JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to dominate the news cycle in America and all over the globe, Alaskans were reminded this weekend that the American Soldier has rarely had the luxury of prioritizing self. One of the fundamental oaths of the Soldier's Creed is to always place the mission first. For more than 150 Alaska Army Guardsmen assigned to the 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, stepping off the aircraft at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport on Saturday, April 4, closed the book on another completed mission.
It was a luminous spring evening in Anchorage. The golden Alaskan sun flickered through an eerily vacant North Terminal at the airport. More than 10 months had passed since the Soldiers tasted Alaska's fresh mountain air. They were finally home.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — The state of Alaska will welcome back more than 150 Soldiers from the Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, returning from deployment on Saturday, April 4. The 297th IN BN Soldiers were deployed to the country of Kosovo for a NATO peacekeeping mission and were out of the country for nearly nine months.
The Soldiers have recently demobilized from deployment and for the last 14 days, the 297th IN BN has been quarantined on U.S. Army base Ft. Bliss located in El Paso,Texas amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Soldiers have followed all federally mandated COVID-19 health and safety precautions during their travels and time spent in Texas.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Aircrew with the Alaska Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation transported three Iditarod mushers after they and their sled dog teams went through flood waters along the Iditarod Trail this morning, about 25 miles outside of Nome.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center received a distress signal from a personal locator beacon and contacted the Army National Guard to request support from Nome personnel…Click to read the full story.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Impact. Defined as yielding an effect, having an im-pact is the singular goal Senior Airman Loida Torres Román had in mind when she joined the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing.
Impact can also be defined as the striking of one object against another, and that is exactly what hap-pened in a humanitarian sense when Torres Román was out on a drive in Anchorage…Click to read the full story.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Exercise Arctic Eagle 2020, a two-week biennial exercise organized by the Alaska National Guard, came to an end Mar. 7. The exercise included about 1,250 participants from multiple local and federal civilian agencies as well as foreign and domestic military components, including approximately 900 Air and Army Guardsmen from 15 states, and it took place at multiple venues at locations around the state of Alaska starting Feb. 20…Click to read the full story.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Staring out the window of an Alaska Army National Guard CH-47 Chinook helicopter onto a endless sheet of ice, Staff Sgt. Jeremy Maddox finds himself in unfamiliar territory, over the frozen Beaufort Sea, 3,000 miles north of his hometown of Baker City, Oregon.
After 12 years with the Oregon Army National Guard, the flight engineer and instructor, left behind the state’s Eastern Blue Mountains for more rugged and isolated terrain in Alaska…Click to read the full story.
FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska — Approximately 70 research and development experts traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska to participate in the Alaska National Guard’s exercise Arctic Eagle 2020.
With over 600,000 square miles of diverse terrain and weather, Alaska, presents numerous challenges for military members and emergency responders. In the event of a natural disaster or emergency response, personnel must be trained and equipped to establish and sustain operations in arctic environments…Click to read the full story.
BETHEL, Alaska — U.S. Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Sara McPherson, the decontamination NCO and acting noncommissioned officer in charge with the 12th Civil Support Team (CST) out of New Hampshire, set up a sick call for local native Alaskans to seek medical treatment in Bethel, Alaska, on Feb. 29, during exercise Arctic Eagle 2020.
The CST exercise scheduled to take place in Bethel Feb. 29 through March 1 was cancelled because of near-whiteout conditions. However, even in inclement weather, Staff Sgt. McPherson and the, approximately, 29 other Alaska National Guard, Alaska State Defense Force, and 12 CST personnel continued their domestic operations mission to support the people of Bethel.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment, based in Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson took part in arctic survival, helicopter-hoisting exercises, movement-to-contact and weapon familiarization training in support of Arctic Eagle 2020 at Eielson Air Force Base, Feb. 20 through March 2…Click to read the full story.
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — Pilots crowded around a long, wooden table inside a briefing room early on the morning of Feb. 27 to receive their mission. The day’s tasks: a series of touch-and-go landings followed by mid-air refueling.
The KC-135 Stratotanker crews prepared to board would meet up with an HC-130J Combat King II in the air over Fairbanks, Alaska, to pass fuel, which would allow the C-130 to push further north as part of Arctic Eagle 20, a joint, multinational, arctic exercise being conducted across Alaska and hosted by the Alaska National Guard…Click to read the full story.
