Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry, 1st Brigade "The Stonewall Brigade" of the 29th Infantry Division (Light), Virginia Army National Guard.
Charlie Company recently was presented the 116th Infantry Regiment Superior Unit Award. The award is competitive and based on weapons qualification, military occupation speciality qualification, physical fitness test pass rate, re-enlistment rate, unit strength, and training year accomplishments. There are approximately 18 units that compete for this award. The award was presented to the battalion commander in the absence of the company commander who is on deployment with his unit as part of Operation Joint Guard.
The unit, based in Leesburg, VA, is the first National Guard infantry company to mobilize and deploy as a company for an overseas operation since the Vietnam War, when one Ranger company was activated. A composite unit from the 29th Division and active Army units previously served with the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai.
It also looks like the unit is high in the running to win the coveted Pershing Trophy for rifle marksmanship due to their high number of soldiers qualified on their individual weapon, 100%, and their number of shooters who qualified as expert. They are also competing for the National Guard Association Trophy and the Virginia National Guard Trophy. In addition they have been nominated for the National Guard Superior Unit Award and the Virginia Army National Guard Excellence in Training Award.
The mission assigned to the citizen soldiers of Charlie Company is to guard the rebuilt bridge across the Sava River linking northern Bosnia with Slavonski Brod in Croatia. The active duty call-up of the 153-man unit included training at Fort A.P. Hill Virginia, Fort Benning Georgia, and 51 days of additional preparation at Fort Polk Louisiana. The high state of unit readiness and training will benefit the soldiers on their nine month deployment to Bosnia in support of Operation Joint Guard.