Louisiana’s 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team is working to hand over command to their relief in the Middle East. They are hoping to be back in the Bayou State by the end of October.

Colonel Scott Desormeaux leads the 256th Tiger Brigade. His troops are currently deployed for Operation Inherent Freedom and Operation Spartan Shield, but they were deployed stateside several times last year.

He explains, “Many of the soldiers that are here we mobilized in November but a large portion of them have been serving all through 2020, either through combating COVID across the state or responding to the multiple hurricanes. Aand I think I can’t speak enough to the dedication and professionalism of the soldiers, all ages, that are willing to put aside their civilian lives and careers to come and do either state or federal mission.”

This is not Colonel Desormeaux’s first overseas deployment, but it is his first as commander. He leads 2,000 spread across four countries in the Middle East, and says, “All the missions point back to the same thing which is preventing any resurgence of the military-defeated ISIS across this region.”

The United States military conducts patrols to assist the Coalition, and to ultimately enable forces in places like Iraq and Syria to combat terrorist groups. Colonel Desormeaux’s expresses pride in his soldiers,”I can tell you that everywhere we go, the active component can’t believe that we are all National Guard because of the level of professionalism that we bring to the fight.”

And he expresses his gratitude for the encouragement the soldiers have received from home, “The support that we felt coming back from the state to our soldiers has definitely sustained us through the deployment so far… A big thank you to everyone back home. We really appreciate it.”

Colonel Desormeaux expressed tremendous gratitude to the USO for its support of troops deployed not only in the Middle East but around the world. He encourages anyone who wants to support our military to support the USO.