U.S. Soldiers with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team perform a platoon maneuver exercise at Fort Barfoot, Va., Oct. 25, 2023. (Jonathan Campbell/U.S. Army National Guard)
CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS, Pa. (Tribune News Service) — Pride, hugs, smiles and some tears were shown by soldiers and their families at the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s Cambridge Springs Readiness Center on Sunday.
Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team was departing for overseas deployment. Bravo Company is part of about 1,000 members of the 56th Stryker Brigade being deployed to the Horn of Africa.
Soldiers and their families gathered for brief formal ceremonies Sunday morning followed by additional family time before departing early afternoon for Fort Indiantown Gap. The company then will go on to Fort Bliss, Texas, for additional training before departing in the weeks ahead for the Horn of Africa for a nine-month deployment.
Located in the northeastern part of Africa, the Horn of Africa region covers the countries of Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia.
Capt. Nathan Giroux, Bravo Company’s commanding officer, called it an important day not only for the soldiers, but their families as well, as the unit was notified of the call-up back in April.
“It’s a chance to send off the company,” he said to reporters gathered at the send-off. “It’s been a long time coming and we’ve been training hard for it.”
Giroux told the families gathered that Bravo Company will be part of a task force deployed to the Horn of Africa and act as security force to help protect America’s power in the region that contains 60 percent of the world’s shipping traffic.
“We will protect American assets and infrastructure,” Grioux told the families. “Our mission is also critically important in the fight against Al Shabaab. This fighting force you see in front of you will enable U.S. and partner forces to conduct operations against Al Shabaab and defeat our enemies.”
Al Shabaab is an insurgent group that formed in the early 2000s and wants to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Al Shabaab has threatened U.S. and Western targets in the Horn of Africa region, according to a February 2023 report from Congressional Research Service. Though there has been more than 15 years of counterinsurgency operations against it, Al Shabaab still poses a serious threat in Somalia and the Horn of Africa region despite the ongoing deployment of 18,000 Africa Union troops, the report said.
Giroux said the soldiers of Bravo Company aren’t the only ones making a sacrifice, but their loved ones are, too.
“Our families will have to endure many challenges while we are gone,” Giroux said. “They will have to continue on their lives, like going to work, shuttling the kids to sporting events, helping with schoolwork, dealing with unforeseen emergencies, all while not having their spouse or love one at home supporting them. Children will have to go a long period without seeing their father or mother.”
Soldier Owen Hershelman, 19, of Saegertown, told a reporter that he was confident in the training he had received for the mission ahead.
“I don’t have too many concerns,” said Hershelman, a nearly two-year member of the National Guard. “It’s the time away from family that is so long.”
Soldier Shafi Hussein of Pittsburgh, a member of the National Guard for four years, said the combat training that the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team did in June 2022 helped them prepare. More than 4,500 members of the brigade trained for a month in the Mojave Desert at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.
“It really helped us — especially with dealing with the heat over there,” he said of the upcoming deployment.
For Staff Sgt. Thomas Lawton of Franklin, this is his second overseas deployment with the National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade. During 2008 and 2009, he was part of the unit’s nine-month tour in Iraq.
“There is the aging factor and there’s definitely the responsibility factor,” said Lawton, who is in his late 30s. “I’m not the lower enlisted that I was back in the day, I’m now a platoon sergeant.”
But Lawton express confidence in both himself and the men and women with whom he serves.
“We’ve got the right pieces in the right places especially with the captain,” Lawton said, referring to Giroux.
Giroux told reporters that he was lucky and proud to command the company.
“They’re the best the battalion has,” Giroux said. “Individually, they’re prepared. They’re very good at what they do and we’re psyched for this.”
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