester G. Maddox. In an address to the
division, Maddox said: "You can be confident that every effort is being
may …to obtain the force structure in Georgia that will provide our
state with the most efficient and powerful forces that we can maintain
in support of our Nation’s military plans.”
Complied by
Beryl I Diamond, PhD,
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