Governor, First Lady Welcome Home Guardsmen Following Yearlong Mission to Protect the Nation's Capital

Press Release

Gov. Jack and First Lady Betsy Dalrymple today joined military officials, families and friends in welcoming home more than 200 members of the North Dakota National Guard's (NDNG) 1st Battalion, 188th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. The soldiers returned to North Dakota following a yearlong deployment to the Washington, D.C area in support of Operation Noble Eagle.

"Today, we proudly welcome the members of the 1-188th Air Defense Artillery back home to the state they so honorably served and represented while deployed to Washington, D.C.," Dalrymple said. "Our country knows it can turn to North Dakota for America's most capable soldiers, especially when it comes to protecting our nation's capital. We are proud of these Guardsmen and grateful to them and their families for their exemplary service to our state and nation."

While deployed, the 1-188th conducted 24-hour operations as the ground-based air defense battalion and collaborated with other Department of Defense agencies as part of the integrated air defense system designed to protect the airspace around the National Capital Region. This was the unit's 10th deployment since 2004, making it the most-deployed unit in the NDNG. The unit is headquartered in Grand Forks with detachments in Bismarck and Fargo.

The Governor and First Lady visited with members of the 1-188th in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 21. They received an operations briefing from the unit's leaders and visited the Joint Air Defense Operations Center to learn more about the mission and daily operations of monitoring and defending the airspace. They also toured a training site used by the agencies comprising the air defense system and had a chance to visit with several of the unit's soldiers.

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