New Leadership for the Ga. ARNG’s Historic 122nd TSD

 By Maj. William Carraway, Historian, Georgia National Guard

 

Left: Col. John Fuchko passes the guidon of the 122nd Tactical Support Detachment to Brig. Gen. John Gentry symbolizing his relinquishing of detachment
command during a ceremony at the Clay National Guard Center April 1, 2023. Right: The 122nd TSD, then Field Hospital Number 1, on the
Mexican Border in 1916. Photo by 2nd Lt. Vivian Roberts.

Colonel John Fuchko relinquished command of the 122nd Tactical Support Detachment to Lt. Col. John Avera during a ceremony at the Clay National Guard Center April 1, 2023. Fuchko has commanded the 122nd TSD since October 17, 2021. In his more than two decades of service, Fuchko has completed multiple overseas combat deployments, commanded the 221st Expeditionary Military Intelligence Battalion and served as the intelligence officer of the Georgia Army National Guard. 

 

Lt. Col. John Avera assumes command of the 122nd TSD.
Photo by Maj. Charles Emmons.

Assuming command of the 122nd TSD is Lt. Col. John Avera, a veteran commander who has completed combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and previously led the 2nd Battalion 121st Infantry Regiment. During his command tenure, Avera directed battalion response efforts during the Corona virus outbreak, mobilized Soldiers of the 2-121 to Washington DC to provide security during the presidential inauguration of 2021 and later mobilized Soldiers to Morocco for Exercise African Lion.

 

The 122nd TSD wears the shoulder sleeve insignia of the 7th Infantry Division which symbolizes not only the unit’s mission to support the 7th ID but also recalls the shared history of the two units. The 122nd TSD was originally constituted in the Georgia National Guard as the Field Hospital Number 1 in 1914. Following service on the Mexican border in 1916 and 1917, the unit was sent to Camp Wheeler in Macon, Ga. to prepare for World War I mobilization. The 7th Infantry Division was organized at Camp Wheeler Dec. 6, 1917, and for the next several months, the forerunners of the 7th Infantry Division and 122nd TSD trained on the same ground. The 122nd mobilized to France in World War I and World War II and received the Presidential Unit Citation for its actions as an element of the 30th Division in 1944. More than one hundred years later, as part of its mission, the 122nd TSD supplements the staff of the 7th Infantry Division during National Training Center rotations.