Latest news with #PennsylvaniaArmyNationalGuard
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Military Spouse Appreciation Day ceremony salutes family connections
Stephanie Krumenacker grew up expecting to have a military career. Her parents, grandfathers and paternal great-grandfather all served. But Krumenacker's goal never came to fruition, leaving her not knowing what to do with herself as she 'had built my identity around the plan to be in the military.' But now, she carries out a different important role, taking care of her children and life in Portage, as her husband, SSG Jonathan Krumenacker, serves in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He is currently three months into a Middle East deployment. 'I take my role seriously to ensure my command is the home front so my husband can stay focused on his mission front,' said Stephanie Krumenacker when speaking Friday at Veteran Community Initiatives' 16th annual Military Spouse Appreciation Day ceremony. She talked about their lives together from being high school sweethearts who have been married for 19 years now to family, friends, church and their shared passion for playing hockey. 'With him being deployed, it's not helping with him wanting to get back on the ice because it's so hot where he's at,' she said. 'He'll be home soon enough to swap his boots and gear to get back on the ice again.' The event, held at 1st Summit Arena @ Cambria County War Memorial in downtown Johnstown, recognized contributions made by the spouses who VCI President and CEO Tom Caulfield referred to as a 'most unheralded group.' 'May we take a moment to pause and thank the incredible individuals who stand beside those in the service, often sacrificing just as much,' said Bob Eyer, the ceremony's emcee. 'Military spouses are the quiet strength behind the nation's armed services. They're the ones who hold the family together through the deployments, the relocations, the uncertainty. And they take on the roles of caregiver, counselor, parents, sometimes both mom and dad, while managing their own careers, and goals and their dreams.' Dave Sutor is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Sutor.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Pennsylvania Army National Guard receives new, upgraded armored vehicles
(WHTM) — The Pennsylvania Army National Guard is receiving the first of more than 600 new or upgraded armored vehicles. The National Guard announced they are receiving 324 upgraded Stryker vehicles and 300 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) to modernize their 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now The upgraded Strykers now feature a 'double-V' hull, which is replacing the brigade's legacy flat-bottom-hull Strykers, and the JLTVs are replacing the brigade's soft-skin M1097 HMMWVs, colloquially known as 'humvees.' Col. Christopher Costello, 56th SBCT Commander, said the transition from flat-bottom hull to double-V hull design was initiated in response to vulnerabilities against improvised explosive devices during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says the new hull will deflect explosive forces away from the vehicle, drastically reducing the risk of damage and injury to soldiers inside. 'Combat experience in Afghanistan showed that double-V hull Strykers significantly reduced casualties and injury severity compared to flat-bottom hull models,' said Col. Costello. 'Soldiers often walked away from IED attacks on double-V hull vehicles or returned to duty quickly, a stark improvement over flat-bottom hull performance where casualties were higher.' Costello added that the new JLTVs will provide several upgrades over the current humvees, as well. 'The JLTV combines improved protection, mobility, and payload capacity while addressing the limitations of the older Humvee in modern combat environments,' Costello said. Col. Jeremy Coleman, the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics, says the first 25 Strykers will come to Fort Indiantown Gap, where they will be used for training, or G4. All of the JLTVs will come to Fort Indiantown Gap before going out to their units. It has not yet been determined if the remaining Strykers will also come to Fort Indiantown Gap first or if they will be sent directly to the units. 'This is a great opportunity for the state, 28th Infantry Division, and 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team to modernize our legacy equipment,' Col. Coleman said. The National Guard says this modernization program will help the brigade be better prepared for its combat role when called upon in the future, Costello added. 'There will certainly be challenges, but based on the performance of the Soldiers and units during their deployments, I am sure we will be successful,' Costello said. 'The level of training required for the deployments also encourages me that despite the focus on fielding so much equipment, the Soldiers, if called upon, would be ready to support civil authorities and/or conduct their war time missions.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
From Blackhawks to time-sensitive, life-saving missions, central Pennsylvania lessons from last week's crashes
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — Col. Timothy Zerbe, the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's state aviation officer, understands why he's getting a lot more questions than usual about the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters based at Fort Indiantown Gap. After all, almost no one — other than the close family and friends of the 67 people who died last week after a Black Hawk collided with a commercial flight operated for American Airlines — feels the tragedy as deeply as the people at the Gap, which Zerbe said is America's second-largest Black Hawk base. 'We're all reeling,' Zerbe said. 'They say it's a 'small Army,' and we have friends and family scattered throughout.' What to know about military helicopter involved in crash near DC But alongside their shock and grief, people involved in the Black Hawk program have to make room for unemotional lessons, including ways to even more safely share airspace with commercial flights. 'The worst thing we want to do is make a controller frustrated where they're turning us away, and that's their right to turn us away within their controlled airspace' at places like Harrisburg International Airport, said Zerbe, who also demonstrated the altimeters that should — for example — keep the helicopters below the maximum altitudes at which they're allowed to fly near busy airports. Zerbe has flown Black Hawks near New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, parts of whose airspace have a 200-foot above-ground-level altitude limit similar to the one that exists in parts of the airspace near Reagan National Airport in Washington. Some early information has indicated the helicopter that collided with the CRJ-700 jet — operated for American Airlines by its subsidiary, PSA — might have been flying too high when the collision occurred. National Transportation Safety Board investigators are looking at everything, from what happened in the cockpits of both aircraft to air traffic control tower staffing levels and the communication between controllers and the pilots. At Capital City Airport in Fairview Township, York County, Jim Isaacs — the director of operations for Eagle Air Aviation — recalled hearing the news about the medical transport jet that crashed in Philadelphia last Friday, killing six people on board and one on the ground. 'Any time there's an an accident, obviously it hits close to home,' Isaacs said. Unlike the Learjet that crashed in Philadelphia, Eagle's Cessna Citation jets — including one in the hangar Isaacs showed that is so new it's not even yet in service — don't transport patients. But they do transport donated organs. Time is of the essence to get an organ from a deceased donor to a recipient while the organ is still healthy. Still, Isaacs said pilots — backed by company leaders — will sooner cancel a flight than rush to operate in unsafe conditions. 'We operate with the mindset here that we're comfortable flying our family members in it,' Isaacs said, adding the company studies the outcomes of all investigation — and will do so with the Philadelphia one — to continue to refine its safety practices. Similarly, back at Fort Indiantown Gap, Zerbe invoked his own family. Last week's accident 'hits them, too,' Zerbe said. 'Like, 'are you – 'Dad, are you really going to go flying tonight?' And it's, 'Yes, I am going to go flying tonight.'' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
