Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Kryn Westhoven | Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Ruffin (left) lead the team of New York Army National Guard...... read more read more
Subscribe
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — As the troopers of the 107th Military Police Company concluded their Joint Task Force Guantanamo mission, these New York Army National Guard members took with them pride in a job well done. The citizen soldiers completed a one-year deployment as the external security force.
The historic importance of being at Guantanamo during the tenth anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 will always be a large feature of their deployment. Also, having the start of the military commission for the five alleged co-conspirators brought a sense of closure to some of the New Yorkers.
“Closing that circle in the whole process,” said 1st Sgt. Fabio Cardenas, who wears a New York State Police uniform when he is not the unit’s senior non-commissioned officer.
The attacks on 9/11 have kept this unit busy for the past decade. The 107th MPs, headquartered in Utica, N.Y., were one of the first Empire State Guard units to be in New York City at Ground Zero. The following year began the first of two mobilizations to Fort Drum, NY, then a pair of Iraq deployments before arriving at JTF Guantanamo.
That tempo for the unit post-9/11 has lead to a change in the age of the group, averaging 22 years old. This is the generation that watched the World Trade Center crumble on TV in elementary or high school, like Cpl. Edward Nepton. He remembers watching the events unfold in his typing class and not having it affect him until got home to find his mother crying.
Nepton, with several of his friends, are in the group of young service members that raised their right hand because of the events on 9/11.
“Most coming out of school wanted to go to Iraq or Afghanistan,” noted Cardenas, who had to explain that they were on the frontlines for the country. “You are dealing with the enemy every day on another level.”
Cardenas lead a core of senior enlisted who have served on prior deployments and several worked in law enforcement in civilian life. This brought experience vital to train the younger soldiers to excel in the mission’s responsibilities.
The hard work and long hours did not go unnoticed as Lt. Col. Christopher Wynder, commander of the 525th Military Police Battalion, called them “superb performers.” The 107th served under the 525th MP Bn.’s umbrella of military police companies and “in order to capitalize on their unmatched work ethic” the unit was given increased responsibilities, according to Wynder.
“They realized the importance of what they do being from New York,” said 1st Lt. Andrew Miller, 107th MP commander, talking about the unit’s sense of pride in the mission. Miller, a New Hartford, N.Y. police officer encouraged his soldiers to continually improve the operating procedures.
“We significantly raised the bar for other companies to follow,” noted Miller.
Before the soldiers faced the challenges of sometimes repetitive and mundane work on long shifts, the unit needed to come together as a team. This was a difficult task to accomplish in the preceding year, as the citizen soldiers lived in 35 different New York counties, spending drill weekend at four armories located in upstate New York down to Fort Hamilton in New York City.
“They were phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. I couldn’t ask for a better group of soldiers to work with,” said Sgt. 1st Class Dennis Mower.
One young trooper said to Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Ruffin that “never in a million years” he would have thought that during the trial of the 9-11 co-conspirators he would be handling security outside the courtroom.
For Ruffin it was a “surreal moment” to be at Guantanamo Bay for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. “It has a lot of meaning to me,” added Ruffin, who led the team to design and build a lasting monument to their unit’s deployment.
The idea for the monument started as soon as 107th got on the island. The replica of the World Trade Center towers is set into a five-sided base, which represents the Pentagon. The towers are 9 feet tall, and 1x1 foot in diameter. The north tower’s antenna is represented with a piece of metal rebar.
With material donations from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station contractors and help from the Navy Seabee construction team, the monument towers over the other tributes to units who have completed a Joint Task Force Guantanamo tour of duty.
A plaque dedicates the memorial to all who perished in the 9/11 attacks: a fitting honor of all the 107th MP Company members, past and present, who served from Ground Zero to Guantanamo Bay.
| Date Taken: | 06.15.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2012 15:12 |
| Story ID: | 90253 |
| Location: | CU |
| Web Views: | 320 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, In a New York state of mind, by SFC Kryn Westhoven, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT