Unit Led By Windsor Man Headed to Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Daniel Nolan of Windsor will lead his National Guard Unit into action for the first time Monday morning when they board a flight that will land them in Afghanistan.

The 246th Engineer Detachment, consisting of seven members with firefighter training, will deploy at 10 a.m. from the Army Support Facility in Windsor Locks, according to a press release issued by the Connecticut National Guard on Sunday.

The group heads first to Fort Bliss, Texas, for training and then to Afghanistan where it will provide assistance in fire prevention, fire protection, HAZMAT response and aircraft crash and rescue services, according to a press release from Maj. Gen. Thaddeus J. Martin, commander of the Connecticut National Guard.

This is the unit’s first overseas deployment. The 246th Engineer Detachment was organized on Sept. 1, 2003 in East Lyme and has since then participated in every Connecticut National Guard mission, Martin said.

Most recently, these seven Guard members during major storms in January and February. The Guard was called in after a scare about possible structural deficiencies in the high school prompted a shut down of the building until all the snow had been removed.

Roughly 300 Guard members reportedly assisted that day. The clean-up effort took an entire weekend and also included several police, firefighters and Public Works personnel in assistance.

The 246th Detachment also assisted in pumping out more than a million gallons of floodwater from the Jewett City Sewage Treatment Plant in March 2010, and most recently in responding to state duty during Tropical Storm Irene, Martin said.

Whitford said the unit will likely be working not only with American units when they report to duty, but also alongside Afghans.