SYRACUSE, N.Y. – One hundred and forty New York Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team said farewell to their families July 15 and left on a mission to Germany to help train Ukrainian military personnel.
The Soldiers will replace 160 Florida Army National Guard Soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team's Task Force Gator.
Those troops, deployed to support the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine mission, had been training Ukrainian personnel at the Combat Training Center-Yavoriv near Lviv in western Ukraine since November. They left Ukraine for Germany in February before Russia's invasion. The Florida team is now leading the training of Ukrainian troops in Germany and other locations.
The New York Guard's farewell ceremony occurred at the Thompson Road Armory on Hancock Field Air National Guard Base. The New York team will train at Fort Bliss, Texas, before deploying to Germany. They are expected to replace the Florida team in September.
In 2017, the New York National Guard sent 220 Soldiers to Ukraine for a 10-month rotation training Ukrainian Soldiers at the Combat Training Center-Yavoriv.
The team was headed by the 2nd Squadron, 101st Cavalry, which is headquartered at Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, but included Soldiers from across New York.
They replaced a team from the Oklahoma Army National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in November 2017. The New York Army National Guard team was replaced by Soldiers from the Tennessee Army National Guard's 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment in August 2018.
The Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine has trained and advised Ukrainian military forces since 2015.
U.S. military units support the training to strengthen relationships and affirm the U.S. commitment to European partners. Army National Guard brigade combat teams provide the primary support to the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine mission in nine-month rotations.
Other nations that have supported the JMTG-U mission while it was at Combat Training Center-Yavoriv include Canada, Lithuania, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.