Photo By Staff Sgt. Stephanie Cross | Gov. Bobby Jindal shows his support of the Louisiana National Guard by meeting with...... read more read more
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By Staff Sgt. Stephanie J. Cross
Louisiana National Guard
HAMMOND, La. – Louisiana National Guard Soldiers of Detachment 38, Operational Support Airlift said farewell to family and friends on Oct. 23, during the deployment ceremony held at the Army Aviation Support Facility 1 in Hammond, La.
"I am really humbled at the support that we have here," said Det. 38 commander Chief Warrant Officer 5 Kevin P. Dares of Slidell, La.
"When the Command sergeant major and the state aviation commander approached me about having a deployment ceremony for eight Soldiers I wasn't very optimistic about the turn-out, because we are such a small group," Dares said, "but it just shows how much the community and our families and fellow Soldiers do care."
"I would like to thank all the family members for coming, because you are the key in what we do," he continued.
The fixed-wing detachment of the 204th Theater Airfield Operations Group is deploying for approximately nine months to Djibouti, Africa, with two C-12 Huron fixed-wing aircraft to provide Priority Air Transport, a "high-priority" air taxi service to embassy personnel and commanders of the United States Africa Command throughout Africa and the Middle East.
"Of course I don't like it when he has to deploy because he is missing out on so much when it comes to his 5-year-old son, but it is part of his job," said Tranisha H. Walker of Slidell, La., wife of Sgt. Jermaine A. Walker. "We are proud and very supportive of him serving his country."
Walker is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran who is deploying as a flight operations specialist. His job is to track the locations of the aircraft and schedule and receive day-to-day missions.
"It gets harder with each deployment, because it's always at the wrong time," said Walker. "All of my deployments seem to be around the holidays; however, this is what I signed up for when I joined the National Guard."
"I'm excited to be going to Africa," said pilot Chief Warrant Officer 4 Bryan J. Stokes of Baton Rouge, La. "It is a new mission for the C-12, and I think it's going to be interesting to fly in a different place."
Det. 38 left for Fort Benning, Ga., on Oct. 25 to begin two weeks of training before their final departure to Djibouti.
This will be the first time a C-12 unit has been called to deploy to Africa in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Pilots and crewmembers of the fixed-wing unit will be flying the two aircraft to Djibouti, Africa and the trip will take approximately a week of travel before they reach their final destination.
The unit consists of only eight Soldiers between the ages of 30–51, who have a tremendous amount of experience, according to Dares.
"I've only been the commander for about two weeks, but I have been associated with these guys for well over 20 years," he said. "There is a combined total of 180 years of military service and over 44,000 flight hours between the eight of us."
"So, for anyone who thinks the National Guard is not experienced, we are and in many cases a lot more experienced than the active duty," he added.
"My real heroes are the men and women here today in uniform," said Gov. Bobby Jindal. "I look forward to the day, months from now, when we welcome our Soldiers back."
"Since Sept. 11, the Louisiana National Guard has answered our nation's call by serving in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and more recently our Soldiers have answered the call here at home following the devastating Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Today, the Louisiana National Guard will serve another area, the Horn of Africa, in support of the global war on terrorism," remarked Louisiana National Guard Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Bennett C. Landreneau. "In all of these operations we have seen truly remarkable examples of the character and dedication of today's Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen, men and women who are willing to answer our nation's call."
"Today we add a few more names to the proud list of Louisianans that selflessly step up to serve our nation," said Landreneau.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2008 21:13 |
| Story ID: | 26606 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 242 |
| Downloads: | 175 |
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