CT National Guard units deploy to the Middle East

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT (WFSB) - Two Connecticut Army National Guard aviation units were scheduled to deploy to the Middle East.

Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Aviation Regiment (assault), and Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment (MEDEVAC), will both support Operation Inherent Resolve, according to the Maj. Gen. Francis J. Evon Jr. of the CT National Guard.

The units deployed from the Army Aviation Support Facility in Windsor Locks on Tuesday after a brief ceremony.

About 70 soldiers were there, along with their families and senior Connecticut National Guard officials.

“Our aviators, crews and supporting personnel have worked incredibly hard to prepare for this mission and I am fully confident they will perform admirably,” Evon said. “The military is a team sport. This is especially true in aviation where everyone on the team is essential to the mission of safe and reliable use of aircraft. Likewise, I thank the families who are doing their crucial part of taking care of home while their soldiers deploy to support national security interests. The spouses and families holding down the home front enable our soldiers to focus on the critical mission at hand.”

After a brief stop in Texas, the soldiers will fly overseas.

It’s a journey they said they’ve worked years toward.

“You know, when I was younger I always used to look at all those people in history and I always wanted to just be apart of the history books,” said Billy, a National Guardsman.

They have a big mission ahead of them.

“There’s a lot of training, there’s a lot of administrative training, there’s medical training,” said Jared, also a National Guardsman. “We have some basic soldiering stuff, we have weapons qualifications. And with us as an aviation unit, we have a lot of aviation specific things that we want our soldiers to be ready for. We’re going to provide aviation support.”

Billy told Channel 3 that he parted from his wife and three young children.

It was a similar story for several other servicemembers.

“They’re doing good,” Billy said of his family. “They’re wonderful, very supportive.”

Gov. Ned Lamont and Sen. Richard Blumenthal also attended the send-off ceremony.

“These are folks who every day stand up and do the right thing for their country when asked,” Lamont said.

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