Mayor Mark Begich Remarks
1-501^st Task Force Activation and Deployment
5 p.m.; Buckner Physical Fitness Center; FortRichardson

Thank you, General Brown, for your kind introduction and for your service to our nation. To members of the new Task Force First of the Five – O’First, welcome and thanks.   We are proud of each of you and grateful for your service.

In the little over three months I’ve been Mayor, I have had the honor to speak at several memorial events for our nation’s veterans. From Independence Day to Memorial Day, we rejoice in love of country, we celebrate the value of public service, and we honor sacrifice.

Here in Alaska, we take special pride in our ties to the armed forces.  We boast of more than 70,000 men and women who wore the uniform of our country’s military – one of the highest percentages in the nation. The Municipality of Anchorage is proud to be home to 30,000 of these men and women.

Today’s ceremony, however, is different from those events honoring veterans. We are here to recognize not only a structural change in the U.S. Army-Alaska, but to salute your active service as you are deployed to Afghanistan.

A couple of months ago, I participated in an event honoring the 11^th Air Force. You probably know it was founded at Anchorage’s Merrill Field 63 years ago. The 11^th served valiantly in the Aleutian Campaign of World War II.

I talked then about the partnership between Anchorage and America’s military.  I described the ways in which the 11^th Air Force and City of Anchorage have grown together over the years.

Today marks another step in the strength of that partnership.  As part of the continual modernization of the armed forces here in Alaska, we note the creation of “Task Force One-Five-O-One.” 

Over the coming months, your unit will grow from a 550-person battalion to an eleven-hundred member airborne task force, a self-contained unit with its own personnel and artillery. Men and women will join you from elsewhere in Alaska and throughout the Army. They will bring their own unique skills, backgrounds, and histories.

They are not the only ones who will join with you on your mission in Afghanistan.  This entire community and state will be supporting you as you face new challenges in the coming months. 

Anchorage is a community that understands and honors those who sacrifice so much to keep this the land of the free and the home of the brave.

After September 11^th, 2001, I often heard the phrase, “The world as we know it has changed forever.”  I’m sure you hard that, too.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I think I know much of what we all felt when we said those words. It was a cautious awareness of a new-found vulnerability. But more importantly, it was a renewed sense of vigilance to protect those we love and build up nation on the democratic principles of freedom and justice for all.

In just over two years in that new world, we have some successes to report. My predecessor, Mayor Wuerch, and many municipal staff and community members worked together to build a nationally recognized program to make this community more secure and prepared.

Now, in a few short days, you will be part of an international force helping make our nation and world more secure.

The people of Afghanistan need your help.  In a country torn by poverty, war, and ethnic strife, you bring a message of hope.  Your mission there is about bringing peace to a part of the world that hasn’t known it in decades.  Your mission is about creating an environment in which democratic values can prosper.

Despite your superior training and equipment, despite being part of the most powerful military in the world, despite the good will you will supply an entire nation - you will be tested.  Though right, your task will not always be easy.

As you meet that test, know that your neighbors stand with you. Know that we pray for you as you carry out your mission and return safely home to those who love you. I wish you all God’s speed. May God bless our great city and nation.

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