HARTFORD - Maj. Gen. Thaddeus J. Martin, the Adjutant General and commanding officer of the Connecticut National Guard, announced members of the Connecticut Army National Guard's Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment will ship out to mobilization station on Thursday.
Based in Windsor Locks and commanded by 1st Lt. Matthew Barringer of South Glastonbury, the detachment will be responsible for providing aeromedical evacuation, extensive en-route critical care and medical support while moving patients.
Service members will board Connecticut National Guard aircraft and head to an Active Duty installation in Texas for further training and validation in preparation for the detachment's first-ever overseas deployment. Upon completion, the approximately 30 Guardsmen will serve in support of operations in Southwest Asia.
The detachment flies the HH-60M Blackhawk helicopter, an aircraft specifically outfitted for medical evacuation.
“It’s very important for me to provide the best level of care that I can to the people that are there on the ground doing what they can do,” said Staff Sergeant John Harrington.
“Uh, it’s a little crazy! I’m excited for him to do what he has been training for because that’s really important,” said his wife, Tessa Harrington.
“This unit has been together training specifically for this task knowing that this would come for us one day,” said Lieutenant Andrew Severson, an aeromedical evacuation officer. “This is going to be an event where we can finally go out and do our real jobs and get hands providing aide to people in need."