Virginia National Guard

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Senior Virginia National Guard leaders joined military leaders from Fort A.P. Hill, Marine Corps Base Quantico and Naval Support Facility Dahlgren in signing the Fredericksburg Region Armed Forces Community Covenant May 4, 2013, in Fredericksburg. Brig. Gen. Wayne A. Wright, deputy adjutant general of Virginia, Col. John M. Epperly, commander of the Staunton-based 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and Lt. Col. Chris Doss, commander of the Fredericksburg-based 116th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, signed the covenant that pledged “to create and encourage a strong relationship between these communities and the military and former military personnel and families who live and work in them; to educate men, women and children of the value and…

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Guard Soldiers and one Airmen from the Virginia National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force joined with Soldiers from the Martinsville-based 1173rd Transportation Company to help Richmond Drug Enforcement Administration agents loaded nearly 18,000 pounds of unwanted and expired medications into Virginia Guard trucks May 3, 2013, in Richmond, Va. After loading the many tons of drugs into their trucks, the Soldiers drove north, along with several DEA agents, to an incinerator in Northern Virginia where the drugs were unloaded and then destroyed. The drug haul away and destruction was part of the DEA’s National Take-Back Initiative, a program designed to “provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while educating the general public…

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A Virginia National Guard special response force capable of providing support to first responders and civil authorities was recommended for validation following an external evaluation April 27 at the Virginia Beach Fire & EMS Training Center. The Virginia National Guard’s Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear High Yield Explosive Response Force Package, known as the CERFP (pronounced “surf-p”), was rated as “fully trained” on 15 of the 16 major tasks they had to accomplish. The CERFP can conduct tasks associated with incident management, urban search and rescue, mass causality decontamination, technical decontamination, medical triage and treatment and fatality search and recovery. The force is made up of Soldiers and Airmen from units based in Petersburg, West Point, Rocky…

FORT A. P. HIll, Va. — Soldiers from the Bowling Green-based 189th Engineer Company, 276th Engineer Battalion, 91st Troop Command conducted new equipment training on the Dry Support Bridge system at Fort A. P. Hill April 19, 2013. During the two-week certification course taught by representatives from WFEL, the bridge manufacturer, Soldiers spent time in the classroom as well as in the field to learn how to set up and take down the bridge. At the same time, unit mechanics conduct training on how to maintain the new equipment. The new bridge takes less personnel and less time to set up than the previous system, and the company also has a float bridge system in their inventory. A total of…

FORT PICKETT, Va. — Members of the Sandston-based Detachment 2, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 135 Aviation Regiment conducted wildfire suppression training and certification in preparation for the upcoming wildfire season during their drill weekend April 12-14, 2013, at Fort Pickett. “From an aviation standpoint, this type of DSCA (Defense Support to Civil Authorities) training is the most rewarding experience mission we have,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Shane Leipertz, standardization and unit instructor pilot. “It is a true example of the National Guard’s role. We work closely with the Department of Forestry to be a part of the firefighting mission. It’s great when we get to use our equipment to help the citizens of Virginia.” During this training, two pilots…

FORT PICKETT, Va. — Soldiers from the Danville-based 429th Brigade Support Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team focused their drill weekend training effort on squad and section mission essential tasks at Fort Pickett April 5-7, 2013. After spending a training year focusing on individual tasks, the units in the battalion are now pulling those skills together into the collective tasks needed to provide sustainment support to the entire brigade during annual training in June. “We spend much of our time during AT with the balancing act of supporting at the same time we are training,” said Lt. Col. Billy Tucker, commander of the 429th. “These training lanes give commanders the opportunity to look at their Soldiers and their sections in…