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Georgia National Guard Soldiers Deploy To Train Afghan Military
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When members of the Georgia National Guard’s 48th Brigade deploy to Afghanistan after Christmas, it will be the first deployment for many. It will also be in the same job that resulted in the recent death of a Utah National Guard member.
The 48th Brigade as an institution is no stranger to deployment to 21st Century conflict, racking up four such missions since 9/11. That includes a a long-ago stint at Guantanamo Bay guarding prisoners of the War on Terror.
Georgia National Guard Members Deploying To Afghanistan
This time, the 48th will be rolled up under the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart. Their job? Training members of the Afghan military.
Lt. Jonathan Kareis will leave two preschool aged children and his wife, a full-time nurse, when he deploys as an intelligence officer. He is a real estate agent in civilian life.
“It’s hard, especially with two kids and a wife, to leave them behind,” Kareis said. “The build-up takes a long time and then you are gone for nine months. It’s definitely going to be hard to be gone but excited at the same time. Looking forward to doing service.”
Utah National Guard member Maj. Brent Taylor was recently killed serving as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan, training members of the Afghan military, the same job Kareis and others in the Georgia’s 48th Brigade will take up in January. Brigade Commander Col. Matthew Smith called Afghanistan a “dynamic environment."
“That’s a bit of a euphemism that we use sometimes in our profession,” Smith said. “But there’s no getting around the fact that it is a dangerous place to be.”
The 48th Brigade will train for one more month at Fort Stewart before deploying in waves between Christmas and the new year.
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