ALLENTOWN, Pa. –
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Soldiers with the 108th Area Support Medical Company, 213th Regional Support Group, Pennsylvania Army National Guard, held a deployment ceremony here Feb. 20 to mark their upcoming deployment to Europe.
Group leadership addressed the deploying Soldiers while families and loved ones watched live on social media as part of COVID-19 mitigation.
Approximately 80 Soldiers will deploy to Europe, providing medical support for the U.S. and allied rotational forces in the area.
“It’s a fact of life that Soldiers get hurt, that they get sick, and that’s what we’re there, to provide support when that happens,” said 1st Sgt. Robert Klinger of the 108th ASMC.
Maj. Christopher Jones, 108th ASMC commander, said the unit will partner with NATO allies in Poland, the Baltic Region and Germany, supporting the forces of the European Deterrence Initiative.
In addition to the usual pre-mobilization training, Klinger said the unit had to deal with COVID restrictions and several domestic missions, for which many 108th Soldiers volunteered.
“Being a medical unit, a large portion work in the healthcare sector or public safety in the civilian world so they are directly vital to their communities’ response to the pandemic,” he said.
As the ceremony concluded, several 108th ASMC Soldiers were recognized by 213th RSG leadership for their outstanding contributions, including Staff Sgt. Raymond Mutiso, a healthcare specialist who is also currently serving as the unit movement officer and the equal opportunity leader. Mutiso played a key role in ensuring all the unit’s logistical issues were resolved.
”We will be responsible for about 10,000 Soldiers as a medical support company so we’ll be busy, but we are ready for the challenge and we’ll confront it head on and do the best we can and take care of our Soldiers,” he said.
Most of the nearly 80 Soldiers deploying have never deployed before, and about half come from other units within the Pennsylvania National Guard.