Unit of Pa. National Guard training in France
Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Doug Roles
Staff Sgt. John Keenan (left) of Ebensburg and Sgt. 1st Class Donald Goss of Mifflintown, both with the 28th Infantry Division headquarters support company’s maintenance section, stop near Vertus, France to conduct a map check.
(Harrisburg) — Lebanon County is home to Fort Indiantown Gap, one of the busiest National Guard training facilities in the country.
But 250 members of the Pennsylvania National Guard’s 28th Infantry Division are in France for a training exercise with other NATO countries.
The drill, known as Rochambeau (RO-sham-BO), started May 9th and involves defending a hypothetical county that’s been invaded.
Brigadier General John Gronski, commander of the Guard’s 28th Division, says although it may appear the exercise is in response to the situation in Ukraine, that’s not the case…
“This is a notional exercise. I mean, this certainly isn’t anything but that. It’s a notional exercise that was already pre-planned well before any of the activities that are currently going on in the eastern part of Europe.”
He says commanders are learning how to provide command and control of a division that has subordinate members, track battles, issue orders, and communicate with headquarters.
Gronski says the mission stems from France’s desire to show its commitment to the military operations of NATO, also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The unit should be returning to Pennsylvania sometime this week.
The 28th Division is known as the Iron Division.
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