Photo By Kelly Bradley | Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Maj. Gen. Donald Dunbar, Wisconsin adjutant general, Brig....... read more read more
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MADISON, Wis. - Eleven members of the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 104th Security Force Advise and Assist Team returned to Wisconsin Sept. 28 after serving nine months in Afghanistan.
Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch joined the Wisconsin National Guard’s senior leadership and families in welcoming the team of Soldiers home to Madison, Wis.
The SFAAT spent its deployment working with the 4th Afghan Border Police at a remote combat outpost on the Afghan border with Iran and Turkmenistan. Their work represented a critical component of the U.S. strategy to transition security and responsibility for the country back to Afghan hands before the expected withdrawal of U.S. forces next year.
Brig. Gen. Ken Koon, the Wisconsin National Guard’s assistant adjutant general for readiness and training, touted the unit’s long list of accomplishments during his remarks at the homecoming ceremony.
Throughout the deployment, which began in January, the SFAAT conducted 24 major operations in the 4th Afghan Border Police area of responsibility, which includes more than 1,100 kilometers of international border. The team planned and conducted more than 100 combat patrols in addition to working with their Afghan counterparts to improve operations, logistics, and communications.
The unit also helped start two 12-room schools and a deep water well, distributed donated school supplies to villages, and delivered 175 desks to a school that previously had no furniture.
As a result, the 104th, or Team Talon as it was known in Afghanistan, earned five Combat Infantryman Badges, two Combat Action Badges, one Combat Medical Badge, and eight Bronze Star Medals.
As the unit’s executive officer, Maj. Michael Hanson, said at the Sept. 28 ceremony, the 104th SFAAT was described by the commanding general in charge of all coalition forces in Afghanistan, as the best SFAAT operating in the country.
As important as the accolades heaped on the unit was the very real difference the SFAAT made in a country the U.S. has spent 12 years preparing to stand on its own.
“I told them [Afghan partners], ‘the future of your organization is very bright,’” Hanson said. “You have some very good young leaders here that we were working with and mentoring.’”
“You will never know the effect that you’ve had on this part of the world,” added Maj. Gen. Donald Dunbar, Wisconsin adjutant general. “A very tough part of the world. The people that you met and the people that you mentored, and the seeds that you’ve planted…some will take a long time to germinate.
“What you have done is substantive, and it matters to our country and the country of Afghanistan," Dunbar continued. "And if they have any chance at success after we leave, it is going to be because of efforts like you just put forth these last nine months on the ground.”
But the theme of the day was family, as the soldiers returned to the waiting arms of their families for the first time in a year.
Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch brought her two daughters along for the ceremony.
“I think it’s really important that we show our children what this is and why it is so important that we admire, we respect, that we show thanks and gratitude for those who preserve their ability, our ability to do what we get a chance to do every day — love life, pursue the American dream,” she told the troops and their families. “These are things that we wouldn’t be able to do were it not for you preserving freedom around the world.
“Gentlemen, it was so important to bring my kids to show them that in today’s generation, superheroes are not the stuff of movies,” she continued. “They’re not the stuff of comic books. They don’t wear capes. They don’t wear masks, and they don’t only work under the cover of night. They are here. They are among us. They are tremendously brave, and they are human. Thank you for serving Wisconsin so well.”
The 16-member 104th SFAAT deployed to Afghanistan in January after several months of training at Fort Polk, La., and Camp Shelby, Miss. Several soldiers returned to the U.S. ahead of the unit’s main body.
| Date Taken: | 09.30.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.30.2013 14:53 |
| Story ID: | 114488 |
| Location: | MADISON, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Welcome home: Guard advisory team arrives home to Wisconsin, by MAJ Joseph Trovato, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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