Photo By Joseph Coslett | Maj. Gen. Greg Porter, Wyoming adjutant general, addresses members of the Wyoming...... read more read more
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CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming House and Senate chambers are built for debate.
On Military Recognition Day, they were built for something else.
Applause rolled through both chambers this week after Maj. Gen. Greg Porter, Wyoming’s adjutant general, shared stories of Soldiers and Airmen whose missions stretched from the ice fields of Antarctica to artillery positions in Syria and a nighttime helicopter rescue in the Bighorn Mountains.
For several moments after each story, lawmakers stood.
“These are the things we do,” Porter told members of the Legislature. “They don’t tell you who we are.” What followed did.
Nearly a year ago, Maj. Austin Krueger and Master Sgt. Lyndsey Glotfelty were stationed at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, supporting Operation Deep Freeze as members of the Wyoming Air National Guard’s 187th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron.
McMurdo is isolated even by polar standards. During winter months, temperatures can plunge well below zero, and evacuation windows are limited.
When a civilian contractor — a veteran of more than 20 previous Antarctic missions — suffered a massive heart attack, the response was immediate.
For nearly 40 minutes, the medical team performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, and administered multiple defibrillation shocks before restoring a pulse. Porter noted that no one had survived a cardiac arrest followed by evacuation from Antarctica in more than three decades.
Once stabilized, the patient was flown approximately 2,500 miles to Christchurch, New Zealand—a seven-hour flight over some of the most remote terrain in the world.
He underwent surgery upon arrival. Two days later, he was discharged from the hospital.
When Krueger and Glotfelty were introduced in the House chamber, lawmakers rose in sustained applause. The setting was thousands of miles from Antarctica, but the outcome — a life saved — resonated inside the Capitol.
Porter then turned to the Middle East.
1st Lt. Elam Laing of the 2nd Battalion, 300th Field Artillery, headquartered in Casper, recently returned from a deployment to Syria. There, Laing and his platoon operated under the threat of indirect fire and drone attacks in austere conditions.
The mission was clear: Deliver artillery support when called.
During the deployment, the 115th Field Artillery Brigade in Cheyenne and the 2-300th Field Artillery conducted what Porter described as the first all-Wyoming combat fire mission. From brigade headquarters through the launcher crew, every position in the chain of command was filled by Wyoming Army National Guard Soldiers. Laing was later named the Wyoming Army National Guard Company Grade Officer of the Year.
The recognition in the Senate chamber drew another standing ovation. In a building where votes often divide along party lines, the response to the Guardsmen did not.
The final story brought the focus home.
On Sept. 1, a UH-60 Black Hawk crew from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment, was on wildfire standby when it received word that a civilian aircraft had crashed in rugged terrain near Sheridan.
It was nighttime. Smoke lingered from nearby fires. The mountains were steep and unforgiving. Unable to land, the crew conducted a hoist rescue under night vision goggles, lowering medics through an opening in the treetops created by the crash.
On the ground, responders treated multiple survivors and confirmed the death of a child passenger.
During the first extraction, the medic and patient became entangled in the trees. Maj. Lauren Gurney maneuvered the aircraft while Sgt. 1st Class Andrew McCowen operated the hoist system, freeing them safely.
The crew transported one survivor to Sheridan, then returned for another and redirected mid-flight to a higher-level trauma center to ensure advanced care . When Porter concluded the story, the chamber was quiet for a moment before applause filled the room again.
Porter used the stories to reinforce the Guard’s dual mission: supporting federal operations overseas while remaining ready to respond at home.
“There is nothing the United States does overseas or at home that the Guard isn’t part of,” he later told reporters. He emphasized the importance of maintaining full-strength units and pointed to recruitment and retention efforts as key priorities for the coming year.
But inside the chambers, policy details faded behind something more immediate.
The Guardsmen recognized that day were not abstract military figures. They are residents of Cheyenne, Casper, Sheridan and communities across the state — nurses, engineers, pilots and mechanics who move between civilian life and military service.
“Our people live in every one of your communities,” Porter said.
On a day otherwise filled with budget deliberations and legislative procedure, the Wyoming Legislature paused to hear their stories.
And in both chambers, members stood — not for a bill, but for the men and women who serve when called.
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| Date Taken: | 02.13.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2026 16:50 |
| Story ID: | 558159 |
| Location: | CHEYENNE, WYOMING, US |
| Web Views: | 20 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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