Puerto Rico Takes Reigns of Headquarters, Headquarters Company

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Richard Wolff | Members of the Puerto Rico National Guard arrive aboard Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Dec. 28, 2008. Puerto Rico relieves the New Mexico National Guard after their year-long deployment at Joint Task Force Guantanamo. JTF Guantanamo conducts safe, humane, legal and transparent care and custody of detained enemy combatants, including those convicted by military commission and those ordered released. JTF Guantanamo conducts intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination for the protection of detainees and personnel working in JTF Guantanamo facilities and in support of the Global War on Terror. JTF Guantanamo provides support to the Office of Military Commissions, to law enforcement and to war crimes investigations. JTF Guantanamo conducts planning for and on order responds to Caribbean mass migration operations.  

01.02.2009

Story by Pfc. Eric Liesse 

Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

By Eric Liesse
Joint Task Force Guantanamo Public Affairs

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba – With the change of a year comes changes for Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Now, the JTF's Headquarters, Headquarters Company is handled by a different unit – new to the island and the Army.

The 191st Regional Support Group of the Puerto Rico Army National Guard deployed approximately 100 of its 1100 Soldiers to the JTF, replacing Soldiers from the New Mexico Army National Guard to take over operations of the Camp America HHC.

"We'll be here taking charge of the logistical side of the house, and be here making sure the whole mission runs smoothly," said Army Sgt. 1st Class Miguel Bonilla, the new first sergeant of the HHC.

Though the JTF already has Puerto Rico guardsmen serving as gate and area security, the 191st RSG has never before sent personnel here – or anywhere else for that matter.

The 191st has only been in existence since 2008, when it was stood up during an overall transformation of the PRNG.

As a regional support group, the 191st "provides command and control structure for non-major combat operations, and assists [active and reserve] units in meeting training, readiness and deployment requirement," said Army Lt. Col. Millie Rosa with the PRNG.

The 191st's deployment to the JTF is the first mobilization in the unit's brief history. Bonilla marks his unit's Guantanamo mission as an important milestone, saying they are "making history in the unit itself."

As the new first sergeant of the HHC, Bonilla commands 30 years of military experience with multiple backgrounds. He spent 12 years on active duty, with about half that time in Germany and half in the U.S., with another 18 years with the Guard.

Bonilla was previously activated for nine months as a platoon sergeant with a military police unit to Fort Buchanan, San Juan, Puerto Rico, after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He also holds a background in field artillery and is currently classified as an infantryman.

"We have high-experienced personnel in all areas," Bonilla said of his company. "My Troopers are all highly motivated, and they're looking forward to completing all the assigned tasks to them to the best of their ability. So I don't have any doubt that we'll be able to comply with the mission and be successful in ours."

Bonilla closed with a few words of encouragement for all his Soldiers, as well as all JTF personnel: "Give your best, live the values, and always put the nation first."

www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil

• Date Taken: 01.02.2009
• Date Posted: 01.05.2009 15:41
• Story ID: 28482