Wisconsin National Guard Members Fighting ISIS In Iraq

​Members of the Wisconsin National Guard have been in Iraq for a week serving in a first-of-its-kind, integrated Army unit.

The 65 Wisconsin guardsmen and women trained alongside active duty soldiers and reservists who were deployed with them, and had the 101st Airborne Division’s Screaming Eagle patch attached to their uniforms.

According to Major General Gary Volesky, this has never happened before in the Army. Normally, members of the guard would meet the other soldiers overseas.

As the division’s commanding general, Volesky said the Wisconsin National Guardsmen and 500 other soldiers will be training Iraqi Security Forces and strategizing with them on how to defeat the Islamic State group, also known as ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh.

“Unlike our previous deployments, there’s not U.S. soldiers on the ground fighting the fight with them,” he said. “We are supporting with air supports, so we’re dropping bombs on locations of ISIL activity, to help enable the Iraqi security forces to continue to attack and defeat Daesh in the areas they’re operating in.”

Volesky said Department of Defense budget cuts have forced them to consider using all members of the Army for missions, not just active duty soldiers. He said they’re relying more on “Total Force Policy,” using members of the Army, Army Reserves, and Army National Guard.

“We’re going to rely on the total force to accomplish the missions,” he said. “When you look at what the Army’s doing now, with the security issues in Europe, you’ve got them in the Pacific, you’ve got them all throughout Africa, clearly the Middle East. Our Army, the active component, is stretched and we need our guardsmen and reservists to come and help us execute all these missions our nation requires us to do.”

He said this is not necessarily a turning point for the Army. If the pilot project is successful, Volesky said there may be more integrated units in the future.

“We’ve had reservists as part of our organization, but this is first time we’ve been able to integrate them into our unit and train with them the whole time. When I look at those soldiers, I don’t see National Guardsmen, I don’t see reservists, I don’t see active duty, I see soldiers and this is what it’s all about.”

The members of the Wisconsin National Guard and their unit will be stationed in Iraq for nine to 12 months.