Wisconsin National Guard biathletes made great strides as many competed in their first Chief of the National Guard Bureau Biathlon Championships late last month at Camp Ripley, Minnesota.
SUPERIOR, Wis. - While U.S. operations in Afghanistan are changing - military bases are closing, fewer troops will deploy there in the future, and Operation Enduring Freedom will transition to Operation Resolute Support - the need to keep traffic routes clear of roadside bombs has not changed.That important job will soon fall to the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 950th Engineer Company, which will head to Fort Bliss, Texas for several weeks of pre-deployment training before they hit the roads in eastern Afghanistan.
SUPERIOR, Wis. — The 950th Engineer Company returned from Afghanistan to a hero’s welcome Sept. 4 as local citizens from Superior turned out in droves to display homemade signs, cheer and wave flags along the yellow ribbon-lined streets that led to Superior Middle School.Waiting at the school were the Soldiers’ families and state and local leaders who eagerly awaited sign of the unit’s buses coming down the road. There was no doubt when the 950th arrived as a caravan of police vehicles, fire engines and flag-waving motorcyclists escorted them directly to the cheering crowd standing outside the school.
Approximately 95 Soldiers from the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 950th Engineer Company will deploy to Afghanistan this fall.The Superior, Wisconsin-based unit specializes in route clearance and combating threats posed by improvised explosive devices. The 950th also has a detachment in Spooner, Wisconsin.
FORT BLISS, Texas -- Nearly 100 Wisconsin Army National Guard Soldiers returned safely to U.S. soil Monday after nine months deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom’s Sentinel.The 950th Engineer Company returned to a rain-soaked airstrip at Fort Bliss in the early morning hours of Aug. 24 where senior Wisconsin Army National Guard leaders waited to greet them at the base of their plane.
FORWARD OPERATING BASE OQAB, Afghanistan — More than 50 Soldiers of the Wisconsin Army National Guard's 950th Engineer Company have taken on a new assignment — providing security for Train, Advise, Assist Command-Air, a U.S. Air Force effort to train the Afghan Air Force.The 950th Engineer Company Soldiers conduct base security, personnel protective details and provide quick reaction response forces at two Afghan Air bases within the country — a task they perform under pressure, every day where lives are at risk.
By the time the 950th Engineer Company left for Afghanistan late last year, the unit had spent 15 months of drill and a three-month deployment train-up preparing to clear improvised explosive devices and other hazards from the country’s roads.As a route clearance company, the Superior, Wisconsin-based unit expected to secure the key travel corridors that coalition forces use every day to move critical supplies, equipment and personnel throughout the region, and while part of the unit has conducted a route clearance mission, more than half of the unit is engaged in other missions.
