QUEENSBURY, N.Y. – Forty-seven New York Army National Guard Soldiers from the 466th Medical Company-Area Support returned from a nine-month deployment to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq.
The Soldiers mobilized Aug. 2, 2020, and trained at Fort Hood, Texas, before heading to the Middle East a month later.
The company is based at the Queensbury Armory. Most of the Soldiers live in the Capital Region and Glens Falls, but some come from locations across the state.
Once they arrived in Kuwait, the company split into four sections handling different missions, according to Maj. Jason Cossey, the company commander.
The unit’s primary mission was running the Role 2 Medical Treatment Facility at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, he said.
NATO sorts military medical treatment facilities into four categories or “roles,” with Role 1 offering the most basic medical care at a small unit level and Role 4 being the most intensive and offering highly specialized care.
A 22-Soldier team collocated with an Active Army Forward Resuscitative from Fort Bliss, Texas. This location provided the highest level trauma care in western Iraq. The combined team treated more than 2,000 patients, including Soldiers, Marines, Airmen, local nationals and civilian contractors from multiple nations, according to Cossey.
Another team of 466th medical Soldiers located at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, where they supported a Role 3 hospital and ran a COVID-19 isolation facility. They also ran a Role 1 medical treatment facility and cared for hundreds of COVID-19 patients.
The 466th’s Behavioral Health Technician was assigned to Camp Buehring in Kuwait and supported the Combat Operational Stress Control team there, according to Cossey.
Seven Soldiers were assigned to the Air Force’s 378th Emergency Medical Expeditionary Unit to provide Role 2 medical care at Prince Sultan Air Base.
And three Soldiers were in Jordan supporting a joint training center and Special Operations Command.
The Soldiers returned together, arriving at Fort Hood from Kuwait May 19. They began returning home in small groups May 24 and were all home by May 28.
This was the second deployment for the company. The 466th deployed to Iraq from 2006 to 2007 and operated an Army field hospital and three troop medical facilities.