Around 70 soldiers from a specialist medical unit of the U.S. National Guard – nicknamed the “Witch Doctors” – will be deployed to Poland within the next month.
Dozens of personnel, including medics, doctors, nurses, dentists and x-ray technicians, bid farewell to their families at an event in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
They belong to the 182nd Medical Company of the Massachusetts Army National Guard, one of the oldest medical units in the U.S. armed forces, which was formed back in 1888.
Since 2008, the unit has been stationed in Worcester and, according to the local Worcester Telegram & Gazette, they are set to leave for Poland soon. However, it is not known exactly where they will be stationed, the publication said.
Their deployment to Europe is part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a mission that dates back to 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine and started a war in the east of the country.
“We’re going to make sure Russia goes no further,” Major General Gary W. Keefe, the chief administrative officer of the Massachusetts National Guard, told the guests assembled at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Alden Hall.
Keefe also warned that China and Russia were conducting joint military exercises and cooperating with Iran, a situation that “threatens our way of life and our freedoms.”
While no specific deployment location has been announced, company commander Major James Hogan said the unit will serve in an urgent care hospital.
Around 10,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed in Poland, where large-scale defenses have been recently built to protect the eastern flank of the NATO military alliance.
