Nearly 50 Wisconsin Army National Guard Soldiers who made up part of Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine, returned safely to U.S. soil July 22 after a 10-month mobilization to Ukraine.
The returning Soldiers represent only a portion of the approximately 160 Soldiers from the 32nd “Red Arrow” Infantry Brigade Combat Team Headquarters who deployed to Ukraine’s Combat Training Center – Yavoriv last November where they served as the headquarters element for the training group at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center.
The troops landed at Fort Bliss, Texas, where they will spend several weeks completing demobilization requirements before returning home to Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin National Guard continues to maintain a high operations tempo in support of both its federal and state missions. Approximately 200 fellow Red Arrow Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry remain in Afghanistan supporting the Army’s 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade, though 200 additional troops returned from that mission in recent months.
Another 150 Soldiers with the 829th Engineer Company continue operations across the Middle East and Afghanistan. The 924th Engineer Facilities Detachment and the 1967th Contracting Team also continue operations in Kuwait and the Horn of Africa respectively.
These mobilizations in support of the Wisconsin National Guard’s federal mission continue amidst the organization’s largest sustained domestic mobilization in history. More than 1,000 Wisconsin National Guard Citizen Soldiers and Airmen are on duty across Wisconsin conducting mobile testing for COVID-19, staffing a state call center for COVID-19 results, and providing logistics support. More than 2,400 Citizen Soldiers and Airmen also staffed polling locations during Wisconsin’s April 7 election, and another 160 assisted during a special election in the 7th Congressional District May 12. In late May and early June, more than 1,200 Wisconsin National Guard troops mobilized to state active duty to assist civil authorities in preserving public safety in five Wisconsin cities amidst civil unrest. Additional troops responded to Madison, Wisconsin in June in the wake of more civil unrest.
