By Vaughn R. LarsonWisconsin National Guard Public Affairs The 16-member 104th Security ForcesAdvise and Assist Team (SFAAT) received a salute from Gov. Scott Walker, Maj.Gen Don Dunbar, adjutant general of Wisconsin, and other senior WisconsinNational Guard leaders during a sendoff ceremony Monday (Oct. 1) at Joint ForceHeadquarters in Madison.
The unit will serve in an advisory andmentorship role to the Afghan National Police concerning internal and externalsecurity missions. Lt. Col. David Larson, the 104th SFAAT commander, said themission is part of the transition required for the Afghans to assume greaterresponsibility for their security.
"This importance isdisproportionate to the size of the group," Larson said. "And it'sdisproportionate to the short time of our existence - just about threeweeks."
Wisconsin Army National Guard CommandSgt. Maj. George Stopper advised the unit to draw on its strengths and make themost of its time during mobilization training at Camp Shelby, Miss.
"We've grown accustomed to having12 and 24 months lead time for any of these missions that pop up, and thatreally wasn't the case here," Stopper acknowledged. "So to you andyour families, I say 'thank you' for supporting the Wisconsin National Guard.Thanks for moving forward and taking on this huge mission."
Brig. Gen. Mark Anderson, commander ofthe Wisconsin Army National Guard, told family members that few states wereconsidered to support this mission.
"Wisconsin [was] one of thembecause of the type of Soldier that we continuously send downrange,"Anderson explained. "And when we put together the notice for this SFAATteam, we had multiple Soldiers volunteer for each and every position. We wereable to pick from the best of the best."
This will be the first deployment forStaff Sgt. Don Runaas, a combat medic with the 13th Medical Detachment. He hadbeen preparing to deploy with the 97th Agribusiness Development Team, but themission requirements for that unit changed and he found himself among theSoldiers who would not deploy to Afghanistan.
"I was offered this on the lastdrill of the 97th ADT," Runaas said, adding that it took about half anhour to decide to accept the new mission. "I'm looking forward to theexperience and learning new things."
Dunbar said that this missionunderscores the intrinsic value of the National Guard.
"We're trying to partner with anation that really doesn't have well-developed institutions," Dunbar said."The U.S. Army said we need to take some of these capabilities that existand partner with some of the brand new institutions they're building inAfghanistan. And where do they turn? To your National Guard. They turn to these16 Soldiers and say 'We think you can go overseas and educate and you canmentor some of these brand new Afghanistan soldiers.'
"What a great idea, and what agreat statement of trust and value in the National Guard," Dunbarcontinued. "The trust is not misplaced - the trust is exactly where itshould be."
Larson acknowledged after the ceremonythat the increase in "green on blue" attacks - Afghans in uniformattacking NATO troops in Afghanistan - is a concern, but that each case isdifferent.
"It's part of our trainingprogram," he said. "The area we're going into, the incidents havebeen relatively few. But that doesn't mean we're not going to maintainsituational awareness."
Larson said that it appears to himAfghanistan has made progress over the past four years.
"I can see some of the componentsin effect now that had been talked about when I was there," said Larson,who augmented the 101st Airborne force protection mission from 2008-09. "Ithink we're moving along with the strategy. I think we're going a lot of goodthings over there and for the most part it's [going] pretty much according toplan."
Walker observed that the model for theeagle on the 101st Airborne shoulder patch - such as the one worn by Larson -was Old Abe, the Civil War-era mascot of the 8th Wisconsin Volunteer InfantryRegiment. The governor said that patch illustrates Wisconsin's proud militaryheritage.
"You are, as Brig. Gen. Andersonmentioned, the best of the best," Walker said. "You are part of aproud tradition - a history - of Soldiers from the state of Wisconsin. We knowyou're going to do us proud."
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