page_title: Rhode Island Army National Guard
section_title: Global War on Terrorism / Operation Iraqi Freedom
hierarchical_section_title: Rhode Island Army National Guard / History / Global War on Terrorism / Operation Iraqi Freedom
caption_attribution_description: English: Original Caption: "Soldiers of the 115th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit from Rhode Island, isolate Iraqi civilians as soldiers search their vehicles. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Robert Liddy.
context_page_description: The Rhode Island Army National Guard is the land force militia for the U.S. state of Rhode Island. It operates under Title 10 and Title 32 of the United States Code and operates under the command of the state governor while not in federal service. National Guard units may function under arms in a state status, therefore they may be called up for active duty by the governor to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as those caused by hurricanes, floods, or civil unrest.
  Units of the Rhode Island Army National Guard may be called up for federal service. If federally activated, units operate as part of the Army National Guard of the United States, a reserve component of the United States Army.
context_section_description: The current War on Terror has seen the largest levels of mobilization and deployment of Rhode Island National Guard troops since the Second World War.
  In early 2002 the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 43d Military Police Brigade was mobilized and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to provide the nucleus of the Headquarters for Joint Task Force 160 (JTF 160) in charge of detention of illegal combatants detained in operations in Afghanistan.  JTF 160 was responsible for opening Camp Delta which was a detention facility which was a great improvement over Camp X-Ray where detainees were kept initially. Widely publicized and controversial interrogations of detainees were carried out by Joint Task Force 170 which was responsible for intelligence gathering at Guantanamo Bay.  The 43d MP Brigade returned to Rhode Island in November 2002.
  In February 2003 the 118th Military Police Battalion, along with its subordinate units the 115th and 119th Military Police companies, was mobilized and sent to Kuwait, and later Iraq.  The units were overseas from April 2003 to April 2004.  Two soldiers from the 115th Military Police Company were killed in action and another in an accident.  The 115th MP Company received the prestigious Valorous Unit Award for its combat service in Fallujah in 2003.
  In late August 2005, a composite company from the 43d Military Police Brigade was sent to New Orleans to provide security and humanitarian assistance to survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
  From 2003 to 2011 every unit of the Rhode Island National Guard, with the exception of the 88th Army Band and the Joint Forces Headquarters, would be mobilized at least once for service in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
  According to the RING and RIEMA (Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency) Annual Report 2008, on 6 September 2008, the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 103rd Field Artillery Brigade and one of its component units, the 1043rd Maintenance Company, were to inactivate on 6 September 2008. The other RING unit of the brigade, the 1st Battalion, 103rd Field Artillery (1/103rd FA), was to be reassigned elsewhere. The brigade was originally formed in 1979.  The 1043rd Maintenance Company was merged with the 1207th Transportation Company and reorganized as the 1207th Forward Support Company (FSC) which became and integral unit of the 1/103rd FA providing maintenance and logistical support to the battalion.
caption: Rhode Island Army National Guardsmen in Fallujah, Iraq, 28 July 2003
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