Division takes 184th IW Guardsman’s part in XCTC ventures out future comes program with combat with strings PlainsPlainsexercise.........2 GuardianGuardiandining in.......9 attached....15 Volume 57 No. 5 Serving the Kansas Army and Air National Guard, Kansas Emergency Management, Kansas Homeland Security and Civil Air Patrol October 2013 Effects of federal shutdown felt at Adjutant General’s Department By Steve Larson Maj. Gen. Lee Tafanelli, the adjutant Public Affairs Office general, assured Kansans that, despite the Although far removed from the political federal shutdown, the Kansas National arena in Washington, where wrangling over Guard would be ready to respond in emer- the federal budget, the debt ceiling, and the gency situations. controversial federal healthcare law re- “If there is a tornado, a flood or other sulted in a partial shutdown of federal of- emergency, we are allowed under the laws fices and programs, the effects of that regulating the federal shutdown to deploy shutdown were felt even in Kansas. For the personnel needed to protect the health more than a thousand employees of the Ad- and safety of the people we serve,” said jutant General’s Department, that meant a Tafanelli. “However, every day that this temporary furlough from their jobs. shutdown continues it diminishes our oper- Seven hundred seventy-two Kansas Na- ational capability and our readiness.” tional Guard Soldiers and Airmen reported On Oct. 4 it was announced that an addi- for work Oct. 1 and were notified they tional 263 state employees who were feder- would be sent home on furlough until the ally-funded would be furloughed. One federal shutdown was resolved. Two hun- hundred twenty-four of these employees dred nine federal technicians from the worked for the Readiness Sustainment 190th Air Refueling Wing, Topeka, 146 Maintenance program in Salina and at Fort from the 184th Intelligence Wing, Wichita, Riley. The remainder fulfilled supply, cleri- and 417 Soldiers from various armories Empty chairs were seen in offices throughout the Adjutant General’s Department in cal, facility maintenance and repair, and across the state were furloughed. early October as 722 federal technicians of the Kansas National Guard were placed other support functions and were located The next day, all members of the Kansas on furlough due to federal government shutdown. Two hundred and sixty-three fed- primarily in Topeka, Wichita and Salina. National Guard were informed the normal erally-funded state employees were also furloughed. (Photo by Steve Larson, Public The furlough picture brightened, however, drill period scheduled for the weekend of Affairs Office) Oct. 7 when the Adjutant General’s Depart- Oct. 5-6 would be cancelled due to the fed- tion, headquartered in Topeka, which was the weekend because of the time needed to ment received guidance from the National eral shutdown. The exception to this was beginning premobilization training. notify Soldiers and Airmen, food contrac- Guard Bureau that allowed them to recall for Company G, 2nd Battalion, 135th Avia- The decision to cancel was made prior to tors and others involved in drill activities. (Continued on Page 3) Armenia evaluated to possibly Guardsman instrumental in contribute to NATO forces returning artifact to Afghans By Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory R. Kober accordance with NATO standards agree- By Steve Larson Command East while deployed with the 287th Special Troop Battalion ments are certified to be including in the Public Affairs Office 102nd History Detachment. The Republic of Armenia recently de- NATO force pool. It was mid-April 2012 when a U.S. mili- After examining the stone, Babcock clared their desire to contribute to the pool Following an Armenian self-evaluation tary team conducting demining operations knew it was a find of cultural significance of NATO forces and is interested in deploy- in 2012, it was recommended the Armenian at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan un- for the Afghan people. He didn’t know ex- ing battalion-sized elements to Kosovo and Peacekeeping Battalion refine their task or- earthed a rock. actly what it was, but he knew it did not be- Afghanistan. Certification for NATO part- ganization to include a headquarters com- So? long on a shelf in the garrison headquarters. ner nations is a two-year process including pany, which is not a part of established The singular thing about this worn and He recommended it should be returned to a self-evaluation followed by a NATO eval- Armenian doctrine. The Republic of Arme- weathered rock was it showed unmistak- the Afghan people. uation. Units assessed to be interoperable in nia, through the U.S. Embassy, contacted able hard-carved images. The stone was “The command told me, ‘You identified the state of Kansas to provide training in transported to the garrison headquarters, it. You’re in charge of making sure it gets organizing and operating a headquarters cleaned with water and put on display with back,’” said Babcock. “I contacted Colonel company in 2012. A team of Kansas Na- other items found in the area. Jerry Brooks, U.S. Forces-A theater histo- tional Guardsmen traveled to Yerevan, Ar- A year later, in May 2013, land surveyor rian, asking what process was in place to menia, July 2012 and conducted a Jeffery Jalbrzikowski brought the rock to return it to the Afghan people. I was in- PAID week-long seminar on Headquarters and the attention of Kansas National Guards- structed to contact the State Department PRSRT STD PRSRT SALEM, OR U.S. POSTAGE Headquarters Company duties and respon- man Master Sgt. Lyle Babcock, who was representative on Bagram Air Field.” PERMIT NO. 178 PERMIT sibilities. Examples of training documents, serving as command historian for Regional (Continued on Page 14) including tactical standard operating proce- dures and battle tracking charts. These doc- uments were provided to the HHC commander and battalion executive officer to continue to refine HHC operations in preparation for the self-evaluation, which was conducted with Kansas National Guardsmen mentoring and NATO observa- tion in September 2012. The Armenian Peacekeeping Battalion was provided a critique on their perform- ance in preparation for the NATO evalua- tions in August/September 2013. A team of five Kansas National Guardsmen, consist- ing of Lt. Col. Erica Christie, Maj. Rodger Woods, Capt. Kade Garst, Command Sgt. Maj. Gregory Kober and Staff Sgt. Brian Martin, were selected as participants in the NATO Operational Capabilities Concept Evaluation and Feedback – 26th Evaluator Training Course in Yerevan. The team left 2800 Topeka Blvd. 2800 Topeka Aug. 23 traveling over two days from OFFICIAL BUSINESS OFFICIAL Adjutant General of Kansas Topeka, Kansas 66611-1287 Topeka, Penalty For Private Use, $300 Kansas to Yerevan to attend the evaluation Master Sgt. Lyle Babcock, command historian for RC-East, and Fahim Rahimi, cura- DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY THE OF DEPARTMENT NATIONAL GUARD OF KANSAS GUARD OF NATIONAL instruction course, which included more tor at the Afghan National Museum in Kabul, unpack a stone artifact unearthed by a than 40 hours of instruction, three days of U.S. demining team near Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Babcock was instrumental in DEPARTMENT AND AIR OF THE ARMY FORCE DEPARTMENT (Continued on Page 2) seeing the artifact (inset) was returned to the Afghan people. (Courtesy photo) Page 2 Plains Guardian • October 2013 Training benefits Security Forces before boots on the ground By 2nd Lt. Matt Lucht Shaaban. “It’s not rank heavy. We do have a 184th Intelligence Wing Public Affairs lot of senior airmen, a lot of airmen, a few When units deploy, there are a lot of i’s staff sergeants here and there, and a few tech- to be dotted and t’s to be crossed before ac- nical sergeants, but it is a very young group.” tual boots are on the ground. Members of Even though the unit deploying is rela- the 184th Intelligence Wing Security Forces tively young, senior leaders are confident in Squadron spent approximately three weeks the few noncommissioned officers to com- at Fort Bliss, El Paso, Texas, to do just that. plete the mission successfully. “Predeployment training consists of “The noncommissioned officer corps that everything that we may run into down we have has a lot of different experiences and range,” said Master Sgt. Hadi Shaaban, backgrounds going with us,” said Brooks. “I 184th Security Forces Squadron. “It’s basi- think that we are able to use that experience cally knocking off the rust from the training and spread that out among the Airmen to that we received previously but maybe teach them the job that they are doing and haven’t received in a long time.” are expected to do while they are there.” “It’s training that we have had before,” Before getting to El Paso, there was a lot said Senior Airman Kevin Berry, 184th of time preparing the Airmen to deploy. SFS. “It is a refresher for us and, for the 184th Intelligence Wing’s Security Forces Squadron members receive instructions on Multiple days and weeks were spent train- new people, it is taking what they learned how to identify possible improvised explosive devices during premobilization training ing, qualifying and filling out paperwork at in technical school and turning it up a notch at Fort Bliss, Texas, Aug. 9. (Photo by 2nd Lt. Matt Lucht, 184th Intelligence Wing McConnell Air Force Base. Many had to and making it better and more applicable to Public Affairs) ensure that their families were prepared for where we are going.” According to Shaaban and others, not only perience before we leave, they [deployers] this deployment. The 204th Security Forces Squadron is was the training preparing the personnel for wouldn’t know what to expect. So, being “I tried to get everything done that I responsible for premobilization training at their mission, but the location as well.