By Maj. William Carraway, Historian, Georgia National Guard
Left: The shoulder-sleeve insignia of the 201st RSG. Right: Specialist Caleb Moore, from Rome, Ga., assigned to the 201st Georgia Agribusiness
Development Team shakes hands with local Afghan boys at the Khoshi District Center, Logar province, Afghanistan, May 12, 2012. Moore is a part of a
mission to inspect cool storage units to help the Afghans become better farmers. Georgia National Guard Archives.
The Georgia National Guard continued its two-decade history of
continuous global engagement Monday, February 13, 2023 with a departure
ceremony for Soldiers of the 201st Regional Support Group the Clay
National Guard Center in Marietta, Ga. The Soldiers will train stateside at a
pre-mobilization station before deploying overseas later this year.
Brigadier General Dwayne Wilson, commander of the Georgia Army National Guard addresses Soldiers of the 201st Regional Support Group at a departure
ceremony held at the Clay National Guard Center February 13, 2023. The Soldiers will conduct premobilization training stateside before embarking
on their overseas mission. Photo by Maj. William Carraway.
“The Soldiers you see before you represent the very best of our
nation,” said Brig. Gen. Dwayne Wilson, commander of the Ga. Army National
Guard during the 201st RSG departure ceremony. “This organization
has a rich history supporting the Army National Guard’s two missions: responding
during domestic response operations and fighting and winning as the primary
combat reserve of the Army.”
Soldiers of the 201st Regional Support Team case their colors during a departure ceremony at the Clay National Guard Center February 13, 2023.
The Soldiers will conduct premobilization training stateside before embarking on their overseas mission. Photo by Maj. William Carraway.
The 201st Regional Response Group is a unique structure
within the Georgia National Guard. Comprised of a diverse group of units with
specialty response missions, the 201st RSG is equally capable of
supporting overseas combat operations and domestic emergency response
operations. Two battalions, the 170th Military Police Battalion in
Decatur and the Marietta-based 265th Chemical Battalion can mobilize
Soldiers to perform security and response operations overseas and augment civil
authorities within the Federal Emergency Management Area Region IV response
area when natural disasters strike the southeast United States. Rounding out
the 201st RSG force structure is the 870th Engineer
Detachment and the 4th Civil Support Team Weapons of Mass
Destruction. A full-time unit capable of rapid response, the 4th CST
WMD regularly trains with federal and state response agencies and routinely
supports large-scale public events, notably Super Bowl LIII, in Atlanta to
ensure public safety.
FOB SHANK, Afghanistan, June 15, 2011 - The Georgia Army National Guard's 201st Regional Support Group Agribusiness Development Team 1
assumed responsibility for the ADT mission in southeast Afghanistan from Nevada Army National Guard. Pictured is the command team of the 201st RSG
ADT 1: Colonel Bill Williams III (center), and Command Sgt. Maj. Randall Parker (right). Georgia Army National Guard Archives.
The 201st RSG has deployed units and personnel multiple
times since it was federally recognized as Headquarters and Headquarters
Detachment, 201st Quartermaster Battalion July 9, 2004 in Newnan, Ga.[1].
Fifty eight personnel of the 201st Headquarters Detachment were
ordered into active federal service April 22, 2011 as Agribusiness Development
Team 1[2].
With a command team of Col. Bill Williams III and Command Sgt. Maj. Ray Parker,
ADT 1 assumed responsibility for the agribusiness development mission at
Forward Operating Base Shank in Southeastern Afghanistan from the Nevada
National Guard June 15, 2011. Agribusiness Development Team I returned home to
Fort Gordon April 21, 2012[3]
and was released from active federal service May 25, 2012.[4]
They were replaced by ADT 2 which was composed of Georgia Guard Soldiers of the
265th Regional Support Group.
The 201st RSG provided the third and last of Georgia’s
agribusiness development teams. ADT 3 and its 48 personnel were ordered into
active federal service with the command team of Col. Barry Beach and Command
Sgt. Major Melvin Dover January 3, 2013 at Fort Gordon[5],[6].
While ADT 3 was in Afghanistan, the 201st changed station to the Marietta-based
Clay National Guard Center.[7]
The station changing was prompted by a reorganization of the Georgia Guard which
assigned the 201st RSG to headquarters command of the Region IV
Homeland Response Force mission on October 1, 2013[8].
Returning to CNGC November 23, 2013, ADT 3 was released from
active federal service February 6, 2014 and reverted to state control.[9]
ADT 3 was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for “Exceptionally
meritorious service during the period 15 January 2013 to 23 November 2013… The
unit displayed outstanding performance in support of Operation Enduring
Freedom.” [10]
FORT GORDON, Ga. August 15, 2015 - Georgia Army National Guard Soldiers of the 278th MP Company, 201st Regional Support Group establish
security on a landing zone while a UH-60 Medevac Black Hawk prepares to land. Photo by Capt. William Carraway
Also mobilized to Afghanistan in 2013 were more than 140 Soldiers
of the Fort Gordon-based 278th Military Police Company. The Soldiers
returned from Afghanistan in February 2014. The 278th had previously
deployed to Iraq in 2008 while assigned to the Georgia National Guard’s 648th
Maneuver Enhancement Brigade.
The 248th Medical Company deployed more than 40
Soldiers to Egypt in June 2015. In the course of nine months, the 248th
provided health services in support of multinational forces and observers. The
248th MED was again called to serve overseas in 2019, mobilizing with
life-saving medical support capability in response to Operation Inherent
Resolve in Iraq.
MARIETTA, Ga. January 21, 2017 - Brigadier General Tom Carden, commander of the Georgia Army National Guard talks speaks with Soldiers of the
Marietta-based 248th Medical Company during a unit training assembly. Photo by Capt. William Carraway.
Mobilizing overseas in 2021, the 138th Chemical Company
provided chemical response support in South Korea while the 202nd
Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company provided life-saving explosives ordnance
response and disposal capability in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
The 138th CM CO (Area Support), 265th Chemical BN cased its guidon May 20, 2022 at Camp Humphreys, signifying a successful finish to their
deployment to the Republic of Korea. Photo courtesy of the 138th Chemical Company.
On July 15, 2018, Soldiers of the 201st mobilized to Iraq where
they served as the Base Operating Support Integrator in support of Combined
Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve. The Soldiers returned April 23,
2019.[11]
In addition to providing trained units to support overseas combat
operations, the 201st has repeatedly answered the call at home in response to
natural disasters. When Winter Storm Leon and Pax struck Georgia communities in
January and February 2014, units of the 201st RSG were called to active state service
to assist stranded motorists and provide emergency response capabilities. In
October 2015, more than 100 Soldiers of the 810th Engineer Company
and 278th MP Company responded following unprecedented rainfall in
South Carolina. The Soldiers, assisted by YCA cadets and State Defense Force
volunteers, filled more than 9,000 sand bags for flood control operations[12].
HEPHZIBAH, Ga. October 4, 2015 - A Georgia Army National Guard engineer delivers a load of sandbags while Guardsmen of the 810th Engineer
Company and 278th Military Police Company fill sand bags in preparation for possible flooding. The Soldiers, along with Georgia State Defense Force
volunteers and Youth Challenge Academy Cadets filled more than 8,000 sandbags for use in the Augusta area. Photo by Capt. William Carraway.
When not actively responding to hurricanes such as Irma, Matthew
and Michael in recent years, the 201st conducted multiple training
missions to hone its response capability. In 2017, units of the 201st
participated in Vigilant Guard 2017, culminating with search and rescue operations
at the Perry Center, [13] where
they conducted search and rescue operations in simulated rubble honing the
skills necessary to respond to major earthquakes such as the one that struck
Turkey in February 2023.
The Georgia National Guard hosted a ceremony February 4, 2019 for the personnel supporting Super Bowl 53 in Atlanta. Service members from the
Georgia National Guard's 4th Civil Support Team worked alongside Puerto Rico, Washington, Maine, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee, and
Minnesota National Guard and other state and federal agencies to ensure public safety. Georgia National Guard Archives.
Soldiers of the 201st were the first Georgia National
Guardsmen called to extended active duty service in support of Georgia’s
coordinated response to the COVID-19 in March 2020. Units of the 201st
staffed infection control teams, operated COVID-19 test and immunization stations
and provided trained medical support teams to augment hospitals across the
state. In May 2020, the 201st RSG was called to support civil
authorities in response to civil unrest in Atlanta in 2020 and augmented
security during the presidential inauguration in Atlanta and Washington DC in
January 2021.
[1] National
Guard Bureau, OA 142-04, July 30, 2004.
[2] Georgia
Army National Guard, Permanent Order 1A-10-135-008, May 15, 2010.
[3] William
Carraway, “ADT Returns from Afghanistan,” The
Georgia Guardsman, May 2012, 5-6.
[4] Georgia
Army National Guard, Permanent Order 1A-10-135-008D, June 1, 2012.
[5] Georgia
Army National Guard, Permanent Order 1A-12-144-011 (A1).
[6] William
Carraway, “ADT Returns from Afghanistan.” The
Georgia Guardsman, January-February 2013, 18
[7] National
Guard Bureau, OA 902-13, November 19, 2013.
[8]
Ga. DoD Ga. DoD Annual Report, 2013, (Atlanta: 2014), 17.
[9] William
Carraway, “ADT 3 returned to the Clay National Guard Center.” The Georgia
Guardsman, November 23, 2013.
[10] Georgia
Army National Guard, Permanent Order 216-03, August 4, 2014.
[11] William
Carraway, “Key Date Tracker”, Georgia National Guard History Office,
unpublished manuscript (typescript).
[12] Ga.
DoD, Ga. DOD Annual Report, 2015, (Atlanta: 2016),19.
[13]
Ga. DoD, Ga. DoD Annual Report, 2017, (Atlanta: 2018),20.
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