Photo By Sgt. Karen Lawshae | U.S. Army Capt. Nadine Wiley De Moura, commander of the 100th Mobile Public Affairs...... read more read more
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Story by: U.S. Army Sgt. Karen Lawshae
The premiere military public affairs unit in the region celebrated 50 years of continuous service to the great state of Texas in a ceremony Nov. 6 at Bee Caves Armory, Austin, Texas.
Originally activated from 1960 to 1963, the 100th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment of the Texas Army National Guard was reactivated during the Vietnam War Nov. 6, 1971 and served continuously ever since.
U.S. Army Capt. Nadine Wiley De Moura, commander of the 100th MPAD, thought it was important to mark 50-plus years of unit history with a celebration.
“Documenting today is important for MPAD Soldiers, because we’re so used to documenting everyone else’s history,” said De Moura. “This is the one time we can look back at ourselves and see where we’ve come from and who we are today as a unit.”
The 100th MPAD’s mission has been to mobilize and deploy to provide public affairs support for operations at home and abroad. MPAD soldiers support commanders and provided public information through media escort, field newspapers, photojournalism, electronic news gathering and broadcast/print journalism all over the world.
“I’ve been to Lithuania, I’ve been to Kosovo, I’ve been to Egypt, I’ve been to the Dominican Republic, I have had such a diverse experience in the MPAD,” said U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Melisa Washington, 100th MPAD multimedia team leader. “I feel like that’s pretty common in public affairs and that’s why I always tell people this is the best profession in the military.”
In the last 30 years, MPAD Soldiers deployed to Bosnia/Croatia (Operation Joint Endeavor 1996-1997,) Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom 2004-2006,) Kosovo (NATO’s Kosovo Force peacekeeping mission 2020-2021,) and Kuwait (Operation Spartan Shield 2020-2021.)
Additionally, the MPAD historically aligned its annual training in support of large scale exercises in Panama (1998,) Japan (1999,) South Korea (2001,) Poland (2002,) Germany (2013-2016,) Lithuania (2017,) the Dominican Republic (2019,) and the Netherlands (2021.)
As die-hard stewards of their profession and dedicated citizen-Soldiers, it is no surprise that half of the unit is currently serving in Active Duty Operational Support, Active Guard Reserve, or Technician positions in support of state and federal missions, while the other half is currently deployed to the Texas border in support of Operation Lone Star.
“The MPAD is one of those units that truly is about Texans serving Texas,” said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Mark Otte, media outreach team leader. “The people that are here now and those who came before me, are truly here in service to the Guard and the people of Texas, and that is unique.”
| Date Taken: | 11.06.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 11.08.2021 11:59 |
| Story ID: | 408879 |
| Location: | AUSTIN, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 157 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, 50 Years Strong – Happy Birthday, MPAD!, by MAJ Nadine Wiley De Moura, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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