STEWART AIRPORT - New York National Guard members took part in an exercise Friday that entailed transporting cargo and soldiers by air and by land in the event of a man-made or natural disaster in New York City, and the 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart Air National Guard base played an important role in that exercise.

The ANG base in Newburgh would serve as a landing base for soldiers and cargo coming from other Army and Air National Guard bases around the state, in the event of a situation in an urban area like that of New York City.

The 105th Airlift Wing at Stewart not only serves as a midway point, but they also provide transportation via C5-A transport planes during such an event, as they did during Friday’s drill.

The senior Army official aboard the C5-A emphasized the importance of the 105th Airlift Wing and logistics during such an event.

“For a mission like this, we’ve got a lot of equipment and vehicles to move,” said 27th BCT Sergeant 1st Class Paul Bialobok. 

“We’re combat engineers, and our role, is search and extraction. We’re trained to go in and pull victims out of whatever situation there is,” he said.

The 27th Brigade Combat Team based in Syracuse spent the last three days loading a C5-A with transport vehicles, hazmat materials, and other equipment necessary for a disaster.  The team will be using the equipment to train with FDNY hazmat teams at the FDNY training headquarters at Randall Island this weekend.

The sergeant said the 27th BCT role in an urban disaster is search and extraction, and that they come prepared with “anything that comes their way.”  He said the FDNY has kept from them details of the drill to make the simulation more realistic.