{"id":331995,"date":"2024-12-12T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=331995"},"modified":"2024-12-14T01:56:45","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T01:56:45","slug":"new-york-soldiers-airman-celebrate-national-guards-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=331995","title":{"rendered":"New York Soldiers, Airman Celebrate National Guard\u2019s Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Maj. Gen. Michel Natali, New York assistant adjutant general, and Airman Gabriel Geise, 18, Master Sgt. Michel Schin, 59, and Pvt. 1st Class Aliyah Billar, 17, mark the 388th anniversary of the National Guard’s birthday Dec. 13, 2024, at New York National Guard headquarters in Latham. (New York Army National Guard Photo by Stephanie Butler)
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LATHAM, N.Y. – Two New York National Guard Soldiers and an Airman commemorated the National Guard\u2019s 388th birthday at New York National Guard headquarters Dec. 13.<\/p>\n

Army Guard Master Sgt. Michael Schin, 59, Airman Gabriela Geise, 18, and 17-year-old Army Guard Pfc. Aliyah Billar joined Army Maj. Gen. Michel Natali, assistant adjutant general, Army, to cut the traditional National Guard birthday cake.<\/p>\n

Schin represented the history and traditions of the Army and National Guard, while Geise and Billar, who joined the Air Force and Army National Guard this year, represented the future of the force.<\/p>\n

The National Guard claims Dec. 13, 1636, as its birthday. On that date, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay colony approved a law to organize the colonial militia into three regiments.<\/p>\n

The New York National Guard can trace its roots to the militia force organized by the Dutch East Indies Company to protect its New Amsterdam settlement from attack by local natives or their English neighbors in Massachusetts and Virginia in the 1640s.<\/p>\n

When New Amsterdam became New York in 1665, the militia was reorganized similarly to the English.<\/p>\n

Natali said members of the militia and National Guard have fought in every American war since the New English militias defeated native American tribes in King Philip\u2019s War in 1675-1676.<\/p>\n

Natali said the New York Air National Guard can claim one of the oldest units in the Air Force. The 106th Rescue Wing\u2019s 102nd Rescue Squadron has a lineage that reaches back to the New York National Guard 1st Aero Squadron organized in 1915.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe men and woman who have served, and certainly continue to serve, the National Guard have participated in every one of America\u2019s conflicts and have consistently been always ready and always there for every manner of domestic crisis or natural disaster over the past 388 years,\u201d Natali said.<\/p>\n

Today, the New York Army National Guard is deploying 850 Soldiers to Africa, the Middle East and Guantanamo Bay in the coming year, while the New York Air National Guard continues to operate worldwide, especially in the polar regions, Natali noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentral to our ability to answer the call is our people, our Soldiers, our Airmen, our civilian workforce, and their families, that support all of our efforts abroad and here at home,\u201d Natali said.<\/p>\n

Schin enlisted in the Army Reserve in 1983 and transferred to the Army Guard a year later. He said it was an \u201chonor and a privilege\u201d to represent the history of the National Guard at the ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sort of helps to tie off my career,\u201d said Schin, who is due to retire in five months.<\/p>\n

Schin, a veteran of the Iraq War, has served as an infantry platoon leader, an assistant inspector general and an information technology specialist. He currently works for the National Guard as a civilian information technology specialist.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an awesome adventure from start to finish, and I would do it all over again,\u201d Schin said.<\/p>\n

Geise enlisted in the Air National Guard Sept. 5 and reports for basic Airman training in April. She plans to train in the air transportation function with the 109th Airlift Wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an honor to take part in the ceremony,\u201d Geise said. \u201cBeing one of the youngest, it is definitely an eye-opener being with one of the oldest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billar, a high school senior, enlisted in the New York Army National Guard in October and will serve in the 27th Finance Company in New York City, She reports for basic training in August.<\/p>\n

For more National Guard news<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

National Guard X<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maj. Gen. Michel Natali, New York assistant adjutant general, and Airman Gabriel Geise, 18, Master Sgt. Michel Schin, 59, and Pvt. 1st Class Aliyah Billar, 17, mark the 388th anniversary of the National Guard’s birthday Dec. 13, 2024, at New York National Guard headquarters in Latham. (New York Army National Guard Photo by Stephanie Butler) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331997,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-331995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=331995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331998,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331995\/revisions\/331998"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/331997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=331995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=331995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=331995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}