At a ceremony on the Rutland Southern Vermont Regional Airport on Sunday, Main Annalise Baumer was given command of the Vermont Army Nationwide Guard’s 572nd Brigade, changing into the primary girl to command the unit.
The 572nd additionally has been marking its one centesimal anniversary.
Through the ceremony, Lt. Col. Nathan Speanburg, who had been accountable for the 572nd for 3 years, transferred command to Baumer who had beforehand served within the unit as first operations officer and govt officer for the battalion. She spent about two years with the 572nd.
Earlier management positions with the Nationwide Guard embody being a platoon chief after which a commander for what’s now Bravo firm, a subordinate unit with the battalion, which relies in Vergennes.
In a press release, Col. Leonard J. Poirier, commander of the 86th Infantry Brigade Fight Group (Mountain) referred to as Baumer “probably the most succesful and certified officer to command the 572nd Engineer Battalion.”
“Her fight confirmed management, engineer particular and common army expertise led to her choice for command and can allow her and the Battalion to achieve success within the coming years,” Poirier mentioned.
Baumer mentioned Friday she had two conferences with Speanburg for what known as a “battle hand-off” and famous, “Truthfully, it did really feel like going dwelling since I used to be there beforehand for 2 years.”
“There’s a degree of consolation and, I assume, familiarity if you’ll. It’s thrilling,” she mentioned.
Requested whether or not she could also be an inspiration, as the primary feminine commander of the 572nd, for the subsequent era of ladies within the army, Baumer mentioned she hopes to be.
Baumer mentioned she had recognized Speanburg since 2011 and referred to as him a “sturdy chief” who had to answer numerous challenges together with the pandemic and the deployment of numerous members of the 572nd to numerous areas of the world. She additionally served as his govt officer.
Baumer is initially from Minnesota, however has lived in Vermont since 2003, when she joined the Vermont Nationwide Guard.
She identified her father was on lively responsibility with the U.S. Air Power and he or she was born in Germany on the Hahn Air Base simply exterior of Frankfurt.
Baumer mentioned she initially enlisted within the army in 1988 to take part within the biathlon by means of a military sports activities program. She mentioned there was a cohort who enlisted within the Minnesota Nationwide Guard to take part in biathlon and for her, the military was a option to pay for faculty.
After faculty, she wasn’t planning to stay within the army, however she mentioned whereas she was in Vermont, she was stationed on the Army Mountain Warfare faculty as a specialist and labored with a non-commissioned officer, Neil Roberts, who inspired her to contemplate making use of to Officer Candidate Faculty.
“I concurrently had a full-time job as a technician within the accounting division at state headquarters and I appreciated it. That was type of like my first job out of faculty, I assume, if you’ll. And I appreciated it quite a bit so I assumed, ‘Effectively, if I’m gonna proceed, I would as effectively be an officer,’” she mentioned. Baumer has a bachelor’s diploma in biology and grasp’s levels in enterprise and authorities. She’s an engineer officer within the Nationwide Guard. “So the engineering area within the army shouldn’t be precisely the identical as it’s within the civilian sector, that means within the civilian sector. Clearly, there’s mechanical engineers, civil engineers, electrical engineers, that type of factor. The military is clearly a fight formation so we actually type of tailor it to these ability units however we do have ability units that are extra civil-related, that means bridge-builders, road-builders, we have now what we name vertical engineers in order that they construct constructions, buildings, that type of factor. … That’s my ability set within the military, it type of combines each the fight after which the development facet, if you’ll,” she mentioned.
The 572nd is an engineer battalion, with two fight engineer formations. Baumer mentioned throughout a deployment, they might be referred to as on to create a street, that she identified wasn’t the type of asphalt street many individuals use day by day however what might be extra of a “unfastened fight path to get a Humvee by means of” or breach a minefield to get rid of improvised explosive units.
The battalion additionally has Charlie and Delta unit, the 2 out-of-state formations, one in Connecticut and one in Colorado. A battalion has about 500 members and a brigade has about 4,000 members.
Baumer mentioned parts out of each supporting firm did deploy, some entire models and a few only a platoon or an echelon of one of many firms. There are a handful which might be nonetheless deployed within the theater. Baumer mentioned that was as a result of they appreciated it and volunteered to stay in theater for one more tour.
For now, the 572nd can be responding to the top of deployments in three totally different areas of the globe.
“I feel the problem for us transferring ahead is to get everyone again collectively, reconsolidate. A deployment is troublesome. It’s troublesome for the soldier, it’s troublesome for the household. It’s onerous to be away, it’s onerous to have the one you love away,” she mentioned.
Baumer was deployed in Iraq in 2007 and 2008 and solely just lately returned from Kosovo. She mentioned she was grateful to her husband, who took care of their 6-year-old daughter, and mentioned she included herself as one of many troopers who must concentrate on “resetting and getting again to regular.”
An article revealed by the Vermont Nationwide Guard’s public affairs workplace in October to mark the one centesimal anniversary of the 572nd mentioned it had been headquartered in Rutland since 1921.
Within the article, Main Common Greg Knight, adjutant common, Vermont Nationwide Guard, referred to as 100 years “a big milestone which underscores the lengthy historical past not solely of this unit, however of the Nationwide Guard right here in Vermont, serving Vermonters and the nation.”
“The 572nd BEB performs an essential position not just for the brigade, but additionally for the state as our largest formation of engineers, prepared to reply within the occasion of a pure catastrophe,” Knight mentioned.
Initially designated an infantry battalion, the 572nd was an armored battalion for greater than 30 years, from 1959 to 1993, turned a particular troops battalion, often called the 86th Infantry Brigade Fight Group (Mountain) in 2007 and assumed their present mission because the brigade engineer battalion in 2016.
patrick.mcardle
@rutlandherald.com
