An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Home : News : Article View
NEWS | June 15, 2010

New Jersey Air Guard team proud to support 380th AEW operations

By Master Sgt. Scott Sturkol 380th Air Expeditionary Wing

SOUTHWEST ASIA - Spanning across nearly every facet of the 380th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron, nine Airmen deployed from the New Jersey Air National Guard support morale, welfare, recreation and fitness operations for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing here.

The team, which includes Airmen 1st Class Patricia Arias, Andre Jackson, Senior Airmen Darnell Holmes, Levar Kinard and Abdul Montaser, Staff Sgt. Heather Bartlett, and Tech. Sgts. Jeremy Berry, Lauren Holba and Taylor Holba, are deployed from the 108th Force Support Squadron's 108th Air Refueling Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.

All of the New Jersey team members are services Airmen. In the 380th EFSS, services support programs range a myriad of areas and each of the New Jersey Air National Guard team members support any one of them.

Montaser said being on the team and on this deployment has been a great experience.

"I enjoy being in services," he said. "I learn a lot every day by just being out here on deployment. As I always say, we all have one mission. All the jobs revolve around each other.

"Regardless if its services getting food for aircrews or aircrews supporting Marines and Soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan, we all have a critical job and mission that has to be accomplished day-in and day-out."

In supporting the 380th AEW, the nine New Jersey Airmen support the morale and welfare of more than 1,900 deployed personnel, who in turn support operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

Although they will be completing their deployment in June, Montaser, who is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., said he speaks for each of them when he says they are all proud to be a part of the deployed team.

"We are all one team, and it's a team we are proud to be a part of," he said.

 

 

Related Articles
Alaska Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer 2 David Berg, a UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter pilot, assigned to A Company, 1-168th General Support Aviation Battalion, conducts flight operations over Southeast Alaska near Juneau, Jan. 24, 2025. The Juneau-based Black Hawk aircrew conducts their federal mission training requirements and, when available, can respond to emergency requests by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center or the State Emergency Operations Center.
Alaska Army National Guard Conducts Medevac Mission
By Dana Rosso, | June 5, 2025
JUNEAUA, Alaska – A UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter assigned to A Company, 1-168th General Support Aviation Battalion, transported a patient from Skagway to Juneau June 3, following a medical evacuation request from the Alaska...

U.S. Air National Guard civilian firefighters, assigned to the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department, pose in front of the fire truck that was the first on scene, South Burlington, VT, June 4, 2025. These firefighters provided the first fire truck on scene to a local fire.
Vermont Air Guard First on Scene of South Burlington Fire
By Airman Raymond LaChance, | June 4, 2025
SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – Doireann Chesbrough, a civilian firefighter for the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department, was sitting next to the radio in the dayroom of the station as the sun began to set over the Green...

Paratroopers from the Colorado National Guard and the Jordanian Armed Forces stand together before the first joint Colorado-Jordan airborne Friendship Jump, Watkins, Colorado, April 23, 2025. Members parachuted from a CH-47 Chinook as part of an event to strengthen interoperability and deepen the partnership between the two forces.
Airborne Operation Strengthens Colorado Guard, Jordan Partnership
By Senior Airman Melissa Escobar-Pereira, | June 4, 2025
CENTENNIAL, Colo. – In a display of cooperation and capability, Soldiers from the Colorado Army National Guard and the Jordanian Armed Forces recently conducted a joint airborne operation in Watkins, Colorado.The April 23...