New York's 27th Infantry en route to Germany to train Ukrainian military

The New York National Guard deployed 140 Soldiers to Germany last Friday to assist in the training of members of Ukraine’s military.

Members of New York’s 27th Infantry based out of Syracuse will be replacing 160 Soldiers from Florida’s 53rd Infantry Brigade who are currently deployed on a similar training mission since November of 2021. They have been operating at the Joint Training Center-Yavoriv, approximately 700 kilometers northwest of Lviv.

Originally training in Ukraine, the US Army National Guard training detachment — along with their Ukrainian trainees — were ordered to evacuate from Ukraine in February of this year in anticipation of the Russian invasion. The Florida National Guard team, Task Force Gator, currently leads the training of Ukrainian military personnel in Germany among other locations.

Before reaching their final stop in Germany, the New York Task Force will stop at Fort Bliss, Texas for training of their own. They will be joining the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine mission in September when they replace the Florida based training team.

Since 2015, the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine has been providing invaluable training, advisement, and expertise to Ukraine’s military.

The Army National Guard has been sending Infantry Brigade Combat Teams to the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine regularly as part of their deployment life cycle. There, they have been supporting the training mission in nine month rotations.

Early in 2017, Oklahoma’s 45th Infantry National Guard sent a team to Ukraine to the Combat Training Center-Yavoriv to train Ukrainian military.

In November of that same year, the New York 27th Infantry deployed 220 Guardsmen to replace the Oklahoma 45th at the same training facility for ten months. They were lead by the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station based 2ns Squadron, 101st Cavalry.

In August 2018, the team from New York’s 27th Infantry was then replaced by Guardsmen from Tennessee’s 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

The Combat Training Center-Yavoriv has been visited by other nations militaries as well. Canada, Denmark, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have all participated in the JMTG-U mission as well.