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Task Force Born on 9/11 Still Guards New York
(September 12, 2009) |
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Army Staff Sgt. Michael Wilson of the New York National Guard patrols at Penn Station in Manhattan, N.Y., on Aug. 25, 2009. Wilson is serving with Joint Task Force Empire Shield, which has been continuously providing military support to civilian authorities since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. |
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NEW YORK CITY, Sept. 11, 2009 – Army Staff Sgt. Michael Wilson
stands watch outside Penn Station, part of a New York National Guard task force
that has continuously served since the terrorist attacks eight years ago today.
Wilson enlisted in the National Guard because of the attacks that he first
learned about as he labored as a 19-year-old landscaper in Albany, N.Y. Just as
the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, triggered the transformation of the National
Guard from a strategic reserve to an operational force, so have they prompted
Wilson to morph from teenager to soldier.
Now 26, he's been on duty more or less continuously ever since, including a
stint in Iraq – a story shared by many of the 280 remaining members of Joint
Task Force Empire Shield, which has swelled to as many as 2,500 during surges.
“We are a full-time, state active-duty force of 280, New York City-centric,”
said Army Lt. Col. Greg Dreisbach, commander. “It was formed on 9/11 and has
been here since. We have some guys that have been here since almost Day 1.”
Members of Empire Shield were among first responders to the attacks. Some lost
friends. Some served in Empire Shield, then fell serving overseas. |
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“What we are doing is very important,” Army Spc. Armando
Chadilliquen said during a recent visit to the World Trade Center site. “It is
very important that we are prepared in case anything happens.”
The mission of JTF Empire Shield is to provide homeland security and defense
support to civilian authorities, as needed, Dreisbach said. The task force works
with 53 local, state and federal partners.
Headquartered in Brooklyn at Fort Hamilton – in the shadow of the soaring
Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the last bridge across the Hudson before the Atlantic
Ocean – the task force has a fully operational staff and command and control
structure. It is designed to absorb a surge of troops in the event of a disaster
– natural or man-made.
“[On] 9/11, we had a cold start,” Dreisbach said. “If anything ever happens
again, we have a warm start. We can accept up to a thousand soldiers and be able
to support them for the first 72 hours.”
In the meantime, members of JTF Empire Shield train. They perform missions, such
as patrolling John F. Kennedy International Airport, La Guardia Airport, Penn
Station and other mass transit hubs. They join New York State Naval Militia and
Coast Guard reserve colleagues on boats bought with homeland security money
released after 9/11. They also conduct foot patrols in and around airports and
nuclear power facilities.
Sometimes the task force joins multi-agency super surges, pouring assets into
transit hubs or certain areas of the city in response to indications of a
threat, or for an exercise. Sometimes task force members perform random
antiterrorism measures at critical infrastructure, such as the Entergy's Indian
Point Energy Center, north of the city.
“There's not any given set time or day,” Dreisbach explained during one such
recent patrol on the Hudson River. “It's very random. It keeps the enemy off
guard. They don't know when you're going to be there, when you're not going to
be there. It allows the force to be more flexible.”
Each member of the task force still belongs to an Army or Air unit of the New
York National Guard and attends weekend drills and annual training to prepare
for federal missions. Their state active-duty status is an additional mission.
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| Army Sgt. Jasmine Wilson briefs Army Lt. Col. Greg Dreisbach, commander, and Army Maj. Russell Clark, deputy commander of Joint Task Force Empire Shield, about task force activities in New York City on Aug. 25, 2009. The New York National Guard's JTF Empire Shield has been continuously providing military support to civilian authorities since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. |
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They've also found time to gather 80 tons of relief supplies for Haiti,
palletize it for transport and send it as humanitarian relief to the island
nation.
“It's a very diverse mission set,” Dreisbach said. “The main thing is that we're
trained and are ready to carry out the [adjutant general's] intent, whatever
that may be.”
Wilson said his infantry service in Iraq is an asset in his task force duties.
It gave him teamwork, accountability, situational awareness and knowledge of
potential threats.
“Combat experience ... gives us a better opportunity to provide support over
here,” he said. “It gives us a different point of view. ... Whatever goes on in
combat, you can apply right here to this mission.”
Dreisbach said every visit to Ground Zero is a reminder of why he and his troops
serve today. “This is where it all started,” he said. “It never loses its
[impact].”
Wilson recalled his reaction. “Initially, it was shock, just like everybody else
in America. Who would have even thought that the World Trade Center was going to
come crashing down? After the initial shock wore off, a little bit of anger, a
little bit of determination to go out there and change circumstances.
“It opened up a whole lot of opportunities that National Guard members didn't
have. It's heightened our readiness. It's heightened our effectiveness. We're no
longer ‘weekend warriors.' ... We're out training. ... We're on overseas
deployments.”
Army Sgt. Willis Wynne has a year with the task force and an Iraq deployment.
“It's not just overseas where we need to be,” he said. “We need to offer a
presence back home.”
In a city where 9/11 remains fresher and more vivid than in most parts of the
country, task force members say they get a lot of gratitude from the public.
“People come up to us and thank us countless times during the day,” said Army
Sgt. Jessica Clark.
“When I joined the National Guard, that's what it was for, to help the
community,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Odessa Covington. “We are doing what a lot
of soldiers raised their right hand to do, to help the community.”
Air Force Staff Sgt. Marcus Calliste, a first-generation American from Trinidad
who has spent six of his last eight years in the National Guard on orders, said,
“This is an opportunity to participate in helping out the city, state and
country, which I love so much. I have family and friends who live in New York,
and the opportunity to be a deterrent is definitely a privilege.”
“I was angry, and I wanted to be part of the [solution],” Chadilliquen added.
In his native Peru, before he came to the United States at 26, he said, he
helped pick up pieces of people he knew after terrorist bombings there. “I'm in
the right place,” he said. “I'm doing the right job.”
Air and Army National Guard members work alongside members of the volunteer New
York Guard, the New York State Naval Militia and the Coast Guard in the task
force, in addition to the dozens of agency partners.
“We're here every day,” Dreisbach said. “We're working with our agency partners.
They know us. We know them. If there ever is an incident in the city, we already
have a lot of things worked out.” | |
Article and photos by Army SSgt. Jim Greenhill
National Guard Bureau public affairs office
Special to American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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