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Georgia DOD Home
First Friday Briefing for
June 2004
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In this issue:
GA
Summit Puts Guard in World's Spotlight
Nesbitt to Lead G8 Task Force
Searcy To Ends Career
Following G8
878th Returns
Following Deployment
Iraq Deployment
Doesn't Deter Education of One Georgian
781st Schedules Job Fair
YCA Cadets Get 'A Taste of Korea'
GSDF Takes On 3-Training Course; Aids Homeless
Veterans' Project
116th
Operations Group Welcomes New Commander
Former Assistant Adjutant General,
Army, BG Mees Dies
Zachman Takes
Maintenance Command at 116th
Florida Manager Wins Georgia Award
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G8
Summit Puts Georgia Guard in World's Spotlight
Georgia Air National Guard Sr. Airman Nathan Flowers, of Baxley, helps build a floor for a communications tent Wednesday June 2, 2004. Flowers is a 224th Joint Communications Support Squadron satellite communications repairman. The Air National Guard unit, based in Brunswick, is helping with the Global Eight Economic Conference. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Jeff Lowry, 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment) |
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Georgia Army
and Air National Guardsmen will play a significant security role
over the next two weeks as the
United States, and President George W. Bush, plays host to the world’s most
powerful economic nations during the G8 Summit at Sea Island,
Ga.
Unique to
this mission is that all military elements, active and National
Guard, will be brought together under a single unified Joint
Task Force commanded by Brig. Gen. Terry Nesbitt, commanding
general, Georgia Army National Guard. In addition to Georgia
Guard assets, Nesbitt’s command will include active Army, Air
Force and Navy units. (See related story below).
Guardsmen from
around the state began converging on southeast
Georgia
this week in preparation for the
Summit. The three-day event begins next week, but preparations by the
Georgia DOD and National Guard have been ongoing for months.
Advanced
parties, along with some units, arrived at Fort Stewart,
Savannah, Brunswick and Atlanta throughout this past week, with
main elements expected to arrive today (Friday). Although the
exact number of Georgia Guard members has not been released
because of operational security concerns, the presence of the
Guard in support of the G8 is significant.
Nearly every Army and Air Guard unit in the state is
involved in the mission, with the Georgia State Defense Force
also contributing.
Georgia Guard
members arriving this week for the G8 mission reported to
Movement
Control
Centers, or MCCs, where they were processed onto duty and picked up
credentials and safety items. Many began duties immediately by
setting up communications links or operations centers.
As the event
nears and activity increases over the weekend, Georgia Guardsmen
will conduct a number of operations in support of local and
federal law enforcement agencies. Missions are expected to
include security presence patrols, checkpoint operations and air
support. Some Guard members will work alongside state law
enforcement in forming reaction teams to respond in the event
protesters get out of hand.
The G8 brings
together the heads of state from the world’s most powerful
nations to discuss economic and political issues. In addition to
the U.S., the meeting will draw the heads of
Great Britain, France, Germany,
Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia
and the European Union. The meeting rotates among the eight
nations. This year’s host, President Bush, selected Sea
Island as the site of this year’s meeting.
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Nesbitt
to Command G8 Force
 Brig.
Gen. Terry Nesbitt has been appointed overall commander
of active duty and reserve military forces providing
security for the G8 Summit scheduled for coastal Georgia
in early June.
This is the first time a National Guard
commander has been placed in command of active-duty
Soldiers for such an event.
Read
the complete Army Times Story.
Maj.
Gen. Searcy To Retire Following G8
Major
General William N. Searcy, Commander, Georgia Air National
Guard will retire in June, but not before his final
assignment as the Air Commander for the G-8 Summit at Sea
Island.
Retirement
ceremonies for the 36-year Air Guard Commander will take place
on Saturday, June 26, 2004 at 10 a.m. at the 165th Airlift
Wing in Savannah.
Searcy
has commanded the nine units of the 3,000-member Georgia Air
National Guard since 2000. He was promoted to the rank of
Major General in Sept 2001. He has served in a number of
positions in the Air Guard to include chief, airlift command
post, operations group commander, and director of operations
prior to assuming the position of wing commander of the 165
Airlift Wing. Searcy is a command pilot with more than 3,500
flying hours.
Gen
Searcy will command all air operations for the G-8 Summit
which will include both rotor and fixed wing aircraft from
both the Army and Air National Guard.
As
part of a weekend of events surrounding the retirement of
Searcy, a golf tournament is planned for Friday, June 25, in
Rincon GA.. Those interested in participating in the golf
tournament should contact Lt Col Don Pallone at (912)
966-8146 or DSN 860-8146. |
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878th
Returns Following Iraq Deployment
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Georgia National Guard Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Gabriel, with Company B, 878th Engineer Battalion, hugs his daughters Savannah, rear, and Taylor, front, Friday June 4, 2004. The battalion returned from a 15th-month deployment in the Middle East. (Georgia National Guard photo by Sgt. Jeff Lowry, 124th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)
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Two hundred and
ninety (290) Georgia Army National Guardsmen assigned to the
878th Engineer Battalion are scheduled to return home to Fort
Stewart from more than one year of service in Iraq on Friday,
June 4, 2004. The returning soldiers are from units located in
Metter, Lyons, Swainsboro, Sandersville, and Augusta. More
than 100 members of the 878th returned home in mid-May.
Welcoming
ceremonies are scheduled for Friday, June 4th at the Newman
Gymnasium at Fort Stewart.
More than
530 Guardsmen of the 878th were initially mobilized in March
2003 and later deployed to Fort Stewart prior to their move to
Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom..
The 878th Engineering Battalion
is a combat engineering unit and was used for a variety of
construction operations while in the combat zone. Following training at Fort
Stewart, the battalion deployed to several locations in Iraq.
Returning Soldiers will be
released from active duty following out-process administrative
duties at Fort Stewart.
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Guard
LTC Earns Doctorate While Deployed
While other doctoral
students are working in the library
or on their computers at home, Lt. Col. Peter VanAmburgh was
completing the final statistical analysis for his doctoral
dissertation in a destroyed building at the Baghdad airport in
Iraq.
Earning an advanced
degree and maintaining a full time job can be a daunting task
for anyone. Read The Full Story
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781st
Slates Job Fair
The
781st Troop Command and the Georgia Department of
Labor have teamed together to present a job fair FOR RETURNING
GUARDSMEN. Our goal is to ensure all returning warriors
are employed.
17 July 2004
:
The Department of Labor will present two Transitional Assistance
Programs (TAP) at the Kennesaw Armory, 1901 McCollum
Parkway,
Kennesaw,
Georgia
30144.
TAP participants receive valuable training and information that
gives them an edge over other applicants. Session One is
0830 to 1230 hours and Session Two is 1330 to 1730 hours.
781st Troop Command soldiers will be paid one UTA
(unit training assembly) to complete one of the sessions; this
will be a split assembly from the AUG drill period. Meals
will NOT be furnished for this event. EACH session is
limited to 150 participants!
07 August
2004
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Instructional Workshops will be conducted at
Kennesaw
State
University’s
KSU
Center
. Several
Workshops are planned; such as: Getting Organized;
Dressing For Success; Resume Preparation; Interviewing Skills;
etc. Soldiers attend workshops of choice based on
information gained during TAP. 781st soldiers
will attend in MUTA 2 status as a part of the AUG drill.
Soldiers may return to the armory for meals or lunch on their
own at no cost to the government.
11 SEP 2004
(Patriot’s Day): JOB FAIR for returning warriors
conducted at the
Cobb
Civic
Center
. 781st
soldiers attend in MUTA 2 status as a part of the SEP drill.
Soldiers may return to the armory for meals or lunch on their on
at no cost to the government.
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YCA
Cadets Get A Taste of Korea
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A sword routine
demonstrated for YCA cadets
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One of the lessons instructors with the Youth
Challenge program hope their cadets learn is how diversity makes
the world go around.
That lesson and the one that anything is
possible if a person tries was emphasized, in late May when
Atlanta businessman and native South Korean, Sunny Park and
members of his Good Neighbor Campaign visited the YCA campus at
Fort Stewart near Savannah.
Read
full story on the web
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SDF
Undergoes 3-Day Training Session; aids homeless Vets in Annual
Salute
SDF members
march out for land navigation training
More
Pictures, Click
here
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Thirty GSDF Support Group
Personnel attended a three-day training session at Camp
Rogers, the Ranger Training Facility located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Under the command of Colonel
Richard Lockert, the GSDF staff was trained and housed at
the facility. They did an extensive Land Navigation
Class, search and rescue, compass course and other skills
training while at the facility. All training was conducted
by US Army Rangers.
Homeless
Veterans Salute
The State Defense Force also
assisted in an annual statewide program to aid homeless veterans.
The SDF helped distribute food, boots and food for veterans
who have fallen on hard times.
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Major Daniel Rado,
1st Brigade, GSDF issues boots to Veteran Alvin Tench, who
served in Vietnam from 1966-67.
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WO1 Russell at his post
at the recent Homeless Veterans Salute.
Supported by the VA some 150 homeless soldiers were
provided with clothing, food, health screening, dental
referrals, and other services including referrals to
social service providers. Some 20 GSDF
volunteers assisted in all aspects of the event |
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116th
Operations Group Welcomes New Commander
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Col.
Kimberly Corcoran took command of the 116th Operations Group,
from Col. James Jones during a change of command ceremony at
the multi-purpose hangar
at Robins AFB, Ga., May 24.
Colonel Corcoran was the deputy commander of the 3rd Mission
Support Group at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, before
taking command of the 116th OG. Colonel Jones was the
commander
from October 2002-May 2004. Photo
by Tech. Sgt. Mary
Smith |
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Brig.
Gen. Donald E. Mees, Former Asst. AG, Army,
1st GMI Commandant
Brig. Gen. (ret.) Donald
E. Mees, 88, who served as Assistant Adjutant General, Army, under
Governor Jimmy Carter, and who was the first commandant of the Georgia
Military Institute (GMI) (now Regional Training Institute) has died.
A memorial service will
be held at The First United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville,
Saturday June 5, 2004, 395 West Crogan Street, at
2 p.m.
Mees, a veteran of World
War II, began his military career as an enlisted soldier with the Georgia
Guard in 1937. In 1941, Mees, along with other members of the 101st
Separate Coast Artillery, was inducted into federal service. By February
1942, the unit, aboard the Queen Mary, was sailing for Australia, then on to New Guinea where they aided the defense of the island against the Japanese. In an
interview with Guard historians in the early 1990s, Mees said that had he
and his unit been confronted with surrender during those days “I would
have elected to go up into the hills” and fight.
The General is survived
by his wife of 63 years, Rosemary, three sons, and two daughters as well
as brother and sister.
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At left 116th
Air Control Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Tom Lynn (far left) hands
the 116th Maintenance Group flag to Col. Dan Zachman.
Colonel
Zachman took command of the 116th MXG from Col. Terry
Kinney May 4 in the 116th’s multi-purpose hangar.
Colonel Zachman was the 116th MXG deputy commander
before taking full command.
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State
of Florida Manager Receives Georgia Patriotic Award
From left to
right (in uniform) Capt Cheryl Walters, Lt Col Bill Collins, and
Major Raymond Silli of the 224th
Joint Communications Support Squadron
in Brunswick presents the ESGR Patriotic Employer Award to Mike
Sole, Director of the Florida Division of Waste Management.
The Patriotic Employer Award recognizes employers who protect
liberty and freedom by supporting employee participation in
America’s National Guard and Reserve forces. The Division was
nominated by employee Cheryl Walters. The 224th recently
completed a 24-month deployment to the Middle East.
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