national guard

Submitted photos and press release:

On Monday, March 8th, Staff Sgt. Haven Armstrong and Staff Sgt. Joeseph Coburn, representing the National Guard recruiting office, brought a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle -- an up-armored military Humvee -- to the Auto Body class at Genesee Valley BOCES in Batavia.

This event was intended to inform students about the different careers that the National Guard has to offer within the fields of mechanics and engineering, as well as inform them about the college benefits offered in the National Guard.

“Staff Sgt. Armstrong and I do events like these at schools throughout the GLOW region," Coburn said. "Often times we try to find high school juniors and seniors that are interested in the trades, and inform them about the benefits of being in a trade in the National Guard.

"Normally the goal is to match up people who are already heading down a career path with a military occupational specialty like we did here with Mr. (Jeff) Fronk's Auto Class and bringing one of our vehicles and myself who was a mechanic for the military.

"Many people think that everyone in the military is signing up to grab a weapon and fight on the frontlines and although sometimes that is true, that is almost more of an exception than a rule. Most of our career field’s deal with things like engineering, mechanics, logistics or medical and the National Guard offers sought after training in all of these fields.

"Personally, as a military trained mechanic, I got hired over individuals with more work experience and degrees because I had military experience on my resume. Once an employer sees that, they know the individual is going to show up ready to work hard and be a professional. This is very much the message that we try to portray to these young adults.

"A lot of people are also confused about the college benefits we have. For instance the National Guard will pay for someone to go to a state school for free and possibly even give them a housing allowance (this is how I got my bachelor's at zero cost to me). This is why it’s so crucial we talk to people at the high school age so they have all the info before making major life decisions.

"The students also really seem to respond positively when we show up with something cool like a military HMMWV. Mr. Fronk's class in particular was very excited to be able to get their hands on something most only see in movies and they had a lot of awesome questions. Over all I would say this event was a major success with almost half of the class requesting information about how they can learn more about joining the National Guard.”

Press release:

Assemblyman Steve Hawley has called out the executive order signed by Gov. Cuomo that requires the National Guard to transport extra ventilators from hospitals in Upstate New York and bring them to Downstate hospitals.

He is also fighting against the increased transport of COVID-19-infected patients from Downstate to Upstate hospitals.

“I am absolutely dumbfounded at the steps the governor has taken today to leave Upstate New York as vulnerable as Downstate has been during this health crisis,” Hawley said. “Not only will Upstate hospitals now be left with fewer ventilators for our citizens who need them, but an increase in transport of coronavirus cases to Upstate almost certainly means the virus will spread even quicker in our districts.

"It’s the worst possible management of this crisis I have seen thus far, and I am asking the governor to rescind his Executive Order. Upstate and Western New York lives matter.”

Press release:

Staff Sgt. Christian Hager, a Batavia resident and medical technology student, has been named Non-Commission Officer of the Year for the New York Army National Guard following a five-day competition at Camp Smith Training Site near Peekskill.

Hager, a member of Company A, 2nd Battalion 108th Infantry, competed with five other non-commissioned officers, during the event.

Hager, age 26, has served in the Army National Guard since 2008. He deployed to Kuwait in 2012 with other members of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. He serves as an infantry squad leader in his Guard unit, which is based at the New York State Armory in Geneseo.

He will now go on to compete with top NCO's from the other northeast states in a competition held at Vermont's Camp Ethan Allen. The winner of that competition goes onto compete against Army National Guard Soldiers from around the country.

The Best Warrior competition tests participant's physical fitness, military knowledge, Soldier skills, and marksmanship ability. Competitors fire the M-4 rifle on both a convention range and in a stress shoot which combines marksmanship with physical demands like running, towing a casualty stretcher, and carrying a heavy load.

This year the event also incorporated a swimming test, M-9 pistol marksmanship exercise and a 12 kilometer timed march with full pack.

Scoring well in these events enabled the participants to qualify for the German Military Proficiency Badge. The New York Army National Guard has an agreement with the German military representative at the United States Military Academy which allows instructors at Camp Smith to award the badge.

Hager was one of five of the 11 participants in the Best Warrior enlisted Soldier and Non-Commissioned Officer competitions to complete the requirements for this award.

Gates-Chili's Neil Armstrong Elementary School adopted the 2nd Platoon of the Army National Guard, a Batavia-based crew of 43 that is currently stationed in Afghanistan.

Gates-Chili Post reporter Amy Cavalier wrote about just what such an adoption entails.

Neil Armstrong students have taken up collections and sent at least 17 boxes to the troops overseas. Cards, snack packages, books, magazines, and even Thanksgiving place mats, among other items, have helped the platoon deal with war.

But it wasn't all one sided.

In return for their kindness and support, 1st Lt. Andy Kirchhof kept the students informed through e-mails, pictures and even a framed flag that reads, “This flag was flown with pride in a combat zone at Fire Base Morales-Frasier Afghanistan.”

Three platoon members visited the school in September before being deployed, and several weeks ago, Kirchhof got to come home on leave for two weeks. The Brockport native made a point to visit Neil Armstrong to thank the students for all their support and to answer any questions they had.

Check out these links for a photo slide show, the full article from the Gates-Chili Post and some excerpts from soldier's letters to the students at Neil Armstrong:

• To Afghanistan, with love
• Letters from soldiers to students