Well, the last time that Idaho's
members or members of Idaho's
National Guard were deployed,
it really wasn't that long ago.
More than 600 were sent overseas to
Southwest Asia last August, nearly a
year ago for Operation Spartan Shield.
That's an operation which has
been in effect since about 2012.
This latest deployment
isn't about Spartan Shield,
but it's about Operation African
Lion and Operation Air Defender,
which is a bunch of cool names, I know.
Another business trip for a hundreds
of Idaho citizen airmen and soldiers,
but this time they're going
to two different locations.
Africa and Europe are the destinations
for these military exercises and they've
been busy over over a gallon field
over the last couple of days getting
ready to head out for them and we're
able to catch up with them as they
prepared to prepare for the worst.
Here's Joe Paris,
Always ready, that is.
That is something we live by in the guard.
The reality of our world includes
war and part of that reality
is preparing for the worst.
Hundreds of citizen soldiers
and airmen from Idaho are now
headed out to take on the task.
This is my first time being overseas.
Allison, You Kitch has been in
her role for almost three years
out at downfield Security forces
Member Defender is what we're called.
The Defenders are headed to a
world away, Africa and Europe for
military exercises. I'm looking
forward to just experiencing another
culture and not just in a civilian way.
We'll be able to, you know,
get out and see the country,
see the area, but also in a military way,
just seeing how other countries operate.
And seeing how we can work closely
together and do great things. Honestly
you could just getting
a whole new world view.
This is my first time being
overseas which is a major key here.
If the worst does happen having
experience is extremely valuable.
This is we're prepping for
all of that happens that's
why we another reason why
we do these exercises.
So you know when the when we're really
called to do our work we've already
have these experiences in the bag.
Our allies are extremely
important to the to the strategic
strategy of the National Defense.
And so any opportunity that we
have to work with them and train
with them allows us to be more
ready and more prepared. Chad
Kornberg is a fighter,
Wing Commander.
They have all kinds of advanced
technologies and operations.
Those are all crucial.
But this also comes down
to a simple concept,
communication with allies.
Stakes are high anytime you're in combat.
And so when you have the opportunity
to be on the same page and have run
through some of these things prior,
it just makes you more effective and then
it takes the risk level down a little bit.
Because they know what to expect from you
and you know what to expect from them.
I'm looking forward to integrating
with them and kind of seeing how they
do business and finding ways that
we can support them and help them
conduct their mission successfully.
Billy O'Brien is a cyber
warfare operations officer.
His specific mission details the
indepth considerations for international
conflict in the modern era. Cyber is
a very critical domain in an emerging
domain that the threats are in, the
landscape is changing every day. Overnight.
The variety of exercises across Africa and
Europe involve more than 20 countries.
Most of the training will take
place in Morocco, Germany,
the Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia.
Idaho National Guard personnel
are expected to return from
the training within the month.
But that does detail another
tough part of the job.
Yeah. I mean you're asking for spouses to
now be the sole provider for that family.
Oftentimes we we we think that it's
harder to be left than it is to leave.
You can ask every one of them and
their families are are for foremost
on their mind Now when they go that
falls on us is the folks staying back.
They have to know that we're here to take
care of their families and we we take
that as in very high regard that you
know if we're asking you to go and leave.
That we will be here for your families. It's
a hard reality, but reality with
the purpose preparing and getting
ready for the possibility of war.
Honestly, that's why I joined is to,
you know, be there for not just my country
but the entire world and to to help other
military units do their job and
just serve as the best as I can. So.
Another thing the National Guard was
telling our team out at Gallon is of
course you're leaving your your friends
and families for several weeks, but Brian,
you're also leaving your coworkers and
you know there's all the employers there.
Basically by law, you have to allow these,
these Airmen and these Guardsmen to,
to get out there and go serve overseas.
But you know, think about it,
if somebody, for example,
on our news team had to go for several weeks,
it'd be you and I picking up the slack.
It's really a community effort, of course,
when people go overseas for service or
for military drills, and of course,
there's a huge difference between
actually going over and being home.
But it reminds you of how close knit
the military community here is, right?
How it really binds us all together.
So this won't be an extended deployment.
This would just be a few,
several weeks. Several
weeks. Yeah, about a month
for some of them. So OK.
It'll be interesting, though.
They go overseas and they get
experiences they'd never get stateside.
So when they come back,
those are some of the
best stories you'll hear.
Hopefully we can
talk to them about it when, when they do
come. Oh, yes.
And when they come home.
It's also very exciting.
Homecoming is great. It is.
All right. Thanks, Jill.