U.S. Soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team recently deployed to Africa to support Special Operations Command Africa.
Task Force Iroquois teams include nine Soldiers going to Somalia in the Horn of Africa and five going to Benin in West Africa.
“Over our time together, we’ve formed a cohesive team that works hard to complete the mission and looks out for one another,” said Lt. Col. Mark Kurzawa, Horn of Africa Forward Logistical Element officer-in-charge.
Since January, task force members have participated in 14 drill days, 14 days of annual training, and an eight-day pre-deployment site survey in Germany and Africa. They have also completed maintenance, culinary, finance, unit movement, hazardous materials, and vehicle recovery courses based on their roles.
“The important thing to know about this mission is it’s being executed for the first time,” said Kurzawa. “We’ve had no previous unit to give us guidance.”
Usually in a deployment, there is a larger unit and a culminating training exercise to validate the unit’s training. However, in this case, the Soldiers are validated on individual tasks because they will be going out in small teams in outstation locations and doing skills specific to their military occupational specialty.
Hellbound and Down 