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“Officials are preparing to assist Floridians who may need a great deal of help during the immediate response and recovery from this storm," Gov. Dannel Malloy said. "Connecticut stands ready to assist our friends and neighbors in the Sunshine State in the days, weeks and months to come. The men and women of the Connecticut National Guard are an invaluable resource during severe storms and we are grateful for service.”
Maj. General Martin said, "As we continue to pray for those affected ... we want each of them to know that the Guardsmen of Connecticut supporting these relief efforts will remain on duty until the job is done."
Fourteen Connecticut Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 169th General Support Aviation Battalion departed with two Connecticut Army National Guard CH-47F Chinook helicopters. They are headquartered in Windsor Locks.
The helicopters are manned by soldiers trained as rotary-wing pilots, helicopter crew members and maintenance personnel. The crew will stage just north of Florida to provide a rapid response.
These two missions bring the total number of Connecticut Guardsmen supporting hurricane relief efforts to 31.
A C-130H Hercules with a crew of eight Connecticut National Guard Airmen has also left for Andrews Air Force Base, where it will stage in anticipation of future support missions. They already safely delivered provisions to Puerto Rico.
One member of the Connecticut Air National Guard is conducting Command Post operations at Joint Base San Antonio, supporting the tracking and controlling of air missions.
The lengths of these missions have not yet been determined.
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