The Vermont Air National Guard will send more than 70 members of the 158th Fighter Wing overseas in the next several months.
At a ceremony Sunday at the Guard’s South Burlington air base, leaders said the deployment would last for six months.
This is the first deployment for Vermont’s airmen since 2016, when 300 were deployed to Iraq and Syria. Their departure will form part of a deployment of hundreds of the Vermont National Guard, including 350 Vermont soldiers, in the next six months.
The airmen will be deployed to support the U.S. Central Command, the U.S. Africa Command and the U.S. European Command for a “spectrum” of work, said Col. Adam Rice, vice commander of the 158th Fighter Wing.
The deployments form part of an Air National Guard reserve component period, which refers to 180-day, pre-planned deployments for specialty positions. Rice called them “unique, special, and vital to our national defense strategy.”
Sunday’s ceremony, normally a single event, was divided into three to account for coronavirus precautions. At the third ceremony, Rice thanked the airmen for their service. “I know it’s not easy on you or your loved ones, especially amidst an already challenging environment with Covid,” he said.
The airmen will leave “gradually” between now and the spring, Michael Davis, a National Guard spokesperson told VTDigger, though the dates are not made public. The group of 70 includes medical personnel, communications professionals and engineers.
In the next several months several other groups will be sent overseas, including 34 military law enforcement officers and 350 National Guard soldiers to areas under the U.S. Central and Africa commands.
The Air National Guard deployment will have no impact on the F-35 fighter jets, which will continue their flights out of the South Burlington base.
