Column: Vermont Guard preps for Kosovo mission
Modified: 6/30/2021 10:00:05 PM
Hohenfels, Germany
Greetings from Germany! Only weeks after a grueling year of COVID-19 support to Vermont and a month-long mission to Washington, D.C., for Operation Capitol Response, more than 900 soldiers from the Vermont Army National Guard are now deployed across the globe.
Around 400 soldiers from the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) left Vermont in May, bound for validation training at Fort Bliss, Texas. Soldiers completed validation at Fort McGregor, in New Mexico, while a small group validated and processed through the Conus Replacement Center at Fort Bliss.
Temperatures frequently soared into the 100s in west Texas and New Mexico, with zero humidity and frequent sandstorms. The red sand of Fort McGregor and the surrounding jagged, brown mountain ranges are beautiful, but not at all reminiscent of Vermont. That changed quickly upon our arrival in Germany, where soldiers would und