FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (SHNS) – When Col. Nathan Wilder was deployed overseas for the first time back in 2006, he held his newborn son in his arms while fellow soldiers and his family sent him off. As Wilder prepared for a second overseas deployment Thursday, he again was flanked by family — this time, his young daughter, Molly.
Commander of the Massachusetts National Guard 26th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, Wilder is one of more than 200 Bay State soldiers about to be deployed to the Horn of Africa, a region that includes the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somaliland and Somalia.
Soldiers deployed in the coming days will be overseas for nine months to a year, serving as the “core nucleus” of staff across the U.S. Africa Command, Wilder said alongside state and military officials at a send-off ceremony in Framingham.
Hundreds of friends and family members sat in bleachers in near-80-degree heat at Bowditch Field, watching as their loved ones stood in formation and were officially sent off by Wilder, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Maj. Gen. Gary Keefe. Known as the “26th Yankee Brigade,” the troop’s history dates back to 1917, at the onset of the United States’ entry into World War I.
“Everyone nowadays thinks the National Guard just does things in their state. This past year has been our highest operations deployment tempo since 2010 during the War of Afghanistan,” Keefe said Thursday. The National Guard answers to both a national- and state-level chain of command, Keefe said, as he called on the federal government to resource the uniquely-positioned military arm.
“I need you to remind our elected officials in Washington, D.C. — you ask them, the next time you see them, while your soldiers are gone, what are you doing to resource the National Guard? To make sure they’re receiving the resources they need to train, fight and win our nation’s wars?” Keefe told families Thursday.
Keefe continued, “They and we deserve your resources. When you factor in [that] less than a third [of a] percentage point of the population of the United States of America currently serves in uniform, there is no reason that our fighting men and women aren’t getting from Washington what they deserve.”
Expressing the readiness of 26th soldiers, and reflecting on how the 22 years her late father spent in the Navy shaped her family’s life, Driscoll spoke about the historical context in which the brigade is being deployed.
“Today, during a critical time in our nation’s history, you are part of our efforts to defend democracy across the globe,” Driscoll said, adding that soldiers will be coming home to “a state first in the nation for services for veterans.”
Driscoll added, “Your skill set is an essential part of ensuring success and safety of our troops and in our country. You all are a force rooted in New England history, driven by your commitment to support, serve and protect us in a way no one else can.”
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